79: (DC REWIND) Blair Sheppard (Duke) on What's Next in Higher Academia

[This recording of Deans Counsel originally published on July 25, 2025 as episode #67.]On this episode of Deans Counsel, Jim Ellis and Ken Kring speak with Blair Sheppard, Special Advisor to Duke Kunshan University, and previously Dean of Duke's Fuqua School of Business. Blair is responsible for directing all of Duke Kunshan's fundraising, corporate development, non-degree program development and regional development for the newly formed campus in China.From 2012-2024, Blair served as Global Leader for Strategy and Leadership at PwC, where he focused on building resilient strategies and leadership for PwC worldwide, and further sharpened his ability to see further into the future than most of the rest of us.In this episode, we hear very compelling observations from Blair about four key mega-trends -- climate, technology, global forces and aging -- that he feels will fundamentally reshape every aspect of society (including business, of course). With us, he shares some insight into how business schools, through their research and teaching, must soon lean into these abrupt changes in societal needs. In so doing, he also lends advice as to how we as leaders should go about the change process of taking faculty through this difficult process, touching on topics such as:- Why some long-held assumptions are no longer holding- Our rapidly changing world's impact on curriculum- Rethinking the teaching of strategy- How Ai will shape demand for the MBALearn more about Blair Sheppard.Comments/criticism/suggestions/feedback? We'd love to hear it. Drop us a note.Thanks for listening.-Produced by Joel Davis at Analog Digital Arts--DEANS COUNSEL: A podcast for deans and academic leadership.James Ellis | Moderator | Dean of the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California (2007-2019)David Ikenberry | Moderator | Dean of the Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado-Boulder (2011-2016)Ken Kring | Moderator | Co-Managing Director, Global Education Practice and Senior Client Partner at Korn FerryDeansCounsel.com