CLASSROOM-BASED COHORT STARTS IN FALL 2018
ONLINE-BASED COHORT STARTS IN SPRING 2019
The ability to effectively lead and manage a range of social, ethical, and environmental concerns and leverage them for competitive success has become a core requirement for modern organizational effectiveness and our future. There is also a growing consensus that current economic business models based on unrestricted growth and consumerism are untenable and that solutions for a sustainable, flourishing world require a new model of leadership that places employee well-being and social and environmental sustainability on par with profitability and maximizing shareholder wealth. This need for economic growth, merged with sustainable development, defined as meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs as well, was highlighted by the “2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” that was adopted by UN nations in 2015. A 2017 report by the Business and Sustainable Development Commission identified $12 trillion in business opportunities related to the goals identified in the 2030 Agenda.
To meet these modern leadership opportunities and challenges, Texas A&M University—Central Texas have created a truly unique graduate program, the M.S. in One Planet Leadership (OPL). The “One Planet” concept originated from a World Wildlife Fund project on One Planet Living in 2007-2008. The report estimated that annually the United States and Europe consume five and three times, respectively, what the Earth could sustain. The MS OPL program embraces the call for embedding sustainability principles into the core curriculum, while challenging students to explore the complex task of creating and leading learning organizations that simultaneously maximize employee well-being, social responsibility, and performance excellence –the triple bottom line or People, Planet, and Profit.
Our rigorous curriculum challenges students to address critical issues facing the state of the business world, emerging societal issues, the dominant economic logic driving business, the purpose of business, and the crucial role leadership plays. The OPL curriculum also cultivates the leadership and management skills that are essential for making the business case for sustainable development with an emphasis on global awareness, cross-cultural sensitivity, building strong communication skills, creativity and innovative problem-solving, the creation and maintenance of collaborative and productive teams, and the enactment and support of socially responsible behavior. The result is a one planet-focused leadership program that equips students to become self-aware, sustainability-conscious leaders prepared to address the critical economic, social, and environmental issues facing today’s organizations.
Texas A&M University-Central Texas is proud to be one of the founding One Planet Business Schools (for more information visit: OnePlanetBusiness.Org). These schools have committed to embedding sustainability and responsibility into their teaching and research, as well as the practices of the university.
One Planet programs are inclusive and believe that a sustainable business education should accessible, affordable, and relevant to all. We share a deep commitment and ambition for sustainable business education that is progressive, innovative in approach, and international in outlook.
As a One Planet Business School, A&M—Central Texas is committed to aligning itself with the One Planet Business Education Framework. This framework is composed of Eight Key Principles to which all partner organizations of the One Planet Education Network ( OPEN) for Business are expected to adhere, but to interpret intelligently based on their individual context: