Dean Clark on the New Academic Year HBS Alumnae Chart Career Choices and Transitions Ready for Takeoff: Web Portal Enters Second Phase Ethics Fellowship Announced Porter Directs New Institute at HBS The Eyes Have It: Business Plan Winners Pursue Global Vision Gordon Celebrates a Century My Lunch with Jack: Student Dines with GE's Welch Dean Clark on the New Academic Year We begin a new academic year at Harvard Business School in the midst of a fascinating and compelling time in the history of business. In keeping with the mission of the School — to educate leaders who will make a difference in the world — we are intensely interested in the dynamic forces shaping business today. Our focus is on the development of ideas and the creation of programs and experiences that will enable leaders to be effective in a turbulent and changing global economy. To bring you up to date on our progress, I would like to highlight several of the initiatives we have launched in the last six years that already have proven fruitful. These innovative efforts are allowing us to seize opportunities we only had begun to imagine at the outset but now have become vital to the mission of the School. Support for these initiatives will be critical to our continued success. Since 1997, as part of our Global Initiative, we have opened HBS research centers in Silicon Valley, the Asia-Pacific (Hong Kong), and Latin America (Buenos Aires). By providing our faculty with support of many types — including logistical, research, and technical — these offices help expand the international content of our curriculum and build deeper relationships with business and academic communities in key areas of the world. We are seeing dividends in the development of an increasing number of internationally based cases and a growing number of research opportunities in companies around the globe. A European research center planned for Paris will further enhance our facultyís ability to conduct in-depth, field-based studies away from Soldiers Field. Closer to home, several campus renewal projects are strengthening the residential experience at HBS and adding to its educational value. Since its opening early this year, the Spangler Center has provided a central gathering place where our students, faculty, and staff can dine, exchange ideas, and relax. Hawes Hall, a state-of-the-art classroom building now under construction adjacent to Aldrich Hall, will add much-needed MBA classroom space when it opens early next year. Plans are also on the drawing board for new facilities to house lifelong learning activities and academic activities related to faculty development and for an academic center and a major renovation of Baker Library. Technology is another area where we have made substantial progress. Six years ago, we set out to become a leader in the field of technology in education. We now know how to use technology effectively to deepen the learning experience — using video, workplace simulations, and two-way interactive satellite feeds, for example, to bring the world into the classroom. We have also built an infrastructure for expanding our efforts in e-learning and for strengthening our outreach to alumni. Our progress in this area has created an interest in innovation and the pursuit of new opportunities, and we are eager to take advantage of that momentum. In addition to these initiatives, we are committed to making significant investments in people. One of the greatest traditional strengths of the School is its faculty. We are poised to explore new fields of inquiry that will require our faculty to pursue difficult and complex topics, crossing disciplinary and global boundaries. To recruit and retain educators with the ability to bring the required energy, intelligence, and creativity to bear on these challenges will require a high level of further investment. We are also looking hard at the issue of fellowship aid for students. Our effort to attract the finest potential leaders from around the world — regardless of their ability to pay — has increased substantially the need for financial assistance. In the future, we would like to enable more of our new graduates to focus on their ambitions and talents when making their first employment decisions, rather than the repayment of heavy debts. Dramatic opportunities lie ahead, and you, our alumni, have a critical role to play. When we say that the Schoolís mission is to educate leaders, this is not just a rhetorical phrase. You really do make a difference in the world. In the course of your professional and personal lives, we see a tremendous breadth of engagement: in multinationals and start-ups; in nonprofit, philanthropic, and government organizations; and in museums, hospitals, and religious institutions. To meet your needs as your careers and interests progress, we have begun to think about ways to provide lifelong learning opportunities that coincide with the patterns we see in your lives. Three continuing education programs exclusively for alumni — The Entrepreneurís Tool Kit, Strengthening Your Role as a Nonprofit Board Member, and Transitions and Transformations — have been well received. A new program, Charting Your Course: Alumnae Career Choices and Transitions, was designed to bring together alumnae — many of whom have reduced their professional commitments for some time in order to raise a family — and help them develop individual strategies for building new leadership roles in business and nonprofit organizations. All of these efforts have brought home to us that we can have a positive impact on your lives well after you leave the HBS campus. Along with all you do to make the world a better place, we appreciate your ongoing generosity to the School. You help with case research by opening