Societal Impact Conference

Isabel Rimanoczy has made it her life purpose to promote change accelerators. Aware of the complex challenges we are facing, she developed the Sustainability Mindset, a concept she researched by studying business leaders who championed business initiatives with a positive impact on the environment and the community. In this mini-Ted talk style presentation, Isabel will share our most powerful leverage for action: the internal mind shift.

Business schools play a key role in developing leaders who can drive positive change and contribute to a healthier planet. Join this session to learn how you can implement the sustainability mindset framework and develop leaders as changemakers at your institution.

The conference attendees will engage in roundtable discussions around the challenges, opportunities, and commitments that need to be considered in business school curriculum to ensure that students have the leadership and functional competencies to advance societal impact.

The Nordic Nine, implemented by Copenhagen Business School (CBS), is a set of nine transformative capabilities that balance the advancement of the individual with responsibilities that stretch beyond business and into society. The purpose of The Nordic Nine initiative is that all graduates from CBS possess the transformative skills described in The Nordic Nine which are part of CBS’ strategy. The goal is that all graduates from CBS in 2024 have engaged in research-based learning processes that develop The Nordic Nine skills, including the special management skills that are characteristic of the Nordic model, and which is essential for leading the necessary transformations in business and society. Join this session to learn how you can incorporate teaching methods that support the Nordic Nine, and how implementing the Nordic Nine capabilities in its programs inspires CBS students to contribute to solving societal challenges with compassion for themselves, others and the planet.

Examples of schools making positive impact as identified in their mission, strategic plan, and beyond, including ways of measuring the impact.

This session introduces TASK™ – The Assessment of Sustainability Knowledge – a groundbreaking tool by Sulitest designed to transform education by setting a new standard for sustainability knowledge. Based on extensive research on sustainability and psychometrics, TASK™ is a robust, reliable, and comparable measure of sustainability knowledge leading to a certificate. This online tool provides relevant data and metrics for assessing the effectiveness of educational interventions on knowledge development; understanding levels of sustainability knowledge across an organization or school to inform curriculum redesign; and external reporting for accreditations, rankings, and other stakeholders. TASK™ aims to be the “game changer” that will make sustainability a common language for all.

In recent years, there has been a growing emphasis on the need for businesses to measure and report their impact beyond financial performance. This has led to the development of various reporting frameworks used to evaluate the sustainability and societal impact of a company’s operations such as Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG). ESG has been the center of many debates and challenges – from concerns about greenwashing to lack of standardization related to metrics and reporting. There is a strong need for business leaders with tools to measure, assess, report and communicate societal impact. Join this session for a discussion on emerging reporting frameworks and the importance of educating future leaders to measure, evaluate, report, and communicate company’s sustainable efforts.