Leadership expert tops the bill at Business School’s Global Festival
John Amaechi's interactive keynote combined wit and warmth with real provocation
The University of Exeter Business School welcomed back one of the world’s most respected business experts at its annual Global Festival this week.
Professor John Amaechi, an organisational psychologist, author and sought after public speaker, delivered an interactive keynote at this year’s festival, which took place on 9 November.
It was part of an evening of festivities for students and staff, which included Diwali celebrations, performances from student societies, a Ukrainian language taster session, karaoke and an international food market.
Representatives from student societies were there, bringing students with similar interests together and providing opportunities to try something new, and there were opportunities for students to meet members of student support teams, including Career Zone, Study Abroad, Global Leaders and the Business School’s Pastoral Mentors.
In his keynote, John Amaechi, who has been an Honorary Professor in Leadership at the University of Exeter Business School since 2022, engaged students in a lively and interactive discussion on bias and stereotypes, grounded in survey data undertaken by his organisation APS Intelligence.
Speaking with warmth and humour combined with real provocation, he shared clusters of words which tens of thousands of survey respondents had associated with different groups or demographics of people, based on characteristics such as ethnicity, gender or nationality.
He used this as an activity to show the prevalence of biases and stereotypes in society and the consequences for how we relate to others in our society.
The Global Festival has taken place every year since 2022, and is a chance for Business School staff and students to come together in a celebration of cultural diversity.
Professor Steve Wood, Dean of the University of Exeter Business School, said: “The Global Festival is a truly fantastic initiative that brings our students and staff together in celebration of our rich cultural diversity, while having a lot of fun in the process. I’m so proud that it continues to go from strength to strength.”
