The Case for Regulatory Reform
This is week when the Wall Street chickens come home to roost. In the wake of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, the Obama administration has sent Congress a package of regulatory reforms aimed, in large part, at putting an end to what HBS professor David Moss calls “implicit guarantees” that compel the government to bail out large financial institutions.
I Network, You Network, He, She, It Networks…
Do future MBAs emerge from the womb with business card in hand? Greet their preschool pals with a firm, not fishy, handshake? HBS alumni so frequently mention the lifelong benefits of connections made at Soldiers Field that I’ve always assumed their networking skills were honed sometime before the second grade.
What’s It Worth to You?
How much is a CEO worth? What is appropriate compensation for the leader of a large and complex organization? One frequent reply has been “Let the market decide.”
WHBS, 820 on Your Dial
Almost fifty years before HBS developed a broadcast presence with its own Web site in 1996, the School had a rather limited one: the radio station WHBS, which was in operation from 1948 to 1964 or 1965. It was limited because the broadcasting was done via HBS’s power lines, only to campus buildings. Since it was not, technically, “on the air,” the station was unlicensed and not subject to FCC regulation.
No More Squawking about the Campus Turkey
This just in. Turk Turkee is history. No more appearances on YouTube. No more plugs on CNBC. No more ink from BusinessWeek or the Boston Globe. No more Facebook site called "HBS Students for the Removal of the Turkey."
Been There, Seen That
It’s been a grim couple of weeks out there. Personally, I’ve had more déjà vu than I’ve seen in a long time, as Yogi Berra might have said, especially after losing a string of tough doubleheaders.
My own sobering twin bill has consisted of revisiting, in recent days, graphic foreshadowing of (1) the energy crisis, and (2) the economic meltdown.
HBS Olympians
While watching the spectacular and only slightly enhanced (digitally and chemically) Olympics, I found myself wondering how many HBS Olympians there have been over the years. I could think of only one—Paul Wylie (MBA 2000C), who won a silver medal in figure skating in the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, France—but I was sure there were more.
Thanks for the Memories
If you haven’t already taken a look at the HBS Institutional Memory Web site, don’t miss it. Since it was launched in February in conjunction with the School’s centennial celebration, the site has steadily added to its treasure trove of information and reminiscences, and it continues to do so.
Stylin’ at Gallatin
A note to the 73 incoming MBAs moving into newly renovated Gallatin Hall: You are some lucky ducks. I tagged along on a tour of Gallatin led by principal architect Steve Erwin and project architect Patricia DeLauri, both of Shepley Bulfinch Richardson & Abbott, a Boston-based firm with a long history with Harvard University and the B-School.
Caution to the Winds
Maybe there’s nothing to those predictions that the end of oil is near, or the allegations, such as those by oil-industry veteran Matthew Simmons (MBA ’67), that Saudi petroleum reserves are way less than what is believed. But something’s going on when a fossil-fuels magnate like T. Boone Pickens, the octogenarian billionaire oilman, says it’s time to throw caution to the winds — literally.
An Educational Start-Up
Last week I made the trek to campus to sit in on a case discussion. Sure it’s summer, but the crews who clean blackboards in Aldrich and Hawes are still pretty busy. In fact, we’re all busy, thank you very much. How else would you get your nice, shiny copy of the Bulletin in early September?
Are You Being Served?
Recently, I successfully appealed a ruling handed down against me by the State of Massachusetts. The state — and its oft-reviled bureaucracy — went out of its way to be fair, courteous, and forgiving.
It got me to thinking: Has government been forced to become more customer friendly because of the high standards set by private-sector customer service?
No Pulp Fiction Allowed
With vacation season upon us, it's time to consider what good read to pack before heading out to your favorite beach or resort. I have the perfect antidote for all those mindless pulp fiction novels that fly off the shelves this time of year: two books on what's wrong with business education.
The First HBS Class Notes
The first class notes about HBS alumni were run in the Harvard Alumni Bulletin. But when the first issue of the Bulletin of the Harvard Business School Alumni Association — to give its full title — appeared in January 1925, fifteen years after the first class graduated in 1910, it included a page of staff-written "Personal Items" about alumni, reporting job changes, addresses, and marriages.
