Joe Badaracco
Leading Quietly
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| Badaracco Photo by C.J. Gunther |
A graduate of St. Louis University and a Rhodes Scholar, Joseph L. Badaracco, Jr., had never considered attending HBS. Then he spent a couple of years in the business world, at Price Waterhouse. “I became much more interested in business, and that got me interested in HBS,” he recalls. “At the School, I started thinking about teaching.”
Badaracco earned his DBA at HBS in 1981 and joined the faculty that same year. Today, he’s the John Shad Professor of Business Ethics and a widely respected author and expert on business ethics and leadership. “I think what’s changed over the last 25 years,” Badaracco observes, “is that executives today are thinking more systematically about their responsibilities. Periodic scandals, an understanding of what malfeasance can do to a company’s viability, and the realization that one can be punished personally have contributed to this awareness. I’m cautiously optimistic we’re heading in the right direction.”
Badaracco’s latest book, Leading Quietly, explores his thesis that “the most effective leaders are rarely public heroes,” but instead are individuals with sound judgment and strong interpersonal and practical skills. That would describe today’s HBS students who, Badaracco says, are better than ever: “The talent and energy in the classroom is just amazing.”
This fall, many of the eager faces he surveys look younger than usual: Badaracco and his wife, Patricia O’Brien (DBA ’86), are living in Currier House, a Harvard College residence hall, where they serve as house masters, while he maintains a full schedule of duties at HBS.
— GE