your companies to our faculty, sharing your experiences as business practitioners, and returning to the classroom to participate in case discussions. You provide invaluable counsel as members of our advisory boards. You help keep us close to practice and responsive to change in the business world. In addition, your financial support provides a margin for innovation, allowing us to move ahead on projects that keep HBS at the forefront of business education. Your commitment allows us to embrace change, push boundaries, and broaden our vision for the future. In closing, I would like to thank Neil Rudenstine, who showed tremendous support for the Business School throughout his tenure as Harvard University president. Neil has been a wise friend and counselor, and I am grateful for his leadership. Our new president, Larry Summers, is a longtime friend and colleague whom I have respected and admired for many years. I look forward to working with him on the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead for the Business School and for the University. RETURN TO THE TOP OF THE PAGE     HBS Alumnae Chart Career Choices and Transitions Just before the MBA reunions last spring, a group of women graduates met for a new program that provided a special opportunity to discuss their business and leadership goals in the broader context of their lives. Titled Charting Your Course: Alumnae Career Choices and Transitions, the program focused on future direction rather than past achievements and was attended by fifty women, primarily from the 10th, 15th, and 20th Reunion classes. This new HBS lifelong learning program was designed to bring alumnae together to discuss their individual career aspirations and needs and to help them develop effective strategies for building new leadership roles in business and nonprofit organizations. Many participants, whose careers had diverged from more traditional business paths when their family-related responsibilities increased, came to learn how to keep current in business skills while out of the full-time workforce. Others wanted to develop personal strategies for finding or creating meaningful work that would accommodate their new priorities. The program, which was led by HBS professor Myra M. Hart and included Professors Linda A. Hill and Nancy F. Koehn, is indicative of the School’s commitment to provide lifelong learning opportunities that address the needs of all HBS graduates. In recent years, both Hart and Dean Kim B. Clark have said that they often meet HBS alumnae who have left the workforce to focus on caring for their families and other commitments. Their observations were reinforced by Denise Condon Welsh (MBA ’81), an HBS classmate of Hart’s who wrote to Clark about the issues of women’s reentry into the professional ranks. Welsh noted that each year since graduation she had joined ten female classmates for a reunion weekend. Over those twenty years, only three of the women had been employed continuously in a full-time position. The remaining women, she recounted, had moved in and out of the workforce, adjusting the scope and rhythms of their professional lives to fit with family and other responsibilities. As a next step, Hart set up a series of dinners and meetings with alumnae in Boston, New York, and San Francisco to generate ideas about what HBS alumnae wanted and how the School could help. “It was a quest to see whether they were interested in campus-led support and, if so, what kind of support they would most like to have,” said Hart. “It was clear that there was certainly sufficient interest and many different ideas about the potential impact of a targeted program.” The “beta test” seminar last spring began with a luncheon during which participants briefly introduced themselves and explained their personal and professional situations. From the outset, common experiences were evident, such as the uneasiness many shared at attending an HBS reunion for the first time after leaving the workforce. Most of the participants had children, and although only a few were employed full-time, most had significant leadership responsibilities with nonprofits. Many had started their own businesses, and others had developed part-time work options. Several were pursuing efforts related to education, an interest often sparked by their own children’s needs. In Dean Clark’s welcoming remarks he called the members of the group “pioneers” and affirmed that HBS wanted to support them in constructing successful lives. “What we really care about is educating leaders,” said Clark. “Wherever you are — in school, community, home, enterprise — that’s where you’ll have the greatest impact if your life is one of leadership.” Most agreed that they would have to blaze new trails to build rewarding work experiences that fit with their priorities. Said Ina Coleman (MBA ’86): “As with anything else in life, if there isn’t a straight road, it’s going to be more difficult to get there.” Over the two-day period, attendees participated in case discussions, lectures, and workshops. Tim Butler, director of MBA career development programs, began with a session on developing a personal career vision, which was complemented by a presentation on tactics for reentering the workforce by career consultant Pam Lassiter. Linda Hill then led a case discussion, Hart presented principles of entrepreneurship, and Nancy Koehn shared insights from her research on the life of cosmetics entrepreneur Estée Lauder. Hart noted that the positive response to the seminar suggested the possibility that two or three similar programs might be offered in different cities in the next year or two. She hopes to add breakout sessions to address the distinct needs of women at different stages of their professional and personal