It may be a globalized world, but far too often, we don’t tap into the fountains of knowledge bubbling up far from our own shores.

It was a pleasure this week to come across the work of Diane Coyle, a British economist and consultant who has for some time been writing and speaking about the need for a rethink in the world of business education. ( Listen to an  interview with her on voxeu.com ) Diane has written a number of books in recent years about changing the conventional paradigms of economics which place an unrestrained pursuit of profit above all else. Have a look at some of her books and her vast experience in economics.

It’s a concern I share and wrote about in SPARK, particularly concerning the general indifference – and at times outright condescension – towards Lincoln Electric’s no-layoff policy that one finds all too often in MBA programs in North America.

I shared with Diane some comments about Lincoln’s recently-released 2012 bonus numbers (more about that in a post I’ll put up in a day or so) and the fact that Lincoln Electric’s CEO John Stropki has yet to hear from anyone at his level of the American business community asking “how do you do that?”

Diane posted her comments on that sad situation on her blog here.

A Harvard PhD, Diane is also a Trustee of the BBC and a former economics editor of The Independent.