A survey of 1,760 CEMS alumni and corporate partners shows that the importance of resilience and empathy as leadership skills has increased dramatically.
The COVID 19 pandemic has exposed defeciencies in the 20th century vision of leadership. However, it also provides an opportunity to question the status quo and reshape employee leadership. This is the result of a survey by the CEMS Global Alliance in Management Education, a consortium of 69 corporate partners and 34 leading business schools on all continents, largely co-founded by the University of Cologne.
The impact of the pandemic on employee management was examined through a survey of 1,760 CEMS alumni and corporate partners. About one fifth of them were former students, professors or corporate and social partners from Cologne. Respondents came from various industries and sectors, including consulting, technology, financial services and consumer goods.
The survey found that for 87 per cent of respondents, COVID-19 has had a profound impact on their business and teams. A quarter of respondents believe that the changes instigated in the pandemic will be permanent. The study also showed that the importance of resilience and empathy as leadership skills has greatly increased, while the importance of traditional leadership authority and technical skills has decreased.
"COVID-19 has made us realise how much digitalisation of leadership processes is possible and what is missing in a fully digitalised world. It strengthens the focus on the social skills needed for modern leadership in a digitalised world. The valuable insights from the collective global thinking of the CEMS community can serve as the building blocks we need to successfully shape our post-pandemic future," explains Marc Fischer, Professor of Marketing Science & Analytics and Academic Director of the CEMS International Management Master's Programme at the University of Cologne.
The new guide "CEMS Guide to Leadership in a Post-COVID-19 World" contains a series of recommendations for managers, educators and young professionals with regard to the professional handling of the pandemic situation.
The most important recommendations at a glance:
- Leaders need to build psychological safety so that staff can succeed under pressure. This means ensuring commitment, productivity and innovation.
- Young professionals need to take responsibility to make the most of their potential. This means building self-knowledge, autonomy, an innovation mindset and resilience to discover opportunities and expand networks.
- Business school teaching staff needs to redesign learning. This means building autonomy and resilience in learners to ensure that learning remains engaged and connected in the new normal.
• More information and a full version of the whole guide is available on the CEMS website
CEMS is a Global Alliance of leading business schools, multinational companies and non-profits that together offer the CEMS Master in International Management (CEMS MIM). The CEMS MIM is a one-year, pre-experience programme that offers students the opportunity to be educated in a truly multicultural and boundless classroom. Students with a sound academic track record, who wish to embark on a career in management that spans the globe will find this to be the ideal postgraduate programme.
Students enrolled in the programme study for one semester at their home university, with study abroad in a different CEMS member school. In addition to completing a home degree, students complete a consulting project and an international internship. Upon graduation, students’ careers take a truly international path in a great variety of sectors and in many cases within multinational companies:
- 96% are employed or continuing their studies
- 92% are living outside of their home country
- 75% work for multinational companies