2011 Fall Reunion Presentations
HBS faculty members, industry leaders and non-HBS scholars presented their recent research on a wide range of topics on Friday, September 23 and Saturday, September 24 during a number of engaging presentations. On Saturday afternoon we hosted cross-class alumni industry panels featuring industry leaders from across the returning reunion classes.
Many reunion presentations were filmed and captured through a written summary. These videos and summaries will be available in late October at which time we will notify you by e-mail. Some presenters have additionally allowed us to post their handouts or slide deck online. All information will be posted below as it becomes available to us.
View or download the list of presentations (pdf) that were captured by video or summary. To access the presentation slides below, you must log in to the alumni website with your LEFA.
To view executive summaries, videos, and related materials from the spring's class reunions, please visit the 2011 Spring Reunion Presentations page.
Dean's Address
- Dean's address
Dean Nitin Nohria
Friday, September 23; 8:45 - 9:45 a.m.
Watch Dean Nohria's welcome remarks to alumni for an update on HBS today.
Arts & Education
- Campus Tour
James E. Aisner, Director of Media Relations, Harvard Business School
Friday, September 23; 2:15 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.
How did Baker Library|Bloomberg Center get its name? What's the difference between George F. Baker and George P. Baker? What's a WAC and where's the WAC chute? Why is the Class of 1959 Chapel cylindrical? Where's the new Innovation Lab? Take a leisurely walk around the campus and hear some entertaining historical facts about HBS you never knew before. Meet on the north side of Baker|Bloomberg, facing the Charles River.
- A View Into the HBS Schwartz Art Collection
Sharon C. Black, Director of Planning, Harvard Business School
Saturday, September 24; 11:45 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
The Schwartz art collection at HBS consists of over 200 pieces of contemporary art. You'll get to know a bit about the donor, our selection process, and see a selection of individual pieces. If the group size is small enough, we can also take a brief walking tour—if larger, I'll make suggestions for a self-guided tour.
Related Resources:
Presentation Slides (pdf) - Transforming the Education Sector through Leadership
Elizabeth City, Executive Director, Harvard Doctor of Education Leadership Program
Friday, September 23; 11:45 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
At the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE), we believe that the single most promising strategy for transforming American education is to recruit, develop, and place talented and skilled leaders in school systems, non-profit organizations, mission-based for-profit organizations, philanthropic organizations, and government agencies—what some have called the "Fortune 300" jobs in education. HGSE's new Doctorate in Education Leadership (Ed.L.D.) is a full-time, practice-based program for PK-12 system-level leaders. Faculty from HGSE, the Harvard Business School, and the Harvard Kennedy School designed and teach in the program, which features a new customized curriculum of classes, modules, and practice-based experiences. The three-year program began in August 2010 and is a game-changer in the education sector.
Related Resources:
Presentation Slides (pdf) - Diversity in the New Millenium
Lisa M. Coleman, PhD, Chief Diversity Officer and Special Assistant to the President, Harvard University
Friday, September 23; 2:15 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.
This presentation will focus on diversity initiatives at Harvard with particular emphasis on the business imperative.
- MBA Hives Tours
Gabe Handel, Managing Director, Dean's Office
Saturday, September 24; 9:00 a.m. - 9:45 a.m.
Saturday, September 24; 11:15 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
What will students do in the new RC Field Immersion Experiences for Leadership Development (FIELD) course, and what facilities will support their new learning experiences? Gabe Handel, Managing Director in the Dean's Office, will share an overview of FIELD, followed by a tour of the new MBA "Hive" classrooms at 125 Western Avenue.
- Reinventing the Harvard Art Museums
Thomas W. Lentz, Elizabeth and John Moors Cabot Director, Harvard Art Museums
Friday, September 23; 11:45 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
Far more than a building plan, this project is an essential reinvention of the Harvard Art Museums, a rethinking of the museums' role in the community and the place of the arts in an advanced education. This project is designed to make our world-renowned collections more accessible as tools for teaching and learning, integrate them more fully into the curriculum and into student life, and encourage their use in the university's increasingly interdisciplinary programs. The new building will help us fulfill these goals and allow us to better serve students, faculty, scholars, and the public.
