Professor Keith Schofield (pictured), head of The Open University Business School, welcomes 2026 with an online leadership event later this month, a new BBC radio series and a significant anniversary, as well as looking at the ‘future of work’.

Businesses up and down the country will be hoping that this year sees some light at the end of what feels like a long, dark economic tunnel.

We know at The Open University Business School how much strong leadership matters as firms navigate their way around changes, on the macro and micro front, including the inevitable impact of AI, while trying to keep that all-important human connection going within workforces.

Our academics and alumni are supporting a webinar on leadership which I would invite readers to tap into this January. It’s called ‘Making the case for leadership education’ and featuresan online panel discussing business leadership.

MBA alumna Rachel Blackburn, now an MBE, who herself was sponsored to undertake OU study, is the guest host on Wednesday 28 January from 11am. Having left school at 16, Rachel worked towards an MBA before building a flourishing Norwich-based consultancy business inspired by the course teachings.

Fellow MBA alumna Susan Hamilton, CEO of St Peter’s Hospice in Bristol, will be joined on the panel by our new MBA Director, Dr Aqueel Wahga, and Dr Fidele Mutwarasibo, Associate Head of the Business School – External Engagement, to bring private, public and third sector insights to leadership development.

The quartet will discuss why leadership training investment in core programmes such as our MBA remains important for employers and how to build a business case to invest in leaders. Find out further information and register.

This time of year also means a popular OU / BBC radio series, The Bottom Line, returns to the airwaves. OU honorary graduate Evan Davis hosts this lively business discussion show in which he is joined by guests to take a weekly look at business, money tips and strategy. Our Lecturer in Marketing Dr Carmen Mal is the academic expert for the nine-part series of half-hour programmes on BBC Radio 4 from Thursday (8 January) lunchtime. The series, and previous ones are also available on BBC Sounds.

Findings about the changing face of work really made me stop and think recently. Professor Jacqueline Baxter heard, at a recent All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Modernising Employment, that 83% of workers now prioritise work-life balance, surpassing the importance of pay for the first time ever. This is based on a report by The Workstyle Revolution which suggests employers should note this change in values and look at how they might maximise talent and impact overall business performance.

The link between employee engagement and the ability of leaders to engage employees in the business was also discussed as vitally important in terms of productivity.

Jacqueline, Professor of Public Leadership and Management, attended the recent session on ‘Workstyle Reimagined: Health, Hiring and the Productivity Shift’ in her capacity as the OU’s academic lead for the APPG’s ‘the Future of Work’ – look out for further updates in the coming months.

Also this year, one of the Business School’s academic centres of excellence, the Centre for Voluntary Sector Leadership (CVSL), celebrates a decade of providing voluntary sector organisations with access to leadership development resources and research-led insight.

Since the Centre’s inception, the voluntary sector has been challenged by austerity measures and the pandemic. Smaller organisations, which form the majority of the sector, have been particularly impacted. Leaders and senior managers of organisations, whether paid or unpaid, are required to operate in a competitive, increasingly commercialised context.

Main image credit: August-de-Richelieu, Pexels