How a GW Professor is Rethinking Business Education in the Age of AI

March 19, 2026

Authored by:

Brook Endale

As emerging technology disrupts industries and reshapes the workforce, new graduates are entering an unprecedented job market where the rules are constantly changing and being rewritten.

In many ways, artificial intelligence (AI) has redefined what employers expect from early-career workers. At the George Washington University School of Business, Professor Michael Tadesseis designing his classroom to help students keep pace.

Tadesse, a teaching assistant professor of marketing, keeps a close eye on emerging trends and often invites industry experts to his classes to explore new developments, from AI-powered marketing analysis to technologies that measure consumers' emotional and visual reactions to ads in real time.

He said his goal is to prepare students for a workforce increasingly defined by evolving AI tools.

"The world has shifted," Tadesse said. "Where agents are coming in building apps for us. They can do any business analysis; they can do anything. We're just a strategist."

Tadesse says he designs his classroom with the idea that the value of higher education has changed. It is now necessary, he said, to help students think strategically, challenge assumptions and learn how to apply ideas in real-world contexts.

A GW alumnus, Tadesse earned his M.B.A. from GW Business in 2022.

Prior to that, he attended the University of Maryland, where he earned his undergraduate degree in business administration, management and marketing.

After graduation, he started an olive oil brand called Equnozio in Zaragoza, Spain, and ran a consulting business on the side.

He also gained experience in corporate sales and marketing, developing entrepreneurial skills, a combination that Tadesse says has shaped his approach to teaching.

In 2018, he began building a startup called Happy Plate, a meal delivery service connecting patients with doctor-approved, chef-prepared meals. A few years into building the startup, Tadesse began exploring M.B.A. programs. He said he was looking for a university with a strong startup ecosystem that would support his entrepreneurial goals.

He found that at GW, where resources like the Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, along with mentorship from professors, helped him continue building his company while pursuing his degree.

"GW is very global minded," Tadesse said. "I was looking for a community, somewhere I belong and that understood me and I chose GW just because of how they made me feel."

His experience as a student at GW was defined by an environment that encouraged creativity, fostered an entrepreneurial spirit and emphasized exploring new ideas.

"GW allowed me to draw my own canvas," Tadesse said.

Now on the other side of the classroom as a professor, Tadesse wants to offer that same support and opportunity for his students, while rethinking what business education should look like in a rapidly changing job market.

"I don't want the education to feel like this is information you need to attain for the next four years," Tadesse said.

Rather, his goal is to help students build skills that prepare them to innovate, adapt and lead.

Tadesse designs courses around what he calls an "innovation mindset lab," where students analyze data, challenge assumptions and rethink strategy in ways that mirror real workplace decision-making.

He wants to encourage students to engage with real-world problems and challenge them to find solutions through testing ideas and using emerging technology thoughtfully, even when there isn't a clear answer. Learning to make decisions in uncertain situations helps prepare students for a workforce that is constantly evolving, Tadesse said.

In his AI Applications in Marketing class, students work with businesses to solve real marketing challenges by building AI-enabled prototypes and developing a business case which they then present.

His students say this approach has been especially valuable as they prepare to enter industries where technology, and the skills employers expect, are constantly evolving.

GW alumna Madison Steskal, who graduated in spring 2025 with a major in communication and minors in marketing and graphic design, still returns to campus to sit in on Tadesse's classes because of how frequently he updates his material and introduces the latest developments in the marketing field.

Like many students preparing to enter the workforce, Steskal said she was initially intimidated by AI and uncertain about how it might impact her career. It's why she wanted to take Tadesse's AI Applications in Marketing Strategy class.

"The reason why I was so interested in learning about AI is because it scared me," Steskal said. "It was a topic that I didn't know much about. I don't want it to take my job. I felt intimidated on how I can actually use it."

She said many of her classmates shared similar concerns and were looking for a space to talk openly about how these rapid technological changes are causing disruptions in the workforce. In class, she said, Tadesse encouraged those conversations while helping students learn how to use the tools themselves.

As the semester progressed, they were actively working with the latest AI tools to build their projects, and many of the projects involved partnering with real-world clients.

In one semester-long project, Steskal worked with a group of her classmates to develop a concept for an AI-powered marketing platform designed to connect gig and part-time workers with insurance companies seeking to reach individuals outside traditional employer-sponsored plans.

She said working through the project helped her gain confidence experimenting with AI tools and learning how she could apply those skills in real-world settings.

The biggest lesson she learned from the class is not to let intimidation about new technology keep her from learning.

"Professor Tadesse says AI will not take your job, but people who know how to use AI will," Steskal said. "So, don't let perfectionism get ahead of you and block you from getting your hands dirty and just trying out tools, doing workshops and just learn as much as you can in different avenues."

Waleed Hajeer, a student in GW's combined bachelor's and master's information systems management program, said Tadesse's teaching style stood out to him because of the emphasis he places on applying what students learn beyond the classroom.

Hajeer first took Tadesse's digital marketing course and later enrolled in Consumer Neuroscience, a class that explores the psychology behind marketing and how companies study consumer behavior.

One of the highlights of the course, Hajeer said, was when Tadesse brought in representatives from the research technology company iMotionsto demonstrate the latest biometric tools used to study how consumers visually and emotionally respond to advertisements.

"I think [Tadesse] understands more than any professor I've met that we need to keep the education system updated because everything is changing," Hajeer said. "A lot of the ways that schools used to teach just won't keep up anymore."

In addition to bringing industry experts into the classroom, Tadesse also pays close attention to what hiring managers are looking for in new graduates and works to prepare his students accordingly.

Tadesse's goal is that students can leave his class with a portfolio of real work they can show employers as evidence that they can analyze problems, test ideas and apply emerging technologies thoughtfully.

Hajeer said he appreciated that Tadesse often emphasized the importance of building a professional brand, developing real projects and finding ways to stand out in a competitive job market.

While he was still an undergraduate student, Hajeer launched his own automation agency that helped small and midsize businesses implement customized workflow systems. He said Tadesse was supportive of his entrepreneurial goals and offered guidance as he navigated running a business and communicating with clients.

In a job market that's been heavily impacted by rapid technological change, Hajeer said students are increasingly looking to their professors and universities for guidance on how to navigate this new reality.

Tadesse said everything is changing, and that's what's pushed him to rethink how classes are designed. For Tadesse, preparing students for an evolving workforce means giving them both the technical skills and the mindset to navigate uncertainty.

"Our job as professors," he said, "is to prepare students to go out after graduation confident and equipped, with resources and know how to be leaders."