The full report from UNICON's 2026 Annual Workshop, hosted by MIT Sloan Executive Education and written by IEDP, is out now.
Who
45 schools, 14 countries Executive education leaders from across the UNICON communityWhat
A 47-page report Ten opportunities for executive education in the age of AIRepresentatives from 45 schools and 14 countries gathered in Cambridge in July to explore one expansive question: what does it mean to be human in a world increasingly shaped by AI?
Hosted by MIT Sloan Executive Education in their new purpose-built, technology-enabled learning facility, the 2026 Annual Workshop moved from the breathtaking pace of AI capability to the slower, more human realities of how people actually change - and what both mean for how leaders learn.
The IEDP's 47-page report captures it all: every session, the data, and the conversations that shaped two remarkable days.
"UNICON is a consortium of vibrant learning. Look around you, left and right. You can learn something from each and every person here."
Melanie Weaver BarnettUNICON Executive Director
"Getting the most out of UNICON involves mutuality: giving and taking in equal measure."
Aldemir DrummondUNICON Board Chair 2026-27Executive summary
Ten opportunities for executive education in the age of AI
The report opens by distilling the two days into ten opportunities for the sector. A sample:
Double down on social connection
Bringing people together in ways that build trust and challenge assumptions may become executive education's hardest advantage to replicate.
Fill the AI literacy gap
Just 33.8% of S&P 500 leaders show public evidence of AI literacy, and only 17% of organizations use business schools for AI learning.
Give leaders permission to experiment
Executive education can offer the structure, guidance and psychological safety that organizations struggle to create internally.
"The classroom is where we can take risks."
A transformation leader interviewed for Executive Learning at the Speed of Change, the UNICON and Nexed Insight research
Own the wider transformation challenge
From workforce anxiety and reskilling to organizational redesign, strategy and changing operating models - territory that aligns closely with the strengths of management education.
The full list of ten, with the data behind each, is in the full report.
Highlights
Inside the sessions
Opened at rocket speed, exploring what organizations look like as AI moves into the organization chart itself - and building a functioning startup, live, in 30 minutes. His recurring metaphor came from Wayne Gretzky: skate to where the puck is going to be.
Deliberately slowed the pace: humans do not change nearly as quickly as technology. Her challenge to the room: "What will make your learners less resistant and more flexible to learning new things?"
Brought the two waves - carbon and silicon - together: "The frontier of intelligence has never been the answer. It is the questions worth asking that is the most human art of all."
Closed day one with her P.R.I.M.E.D. framework for learning experiences people remember and want to share, before four hands-on Discovery Labs put the principles into practice through food, music, listening, and human touch.
Presented the latest UNICON-Nexed Insight research: six tensions AI poses for executive education, and a building "wave of demand" for providers who can support whole-business transformation.
Brought the two days full circle: "I firmly believe we need to develop a new value proposition for executive education that is much more about social connection."
With gratitude
Thank you, MIT Sloan
Our deepest thanks to MIT Sloan Executive Education for hosting the community in Cambridge, to the faculty and speakers who made the two days so memorable, and to everyone who traveled from across the world to be part of it. Browse the full photo album from the workshop.
The conversation continues in November
Join us at the Team Development Conference, hosted by Arizona State University, November 18-20, 2026. Registration is now open.
Register Now