In collaboration with world-renowned architect Renzo Piano, we are creating a single state-of-the-art facility that will bring together the three museums—Fogg, Busch-Reisinger, and Arthur M. Sackler—while allowing them to maintain their distinct identities. The new facility will seamlessly combine the landmark 1927 building, a striking new addition on its east side (along Prescott Street), and a new glass rooftop structure that will bridge old and new.
Related Resources:
Renovation and Background - HBS 2011: Inside Perspective into HBS Today from Current Students
MBA Students
Friday, September 23; 10:00 a.m. - 11:15 a.m.
HBS 2011: Inside Perspective into HBS Today from Current Students.
Entrepreneurship
- The Unique Challenges of Leading a Science Based Business
Adjunct Professor Raymond V. Gilmartin
view faculty profile
Friday, September 23; 2:15 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.If you are the CEO of a science based business, you invest on behalf of your successor in high risk discovery projects that have ten to fifteen year time horizons. Most of these projects will fail because of the uncertainty of the science. These investments are made in a stock market environment where shareholders do not seem to look beyond the next quarter. What are the implications for the role, responsibilities, and attributes of the CEO?
Related Resources:
Presentation Slides (pdf)Related HBS Programs:
Leadership and Strategy in Pharmaceuticals and Biotech -
Leadership in Crisis: Lessons for Here and Now
Professor of Business Administration Nancy F. Koehn
view faculty profile
Friday, September 23; 10:00 a.m. - 11:15 a.m.Through interactive lecture and visual images, this presentation will explore three examples of effective leadership in moments of great turbulence: Abraham Lincoln's leadership during the Civil War, Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton's leadership during the crisis of the Endurance in 1915-16 and Oprah Winfrey's leadership during the last ten years of creative destruction at the center of the media business. The presentation draws together several key lessons about individual leadership and its impact. The presentation concludes by applying these insights to our own turbulent moment.
Related Resources:
Presentation Summary (pdf) - Turnaround Manager: An Entrepreneur
Professor Paul W. Marshall
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Friday, September 23; 10:00 a.m. - 11:15 a.m.If you think of a life cycle for a company, the beginning is often viewed as needing an Entrepreneur. What about the period of decline? If an Entrepreneur takes over the management of a company in decline will the management skills needed in a startup be useful? Professor Marshall offers an EC course entitled Entrepreneurial Management in the Turnaround Environment that addresses this question.
Related Resources:
Presentation Summary (pdf)
Presentation Slides (pdf)Related HBS Programs:
Key Executives Program
Launching New Ventures
Owner/President Management Program
Turnaround Management Strategies - The Founder's Dilemmas: Anticipating and Avoiding the Pitfalls That Can Sink a Startup
Associate Professor Noam T. Wasserman
view faculty profile
Friday, September 23; 11:45 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.Noam Wasserman's MBA elective examines the difficult early decisions founders face that have long-term implications for them and their ventures. The core dilemmas include career dilemmas ("when to found?"), founding-team dilemmas, and investor and successor dilemmas. These decisions have long-term implications for venture growth, for splintering of the founding team, for maintaining control of the venture, and for financial gains. The course integrates new cases with academic research based on data collected over the last decade from 4,000 private ventures, and is the basis for an upcoming book (The Founder's Dilemmas). The course was awarded both the HBS Teaching Award and the Academy of Management's Innovation in Entrepreneurial Pedagogy Award, and in 2011 was named by Inc. magazine as one of the top ten entrepreneurship courses in the country.
