"B-SCHOOLS PREPARE LEADERS WHO CAN NAVIGATE UNCERTAINTIES"

Francesca Cornelli, Dean, Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management, on geopolitical uncertainties, disruptions affecting businesses, and more

- BY GEORGE SKARIA

FRANCESCA CORNELLI is the Dean of Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management as well as a professor of finance and holds the Donald P. Jacobs Chair of Finance. Since joining Kellogg in 2019, Cornelli has crystalised the school's mission to shape empathetic leaders who can think globally, unite diverse perspectives, and lead through rapid change and complexity. A global educator, Cornelli has vast international experience and has taught at some of the top schools in the world. In an interview with Business Today, she speaks about how leaders of tomorrow can navigate today's challenges. Edited excerpts:

Today we have at least three major forces of geopolitics, geoeconomics and tariffs, and AI impacting global businesses. Is this a pivotal moment for companies, and if so, how should they respond to these changes?

This is something I have been reflecting on a lot. In the last six years of my Deanship here, I have seen all these forces playing out. And there's no doubt that today, for leaders in business, the situation is much more complex than before. So, companies and business leaders cannot look at the situation only from their lens, of say, strategy or profits. But they have to consider the interest of all other stakeholders like employees and customers too.