Transforming next gen managers in Business schools

140 Master students of SKEMA Business School worked for a week on the Doughnut economics model, applied to 4 Companies in different sectors!

Via the "Donut Design for Business" workshop (DEAL’s tool), students learned to analyze the impacts of an organization on the environment and society, and conversely, the risks posed by socio-ecological degradations on an organization. Following this analysis, students proposed a “Business Remodel” (KPMG’s tool) to Companies and a strategy to support change with multiple stakeholders!

In Higher Education, more and more training courses about Sustainability are being delivered, many "serious games" like Climate Fresks and its derivatives are being spread. This is great, crucial, but not enough. Once we set the big picture of the massive unprecedented challenges of our times, we absolutely need to continue with "solutions" - focused courses to avoid the high risk of eco-anxiety or even denial. Sadly, students fall into those traps, that’s human.

So, what do we do? How to make the next gen’ managers willing to act for a better future? Tough question!

In this seminar, we have tried, in all humility, to address this issue, with several objectives :

1.         Apprehending the balances and limits of our world through a systemic approach

2.         Getting inspired by innovations, actors, organisations working for another trajectory of society

Students, as most people, really lack concrete examples of change and are not immersed in the tsunami of alternatives growing every day, everywhere ! That is crucial food for thoughts, and hearts : with those examples, people rediscover the hope to act!

3.         Being able to project oneself into desirable future scenarios

Once we face the current trajectory of our societies : challenging the very habitability of the Earth for the next years to come, we know it’s high time to change the target : is it to grow or to thrive ? What does thriving means ? Here comes an answer with Donut Economics and the concept of “Sweet Spot for Humanity".

Great, we have understood why we urgently need to change, and towards what,
then HOW ?? 80% OF THE COURSE IS DEDICATED TO THE “HOWs” !

4.    Analyzing an organization's business model through the prism of its social and environmental impacts ;

5.    Co-building diagnosis and solutions to transform the organizations towards regenerative and distributive models ;

(All the learning objectives above have been listed in a referential for Sustainability in Higher Education « Référentiel DDRS » France)

Through an entire week, +30h of participative class, students have been trained on real cases and have given their feedbacks to 4 companies ready to go further in their commitments !

Here are some feedbacks from students :

“Thank you for inspiring us with concrete tools and solutions to make us realize that we, actually have, a power to act !”

“After some courses about Ecology, we can get depressed and feel helpless regarding the immensity and complexity of the challenges. But with this course, you gave us hope.”

As a teacher and co-creator of this course with Laurence Nahmias Matteucci, this has been my very battle ever since I started getting involved in transforming Higher Education :
How to give hope, inspire and empower students to act!

I believe this seminar has a high potential to not only transform students, but also to transform companies in the process. Especially the companies that could be hesitant : this seminar could be a first step! 

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Many thanks to Laurence Nahmias Matteucci that co-created and co-animated the course and to Dorothée Lamé Laroche that co-animated a part of the seminar.

Thanks to SKEMA Business School, the companies, and especially thanks to the students : you gave us so much energy!

More Innovations in Education to come, reach out to us.