Related HBS Programs:
Key Executives Program
Launching New Ventures
Owner/President Management Program
Turnaround Management Strategies
Finance & Investing
- How to Decode Insider Trading
Associate Professor Lauren H. Cohen
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Saturday, September 24; 11:45 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.In this presentation, we will discuss a new technique for decoding the information in insider trades. Exploiting the fact that insiders trade for a variety of reasons, we'll show that there is predictable, identifiable "routine" insider trading that is not informative for the future of firms. Stripping away these routine trades, which comprise over half the entire universe of insider trades, leaves a set of information-rich "opportunistic" trades that contains all the predictive power in the insider trading universe. A portfolio strategy that focuses solely on opportunistic insider trades yields value-weight abnormal returns of 82 basis points per month, while the abnormal returns associated with routine traders are essentially zero. Further, opportunistic trades predict future news and events at a firm level, while routine trades do not.
- Private Equity at a Crossroads: What's Next?
Professor Josh Lerner
view faculty profile
Friday, September 23; 2:15 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.Both the buyout and venture capital industries face unprecedented challenges today. After an orgy of investments in the mid-2000s, private equity funds suffered a hangover of epic proportions. In recent quarters, however, the rate and pace of deal-making has recovered in a manner that has surprised even the most optimistic observers. Meanwhile, venture capital—after a prolonged drought—shows signs of a surge in transactions, driven by social media firms. But all is not rosy: many of the investors on which these funds have traditionally depended, such as endowments and pensions, have deep problems, which is affecting the flow of capital to the sector. This talk will explore this unsettled and often mysterious territory, and offer some surprising predictions about the future of these sectors.
Related Resources:
Presentation Slides (pdf)Related HBS Programs:
Private Equity and Venture Capital - Endowment Management in a Changing World
Jane Mendillo, President and CEO, Harvard Management Company
Friday, September 23; 10:00 a.m. - 11:15 a.m.The Harvard Management Company (HMC) is solely dedicated to the management of Harvard University's endowment and related assets. With approximately 35% of the University's annual budget dependent on endowment income, HMC's goal is to generate strong, sustainable investment returns to support the needs and goals of the University. Over the last twenty years HMC's average annual return of 11.9% is substantially better than the 7.8% earned by a 60/40 stock/bond portfolio and the 9.3% annual return for the endowment's Policy Portfolio benchmark. HMC benefits by a employing a unique model of investment management, using both internal portfolio managers and traders as well as a select set of external investment management firms across a range of asset classes and geographies. This hybrid approach gives Harvard several advantages as an investor, from significant cost savings associated with internal management, to greater degrees of market insight and increased nimbleness in moving among investments.
- Regulating Modern Finance
Professor David S. Scharfstein
view faculty profile
Friday, September 23; 10:00 a.m. - 11:15 a.m.One of the causes of the financial crisis was inadequate regulation of the modern financial system, a system that evolved over the last thirty years from a bank-based model to a market-based model. The Dodd-Frank Act and Basel III are attempts to keep pace with innovations in the financial system. We will discuss these initiatives and other approaches to regulating modern finance including reform of housing finance.
Financial Crisis
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The Economic Crisis and Its Aftermath: What to Ask the Person in The Mirror
Professor Robert Steven Kaplan
view faculty profile
Friday, September 23; 11:45 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.Professor Kaplan will discuss the current economic crisis and its implications.
Related Resources:
Presentation Summary (pdf)
Presentation Slides (pdf)Related HBS Programs:
The Global Economy
The Corporate Leader - Putting the Financial Crisis in Perspective: What History Tells Us About Financial Turmoil and How to Prevent It
Professor David A. Moss
view faculty profile
Friday, September 23; 2:15 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.In his talk, Professor Moss will briefly examine the history of financial crises and financial regulation in the United States and suggest what this history tells us about the recent crisis and how best to ensure a healthy and stable financial system going forward.
Related Resources:
Presentation Video (Spring 2011)Related HBS Programs:
The Global Economy
Global Growth Opportunities
- Are We on the Cusp of a New World Economic Order?