Risk and Reward
Like many horse racing fans, I was disappointed when Big Brown met defeat at the Belmont Stakes on Saturday, June 7. After the bay colt’s impressive wins in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness, railbirds were hopeful that he would be the first horse in thirty years to win the Triple Crown.
Whistle While You Work
As part of its 100th anniversary party for faculty, staff, and students in April, HBS brought in Benjamin Zander, a world-renowned conductor and teacher who heads the Boston Philharmonic and New England Conservatory Youth Philharmonic orchestras.
Endowment Tax Debate Puts Harvard on the Spot
Just in case you missed it, the Massachusetts legislature has voted to study the idea of taxing college endowments 2.5 percent annually on the amount that exceeds $1 billion. That puts Harvard, with a $34 billion endowment that includes funds from HBS, squarely in the crosshairs of the tax man.
HBS’s Oldest Class Secretary
Let’s hear it for HBS’s oldest class secretary, Charlie Cole, who will turn 100 on July 23. Charlie writes about the AMP 14 class, which graduated in December 1948, 96 members strong, and now has 6 hardy souls.
Small World? Read Nil about It
The word “globalization” is bandied about so often, it has taken on a life of its own. Opinions differ as to whether it’s good, bad, or something in between. Yet everyone seems to agree that globalization has made the world smaller and its people more closely intertwined. But has it really?
The Next Harvard Square? Really?
I’ll admit I don’t have the world’s strongest visual imagination. When folks in the Harvard University Planning Office talk about the new Harvard Square that will be springing up around the Bulletin’s Allston offices over the coming decades, I kind of don’t believe it.
The Sum of Our Own Greatness
As birthday parties go, this one was special. The faculty canceled classes, and the administrative staff collectively stepped away from their desks to join in daylong festivities marking the School’s 100th birthday on April 8.
“Let Us Now Praise Famous Women”
Thousands of alumni over recent decades have spoken and corresponded with three HBS women even though they’ve never met them. I’m talking about the backbone of the Alumni Records Office — Val Curtis, Doris Bogues, and Marianna Lozzi — who cumulatively have more than 80 years of experience getting accurate alumni names and contact details, explaining LEFAs, doling out passwords, and recording and verifying deaths.
Whistling Past the Graveyard
The experts are finally seeing the light: most now agree we are in a recession. Harvard professor Martin Feldstein, former chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors, says it could be the worst since World War II. But this belated “recession” call seems particularly academic — a meaningless quibble over technicalities while the American Dream goes up in smoke.
Election ’08, HBS Style
Barack and Hillary haven’t made it to the HBS campus this year, but that’s okay — last week, I dropped in on four pairs of first-year MBAs hoping to serve as co-presidents of the Student Association (SA). The candidates went head-to-head with each other in Spangler Auditorium, offering a snapshot of the issues near and dear to the Class of 2009.
Soak the Rich?
Venture capital, private equity, and hedge fund partners — a group heavily laden with HBS alumni — may have dodged a tax bullet late last year, but they can expect Congressional advocates of higher taxes for investment managers to reload and try again.
HBS Blogs
Blogs have long since come into their own. After all, they’ve been around since 1994, and just recently a blogger received the George Polk Award for excellence in journalism. So it seems a good time to recognize blogs by HBS alums and faculty by compiling a list of them and presenting it on the Bulletin blog.
The Right Stuff at HBS
A few weeks ago, HBS threw a party for some neighbors — the 12-0 Brighton High School Division 4 Super Bowl football champions. Most everything about HBS is high profile, but the School also does generous, thoughtful things that a lot of people never hear about. This was one of them. For those of us who work at HBS, such gestures make us feel good about the place.
The Scoop Behind the Silver Screen
A bit of Hollywood came to HBS recently when Steven Samuels spoke at the invitation of the School’s Entertainment and Media Club. A former real estate developer, Samuels is an independent movie producer with a solid body of work under his belt, including the George Clooney legal thriller Michael Clayton up this weekend for seven Academy Awards. (Any predictions out there on the winners?)
After Twenty Years, Rankings Remain Controversial
The School’s Centennial year just happens to coincide with another important anniversary, one many business schools would like to forget: the debut of BusinessWeek’s school rankings in 1988. Talk about disruptive.
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