Dr. Eythor Ivar Jonsson: Crafting the Best Learning Programs

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Dr. Eythor Ivar Jonsson Crafting the Best
Learning Programs
Building an organization from scratch and making
it an immense success, especially in the
education sector, is a strenuous task that
requires sheer determination and effort. Few
entrepreneurs succeed in being the forerunners of
change in the education sector. One such notable
educational leader who has gained great
recognition in this field is Dr. Eythor Ivar
Jonsson, President of Akademias, with his thought
leadership and passion-driven strategies. Dr.
Eythor has been actively involved in the
entrepreneurial world throughout his life. He has
founded think tanks, accelerators, incubators,
investment programs, training programs, and
developed clusters and ecosystems centered around
innovation and entrepreneurship. With his
expertise in business development and corporate
governance models, Dr. Eythor has contributed to
hundreds of companies in varying
capacitiessometimes as the primary entrepreneur,
and sometimes as a facilitator and adviser. Dr.
Eythor is an alumna of the prestigious Brunell
University and studied business education, with a
double Cand. Oecon specialization in Finance and
Marketing at the University of Iceland, an MSc.
in International Business at Aarhus Business
School in Denmark and the University of Iceland,
an Advanced Management Degree (AMP), Advanced
Degree in Consultancy and Research (AdipC) and a
Doctorate Degree in Corporate Governance at
Brunell University-Henley Business
School. During a virtual conversation with
Education Insights, the visionary leader provided
us with an overview of his professional journey
and highlighted some of the major achievements of
his business, Akademias. The Initial Years of
the Incredible Leader's Journey Born and raised
in Iceland, Eythor has also resided in Denmark,
Finland, Italy, France, and the United Kingdom.
During his learning experience, he focused on
four areas of expertise corporate governance,
education, strategy and management, and
innovation and entrepreneurship. Since then, he
has taught at nine
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different universities in Europe and Asia, but
for the longest period in Denmark's Copenhagen
Business School. For the past two decades, Dr.
Eythor has spent most of his time teaching MBA
programs and business accelerators. He brings
result-oriented courses with a practical
approach. The question was always what they could
do after the modules, not just what they knew. He
always found it interesting what is possible to
create within focused modules with a dash of
urgency. Eythor learned a lot about accelerators
and has developed seven diverse types of
accelerators with varied goals, approaches, and
areas of concentration. The sense of urgency to
create a venture is a remarkably interesting
challenge that can be facilitated and disrupted
with the right process. The Inspiration behind
the Inception Dr. Eythor, co-created Akademias,
in 2020, just before the COVID-19 epidemic.
Initially the objective was to establish a
company that would help adults continue to learn
throughout their lives, with a focus on
technology and business. While many universities
strive to be all-inclusive, Dr. Eythor's
experience working in academic institutions
taught him that this was not truly their market.
Adults with work experience who are aiming to
upskill or reskill are looking for different
content, methodology, and purpose than most
universities can offer. According to his thesis,
there was room to improve the MBA program to
create something more appropriate for individuals
with career aspirations and a growth mindset.
Eythor found a business partner who was a
marketing guru who could help develop the brand
and marketing funnels for this solution. The idea
was framed around the theory of the
resource-based view of the firm that is often
traced back to Edith Penrose, where organizations
are a bundle of capabilities and resources. Then
organizations need to continuously train and
attract talent to build the organization and
develop dynamic capabilities to become a learning
organization. The tagline of Akademias represents
this view education for the opportunities of the
future. The Primary Hurdles in Establishing
Akademias Building a learning institution
presented its biggest challenge credibility and
trust. The majority of the market's rivals were
universities that provided executive education.
Dr. Eythor did not have the university stamp
they did. How could they convince the market that
attending an institution that taught subjects
most people only connected with universities
would be worthwhile? So, Dr. Eythor and his team
conducted a branding exercise, identified the
thought leaders and trailblazers in their
teaching disciplines, and established credibility
through real-world experiences. Thanks, of its
success, Akademias' education now revolves around
selecting the most deserving students and
compelling local cases to include in lesson
plans. The Upcoming Trends in Executive
Education The Akademias team initially focused
on integrating technology into every course,
through innovative teaching strategies or
applications that could facilitate work in a
special field. Since then, AI has taken off with
OpenAI and similar solutions. Executive education
will have to embrace technology while at the same
time teaching executives about the limitations
and biases within technology. The
counter-revolution will be the human approach to
business and learning. Nowadays, providing any
learning resource online is easy but this is
usually not an effective approach for developing
critical, creative, and empathetic thinking
skills. Adaptability to the Latest Industry
Evolutions Though the team initially didn't
realize it, starting right before the COVID-19
pandemic has helped significantly. They learned
very quickly to become agile. Their biggest
strength is how quickly they can create
innovative solutions based on societal and
technological advancements. The team aims to stay
close to the customers to help them navigate the
new reality.
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The Key Driving Force Behind Akademia's Success
in Executive Education Akademia's mantra is
education for future opportunities, which helps
the team decide what to offer. They don't want to
teach and train the skills and capabilities of
the past, but the future and value creation for
the customers within that context. They have
succeeded in building a reputation among
consumers, who feel confident in their ability to
improve both their personal and professional
lives. It is a different mindset than that of
their competitors, and their agility and network
mean that they can more easily tailor the skill
and competence development of individuals, teams,
and organizations than most. The learners' time
and experience are working with them since they
are receiving fantastic feedback on how they are
approaching teaching, the content and context,
and the overall structure and framing of the
educational program. It is vastly different from
what others are offering. Achievements and
Milestones to be Proud of Akademias has received
great market response over the years, and
progressively evolved into an organizational
solution. Recently, they started to design online
learning solutions for organizations, both with
their library of online courses and innovative
learning solutions like games, simulators, and
challenges. In 2023, the institution also had
enough hybrid executive courses to create a new
Executive MBA program that was different from
most programs as it provided amazing modern
business professionals with freedom and fantastic
networking opportunities. Planning for a
Flourishing Future Ahead Akademias was created
as an experiment in a very small market. The
initial premise was that developing a successful
enterprise with this educational objective would
be practically impossible. But it proved to be
incorrect it was feasible. Dr. Eythor and his
colleagues are exploring growth into bigger
markets where they can collaborate with other
organizations and academic institutions as
partners and jointly develop their solutions in
new markets with similar wants and requirements,
where education can open up possibilities for the
future. A Word of Wisdom for Future
Entrepreneurs Advising all the blooming
entrepreneurs, Dr. Eythor said, "Always start
with exploring the industry, not just the idea.
Industries have quite different success rates and
returns on investment. It is very risky to move
into an industry that has historically had low
rates of return the time of the entrepreneur
could be better spent in other industries. Choose
a venue that you have lived at and loved. My
third piece of advice is to always find a
business model that works without it, everything
else will become much harder!" Thank You.