Professor Rawi E. Abdelal and Professor Louis T. Wells, Moderated by Senior Lecturer Jim Sharpe
Abdelal faculty profile, Wells faculty profile, Sharpe faculty profile
Friday, September 23; 11:45 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.The current economic superpowers, Japan, Western Europe, and the US, are experiencing low birth rates and aging populations both of which are likely to constrain their future abilities to grow. Who will be the winners and losers in this new environment? Will the current economic superpowers stagnate? Will one or more of the BRICs—Brazil, Russia, India and China—take their place? How will the increasing influence of the BRICs affect international business rules and governing institutions: the WTO (for trade and intellectual property), ICSID and other protections for foreign investors, and the governance of the international capital flows? Are multinational firms that have their origins in the BRICs "different" from those with origins in Europe, the US, and Japan? If so, how, and what are the implications for the traditional multinationals? Professor Louis T. Wells and Professor Rawi E. Abdelal both of whom teach in the Business, Government, and International Economy group at HBS will lead a discussion of these important issues.
Related Resources:
Presentation Summary (pdf) - Why You Aren't Buying Venezuelan Chocolate
Professor Rohit Deshpande
view faculty profile
Friday, September 23; 2:15 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.The next wave of global challengers will be firms from emergent market countries like Brazil, China, and India. Who are these companies and what are the barriers they are trying to overcome? Professor Deshpande will report on his research on the Provenance Paradox in global branding where companies try to be authentic to their national origins yet cannot command a "first country" price. What can companies in BRIC countries learn from their Japanese and Korean counterparts about competing against American and European firms for the hearts and minds of customers worldwide? And what can the latter firms do about the new emergent market global competitors?
Related Resources:
Presentation Slides (pdf) - Adversity to Advantage: Breakaway Strategies for Turbulent Markets
Professor Ranjay Gulati
view faculty profile
Friday, September 23; 2:15 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.In a presentation based on his new book Reorganize for Resilience, HBS Professor Ranjay Gulati reveals how "resilient" companies-those that prosper in turbulent markets-are driving growth and increasing profitability by immersing themselves in the lives of their customers. By reorienting their organizations to be proactive, flexible, and truly customer-centric, these pioneering companies have driven growth in difficult times.
- Entrepreneurs and Entrepreneurship in China: Continuity and Transformation
Associate Professor Elisabeth Koll
view faculty profile
Friday, September 23; 10:00 a.m. - 11:15 a.m.The nature of entrepreneurship in China, in particular the relationship between Chinese entrepreneurs and the government, is a much debated topic. In the context of ongoing market-oriented reforms and stunning economic development, the impact of private entrepreneurship on economic growth and the emerging business environment is significant. What role do entrepreneurs play in "Chinese capitalism with socialist characteristics"? We will explore the historical legacies of China's new entrepreneurial class, the transformation of entrepreneurs and their companies under changing political frameworks, and what this means for our assessment of private companies, state-owned enterprises, and hybrid models in China's economy today. My presentation will address the opportunities and challenges for entrepreneurial activities as well as the resulting implications for foreign companies with business interests in China.
Related HBS Programs:
Key Executives Program
Launching New Ventures
Owner/President Management Program - Winning in Emerging Markets
Professor Krishna G. Palepu
view faculty profile
Friday, September 23; 11:45 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.This presentation is based on a new book published by Tarun Khanna and Krishna Palepu, Winning in Emerging Markets: A Road Map for Strategy and Execution. The presentation will discuss: Unique opportunities and challenges in operating in fast rising emerging markets of the world. Using case examples, the presentation discusses strategic and execution ideas for success in emerging markets for western multinationals, international investors, and new multinationals being created from emerging markets.
Related Resources:
Presentation Video (Spring 2011)Related HBS Programs:
Building Businesses in Emerging Markets - Jump Start Your Revenue Growth
Emeritus Professor Benson P. Shapiro
view faculty profile
Friday, September 23; 11:45 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.Your company has already cut costs and survived what, for most firms, has been a brutal economic time. Performance is improving, but not as quickly as you would like. Now to increase profits and enterprise value, and to insure a strong market position, it is imperative that you grow your top-line revenue quickly and efficiently. You need to increase unit sales and/or prices on a tight budget and a fast schedule.
