The Artificial MBA? Ask Who You Become, Not What You Gain

As a member of the George Fox Advisory Board for over 15 years, I’ve watched – and in small ways helped shape – the thinking of students working to reach their highest potential, both as executives and as human beings. I also serve as an advisory member for the university’s MBA program.

There are moments in life when I feel called to serve during times of structural transformation. This is one of those moments. Why? Why now? Read on.

Write Your Story

The story you’re living is written every day. It can feel planned, thought through, defined – but not these days. The story we write now needs a new script each time we open our phones and take in the actions, comments and crises of our world.

We tend toward one of two reactions: We wait anxiously for the next shoe to drop, or we obsess over everything we see, hear and guess at. Both are reactionary. Both fall short of the narrative we want for ourselves as leaders. But it’s easy to get swept up in the strange, tantalizing torment of being alive in this new era – the era of AI, of endless opinions, and of the growing noise in our own heads.

I felt this same anguish 40 years ago, anticipating the new era of computing, AI and chip technology, and the new forms of leadership they would demand. I asked myself what I was meant to do, and why. That was the dawn of the internet, new chips, and what we now call user interfaces. It was also the era of servant leadership, management by objectives, and the very definition of strategy. Leadership structures were in transformation then, just as they are today.

I feel young again – because my dreams for you are greater than my memories of myself. This blog post is about the person I have yet to meet, not the thoughts I’ve already encountered. It’s about the original thought inside you, still waiting to be released – thought that becomes action, action that can redefine our reality for the better, for others to build on. Where is your original thought – the one that could become a unique solution to the pressing needs of our society?

MBAs are offered everywhere, and AI offerings are as common as cups of coffee. But the next time you drink one from Starbucks, remember: It began with a single thought – a unique recipe of ideas that grew into a culture. Do you have that in you? Can an MBA sharpen your will and your confidence enough to have a thought like that?

I’ve guest lectured for 15 years in the George Fox MBA program, and what I’ve witnessed is thoughtful dialogue guided by teachers who know the fine art of curating learnings. The AI-focused MBA is at another level altogether, bringing in experts as well as mutual discovery. This is not the realm of experts teaching learners. This is the realm of learners sharing their experiments in a field that is evolving daily.

I can offer my opinions on this market. I’m a practitioner, author and speaker in the field, so naturally I have one. But my real opinion is this: You need to find a place, an environment, that engages your thinking and makes it uniquely valuable to the world. If you don’t, it’s a theft of the spirit.

That's why I’m excited about the university’s new AI MBA. Rather than treating AI as another software tool to master, the program challenges students to become wiser decision-makers – leaders who understand both the capabilities and the limits of artificial intelligence.

Generative AI is fast approaching Artificial General Intelligence. Its ability to surpass human thinking is billed as the next revolution. And yet today, machines still can’t independently do our laundry – even as bigger promises are made. My own research leads me to a hard conclusion: Many of us will hand over our cognitive sovereignty to machines simply out of convenience, because “good enough” from the machine feels good enough. In doing so, we risk forgetting where to find our inner innovator – our original thoughts. It won’t take practice to form an opinion from data, or to write, speak and propose solutions. Everyone will sound articulate and witty.

But only a few will be able to see through the fog of the future, imagine the path forward, and solve the problem using nothing but their own mind. Those few will be the ones who used the AI era to sharpen their own thinking – not to outsource it to the machine.

Choose Your ‘MBA Self’

There’s nothing wrong with pursuing higher education. It’s prestigious. But it’s a badge of experience, not a badge of honor. Honor comes from doing something honorable. So choose an MBA that stimulates and shapes your new self alongside AI-enabling technology – while you design your own innate capacity from within. Otherwise, you’ll sleepwalk through your education, knowing more about the subject, and less about yourself.

George Fox’s MBA program is designed for experimentation and self-directed discovery. Like any college degree, you get what you put into it.

AI-Obsession or AI-Enabled?

If you default to convenience, settle for “good enough,” and hand your judgment over to machines, you may be drifting toward AI-obsession. If you believe machines will dominate, and that the world of work will bow to efficiency instead of pursuing transformative solutions, you may already be there.

Many have fallen into this trap. But there’s another path.

Find the unique recipe of competencies that machines simply cannot reach, because they aren’t replaceable by machines. Trust what makes you you, and build on that through your education. Use AI in service of that, not in place of it. Be your own first opinion. Find your breakthroughs, act on them, and build scaffolding that others can climb. That’s how you become AI-enabled and insight-powered.

The George Fox MBA program is about being AI-enabled, not AI afraid. In this program, you are expected to not be just tech-enabled but thought-enabled using technology.

With AI, Being More Human Is ‘Good’

Everyone likes to say that empathy, compassion and human judgment will always outrun AI. I’m not so sure. I know plenty of people who already lack these traits – and machines can imitate them well enough. What seems truly unreachable is innovative, transformational thinking and action in the face of an undefined future. Humans have a unique capacity to dream, because we actually sleep. Machines can’t dream; they’re awake to the past and the present, always.

So live for tomorrow, and don’t let your history imprison you. That’s why I still feel young: My dreams outweigh my memories.

I wish you many explorations.