This is a series of public lectures in which connoted scholars will present research addressing the ecological crisis and organization. Speakers will focus on their research’s concrete suggestions for how we can better organize and / or on the impact of their work for new and more productive forms of scholarly societal engagement today. The lecture series serves as a platform for discussion, networking, and collaboration among scholars, educators, students, and experts.

Lecture 2: Silent Storm: How Business Schools Can Find Their Climate Voice

Are business schools helping to solve the climate crisis or perpetuating business models that accelerate it? Management scholarship generally rewards theoretical contributions over real-world impact. With clear evidence that the climate crisis has exceeded planetary boundaries and with many businesses retreating from their net zero carbon commitments, I propose that business schools need to play a central role in not just theorizing change, but catalysing climate action through transdisciplinary and multifunctional dialogue. Business schools need to not only build scientific models, but integrate that knowledge into practical tools. These tools need to be developed in dialogue with practice, not independent to it. I argue that management scholars are uniquely positioned to foster dialogues between corporations, scientists, and policy makers, yet doing so requires scholars to shift from focusing on puzzles to focusing on problems.