In this practical reunion session, Professor Ben Shapiro will help you:
- identify the best targets of opportunity
- avoid brutal head-to-head price competition
- price effectively to improve profitability without sacrificing unit volume
- improve the focus, effectiveness and efficiency of your total go-to-market activities including e-commerce and traditional approaches
- sell better and faster
The material is based on a continuing research program on high profit, high performance, "lean" marketing and sales.
Related Resources:
Presentation Summary (pdf)
Presentation Slides (pdf) - Deficits and Debt in the USA
Professor Richard H.K. Vietor
view faculty profile
Saturday, September 24; 10:00 a.m. - 11:15 a.m.This presentation, after a brief background on US economic strategies in the Reagan, Bush, Clinton and Bush eras, focuses on America's twin deficits in the 2000s. It will examine the causes of our fiscal deficits, our current account deficit, and the recent congressional compromise on the debt ceiling. It will conclude by forecasting deficits in the the next 10 years, and by considering an alternative to congressional action.
Related Resources:
Presentation Summary (pdf) - Macroeconomic Policy and US Competitiveness
Professor Richard H.K. Vietor and Assistant Professor Matthew C. Weinzierl, Moderated by Professor Jan W. Rivkin, with Alumni panelists Mr. Ashraf M. Dahod (MBA 1981), Cisco Systems, Inc. and Mr. Joseph B. Fuller (MBA 1981), Monitor Group
Vietor faculty profile, Weinzierl faculty profile, Rivkin faculty profile
Friday, September 23; 2:15 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.Across the political spectrum, there is consensus that the United States faces challenges to its competitiveness. Current US fiscal policy is, unfortunately, part of the problem rather than the solution. We highlight several failures of current policy that ought to command, we believe, general agreement across party lines and political persuasions. These are: insufficient investments in the public goods that are integral to high productivity, unrealistic long-term spending commitments, distortionary and uncertain taxes, declining social mobility, and unsustainable domestic and international trade deficits. We also offer a few recommendations on how to turn fiscal policy to the country's advantage.
Related Resources:
Presentation Summary (pdf)
Green Business & the Environment
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Green Campus Tour
Meghan Duggan, Assistant Director, Sustainability & Energy Management
Friday, September 23, 2:15 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.
In 2008, President Drew Faust announced that Harvard University would reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions 30% by 2016 using 2006 as a baseline and including all future growth. As of fiscal year 2010, HBS has reduced GHG emissions by 34% and reduced energy consumption by 21% (compared to baseline). All of this has been accomplished through:
- multiple energy conservation measures (over 100)
- smart planning and construction (8 LEED certified buildings)
- increased awareness created by behavioral change programs like Green Living & Green Teams
- improved waste management that has assisted with a 60% recycling rate
Shad Hall—the HBS Athletic Facility—is one of the many contributors to our success and will be the focal point of the 'green' tour. It was a 2010 Green Business Award recipient and includes features such as a green roof, photo voltaic (solar) panels, a 75kW cogeneration unit that generates onsite power, GreenRev technology (which harnesses human energy through spin bikes and puts it back into the grid), and smart eco-ballast lighting technology.
Healthcare
- World Health: Global Concern and University Priority
Professor Sue Goldie, MD, MPH, Director, Harvard Global Health Institute
Saturday, September 24; 10:00 a.m. - 11:15 a.m.
