Teaching Note: Balancing academics and social responsibility: an educational institute’s approach to grooming business leaders

Following the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, Seema Saini, the CEO of N.L. Dalmia Institute of Management Studies and Research (NLDIMSR) in India, faced a profound challenge. The Institute’s deeply ingrained commitment to corporate social responsibility (CSR), a foundational pillar in its mission to cultivate ethically conscious and socially responsible business leaders, was facing an unexpected headwind. A growing and increasingly vocal segment of the student body, grappling with the anxieties of a fiercely competitive and rapidly evolving job market, began questioning the mandatory nature and perceived direct relevance of their involvement in the Institute’s CSR initiatives.

Saini’s decision would...