When I was getting my MBA at the University of Iowa in 1981, my advisor Gary Fethke (who would later serve as University of Iowa interim president and Emeritus Professor in Business Analytics) convinced me to take a PhD class in econometrics.  I think he was trying to punish me or something.  I was totally overwhelmed in the class as student after student quickly answered questions about this economic theorem or that economic concept.  Hands were popping up all over the room in a rush to answer these questions, while I sat in the back of the room madly trying to understand the applicability of these theorems and concepts.

On the day of the final exam, I thought I was doomed.  And while the final exam was very challenging, I felt that I had a pragmatic answer for each question. And then much to my surprise, I got an A in the course while most of the other students who could quickly recite the theorems and concepts got B’s and C’s.

So, at the end of the semester, I asked the professor why he thought I did so well while more knowledgeable students did worse.  And his answer stuck with me forever:

“Bill, you constantly demonstrated the ability to apply the knowledge. The other students were focused on memorizing and reciting the knowledge.”

AI technologies like ChatGPT are fueling a basic transformation of our educational systems and institutions.  Recently, University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School professor Christian Terwiesch tested ChatGPT’s ability to pass the Wharton MBA final test.  The result? A solid “yes” with ChatGPT earning a final grade of B to B-minus.

Passing tests and getting the right answers is no longer sufficient in an age where AI can access, integrate, and recite knowledge billions if not trillions of times faster than the human mind. So, what happens when everything that you thought was important – and you trained on mastering – is no longer important?

This is part 1 of a 3 part series on how education must be transformed in a world that will soon (if not already) be dominated by AI and Big Data.  That is, what are the skills, capabilities, and experiences that our leaders, students, and citizens need to master in order to prosper in an age where personal and professional success will be based on the application, not the memorization and regurgitation, of knowledge.

Education Suffers from Command-and-Control Remnants

We are witnessing a fundamental transformation on the demands of America’s educational systems and institutions.  With technologies like AI (such as ChatGPT), our educational systems must transition from teaching our students to memorize and regurgitate knowledge, to teaching our students through pragmatic, experiential learning how to apply knowledge to create value.

Traditional educational systems and institutions were based on the standardization of learning (and the rote memorization and regurgitate of knowledge).  And that worked great in an age of batch-centric command-and-control management structures where humans were cogs who executed whatever senior leaders ordained. 

But in today’s real-time environment of constant technology, cultural, political, environment, societal, and economic disruption, memorization and regurgitate of knowledge is not sufficient. Education must prepare students and professionals to apply knowledge to create new sources of value, much of which will happen in the real-time swirls of the front lines of the organization and society.

As technologies evolve, so must the role of the human to leverage those technologies to create value.  I can’t compete with my $1.99 calculator in calculating square roots.  If the differentiating aspect of my career was dependent upon my ability to calculate square roots, then I’d be screwed.  But the calculator is only a tool – a tool that I need to learn how to use to be more productive and effective. Same with AI. AI is only a tool – a tool that I need to learn how to use to be more productive and effective.

So, how can our educational systems and institutions evolve to prepare our future leaders and citizens to thrive in a world where Big Data and AI is going to become such a dominant economic, employment, and societal factor? Here’s a starting point for that conversation.

(1) Transformational Education Must Nurture Empowerment

One important educational requirement is teaching and empowering individuals to operate and prosper within dynamic teams.  I call this capability organizational improvisation (improv) and it’s a capability for fueling the collaboration that can unleash new sources of organizational and societal value. High-performance organizations, like a soccer team or a jazz quartet, exploit and nurture organizational improv by empowering individuals to operate within dynamic, high-performance teams and then elevate the movement of empowered individuals between teams to address specific business and operational challenges while maintaining operational integrity (Figure 1).

Figure 1: Teaching Organizational Improvisation (Improv)

Organizations face systemic challenges as they seek to transition from batch-centric, command-and-control management structures where only the leaders know the answers, to a real-time, swirling organizational improvisational approach where the best ideas can come from anywhere in the organization (and usually from the folks at the front-lines of customer engagement and operational execution).

If our educational systems is to prepare both our leaders and employees to operate and flourish as part of highly-effective, empowered team, then we need to teach the power of:

• Synergizing as a Team. The more diverse the team with different capabilities and different perspectives, the better. Build your team based upon their growth potential rather than current capabilities and provide experiential opportunities to accelerate team members’ growth potential.
• Preparing to Fail.  You will certainly fail at certain times along your journey. Those failures provide a learning opportunity to better understand the extent of the current deficiencies in you and your team. Failing is a natural way to learn.  Embrace it as such.
• Preparing to Lead.  Everyone on the team must be prepared to lead depending on the situation.  And you can’t be fearful or doubtful when it’s your turn.  Leadership isn’t an organizational position, it’s a developed skill and competency. Hone it!
• Embracing ‘Unlearning.’  The capabilities and skills that got you to where you are, may be totally irrelevant to the next part of your journey.  Be prepared to let go of what you thought was the right approach and be prepared to learn a new one.
• Building Collaboration Muscle.  Successful individuals drive strong collaboration with their stakeholders who can guide them and mentor them, and even help them do battle at critical times on the journey.

(2) Transformational Education Must Challenge Thinking…Critical Thinking!

“I’ll tell you the problem with the scientific power that you’re using here: it didn’t require any discipline to attain it. You read what others had done and you took the next step. You didn’t earn the knowledge for yourselves, so you don’t take any responsibility for it. You stood on the shoulders of geniuses to accomplish something as fast as you could and before you even knew what you had, you patented it and packaged it and slapped it on a plastic lunchbox, and now you’re selling it!”

 – Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum), “Jurassic Park”

Figure 2:  Bridge Gap between human knowledge and human understanding

Critical Thinking is the process of analyzing information, ideas, and rationale to evaluate their validity, relevance, and reliability in the context of the discussion or argument. It involves examining information from multiple perspectives, questioning assumptions, identifying and correcting for biases, and considering alternative viewpoints.

Critical thinking involves using a variety of cognitive skills, such as observation, interpretation, analysis, evaluation, and synthesis, to make informed and reasoned judgments. It requires an open-minded and objective approach to problem-solving, as well as the ability to recognize and avoid logical fallacies and other errors in reasoning (Figure 3).

Figure 3: Mastering Critical Thinking

If our modern educational systems are going to fuel the innovation necessary to leverage new technologies such as AI to unleash new sources of organizational and societal value, then mastering critical thinking is fundamental.  Especially in an era where data and AI can be manipulated to obfuscate the truth and nefariously sway people’s perspectives, beliefs, and actions.

Future of Education Summary – Part I

AI technologies like ChatGPT are necessitating a transformation of our educational systems and institutions.  Passing tests and getting the right answers is no longer sufficient in an age where AI can access, integrate, and recite knowledge billions if not trillions of times faster than the human mind.

So, what are the skills, capabilities, and experiences that our students and citizens will need to acquire and master in order to prosper in an age where personal and professional success will be based on the application, not the memorization and regurgitation, of knowledge?

In part 1, I introduced two critical educational aspects:

(1) Transformational Education Must Nurture Empowerment

(2) Transformational Education Must Challenge Thinking…Critical Thinking!

The next 2 parts of this series will cover additional critical educational requirements necessary to prepare leaders, professionals, and students to excel at applying new technologies (such as Big Data and AI) to create new sources of organizational and societal value.