Despite remarkable improvements in world health, we are witnessing worsening inequalities and intense changes in demographics, disease patterns, and the flow of global risks. Just as health has become relevant to foreign policy, national security and economic development, the complexity of 21st century global health challenges extend beyond one discipline or methodology. We will discuss why a global health outlook is necessary for professionals outside the health sector, from those in business, law, and education to engineering, design and environmental science. We argue that new problems accompanying the social, economic, and political changes of globalization will require multi-disciplinary contributions, coordinated global action, and new ways of relating to global colleagues and to each other. While emphasizing the importance of a shared conceptual foundation of global health, we will describe the strategic vision of the Harvard Global Health Institute, established by President Faust in 2010, and new models of cross-university collaboration. By harnessing the intellectual breadth, creativity and entrepreneurial spirit of the 12 Harvard faculties, the university can make game-changing contributions to global health.
Related Resources:
Presentation Summary (pdf)
Presentation Slides (pdf) - How to Solve The Cost Crisis in Health Care
Professor Robert S. Kaplan
view faculty profile
Friday, September 23; 11:45 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.In their September 2011 HBR paper, Professors Kaplan and Porter describe a fundamental problem in health care: providers do not understand their costs for delivering health care to patients nor how to relate costs to outcomes. They demonstrate how time-driven activity-based costing provides accurate and transparent costing at the individual patient level. The approach promises to transform the economics of the health care industry by facilitating major improvements in process efficiencies, resource deployment and utilization, and sustainable cost reductions without compromising patient outcomes. It will accelerate the introduction of innovative reimbursement approaches that reward providers for delivering the best outcomes at the lowest cost, not those that perform multiple and expensive procedures. The new approach "is the previously hidden secret for solving the health care cost crisis."
Related Resources:
Presentation Summary (pdf)
Presentation Video (Fall 2011) - What Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Would Want Us To Know About Health Care Disparities
Augustus A. White, III, MD, PhD, Professor, Harvard Medical School
Saturday, September 24; 11:45 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
If you're going to have a heart attack, an organ transplant, or a joint replacement, here's the key to getting the very best medical care: be a white, straight, middle-class male. Dr. White, a pioneering black surgeon, takes on one of the few critically important topics that haven't figured in the heated debate over health care reform—the largely hidden yet massive injustice of bias in medical treatment which causes health disparities in 13 groups of people in our nation.
Dr. White has conducted extensive research and interviews with leading physicians to show how subconscious stereotyping influences doctor-patient interactions, diagnosis, and treatment. He brings together insights from the worlds of social psychology, neuroscience, and clinical practice to define the issues clearly and, most importantly, outlines a concrete approach to fixing this fundamental inequity in the delivery of health care.
Related Resources:
Presentation Summary (pdf)
Presentation Slides (pdf)
Innovation
- Harvard Innovation Lab Tour
Gordon Jones, Director, Harvard Innovation Lab
Saturday, September 24, 10:00 a.m. - 11:15 a.m. and 11:45 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
We invite you to a preview tour of the Harvard Innovation Lab, located on the Harvard Business School campus. The Harvard Innovation Lab is a Harvard University initiative meant to foster team-based and entrepreneurial activities, and deepen interactions among students, faculty, entrepreneurs, and members of the Allston and Greater Boston community. The i-lab itself is located in the building that once housed WGBH-TV's studios and has been renovated into an inviting open-floor plan concept.
With leadership from HBS and support from six other schools across Harvard, the i-lab promises to be a thriving environment for Harvard students to learn, do, and grow their innovative and entrepreneurial ideas. The i-lab is a combination of open workspace, classroom, conference rooms, workshop, and includes a 3D printer!
Please join us for a tour of our collaborative entrepreneurship space prior to its official opening in November.
Management, Governance & Leadership
- The Progress Principle
Professor Teresa M. Amabile
view faculty profile
Friday, September 23; 10:00 a.m. - 11:15 a.m.What really makes people happy, motivated, productive, and creative at work? Our new research, based on analyzing nearly 12,000 daily diaries of team members working on collaborative creative projects, reveals some surprising answers. Inner work life—a person's day-by-day emotions, perceptions and motivation—has a profound effect on the person's creative productivity. And, of all the good things that can boost inner work life, the single most important is simply making progress on meaningful work—even if that progress is a small step forward. This is the Progress Principle. Its implication? Sustained creative productivity and employee well-being depend less on elaborate incentive systems or performance-management processes than on techniques for facilitating the small wins that constitute daily work progress.
