The Future of Work Is Already Here

• Competition for students will increase as some countries experience declining population growth and globalization trends give students more educational options.
• Advances in artificial intelligence mean more employers are looking for graduates with technological skills even as AI starts replacing humans in some jobs.
• Schools must respond by creating innovative programs and updating them frequently with the input of employers, students, and advisory boards.

 
“The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance.” Those words from philosopher Alan Wilson Watts are particularly apt when we consider today’s workplace, which is undergoing radical change at a pace unmatched in recent decades.

As powerful new trends reshape the business world, it’s clear the future of work is already here. These new trends include dramatic shifts in the global economic environment, profound transformations within organizations, evolving trends across demographics, and rising expectations for both leaders and workers.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is accelerating these forces, amplifying their reach and impact. While AI is still in its early stages, it is being applied in the workplace at a pace that is surpassing projections made just a year ago. Many observers—from former IBM CEO Ginni Rometty to author and New York University professor Scott Galloway—have come to some variation of the same conclusion: “AI might not take your job, but those who master it might well take opportunities you miss.”

While many of the changes are daunting, some are beneficial. For instance, as organizations become flatter and workers more dispersed, hierarchical decision-making and top-down leadership are becoming obsolete. Younger workers are demanding more participation in decision-making and seeking to find greater meaning in their jobs and make a stronger impact earlier in their careers.

This cultural shift is not only inevitable but advantageous. In its 2025 Human Capital Trends Report, Deloitte notes that “high-performing organizations are 22 times more likely to openly discuss strategies for how decisions will be made, nine times more likely to teach decision-making skills and capabilities, and seven times more likely to provide tools to support higher-quality decision-making than are low-performing organizations.”

These trends are also having a profound impact on business schools, which must adapt their offerings so they can turn out the graduates that today’s businesses need. Fewer employers and employees value traditional four-year degrees; instead, they prize shorter, technical, hands-on learning opportunities that provide students with in-demand skills. For business schools looking to stay relevant in the current economic environment, the stakes could not be higher.

A Closer Look at Change Drivers

While many factors are shaping the future of work, three are having the most profound effects: demographics, technology, and globalization (as well as deglobalization).

Demographics. Until recently, emerging markets such as China and India had been growing rapidly. However, since the turn of the century, some of these countries, especially China, have experienced falling birth rates and flat or declining populations.

This demographic reversal will have profound implications for the country’s businesses, because it will lead to an aging workforce. But it will also affect higher education because it will result in lower college enrollments and intensified competition among schools for students. Prospective students will expect business schools to demonstrate a high ROI on their degrees, especially as tuition costs keep rising. Therefore, schools must ensure that their programs are up-to-date and relevant.

Technology. Advances in automation, digitization, and especially AI have delivered undeniable benefits: higher productivity, greater availability of goods and services, and better living standards. Yet these advances also raise concerns. For instance, agentic AI is taking on analytical and decision-making tasks once reserved for humans, which will affect what jobs are available in the future.

Business schools must take a twofold approach to meeting this technological challenge: They must equip students with cutting-edge AI tools and teach them how to continually adapt to and master new approaches. As Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, has noted: “Some people will use AI to not learn, and some will use AI to learn more.” It’s up to schools to make sure their graduates fall into the second category.

The three factors having the most profound impact on the future of work are demographics, technology, and globalization (as well as deglobalization).

Globalization and deglobalization. Trade and integration have overall positive impacts on society, such as providing more outlets for goods and services and leading to more competitively priced products. But globalization also has drawbacks. For instance, in the U.S., it first led to the offshoring of manufacturing jobs and then to the outsourcing of services-sector work in finance, law, and engineering. (Now, AI is assuming many of the tasks once sent abroad, resulting in another business shift.)

Globalization trends also are impacting universities. While North America remains the leader in business education enrollments, regions such as Europe, Africa, and the Middle East are gaining momentum. This means all universities are facing stiffer competition as they recruit students and faculty. At the same time, deglobalization pressures—such as immigration policies—are shrinking the applicant pool for some schools and constraining the opportunities students have when they study abroad.

