ESCP Prof. Sylvain Bureau’s Art Thinking method shortlisted for the QS Developing Emerging Skills & Competencies Award
ESCP Business School is proud to announce that IMPROBABLE: An Art Thinking Experience, co-created by Professor Sylvain Bureau and the artist Pierre Tectin, has been shortlisted for the Developing Emerging Skills & Competencies Award at the QS Reimagine Education Awards 2025.
This year’s competition was fierce, with more than 1,600 submissions across 18 categories and the first round of evaluations conducted by over 800 international judges. IMPROBABLE ranked in the top 20% of projects worldwide, securing its place on the shortlist and confirming its impact as a pioneering approach to teaching, learning, and leadership.
Making the Improbable possible
The mission of IMPROBABLE is clear: “creation can change the world — and the improbable is its most powerful tool”. Too often, individuals and organisations remain confined by the expected or the probable. Through Art Thinking, Professor Bureau and his collaborators equip changemakers with the mindset, tools, and practices to imagine beyond conventional boundaries, break dominant norms, and drive innovation for a sustainable future.
The Art Thinking method is taught through the Improbable Seminar, an immersive experience where participants create and exhibit artwork designed to challenge assumptions and open new perspectives. This process pushes learners beyond traditional business solutions and introduces artistic, agile, and critical approaches to leadership.
Since its launch in 2011, the seminar has been delivered over 250 times in more than 17 countries, across four continents. It has reached thousands of learners at every level of education — from Bachelor to PhD, as well as MBA and executive education — and across sectors from academia to industry. Partner institutions and organisations include Stanford University, Stockholm School of Economics, École Polytechnique, HEC Montréal, Université Mohammed VI Polytechnique, Air France-KLM, Canon, EDF, Galeries Lafayette, and OCP Group, among many others.
The method is also the foundation of the Improbable Chair with Galeries Lafayette, within the ESCP Innovation & Entrepreneurial Transformation Institute, where Bureau serves as Scientific Director.
A transformative experience
The seminar’s impact is consistently described as transformative. Participants are invited to confront uncertainty and complexity not only intellectually but also emotionally and physically. By embracing ambiguity and critical reflection, they develop the capacity to lead with creativity, courage, and responsibility.
Feedback from participants underscores this profound influence, with testimonials describing the experience as “an unforgettable moment,” “a stepping stone,” and “a true eye-opener.” Executive education satisfaction scores range between 3.5 and 3.8 out of 4, highlighting both the quality and resonance of the programme. Many learners go on to initiate real-world projects inspired by their experience.
Building future-ready skills
IMPROBABLE has demonstrated measurable improvements in learning outcomes and employability. Beyond gaining traditional hard and soft skills, participants cultivate “mad skills”, the ability to challenge norms and invent new systems of value. Academic research confirms that Art Thinking enhances entrepreneurial self-efficacy, fosters distributed leadership, and strengthens ecosystem-building capabilities.
In an era marked by climate change, technological disruption, and systemic uncertainty, these skills are essential. By equipping learners to rethink leadership and innovation, IMPROBABLE is helping shape a new generation of responsible, imaginative leaders prepared to act with creative agency.
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