The transformation of business education over the coming decade was front and centre at the 2024 EFMD Executive Development Conference, hosted by the London Business School (LBS).

More than 100 professionals representing global business schools, corporates, and alternative learning providers travelled from 23 countries to LBS’s Regent’s Park campus earlier this month to explore the theme of Learning 2035.

Conference delegates were encouraged to imagine their businesses thriving in 2035 and develop a roadmap towards realising that future. Discovery visits at leading London-based organisations, including the Royal College of Arts, Institute of Directors, Deliveroo and ZSL London Zoo, allowed participants to hear about the real-world learning needs of modern businesses. Peer groups then came together to reflect on the learnings shared during these visits and consider how those insights might inform the future of executive business education.

Award-winning case studies demonstrating the best of executive education were also presented, allowing attendees to collaborate with other providers and participate in a rich knowledge exchange. They included LBS’s partnership with ADQ, which received a 2024 EFMD Excellence in Practice Silver Award for the value and impact of the learning provided.

After two days of gaining both outside-in and inside-out insights from our Discovery visit hosts and the excellence in practice award winners, our teams identified two key insights from their respective Learning Canvas themes as to what learning will look like in 2035.

Completing the Canvas: Groups shared, analysed, debated, and documented their insights to build a picture of Learning 2035 for their theme.

The Customer Perspective

Customers will require multi-generational engagement and capability development to create harmonious understanding and working relationships. Employees will need to build strong networks both internally to their companies and externally across companies.

As executive education providers, we will need to enable deeper connections between people of different ages both internally in their workplace and externally across companies.

Potential Value Propositions

A multi-disciplinary future requires clarity of impact as an individual organisation in society. For learning providers there will be paradoxes that come into play including:

• Having a tailored vs a clear strategy
• Using technology vs creating human connection – what’s the balance?
• Content vs experience – how to avoid too much of one and not the other?
• Experts vs multidisciplinary – depth and breadth

We the People

The future will be human relationship-driven and digital. Diversity will be critical and a multi-perspective approach will be needed that includes voices from different generations, a broad range of skills, disciplines, and delivery in different locations.

Learning providers will need to identify how best they can address this in what they offer and how they deliver.

Alison Andersen, Learning Manager & Executive Coach, IMD Switzerland

Is Technology Taking Over?

How we teach people will invariably change although traditional learning will not entirely go away, but we need to consider the following in our offers:

• Personalisation via assessment
• Self-led learning
• Gamified learning
• Using data to tailor learning plans to the individual
• AI assistants/tutors
• Use of technologies such as drones – people will need to learn how to operate new tech
• Wellbeing technology (trackables, wearables)
• Time travel (in terms of VR and AR), robots, VR, Holograms, avatars, pure AI learning
• Simulations tailored to specific scenarios
• Chips you can plug into your brain with knowledge

Technology will also change learning methodologies:

• They will enable people to be together without being ‘together’
• VR should be for both students and teachers
• Person-by-person learning
• We will be able to scale without considerable cost
• Learning paths will adapt the learning – from novice…to…expert
• Clever instructional interactive design

Gordon Miesen, Director of Client Management & Programme Development, School of Business and Economics (SBE), Maastricht University (UM), School of Business and Economics (SBE) Netherlands

However, there are risks of engagement and passive learning that we need to take into consideration when designing learning. We also need to consider technology fatigue such as using VR goggles.

On the positive side, technologies will enable better tracking of outcomes and measuring ROI, as well as fast assessment of knowledge and comprehension of concepts by learners.

Partnerships Redefined

Let’s start with everything is connected! We need to expand our understanding of what partnering is from today’s definition and experience. We need to redefine our concept of “partnership” to one of “ecosystems”. As we think of ecosystems, we need to have clarify on the desired value and impact of partnering. We need to understand what is at the heart of the ecosystem? What does the business model look like for us as deliverers of learning?

A range of speakers, including LBS Professors Michael G Jacobides and Randall S Peterson, futurist Tracey Follows, Executive Director of the Leadership Institute Vyla Rollins, and Financial Times Global Education Editor Andrew Jack, helped provoke discussions around what the future of business education might be during a time of seismic change.

Helen Kerkentzes, Associate Dean for Executive Education at LBS, said: “It was an honour and privilege to host this conference and welcome so many L&D colleagues from around the world at the School.

“Our aim was to leverage our London location to provoke and inspire people’s thinking and to harness the collective wisdom of this amazing group of people in imagining what learning in 2035 will look like. We were delighted with the engagement and excited about the work the group produced.

“A huge thank you to our many volunteers, faculty and staff for their invaluable contributions and efforts!”

Friedemann Schulze-Fielitz, Director of Business School Services at EFMD Global, said: “We are privileged and grateful for the exceptional collaboration with London Business School for the 2024 EFMD Executive Development Conference.

“The innovative design, including live company visits, interactive sessions, top-notch speakers and EIP case-winner presentations, created an inspiring experience for participants. Our thanks go to London Business School, the Steering Committee, EIP award winners and presenters, and the engaged L&D community.”

In addition to focusing on Learning 2035 during this year’s conference, we had the opportunity to bring the 2024 Excellence in Practice (EiP) award-winning cases to centre stage, adding to the true sharing and community vibe in the professional ecosystem. The kind of spirit we plan to foster again with the 2025 edition of the EiP Awards and next year’s conference on 1-3 October 2025 at the Stockholm School of Economics.

Written in collaboration with London Business School Programme Directors Stephen Hobbs and Lisa Duke. 

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2024 EFMD Executive Development Conference, hosted by the London Business School (LBS)