Development Cohort – Asia Pacific
Development Cohort – Asia Pacific
Enhance your thinking and teaching through collaboration with other like-minded humanistic educators.
New Development Cohort – Asia Pacific beginning October 28th, 2025. Apply today!
Please see the full schedule and session details below. Apply to join by completing the application form at the bottom of the page or click the button below!
Business school professors have the opportunity to not just impart knowledge to students but to engage them in practical applications of that knowledge and to alter their mindsets and perceptions of the world. Through our cohorts designed to share collective wisdom, participants put themselves at the forefront of unlocking the potential in their students to become humanistic leaders and make a significant and needed impact on today’s world.
Our world is hungry for business education that prepares tomorrow’s leaders for the complicated array of considerations including sustainability, talent development, strategic planning, social responsibility and more. In this environment, there is a growing recognition among business school faculty for the need to leverage each other’s insights to teach differently.
Virtual Development Cohort Program Overview
The Cohort Program is a virtual, co-creation experience designed by professors and leaders, for professors and leaders–developing the ability to be, know, and do of humanistic business education. All aspects of the Cohort Program are aligned to the vision of the Humanistic Leadership Academy “creating a world that works for 100% of humanity” as outlined in the Humanistic Leadership Academy Manifesto (Cohort participants are required to read and sign the Manifesto.)
Each session will be hosted virtually from 11:30 IST (UTC+5:30) / 2:00 Singapore/China Standard Time (UTC+8) / 17:00 Sydney (AEDT, UTC+11) / 06:00 UTC. Participants will truly create the experience as a collective group while learning and sharing new pedagogical methods that forward the work of humanizing business education.
| Date | Development Cohort – Asia Pacific 2026 Schedule (English) |
|---|---|
| 03/10/26 | Session 1: Kickoff and Cohort Participants’ Introductions |
| 03/17/26 | Session 2: Listening, Recognition and Gratitude |
| 03/24/26 | Session 3: Care and Accountability |
| 04/07/26 | Session 4: Dignity and Human Flourishing |
| 04/14/26 | Session 5: Authenticity |
| 04/21/26 | Session 6: Knowing our motivations |
| 04/28/26 | Session 7: Creating Allies & Supportive Structures |
| 05/05/26 | Session 8: Commitments and Celebration |
Meet your 2025 Asia Pacific Cohort Leaders!
Em Roblin
Em Roblin catalyzes transformation where thriving leadership meets transdisciplinary design, helping leaders, teams, and communities imagine flourishing futures and bring them to life. For close to twenty years, Em has worked across individual, organizational, and systemic levels facilitating breakthrough leadership development at scale. She has worked with 15+ multinational companies including Unilever, P&G, Logitech, and Dell. Today, her work increasingly centers on VCs, scale ups, founders, and innovative communities reimagining education and society.
Em is a doctoral candidate in Transformative Studies at the California Institute of Integral Studies and was a Fellow of the International Humanistic Management Association 2024-25. She is increasingly engaged in initiatives to transform business education for flourishing.
Originally from Toronto, Em has spent two decades based in Asia, with fifteen years based in China, and now lives in Indonesia. She has three children and travels extensively as a family while serving clients worldwide.
Ankur Jain
Ankur Jain is an avid teacher and researcher with a focus on leadership, leader development, and human–technology interaction. He is an Assistant Professor in the Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management area at the Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode.
Previously, he served as a faculty member at the Indian Institute of Management Rohtak. He earned his PhD from the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore, where his research examined the implications of automation for work in organizations.
His core interest lies in understanding how uncertainty impacts people–the challenges it poses as well as the opportunities it creates. His research in the related areas of the Future of Work and Leader Development has been published in peer-reviewed journals such as Organizational Dynamics and IIMB Management Review, and presented at leading national and international conferences, including the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, the British Academy of Management Conference, and the European Group for Organizational Studies (EGOS) Colloquium.
He teaches courses on Organization Design, Human–Technology Interaction, Leadership and Change Management, and Managing from the Inside-Out.
Passionate about learner-centered pedagogy, he frequently experiments with innovative teaching methods in the classroom, and his efforts have been recognized with the Teaching Performance Award at IIM Rohtak (2023) and the Professor of the Year recognition by InsideIIM (2020 and 2021).
FAQ’s
Q: What is the cost for participation?
A: There is no cost for cohort participation. If there is an in-person event, there may be travel costs based on your city of origin. However, there is financial assistance available, and we are working to secure additional funding so that travel costs are never an impediment.
Q: What is the curriculum like?
A: We are looking to achieve harmony across the Be.Know.Do dimensions, with a focus on Being. The Kickoff and Cohort sessions will be facilitated but with ample space for the Cohort participants to co-create the experience and engage in a lot of personal sharing. The Pre-Kickoff and Personal Learning sessions will be focused more on Knowing and Doing.
Q: What are some potential topics within the curriculum?
A: Topics always incorporate the experience and expertise of those in each Cohort. Past topics have included Professor Discernment, Transformational Pedagogy, Understanding One’s Calling, Auto-Ethnography, Haiku of You, and Quantum Leadership.
Q: What organizations is this effort linked to?
A: We have a growing list of partners that include the UN PRME, Ashoka, Net Impact, Conscious Capitalism, and associations of Jesuit Universities. The International Humanistic Management Association is a driving force in the initiative alongside the Barry-Wehmiller company, Fairtrasa, and a host of others. We seek to create a space where members of all these organizations can connect, share, grow and ultimately change the world.
We must find these small groups of people to collaborate, and make a meaningful difference in the world, and begin to amplify these goals of introducing more humanistic leadership into business. Finding like-minded leaders who are trying to disruptively create a better future for our world is encouraging.
CHRIS LASZLO
Professor of Organizational Behavior, Case Western Reserve University
Apply to join our next Cohort Program Opportunity
- Read and sign our Manifesto.
- Submit the information requested below.