Related Resources:
Presentation Video (Fall 2011) - Principles of management that we teach that are not always true
Professor Clayton M. Christensen
view faculty profile
Saturday, September 24; 11:45 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.Historically, innovation has seemed to be expensive and risky. Our research has shown, however, that the root cause of the spotty results are often principles of "good management" that are taught at HBS and elsewhere. In this session, we'll describe which of the principles we teach are the greatest culprits in causing innovations to fail.
Related Resources:
Presentation Slides (pdf)
Presentation Video (Spring 2011) - Women Board Members and Stock Performance: Are Institutional Investors Biased?
Professor Frank Dobbin, Faculty of Arts and Sciences
Friday, September 23; 10:00 a.m. - 11:15 a.m.
Women make up a sixth of corporate board members in the Fortune 500. Some analysts predicted that they would boost financial performance and stock price by making boards more effective. Indeed, early studies showed a correlation between women on boards and both profits and stock price. But more rigorous studies have suggested suggest that women have little little effect on profits and may have negative effects on stock price. We explore why women may have adverse effects on stock price, finding little evidence that they undermine board effectiveness, but some evidence that institutional investors may disfavor firms that appoint women board members.
Related Resources:
Presentation Slides (pdf) - Integrated Reporting: An Idea Whose Time Has Come
Professor Robert G. Eccles
view faculty profile
Friday, September 23; 2:15 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.Integrated reporting, or "One Report," is the combination of a company's required financial report with its voluntary corporate social responsibility or sustainability report. But One Report isn't only One Report but also leverages the internet to provide more detailed information of interest to specific stakeholders, as well as to improve dialogue and engagement with all of them. The world is at the early stages of an important new management practice, already being used by companies such as Southwest Airlines in the United States, Philips in the Netherlands, and Natura in Brazil. Professor Eccles has written the first book on this subject, One Report: Integrated Reporting for a Sustainable Strategy. He is also a member of the Steering Committee of the International Integrated Reporting Committee.
Related Resources:
Presentation Summary (pdf)
Presentation Slides (pdf)
Presentation Video (Fall 2011) -
Authentic Leadership Development
Professor William W. George
view faculty profile
Friday, September 23; 11:45 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.Professor George will lead a discussion on ways leadership is changing in the 21st century, and how leaders are adapting to demands on themselves in the environment and from their workforce. The discussion will be built on authentic leadership through which leaders align their organizations around mission and values, empower people at all levels to step up and lead, focus on service to all their stakeholders, and create highly collaborative environments to sustain superior performance. Finally, the discussion will focus on how HBS is changing to develop "leaders that make a difference in the world," including the use of six-person leadership development groups to provide confidential, intimate support groups.
Related Resources:
Presentation Slides (pdf) -
Where Will We Find Tomorrow's Leaders?
Professor Linda A. Hill
view faculty profile
Friday, September 23; 11:45 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.What kind of leadership do world-class organizations need? Professor Hill will discuss the connection between leadership and innovation, explaining that the type of leaders needed in the future may differ from those in the past.
Related Resources:
Presentation Slides (pdf) - Iraq and Afghanistan: Explaining the Past and Anticipating the Future
Professor Meghan O'Sullivan, Harvard Kennedy School
Saturday, September 24; 11:45 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
The involvement of the United States in both Iraq and Afghanistan has been longer, and harder, than many people anticipated. Is this due to the inherent difficulty of the challenge undertaken? Or was it the result of certain policies and decisions made over the course of the past decade? I will focus on a few key decisions, their origins and their impact on the trajectory of subsequent events, and what they mean for the future.
