How Top Management Thinkers Are Aiding in COVID-19 Response

SMITH BRAIN TRUST – Those who say the coronavirus pandemic is ushering in an end to the century-long era of globalization are “utterly wrong,” says Maryland Smith’s Anil K. Gupta.

That false, but often-repeated perception is part of the reason why Gupta and Haiyan Wang, MBA ’95, have decided to come together with other noted experts on management, strategy and globalization to aid in coronavirus pandemic relief.

Gupta and Wang, ranked No. 25 in Thinkers50’s latest global rankings, will take part in “Reimagine the Future: How To Rethink Tomorrow for You and Your Organization,” a webinar extravaganza hosted by the Thinkers50 organization to benefit charities worldwide. (See this video for a preview of their analysis.)

“What’s already been dying for many years is the old globalization driven by trade in physical goods,” says Gupta. “In its place, what’s roaring ahead is the new ‘digital’ globalization with far greater and positive impact on the global economy than the old globalization.”

The May 6 event will feature 24 webinars in 24 hours, with “the very best in the world of management” as speakers, including many standouts on the current Thinkers50 global ranking and others from the elite expert community. The speakers are donating their time, ideas and insights to provide participants with tools, concepts and frameworks to understand and shape the future. All profits from the summit will go to charities aiding in the COVID-19 response.

Gupta is the Michael D. Dingman Chair in Strategy, Globalization and Entrepreneurship at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business, and Wang, a Maryland Smith MBA graduate, is managing partner of China India Institute, which she co-founded with Gupta. The pair will speak on the topic of “COVID-19 and the Future of Globalization.”

In November, Gupta and Wang rose to No. 25 on the Thinkers50 ranking of the world’s most influential management thinkers, a list that’s updated every two years and billed as “the essential guide to which thinkers and which ideas matter now.” The list is compiled by U.K. business consultants and authors Stuart Crainer and Des Dearlove.

Other prominent experts, academics and authors in the webinar include Dave Ulrich, Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Renée Mauborgne, and Daniel Pink.

Webinar participants will be able to email questions to the speakers before the event and sessions will be interactive. Participants will be able to access the content for a year after the event. To register, visit reimaginethefuture.io.