​​​​​​​​​​Q: Congratulations! How does it feel to be so appreciated by the students?

A: Fantastic, of course! I cannot think of a greater award; it is much, much better than a Nobel Prize!

Q: What makes you a successful teacher?

A: First of all the students. The students at SSE are fantastic and it is such an honor to be their teacher. I feel grateful every day.

Secondly, the subject. I am lucky to teach a subject, which touches upon the existential questions of life. This makes room for the students to explore and express who they are and how they relate to others, to address important issues such as the purpose of business, and to bring in topics such as creativity, compassion and contemplation as well as knowledge from science, arts, and humanities.

But, as always, it also depends. It is only under the right conditions, I can be a good teacher and sometimes those conditions are not fulfilled. I often wish there were possibilities to teach in different ways: in smaller settings, where we could pay more attention to each individual student, and with more room for curiosity and failures. I learnt a lot from teaching at arts school, and I believe business life would benefit tremendously, if we organized business education differently sometimes.

​About Emma

Emma Stenström is Associate Professor and Center Director for the Research Center for Arts, Business & Culture (ABC) at Stockholm School of Economics. This semester she is teaching two CEMS-courses: “Responsible Global Leadership” and “Global Management Practices” as well as “Leadership” in the MSc-program in Business & Management. She is also deeply involved in developing the new BSc-track “Global Challenges”.

Emma received her PhD from Stockholm School of Economics in 2000, but did part of her doctoral studies at École des HEC in Montréal. She has been Associate Dean at Stockholm School of Economics and Guest Professor at University College of Arts, Crafts, and Design in Stockholm, and is, since many years, also a regular columnist in Dagens Industri. ​

Research
Ongoing research projects include a study on compassion training in organizations, together with researchers from KI, and an interdisciplinary study on activity-based working. There are also ongoing projects on arts-based initiatives as well as on aesthetic and cultural values in businesses.