This special edition of the AMBITION Podcast, kindly sponsored by S&P Global Market Intelligence, investigates Environmental, Social and Governance strategy – and why, now more than ever, it has become imperative for investment in resilient and sustainable corporate and community ecosystems.

Back in February 2020, at the AMBA & BGA Excellence Awards, 16 MBA graduates from Mannheim Business School scooped the coveted award for Business School Impact on Community and Society.

The team’s project objective was to create, publish and promote a children’s book focused on creating an awareness of unity, diversity, and integrity in young children, as they are still innocent and not influenced by thoughts such as racism. Its secondary objective was to encourage children to read more books.

Their book, entitled ‘Wo ist Amir’, is aimed at children aged four to eight, in kindergarten and in the first year of primary school. We spoke to Sahil Karmani, Lillian Pkyiu, and Shrishti Gupta to find out more about how they came up with the idea for the book and where they plan to take their project in the future.

Nia Watkin Jones talks all things higher education in this episode of the AMBITION Podcast. Offering her expertise from her role as MBA Assistant Director at Alliance Manchester Business School, she discusses international student recruitment, corporate partnerships, alumni relations and staying ahead of the curve with technology in MBA programmes.

How do teams strike the balance between working functionally and being able to create fun and friendly relationships with one another? We asked Marco Buschman just that and he was able to give us some insight from his new book, The Connection Quotient: How a culture of understanding transforms teams and organisations, to give us an answer. During the interview, Marco was also able to give some advice to leaders on how to successfully manage teams in a virtual working environment.

Did you struggle to buy pasta at the start of the lockdown? We spoke to circular economy expert Amir Sharif from the School of Management, University of Bradford about how Covid-19 threatened food security around the globe and how our listeners could contribute to a more circular and sustainable future.

Sustainability and a move away from 'fast fashion' is a hot topic for today's climate-conscious fashionistas. Business graduate Natalia Kalali shares the fascinating story of how she launched her own sustainable fashion brand, La Milla. She also talks about some incredible –albeit inconvenient – truths around the dangers of 'fast fashion' and some useful tips on how to shop for clothes in a more sustainable way.

Are Business Schools doing enough to produce ethical and sustainable leaders that will be able to deal with the current and future business environment? We put that challenging question to Geoff Moore, who teaches sustainability, business ethics and corporate responsibility at Durham University. In this episode, Geoff shares some fascinating views and his opinions on how the Covid-19 pandemic might have an impact on the ethics of organisations, for better or for worse.

Tania Easton is a consultant on Business School strategy, communication and accreditation. In this interview, she discusses potential strategies for Business Schools 'beyond accreditation' and the further implications accreditations can have on decision making, programme content and the overall strategy of a Business School.

In this episode of The AMBITION Podcast we take some time out to catch up with Udo Richson winner of AMBA's MBA Student of the Year 2020. Find out how he managed to get the very most out of his MBA at IE Business School, and how he started his own charity helping refugees acclimatise to life in Austria. Udo also shares his views on the pharmaceutical sector in which he now works.