<p>Business school top managers face numerous paradoxical tensions, such as standardization versus differentiation, local versus global demands, and qualitative expectations versus quantitative constraints, yet empirical research remains unclear on what makes these tensions particularly salient for them. This study examines the triggers that heighten the saliency of paradoxical tensions and how these triggers shape managerial competencies. Based on interviews with deans and associate deans from French business schools, the findings show that paradoxical demands are made more prominent by multiple factors: managers’ backgrounds, identities, and worldviews; organizational characteristics; features of the management education ecosystem; and broader economic, social, and cultural trends. The study also identifies three key competencies activated by this saliency and necessary to navigate resulting disruptions: giving sense and providing vision; listening and making trade-offs; and explaining and being didactic. These competencies translate into three essential roles—Visionmaker, Negotiator, and Educator—that leaders must adopt to address strategic and managerial challenges. By offering a multi-level perspective on the saliency of paradoxical tensions, this research highlights their individual, organizational, structural, and contextual embeddedness and provides actionable insights for aspiring leaders, institutional stakeholders, and higher education policymakers.</p>