lives. For example, some alumnae are interested in practical advice about reentering the paid workforce, while others are still considering how and when to leave a traditional career path or how to remain on such a path and reduce time and travel commitments. Following the program, Koehn commented on the importance of the choices facing the seminar participants. “I was struck by how serious they were about what they are doing and by their integrity in planning the next chapter of their lives,” she said. “They want to do something that’s right for them and the people they care about, and they are approaching these issues with great thoughtfulness.” It was clear that the drive to succeed that brought these women to HBS is still as strong as ever, even if their lives have shifted focus. Kim Ulrich Whelan (MBA ’84), who heads the Boston office of a consulting company that places people in flexible work arrangements, seemed to sum it up for many: “I want to make a living, but I also want to change the world.” — Laura Singleton (MBA ’88)     All photos by Thomas Fitzsimmons. RETURN TO THE TOP OF THE PAGE Ready for Takeoff: Web Portal Enters Second Phase   After two years of building its readership, honing its mission, and crafting fresh, insightful content, HBS Working Knowledge is poised for the next stage of its development. “It’s an exciting time. We launched the original product with solid content and a strong customer base,” says Editor Sean Silverthorne, a former online journalist with CNET.com. “Now we’re at the point where Working Knowledge is ready to build on that momentum to explore new directions in content and design.” Since Baker Library first posted HBS Working Knowledge in October 1999, the portal has offered a view of current research at the School, delivering a rotating mix of management-related stories, faculty Q&As, and book reviews each week. But now, notes Managing Editor Carla Tishler, the seven staff members want to take HBS Working Knowledge to the next level by redesigning the site to be more user-friendly and increasing the number of “what-do-you-think” feedback sections, allowing users to be active participants, not just passive readers. “We want to take better advantage of the Web as a medium,” observes Silverthorne. “We plan to add the ability, whether through a chat area or bulletin-board arrangement, for readers to comment on stories and to talk with each other.” He also expects to supplement copy reprinted from existing Web sites and HBS publications, such as the Bulletin and the Harvard Business Review, with more content originated by the site itself. Silverthorne, who took over the reins last spring, sees these additions as the evolution of an already solid resource that combines talent from all over the School. “We’ll always be a collaborative effort,” he remarks, acknowledging the critical support that the portal receives from Baker librarians, faculty, alumni, staff, and various editorial teams across HBS, to name a few. “I also want to increase the percentage of original content by commissioning more freelance articles, monthly columns, and special reports. We would like to be a vehicle for HBS faculty to disseminate their work.” Last summer, the site featured a new monthly alumni profile called “Dispatches from the Field,” a summer reading list, and a special report on the HBS Global Alumni Conference in Cleveland. Looking to the future, Silverthorne hopes these changes will make Working Knowledge an even stronger tool for business-minded users who are looking for information that will help them throughout their careers, whether they’re mulling over the idea of starting a small business or already running a multimillion dollar corporation. “Working Knowledge makes the work done at HBS accessible beyond its walls,” Tishler observes. “We know that staying connected is important for alumni and that after leaving HBS, they often miss its intellectual atmosphere. HBS Working Knowledge helps meet that need and delivers to alumni the kind of content and ideas they’ve been missing.” — Lory Hough Visit HBS Working Knowledge at www.workingknowledge.hbs.edu. RETURN TO THE TOP OF THE PAGE     Ethics Fellowship Announced The Harvard University Center for Ethics and the Professions invites applications for Faculty Fellowships in Ethics for the academic year 2002–2003. The center encourages teaching and research about ethical issues in the professions and public life. Its resident faculty fellowships support outstanding teachers and scholars who wish to develop their ability to address questions of moral choice in areas such as business, education, government, law, medicine, and public policy. Fellows participate in the program’s weekly seminar and may attend courses in one of the professional schools, as well as the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. A significant part of their time is devoted to conducting their own research in ethics. Fellows are provided with an office, library privileges, and a research allowance. They are expected to devote full-time to the activities of the center during the period of the fellowship, which extends from September through June. Stipends vary in accordance with individual circumstances. Applicants should hold a doctorate in philosophy, political theory, theology or related disciplines; or a professional degree in business, education, public policy, law, or medicine. The deadline for receipt of applications is December 1, 2001. To receive an information packet and application, please contact: The Center for Ethics and the Professions Harvard University 79 John F. Kennedy Street Cambridge, MA 02138 Tel. 617-495-1336; Fax 617-496-6104 E-mail: ethics@harvard.edu Web site: www.ethics.harvard.edu RETURN TO THE TOP OF THE PAGE