As the world grapples with systemic challenges such as climate change, inequality and issues of diversity, equity and inclusion, leaders are being called upon to embrace a more humanistic style of management and nurture their social and emotional skills.

Several business schools run executive education courses tailored to operations leaders. On these programs, the participants learn everything from agile manufacturing to design thinking, lean methodologies and even storytelling. Many of the courses link operations to strategy, underscoring the cross-disciplinary nature of these subjects. Other courses focus more on how operations relates to supply chain management, which is increasing under the spotlight in the pandemic.

Family companies are the engines of economic develop across the world, and they play an important role in labor market, employing the vast majority of private sector workers. They also tend to be more resilient than other companies with lower insolvency rates through crises.