Key Responses

Schools must devise rapid, targeted responses to each of these challenges. To counter declining enrollments caused by demographic shifts and heightened global competition, schools will need to make their programs more attractive to potential students. Keeping up with with advances in AI will require them to invest in new technology and find ways to integrate it into their curricula.

In short, it will be necessary for schools to constantly create and refine innovative programming that meets the needs of both students and employers. Schools can do this by following these five steps:

Make change the norm. Universities, with their centuries-old traditions, are not known for agility. Yet to prepare graduates for the volatile, fast-changing workforce, business schools must treat adaptability as a core value.

This is something we have worked toward at the Villanova School of Business (VSB) in Pennsylvania, where I am dean. We strive to instill a mindset of agility in our leaders, faculty, and staff through training, retreats, and workshops. We also encourage experimentation—and even when pilots fail, we reward innovation. When failure is reframed as learning, it becomes part of the innovation process.

Stress-test programs and courses for relevance. It’s important for business schools to continuously evaluate whether their programs produce employment-ready graduates. Administrators can use scenario planning, budget analyses, alumni feedback, and structured off-site events to help them decide what courses to keep, refine, or retire.

At VSB, we have increased the frequency of program reviews to challenge assumptions and rebalance our portfolio. The rigor ensures we are not teaching yesterday’s skills for tomorrow’s jobs.

Fully account for all costs. Too often, resources are treated as fixed rather than redeployable. To properly evaluate programs, administrators must consider their full costs, including the time and energy it takes to oversee them. Legacy thinking—“We do it this way because we always have”—must give way to purposeful intent.

At Villanova, we bring a full-chain lens to fiscal decisions by organizing cross-functional program teams that include our chief financial officer. This approach leads to transparency, clarity, and efficiency.

The role of business schools is not merely to respond to changes at the frontier of business, but to anticipate—and lead through—these changes.

Partner with key stakeholders. Engagement with employers has never been more important. When schools convene advisory boards, employer forums, one-on-one meetings, and town halls, they will be able to identify the skills employers actually need.

At our school, we gain critical insight across programs through our nine advisory boards that include more than 225 senior executives. Our relationships with these business leaders not only inform our curriculum, but also enhance student recruitment.

Incentivize continuous reinvention. Too often, academic practices are rolled over from semester to semester. Instead, schools must look for ways to innovate academic courses as well as extracurricular programming, where meaningful learning increasingly occurs. By making reinvention systematic, schools avoid complacency and remain aligned with industry trends.

At VSB, we run a required four-year professional development program to ensure that students regularly expand their skills. We also provide faculty with innovation grants to support pedagogical experimentation, including the integration of AI into coursework.

Future-Proofing the Business School

The role of business schools is not merely to respond to changes at the frontier of business, but to anticipate—and lead through—these changes. At VSB, we are navigating volatility by committing to systems and structures that adapt quickly to evolving conditions. Our current motto, “agility in action,” not only shapes our programs and curricula, but also informs our budgeting process, faculty development offerings, and stakeholder engagement efforts.

Therefore, in addition to taking the steps outlined above, we are committing to three innovation strategies:

We’re undertaking ongoing redesign of our undergraduate and graduate curricula. For example, in addition to creating new courses, majors, and concentrations in AI, we are also encouraging—and incentivizing—the integration of AI into courses whenever and wherever it makes sense.

We’re redefining leadership roles to align with emerging priorities. We have unified our graduate and executive program leadership to ensure we are leveraging our offerings across those areas for maximum efficiency. We are also doubling down on our advising and professional development initiatives by ensuring we have the right leadership for those offerings, just as we would for our curricular programs.

We’re engaging students, alumni, employers, and partners in substantive dialogue about the future. Not only do we seek direct feedback on our programs from members of our advisory councils, we also solicit real-time feedback from students and employers. Their comments provide us with insights on our overall strategic direction and our many related initiatives.

The future is not arriving someday—it is here now. Leaders must display agility to avoid being anchored in the past. For business schools, the responsibility is clear: We must prepare graduates not just for their first jobs, but for lifetimes of adaptability.