IMD Annual Report 2019

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IMD ANNUAL REPORT 2019

3. Interactive and impactful learning experiences

Relevance is important because it is all too easy for academics to research topics that are only of interest to a very small number of other academics. Insightfulness is important too, because a lot of research ends up quantifying the obvious and confirming insights that were already pretty clear. At IMD, faculty asks itself: What is the new insight? Is there some counter-intuitive aspect worth discussing? Last but not least, IMD believes thought leadership ought to be actionable ; executives and/or organizations must be able to implement it, or at a minimum integrate it in their reasonings or actions.

It is easy and relatively natural for academics to “teach”. After all, they have worked hard for years to develop a number of interesting, rigorous, insightful and actionable ideas. They have chosen the most relevant ones for their audience and are then in a perfect position to explain them. But everyone has observed the veracity of the old Chinese proverb that goes something like this: “Tell me, I will likely forget. Show me, I may remember. Involve me, I will understand.” At IMD, faculty members are less preoccupied by how much they teach than they are preoccupied by how much people learn and by what they subsequently do with these insights. As a result, IMD faculty has, over the years, developed and nurtured a deep understanding of individual and collective learning processes, and of how individuals and organizations can turn ideas intoaction. IMDconsiders this topic a very important research area, and its faculty’s never ending quest for insight on this front has been documented in several articles and books, including the three presented here.