For decades, the MBA was the hallmark of ambitious leaders. It was the degree that unlocked boardroom doors and C-suite opportunities. But in today’s hyper-competitive landscape, an MBA has shifted from being a differentiator to a standard expectation. With so many professionals holding the same qualification, it no longer guarantees a unique edge.
Leadership today call for more: deeper expertise, sharper strategic vision, and the ability to influence at the highest levels. In this evolving landscape, doctoral education is emerging as a pathway that provides leaders with the intellectual depth, research capabilities and scholarly authority needed to navigate complex business challenges and drive meaningful change.
Doctorates as Catalysts for Leadership Excellence
Unlike conventional management degrees, doctoral programmes go far beyond functional business knowledge. They foster original thinking, rigorous problem-solving and the capacity to create intellectual property that can shape entire industries.
For senior leaders, earning a doctorate represents true mastery of their field. It demonstrates the capability to lead with research-backed insight, to guide organisations through disruption, and to become an enduring voice in the business ecosystem.
The Change has Already Begun in Top Universities in Silicon Valley
Leading academic institutions in the United States and Silicon Valley are recognising this shift and curating doctoral programmes that meet the evolving needs of business leaders.
A prime example of this evolution is Golden Gate University’s doctorate Doctorate of Business Administration (DBA) programme in Emerging Technologies (with a concentration in Generative AI), developed in collaboration with upGrad. By integrating cutting-edge domains like artificial intelligence (AI) with advanced leadership education, these programmes empower professionals to understand disruptive technologies and leverage them for organisational advantage.
What truly sets the Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) programme apart, however, is are the programme architects that learners will study from and alongside. Experts such as Dakshinamurthy V Kolluru, Venkatesh Sunkad, Sridhar Pappu and Sumitra Padmanabhan, and their extended faculty team come with over 80 years of combined experience, credited with more than 15 patents and 125 publications in leading journals.
Notably, two of the programme’s chief architects, Pappu and Kolluru, were featured in AIM’s ‘10 Most Prominent Analytics Academicians in India’ list.
With over 20 years of expertise in machine learning, AI, deep learning and mathematical algorithms, Kolluru holds an MS and a PhD from Carnegie Mellon University and a BE from the National Institute of Technology (NIT), Tiruchirappalli.
Sunkad, a PhD holder from the University of Colorado and an MS from the University of Texas at Arlington, brings over 20 years of expertise in Internet of Things (IoT), systems architecture, network security, machine learning and IT strategy to co-create the programme.
Moreover, Pappu and Padmanabhan have been instrumental in building the programme. With over 24 years of experience and a PhD from the University of Texas, Pappu brings his vast expertise in statistics and probability to data science, machine learning, data visualisation and data storytelling. Padmanabhan, on the other hand, holds a PhD from Nirma University and brings over 26 years of experience across diverse fields, including machine learning, natural language processing, mathematical modelling and business analytics.
Rather than following conventional academic pathways, this collaboration pioneers an approach that helps leaders broaden their horizons across multiple domains of influence, cultivating graduates who can operate effectively in diverse environments—whether in corporate boardrooms, academic institutions, innovation labs or startup communities.
Together, the programme architects have developed unique partnerships and pathways that allow their doctoral graduates to develop board-level expertise. Through collaborations with leading consulting firms like PwC, these programmes help leaders develop the credentials needed for board advisory roles, positioning them as trusted advisors in executive circles.
At the same time, by fostering relationships with UGC-recognised universities, they have created pathways for their graduates to share their expertise in academic settings, allowing them to shape future leaders while continuing their professional journey.
A strong emphasis on research and publication further helps graduates transform their insights into influential books and journal articles, strengthening their presence in industry discourse and media conversations. One such example is the book The World Remade by Artificial Intelligence by Joaquin Jay Gonzalez and Shalini S Gopalkrishnan, published in collaboration with several current students and graduates of GGU’s doctoral programmes.
The programmes also encourage graduates to identify market opportunities and develop practical solutions, inspired by methodologies used by successful technology leaders and entrepreneurs.
Moreover, through partnerships with intellectual property law firms, graduates learn to secure patents for their innovations, thereby transforming their research into valuable, defensible assets.
Beyond innovation and IP, the programmes also open doors to investment networks. Through initiatives such as VC symposiums, graduates gain direct access to venture capitalists and startup founders with deep connections in Silicon Valley, allowing them to present their concepts and explore funding opportunities.
Adding to this, learners participate in three global AI immersion hubs located in Singapore, India and San Francisco. Here, they witness how AI is harnessed in practice, engage with industry leaders, adopt global best practices and build international networks that strengthen their long-term leadership journey.
The Future of Leadership Belongs to Doctorates
As industries grow more complex, the leaders who will truly stand out are those capable of advising at the board level, influencing academia, shaping public discourse and driving tangible innovation.
It is safe to say that today, doctorates are no longer just academic achievements. They’re becoming the gold standard for leadership credentials. The institutions that recognise this shift are ensuring that today’s leaders don’t just learn, but transform into pioneers, innovators, and visionaries equipped to navigate the multifaceted challenges of modern business leadership.
Designed for ambitious professionals who aspire to shape industries and spark innovation, this programme offers the knowledge, networks and credibility needed to lead in a disruptive world. Take the next step toward future leadership—learn more here.
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