Have business schools lost their way?

Perhaps they should return to the original focus of early business schools?

Excerpt: "Programs to help students discern their vocation or calling are gaining prominence in higher education.

According to a 2019 Bates/Gallup poll, 80% of college graduates want a sense of purpose from their work. In addition, a 2023 survey found that 50% of Generation Z and millennial employees in the U.K. and U.S. have resigned from a job because the values of the company did not align with their own.

These sentiments are also found in today’s business school students, as Gen Z is demanding that course content reflect the changes in society, from diversity and inclusion to sustainability and poverty. According to the Financial Times, “there may never have been a more demanding cohort.”

And yet, business schools have been slower than other schools to respond, leading to calls ranging from transforming business education to demolishing it.

Historically, studies have shown that business school applicants have scored higher than their peers on the “dark triad” traits of narcissism, psychopathy and Machiavellianism. These traits can manifest themselves in a tendency toward cunning, scheming and, at times, unscrupulous behavior.

Over the course of their degree program, other studies have found that business school environments can amplify those preexisting tendencieswhile enhancing a concern for what others think of them."