AI, Leadership, and Learning: Insights from Dean AC
In this episode of the Leadership Initiative Podcast, Max M. Fisher College of Business Dean Arvind Chandrasekaran shares insights on innovation, AI fluency, ethical leadership, and the future of business education at Fisher College of Business. Dean AC discusses how leaders can build resilient, high-performing teams by combining critical thinking, curiosity, and human-centered leadership in an era of rapid technological change.
Click the links below to listen to the episode on your preferred platform:
Guest, Dean Arvind Chandrasekaran (AC):
"...The Ohio State University came out very strongly...with the idea around AI fluency and creating bilinguals graduating from Ohio State. The same thing goes at Fisher College of Business. We are a part of Ohio State, so very important for us to think about our students not only good in their core business skills, but also good in what we call AI skills.
But I would actually argue that to do that, you need to have more durable skills. So the thing that I would emphasize more for us and our students and our learning is how do you create durable skills, right?...These are exercises again that if you do it the right way, you're going to get the best bang-for-the-buck from AI. If you do it the wrong way, you may actually be going into a hallucinated effect by the AI.
Same thing with critical thinking. Again, the importance around 'how do I know what's a problem and what's a symptom of a problem? How do I understand deep cause thinking? How do I understand agile thinking?' So the durable skills around critical thinking, problem framing, resiliency, and then some of these things I clearly believe cannot be just taught in a class, right? It has to be practiced.
Leadership, in my opinion, cannot be taught. It has to be taught and practiced and very important in the practice. So it's very important in this day and age of AI that our curriculum is combining that effort about integrating AI into our classrooms, but also developing additional skills like the durable skills, which allows our students to really hone in on critical thinking, problem framing, resiliency so that they are the next generation leaders who are actually working with the AI.
So that's what we emphasize on. So I actually view this as not a fearsome thing. I view this as a great opportunity for us and our students and our faculty. We embrace this technology again, like the best disruptors are the ones that actually understand that disruption is a positive thing, not a negative thing. So it's very important for us to think about this AI change as a positive thing, and let's all change towards the way that we can help our students and our leaders, future generation leaders, to get better.”
Aravind (Are-uh-vind) Chandrasekaran (Chan-druh-say-kuh-rin) (AC) was named interim dean of The Ohio State University Max M. Fisher College of Business in June 2025, bringing more than 15 years of experience as an operations management expert and academic leader at the college. He holds the John Berry Sr. Chair in Business.
Before his appointment, AC served as senior associate dean for faculty, research and non-degree executive education ― a role in which he spearheaded innovative enhancements to Fisher’s teaching, research and outreach priorities.
Prior to that position, he was the college’s associate dean for graduate programs and executive education, managing a diverse portfolio that included the Full-Time MBA, Working Professional MBA (WPMBA), Specialized Masters, Executive MBA, Master of Business in Operational Excellence (MBOE) and custom executive education offerings. He has also played a key role in developing tailored teaching and research programs for global organizations such as Tata Consultancy Services, Ford Motor Company and Zimmer.
