Deans’ 2026 Resolutions: B-School Leaders On How The New Year Will Bring New Tests For B-Schools

My Resolution: Championing the Value of Academic Discovery

MY NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTION IS simple: to more forcefully tell the world about the extraordinary impact that higher education – and business schools – have on society.

There’s been a lot of discussion lately about whether universities still matter. I think the confusion stems from the fact that academic research often works on a decades-long timescale. It can be slow, rigorous, and intentionally unflashy—which means its biggest contributions are often hiding in plain sight.

But the impact is undeniable.

From 1996 to 2020 alone, academic technology transfer produced 580,000 inventions, 19,000 startups, more than 200 drugs and vaccines, 6.5 million jobs, and $1 trillion in U.S. GDP. That’s an astonishing return for the investment we make in higher education. And it doesn’t include the thousands of discoveries being made right now that will reach the public in the years ahead. 

At Emory, this story is even more dramatic. Over the last 40 years, research conducted at Emory has resulted in more FDA-approved drugs and vaccines than any other university in the country. That includes game-changing HIV treatments that helped transform a fatal disease into a manageable condition, and the development of molnupiravir – one of the first oral antivirals for COVID-19.

My own research area, AI, is a perfect example. While ChatGPT was created by a private research lab, its foundation rests on 70 years of academic advances – in mathematics, computer science, linguistics, psychology, operations research, and statistics. Universities didn’t build the product, but we built the science and the scientists that made it possible.

The truth is we are all beneficiaries of this quiet, persistent engine of discovery. We’ve become so accustomed to progress – vaccines, GPS, the internet, genomics, clean water systems – that we forget that progress often begins in universities. And we ignore that at our peril.

When we look across our own campus today, Goizueta faculty are generating insights that are shaping the future of business and society. 

Take generative AI, for example. A recent study co-authored by Vilma Todri and Panagiotis Adamopoulos asked a question many marketers are grappling with: How well does AI actually perform in real advertising settings? Combining lab experiments with Google Ads tests, they found that ads created with visual generative AI can outperform human-designed ads, boosting click-through rates by up to 19 percent. But there’s a catch – simply labeling an ad as AI-generated can sharply reduce its impact. The work demonstrates both the promise and the pitfalls of AI in marketing, offering businesses evidence-based guidance as they navigate a fast-changing digital landscape.

Other Goizueta faculty are investigating the human and societal dimensions of business.

Melissa Williams’ research shows how female leaders face disproportionate scrutiny of their personal lives – and how that scrutiny can quietly discourage women from pursuing senior leadership roles. Michael Lewis is exploring the explosive growth of gaming and esports, revealing how modern fandom blurs the line between watching, playing, and spending. Suhas Sridharan raises important questions about ESG investing, demonstrating how conflicts of interest among ESG raters can inflate scores without delivering better social or environmental outcomes.

The United States has long relied on a three-legged stool of innovation: universities, private industry, and the federal government. If one leg weakens, so does our global competitiveness.

That’s why my resolution for 2026 is to better articulate the essential role that universities – and business schools – play in shaping a thriving society and economy. We can’t assume people understand the value of academic research. We need to trumpet it clearly, proudly, and often.

At Goizueta, I’m fortunate to lead a school that strengthens all three legs of that stool. Our faculty produce research and lead courses that expand human knowledge. Our graduates fuel industries and grow and launch companies. And our partnerships—across Atlanta, across industries, and across the globe—demonstrate what happens when education, innovation, and community work together.

Progress isn’t inevitable. But it is possible, when we commit to supporting the people and institutions that make it happen.

That’s the story I intend to tell more loudly in the year ahead.

– Gareth James, John H. Harland Dean, Emory University’s Goizueta Business School 

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AS ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, AND ESPECIALLY generative AI, becomes a ubiquitous part of our world, my prediction for 2026 is that the human side of things will, in turn, become commensurately even more important. During and after every major technological shift we’ve seen in society – the printing press, the telegraph, radio, television, and the internet, among others – individuals and institutions have learned to adapt to fundamental changes in how we allocate time, resources, and energy. This latest technological revolution is no different and is arguably the most impactful of them all. However, as with each of these other transitions, the uptake, implementation, and efficacy of GenAI is likely to vary widely. During the age of the printing press, literacy expanded as predicted, but unevenly. Radio didn’t eradicate ignorance as promised, but did reshape family and leisure. The internet didn’t magically erase cross-national and cross-cultural differences, but did transform commerce, media, and politics.

At the heart of this variable adoption lies cognitive rather than technological factors. One of my colleagues at TCU recently wrote about the reasons why automation advances unevenly. Presciently, he focused on the behavioral barriers that result in frictions at the task, human, and systemic levels. This shouldn’t be a surprise. After all, we still have yoga studios, personal trainers, language classes, book clubs, and all manner of activities that individuals could in theory do more effectively via technology, but prefer to complete in-person. Why? Because people like to deal with people, especially people who are empathic, thoughtful, knowledgeable, and interpersonally adroit.

Accordingly, here in the TCU Neeley School of Business, we will continue to focus on developing what we refer to as “3-dimensional” students: those who have the requisite technical skills in their discipline, who have the behavioral skills to stand out, and who have applied these technical and behavioral skills in concrete, real-world environments. GenAI literacy is a critical part of this, but the need to graduate well-rounded students who both understand what a large language model is, and also know how to use language, orally and in writing, to persuade, inspire, motivate, and build community will become increasingly important in this new world we find ourselves in.

– Craig Crossland, John V. Roach Dean, Neeley School of Business at Texas Christian University

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WE DON’T KNOW WHAT 2026 holds, but I’m confident it will both challenge us and present us with new opportunities. At HEC Paris, we’re rolling out significant new curriculum elements for all of our programs, especially more integrative applications of technology and responsible leadership in a complex world, but we’re also doing this while starting an exciting new campus project. It’s a lot. So, this year, my resolution is to approach challenges with courage. 

Thankfully, we’re not starting from scratch. We preach courage to our students, and even have a “Dare the Impossible” tagline that affirms the point. Now more than ever, it’s time for all of us – faculty, staff, students, and alumni – to show the world that we mean it. Whether it’s embracing the challenge of starting new ventures, getting our hands dirty with deep tech and its implications, having the guts to say “I’m sorry” when we get it wrong, or questioning even the most basic assumptions of business education, standing still is not an option. 

I think HEC is a special place and I am confident we will shine through whatever challenges 2026 throws at us, but I’m also a cheerleader for business education in general. The world needs leaders with the character, competence, and courage to change the world, and there aren’t many places that curate leaders like B-schools. So, to the broader community, let’s approach the future with boldness so we can make this world a better place for human thriving.

– Brad Harris, Associate Dean, MBA Programs, HEC Paris

 

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