Top teaching honour for sustainability leadership course

Top teaching honour for sustainability leadership course
Associate Professor Ioannis Ioannou wins FT Responsible Business Education Award

Dr Ioannou was awarded the top prize for his ‘Sustainability Leadership: Challenges and Opportunities’ MBA course at this year’s Financial Times Responsible Business Education Awards. In the course, LBS alumni share their expertise on addressing sustainability dilemmas, helping students understand how to create social and economic value in business.

The FT Responsible Business Education Awards honour business schools that tackle issues of sustainability and societal justice. Judge Eric Cornuel, President of the European Foundation for Management Development, said, “The Sustainable Leadership: Challenges and Opportunities course was built around a simple but powerful idea: that sustainability leadership isn’t just about strategy; it’s about people. By focusing on case studies of LBS alumni who are leading the way in sustainability, the course allowed students to learn directly from those navigating the complexities of embedding sustainability into real businesses. From energy and timber to luxury goods and outdoor apparel, these stories helped bridge the gap between theory and practice.”

The FT explained that Dr Ioannou’s Sustainability Leadership and Corporate Responsibility course tackles “head-on” criticism occasionally levelled at MBA courses that they sometimes fail to offer students “hands-on experience”. Dr Ioannou believes that its interactive nature is the key to its success and popularity amongst students. “It’s a first-hand look at the challenges of navigating resistance, making tough trade-offs and fostering innovation in demanding environments. The students didn’t just absorb ideas; they questioned them, pushed boundaries, and explored their own potential as future leaders. Their energy and commitment made every session deeply rewarding.”

Dr Ioannou added that the course was further enriched by the incredible alumni who shared their stories, notably Salman Alam, Jens Berge, Christoph Kulterer, Laura Chavez, Angela Cretu, Andy Rubin, and Sara Brennan. Their candid accounts of making tough decisions and driving change across industries left, said Dr Ioannou, “a lasting impact on everyone in the classroom”.