Management Education Must Be Reimagined for the Age of AI: Chief Economic Advisor Dr V. Anantha Nageswaran Exhorts Deans at IMC 2026

Organised by MBAUniverse.com, the 16th edition of the Conclave was inaugurated by Dr V. Anantha Nageswaran, Chief Economic Advisor, Government of India, on September 18, 2026. The Conclave was also addressed by Mr Raghav Gupta, Head of Education – India & Asia Pacific, OpenAI, and management thinker Mr Vineet Nayar, alongside Directors from the IIMs, ISB, IITs, XLRI, SPJIMR, MDI and leading global business schools. Day 1 also saw more than 100 paper presentations at the IMC International Research Conference, the presentations for the IMC Awards 2026 competition and a Masterclass by OpenAI. Dr M. P. Gupta, Director, IIM Lucknow, said that his institution is taking steps to be a front-runner in AI education for managers.

(L-R) Dr M P Gupta, Director, IIM Lucknow; Dr V. Anantha Nageswaran, Chief Economic Advisor (CEA), Government of India; Dr Amit Agnihotri, Founder & Chair, Indian Management Conclave; Mr Vineet Nayar, Founder, Sampark Foundation; Former CEO, HCL Technologies; Dr Harivansh Chaturvedi, Director General, IILM, New Delhi; Mr Raghav Gupta, Head of Education - India & Asia Pacific, OpenAI

Addressing IMC 2026, Dr Nageswaran said: “While AI is very good at single, clean, codified tasks, it is poor at the messy tasks. So the jobs that survive in the Age of AI are the messy ones.” He further added, “A manager’s job is ‘messy’ as the manager handles ambiguity, reconciles people who disagree, and takes accountability.” On the other hand, AI can draft a memo, but not “persuade a stubborn supervisor to change how the line is run.” He concluded that the manager thus “survives the Age of AI”.

To be effective in the Age of AI, business schools should teach “judgement”. In the past, managers learnt judgement on the job; now, B-schools have to teach judgement in the classroom. This is a huge challenge for management education.

Dr Nageswaran offered the B-school leaders attending IMC 2026 four specific pieces of advice to navigate the Age of AI.

• First, teach judgement, not just technique. If AI now does the analysis, the scarce skill is knowing which question to ask, and whether to trust the answer that comes back. That is judgement.
• Second, teach resilience, not only efficiency. The old model worshipped operational efficiency – lean, just in time, single source, zero buffer. That model is fragile in a world of shocks. The manager of the future must know how to build redundancy and options systematically.
• Third, teach students to read the world, not just the firm. A manager today cannot ignore geopolitics, energy and technology.
• Fourth, teach attention and character. In a world of endless distraction, the plain ability to concentrate becomes a competitive advantage. In a world where a rule can always be bent through a relationship, honesty and trust become the rarest assets a manager can carry.

Ending his talk on a positive note, Dr Nageswaran said: “I think management education will survive the Age of AI. But only if B-schools stop focussing on developing just analytical thinking, and build judgement and character in MBAs.”

Earlier, reflecting on the IMC 2026 theme, Dr Amit Agnihotri, Founder and Chair, IMC 2026, said, “Artificial Intelligence is reshaping business processes and the nature of managerial work, with studies showing AI moving from experimentation to enterprise-wide use and compressing the routine analytical work that once distinguished a strong MBA graduate.” He further added that employers place a growing premium on “judgement, critical thinking and leadership”.

Plenary Session 1: Management Education in the Age of AI

Day 1 of the Conclave also featured two plenary sessions. With Artificial Intelligence witnessing rapid adoption among both students and faculty at B-schools, the first plenary, titled “Management Education in the Age of AI”, examined how management education must evolve for the AI era. The session was addressed by Dr Varun Nagaraj, Dean, SPJIMR Mumbai; Dr Arvind Sahay, Director, MDI Gurgaon; Dr Suresh Ramanathan, CEO, IMI Delhi, Kolkata & Bhubaneswar; and Prof Vishal Karungulam, Academic Director, Centre for Learning & Teaching Excellence and Lab, Indian School of Business (ISB). Mr Dviwesh Mehta, Director, Asia Pacific, Harvard Business Impact, moderated the session.

(L-R) Dr Amit Agnihotri, Founder & Chair, Indian Management Conclave; Mr Dviwesh Mehta, Director, Asia Pacific, Harvard Business Impact; Dr Varun Nagaraj, Dean, SPJIMR Mumbai; Dr Arvind Sahay, Director, MDI Gurgaon; Dr Suresh Ramanathan, CEO, IMI Delhi, Kolkata & Bhubaneswar; Prof Vishal Karungulam, Academic Director, Centre for Learning & Teaching Excellence and Lab, Indian School of Business (ISB)

Plenary Session 2: Management Research in the Age of AI
As the use of AI tools in research and publication grows rapidly, the panel of distinguished editors examined the evolving landscape of research in the age of generative AI – how these tools are reshaping research design, methodology and publishing, and the critical questions they raise around ethics, originality and academic rigour. The editors cautioned that authors must use AI tools judiciously and retain full responsibility for their work. The session was addressed by Dr Satyabhusan Dash, Dean, Noida Campus, IIM Lucknow; Dr Arpan Kar, Professor & Chair in Information Systems, IIT Delhi; and Dr Debasis Pradhan, Editor, Management and Labour Studies (XLRI), and Director, TAPMI Manipal. Dr Raj Krishnan Shankar, Director, Great Lakes Institute of Management, Gurgaon, was the session moderator.

IMC International Research Conference (IMC-IRC) 2026 Hosts Top Deans and 100+ Scholars
A key highlight of IMC 2026 is the IMC International Research Conference (IMC-IRC) 2026 – South Asia’s only conference dedicated to research in management education. The IMC-IRC 2026 witnessed more than 100 paper presentations from scholars drawn from all parts of India, with the track chairs among the foremost research leaders in the country.

IMC-IRC 2026 track chairs who participated in the discussions include Dr Satyabhusan Dash, Dean, IIM Lucknow Noida Campus; Dr Arpan Kar, Endowed Chair Professor, DMS & School of AI, IIT Delhi; and Dr Praveen Ranjan Srivastava, Dean (Research), IIM Rohtak. Dr Rajesh K Singh, Professor & Chairperson, GP Admissions, MDI Gurgaon; Dr Neerja Pande, Professor, IIM Lucknow; Dr Prakash Singh, Professor, IIM Lucknow; Dr Anjali Bansal, Professor, IIM Lucknow; Dr Sachin Kumar Mangla, Dean Research, FORE Delhi; and other senior academic leaders.

Stay tuned to MBAUniverse.com for more highlights from the 16th Indian Management Conclave 2026.