6 minute read
From Turnaround to Transformation (2018-2021)
Dear Thunderbird Global Family,
Imagine the year 2096 as we close out the 21st century. What will we as human beings have evolved into? How will our enterprises, societies, economies, and polities be organized? Will our planet not only be sustainable but flourishing? Will humanity have begun to inhabit space? Will the incredible potential of the 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th ... ‘Industrial Revolutions’ be realized?
Advertisement
T-birds everywhere — join me and us in building the Thunderbird Intergalactic Academy of Leadership over the next 75 years. Together we can engender transformative progress and truly achieve sustainable and inclusive prosperity worldwide, into outer space, and beyond (see Thunderbird in 2096 article on page 38).
This year, my dear friends, is the 75th anniversary of our beloved institution. We have come a long way from the founding of the American Institute for Foreign Trade in Glendale in 1946 to Thunderbird School of Global Management with the Arizona State University Enterprise. We will cherish those seven and one-half decades during our Global Reunion and new Global Headquarters Grand Opening in the first week of November 2021 (see the celebration details on page 14 and book your tickets!).
We will especially celebrate the last three years during which we have engineered one of the greatest turnarounds in global higher education history. Thunderbird 4.0 @ ASU has risen from the ashes in Phoenix and we are once again the vanguard of the vanguard of global leadership and management in the world (see the breathtaking achievements of our first two years on page 6).
In fact, we have grown even faster and pioneered even greater innovation over the last year despite the manifold complexities, constraints, and challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic (see how Thunderbird innovated through COVID-19 on page 28). We have continued to blitz-scale an unprecedented worldwide network model — we are Thunderbird across the world with our most digitally advanced Phoenix global headquarters and 20 regional centers of excellence in every region by the end of 2021 (read more about our centers of excellence on page 46).
T-birds everywhere should be proud, confident, and inspired — we have not just survived — we are thriving!
T-BIRDS THRIVE IN ADVERSITY
Today, amidst the multiple associated pandemics ravaging humanity — anti-globalism and exclusionary-isms of all kinds, accelerating climate change and ecosystem destruction, COVID-19 and another global economic crisis, we T-birds are once again being called to duty. We do this amidst the greatest technological transformations ever witnessed — the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
Just as when our founders established our beloved institution in 1946 to not only train a new generation of global leaders but to rebuild Europe with the Marshall Plan and fashion the post-WWII international system, we must ensure that 2021 is the start of an unparalleled decade of action, renewal, and transformation — to achieve the UN global Sustainable Development Goals and more, much more, for people, prosperity, and planet.
From our founding as a professional institute dedicated to spreading peace through international commerce and diplomacy after the Second World War, through the eras of decolonization and the Cold War, Thunderbird soared. The 1990s should have been another decade for us to shine but we lost our way and entered our “Kodak moment.” The School declined further with the shocks of 9/11 followed by the global crisis of 2008-09 and subsequent worldwide recession.
COVID-19 and associated pandemics have tested our fortitude and flexibility as educators and as a community, and in true Thunderbird fashion, we have risen to the occasion and adapted with creativity, conviction, and compassion. To name just a few examples, we safely transitioned to high-tech, high-touch hybrid modes of learning that accommodated the needs of our students and faculty, we launched innovative digital academic and executive programs, we saw first classes earn new degree offerings, and we delivered cutting-edge technologically enhanced commencement ceremonies for our graduates, among many other feats achieved during a period of turbulence that stretched many organizations to their breaking points.
JOINING FORCES FOR GLOBAL JUSTICE, EQUITY, DIVERSITY, INCLUSION, & SUSTAINABILITY
As we continue creating prosperous and equitable futures, new beginnings await us in the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Thunderbird always preached global leadership and management practices for turning pitfalls into windfalls, and adversities into opportunities. Pioneering innovation when others retreat is the Thunderbird way, and our success in navigating disruption with agility has continued to accelerate in scale since the pandemic emerged.
Although the world has changed in unprecedented ways, one constant remains at Thunderbird — our collective commitment to transformative, purpose-driven global leadership, management, and business education that advances inclusive, sustainable prosperity worldwide, an esprit de corps as vital today as it has ever been in the School’s 75-year history.
The culture of family and sense of unity that we have always cultivated at Thunderbird constitute a strength that has served us especially well in this time of adversity when the world is reckoning with the need to live up to ideals of social justice. Our Thunderbird Oath of Honor consists of three fundamental principles:
Keeping the Oath of Honor has never been more important, and our evolution as a global institution includes refusing to settle for anything less than leadership in embodying these fundamental principles throughout all our operations and activities, from hiring and recruiting to training to thought leadership to our partnerships from the local to international levels.
Our new Global JEDIS task force (short for Justice, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, & Sustainability) is broad in scope and deep in impact—far more than an advisory council, its work is already bringing a new vitality to everything we do. We have prioritized robust initiatives and devoted organizational resources to ensure that Thunderbird shines brighter than ever before as a beacon of hope, learning, and excellence for all, and I’m proud to say the whole team of faculty, staff, students, and alumni continues to embrace and deliver on our drive to cultivate Thunderbird as a paragon of worldwide welcome (read more about our Global JEDIS taskforce on page 27).
THUNDERBIRD IS NOT A PLACE, IT IS AN IDEA
At Thunderbird, we believe ambition and opportunity are mutually energizing. That’s why we help students develop the agility, determination, and strategic thinking sought after by today’s transnational organizations. We graduate principled professionals who jump into the real world with a grounded sense of self, free of entitlement, guided by an abiding dedication to improving the state of the world and planet for all.
This 75-years-and-running project gets a new home base worthy of its storied mission when our stateof-the-art Thunderbird Global Headquarters opens on ASU’s Downtown Phoenix campus in the heart of the business district. Its 21st-century design and cutting-edge technology will allow our expert faculty to deliver world-class learning experiences for this new era of 4IR transformation (learn more about the technology in our new global headquarters on page 19). Like our other endeavors, its construction has continued safely and on schedule as we continue innovating and adapting in true T-bird fashion.
We all look forward to celebrating the School’s 75th Anniversary together in our beautiful new building. It’s an exciting time to be a T-bird, so I invite you all to dream big, be proud and confident, and join us for the grand opening, where you can share your inspiration for our next 75 years. Thank you for your support and dedication. I can’t wait to welcome you personally and advance our new glorious chapter as the most global and digital management, leadership, and business academy in the world.
With gratitude,
Sanjeev Khagram, PhD CEO, Director General and Dean
