By GREGORY ZELLER //
The eyes of the world are on Hofstra University.
At least, the eyes of people who tune in to Leader Generation, a series of comprehensive video segments profiling next-level collegiate business programs around the world, produced by the Florida-based Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business – the world’s largest business-education network – and BBC StoryWorks, the content studio of BBC Global News.
Hofstra’s Frank G. Zarb School of Business enjoys a closeup in a 5-minute, 27-second Leader Generation video showcasing the technologies and techniques the school uses to prepare the next generation of innovative and responsible business leaders.
Featuring Zarb School Dean Janet Lenaghan and MBA finance student Ishita Bandyopadhyay, the video dives deep into the school’s Core Skills Lab, a high-tech hub where virtual reality and artificial intelligence play big roles in refining communication, teamwork, adaptability, emotional maturity and other central proficiencies emphasized in the modern workplace.
Janet Lenaghan: Shaping leaders.
For the future business professional, it’s the perfect amalgam of old-school advice and new-age tech, according to Lenaghan.
“The Core Skills Lab uses AI in a lot of different ways to help our students develop their skills, from engaging with avatars and practicing … difficult conversations with employees to giving a big presentation,” the dean notes in the video. “Even engaging with AI to help develop their answers to interview questions, both technical and behavioral.
“It really provides a safe space for our students to practice and fail and grow.”
Interspliced with scenes showing her practicing martial arts and using a VR headset – through which she meets with an avatar coworker and even gives a presentation to a large, computer-generated audience – Bandyopadhyay discusses the benefits of training in the Core Skills Lab, which she describes as ideal for “practicing a salary negotiation or trying to understand some critical situation or discussion that you might not be comfortable having in real life.”
“You can just try to understand how to rule that conversation,” she notes. “How to get started with it.”
Talk the talk: Business students like Ishita Bandyopadhyay confront future workplace demons via the Core Skills Lab’s top technology.
The Zarb School was one of only seven global schools to be included in Leader Generation’s “Innovative Education” segments, which also check in with the University of South Carolina’s Darla Moore School of Business (which explores the art of developing global credibility, through the eyes of an international transfer student); the ESCP Business School in Berlin, Germany (where art and sustainability take center stage); the EHL Hospitality Business School in Lausanne, Switzerland (where nurturing student resiliency is the focus); and the Korea University Business School in Seoul, South Korea (where Korean pop culture sets the tone).
“Innovative Education” also visits two schools located in London: the Hult International Business School, in a segment focused on individual student adaptability, and the UCL Global Business School for Health, where the future of maternity care gets a business-themed refresher.
Needs improvement: Zarb students are AI-rated for eye contact, body language and other factors in VR “presentations.”
Being featured alongside that prestigious international assortment is a testament to the Zarb School’s advanced academics, top technology and forward thinking, according to its dean.
“Hofstra’s inclusion in the Leader Generation series showcases Zarb’s commitment to preparing the business leaders of tomorrow,” Lenaghan said. “We are equipping our students with the advanced technologies, critical thinking skills and global perspective necessary to thrive in an evolving business landscape.
“We are not only educating future professionals,” she added. “We’re shaping responsible leaders who will make a meaningful impact.”
