Charting a New Course for Next-Generation Business Leaders
A Practical Guide to Blending the Humanities and Business in Undergraduate Education
A palpable new weight has settled on the shoulders of undergraduate educators today, exerting pressure on previously accepted wisdom about both liberal arts and business curricula. Because today—with one fifth of undergraduates pursuing business majors, and even more focusing on business-related degrees at institutions that don’t offer business majors—the study of business has become, in effect, the education of our citizenry.
While securing a career-focused education is an understandable priority (given both the cost of that education and far-reaching economic uncertainty), it is also clear that the global, technological, fast-changing business environment holds unprecedented challenges for students pursuing that career. They will face a world in which business’ impact on society is widely recognized, but without straightforward guidelines about how to navigate it.
The formation of character and perspective is a long process, but one well-understood factor is education. What one is interested in, and studies, becomes a cornerstone of one’s world view. Business majors, steeped in the logic of the marketplace, learn to see in cost/benefit terms; they look for ROI, become short-term oriented, and discount the future. In the marketplace, there is no broader ‘soft’ context or counterweight to this logic. The social costs—including short-termism and narrow focus on shareholder value—are now evident. With Wall Street concentrating on quarterly profits, many organizations find their longer-term priorities—such as investments in their people and R&D budgets—sidelined in favor of ‘urgent’ financial matters.
Many educators fear that with the rise of interest in business, the liberal arts have paled in importance—often viewed as the weak player in a competitive game. Alarm is perceptible among educators who understand that the broader frame liberal arts provides—the value of knowledge in and of itself, as well as learning to think, seeing the big picture, understanding the human dimension, communicating clearly, and developing personal maturity—is being viewed as an indulgence rather than as vital skills and expertise.
A business education is often narrow. There are important exceptions, but numerous undergraduate business programs find it difficult to make the humanities meaningful for their students. And many in the liberal arts view business skeptically, sometimes even suspiciously as a black and white numbers-only world. The resulting search for balance in educating tomorrow’s citizens and leaders has become a priority. How can education help ensure that students—and especially students of business whose goals are to lead organizations—approach society’s complex issues with deeper insight and broader intelligence?
To address these gaps and inherent opportunities, the Aspen Institute Business & Society Program launched the Aspen Undergraduate Consortium. Five years ago, we embarked on strengthening how liberal arts contribute to the professional preparation of future business leaders. Since then, 73 schools have joined this work, and are generating change, momentum, and excitement across the country.
It’s time for the next step in this effort.
This inventory of innovations demonstrates how the liberal arts and business have been ‘married’—at leading schools engaged in this work—to address the challenges and opportunities of developing the next generation of business leaders. Our goal is to give faculty and administrators practical ideas for their own searches as they find new ways to shape their undergraduate curricula, influence future business leaders who are in their formative years and teach a different narrative about business—one in which business contributes to making the world a better place.