Related Resources:
Presentation Summary (pdf) - In Search of Common Sense, Competence and Character
Professor William A. Sahlman
view faculty profile
Friday, September 23; 10:00 a.m. - 11:15 a.m.This session will focus on some of the difficult fiscal and political challenges confronting the US. Among other topics, we will explore the roots of the recent financial crisis, healthcare reform, the rate of investment in new technologies, and some thoughts about the path forward for business leaders, politicians and citizens.
Related Resources:
Presentation Summary (pdf)
Presentation Video (Fall 2011) -
Seven Strategy Questions: A Simple Approach for Better Execution
Professor Robert L. Simons
view faculty profile
Friday, September 23; 11:45 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.Executing strategy requires tough choices. Unfortunately, many managers avoid choosing in the mistaken belief that they can have it all. Instead of focusing on one primary customer, they try to serve many different types of customers. Instead of instilling values that prioritize the interests of shareholders, customers, and employees, they develop lists of aspirational attributes. Instead of focusing on what could cause their strategy to fail, they build complex scorecards with an overload of measures. The result: disappointing performance and declining market position. To guard against these risks, we will review the seven strategy questions that all executives (and directors) should ask to ensure that business leaders are making the tough choices that ensure successful strategy execution—and winning in highly-competitive, global markets.
Related Resources:
Presentation Slides (pdf)
Presentation Video (Spring 2011) -
The Moral Leader: Lessons from Moral Leadership in Action
Professor Sandra J. Sucher
view faculty profile
Friday, September 23; 10:00 a.m. - 11:15 a.m.Dean Nohria urges you to be a leader of competence and character but what, exactly, does that entail? In this multimedia talk we will look for clues in the actions of three different leaders at moments of deep institutional crisis and personal challenge.
Their leadership tasks are diverse: waging war; running a major newspaper; managing the affairs of a nation. Yet all three were able to make crucial decisions, take action, and lead themselves and others while staying true to their own values. From their lives, experiences and example we will draw surprising insights and practical lessons about the exercise of moral leadership.
Related Resources:
Presentation Summary (pdf)
Presentation Slides (pdf)
Presentation Video (Fall 2011)
Personal Growth
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Believe It. Live It.
J. Vaughn Brock (MBA 1985)
Friday, September 23; 2:15 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.
More than Words. A Way of Living. From the beaches of Normandy to the streets of Fallujah, in a downtown alleyway and a country tree house, at a running track and on a stage... in these places and others in between, we join a crew of young men as they discover what it means to believe and live by the values of being trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent.
This video and study guide explore these values as we meet a Rwandan genocide survivor, an Iraq war hero, a US Army rescue helicopter unit and other everyday people who personify these values in their daily life—those who truly "Believe It. Live It."
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The World of Business Information at Your Fingertips — Baker Library Isn't Just for Course Work Anymore!
Ann Cullen, Baker Library
Saturday, September 24; 10:00 a.m. - 11:15 a.m.
Researching a new trend? Exploring a new idea? Reevaluating your personal, career, or professional goals? Baker Library Services is here to help. Come to this program to learn about the wide variety of Baker Library services and resources available to you. A case scenario will be used to facilitate a discussion that will take you step by step in thinking through how to productively and effectively approach research. This session will extend the "Baker Library Alumni Service Overview" presentation offered earlier this morning.
Related Resources:
Baker Library: Resources and Research (pdf)
Baker Library: Alumni Portal (pdf)
Baker Library Case (pdf) -
Why Smart People Won't Change
Professor Thomas J. DeLong
view faculty profile
Friday, September 23; 10:00 a.m. - 11:15 a.m.Many people with a high need for achievement find the process of individual change very difficult. Some professionals resign themselves to organizational, personal and life situations that are miserable or where they feel caught. Professor DeLong will discuss individual motivation and how to leverage the opportunities that confront us in our professional and private lives. The presentation is based on DeLong's forthcoming book, Flying Without A Net: Turn Fear of Failure Into Fuel for Success.
Related Resources:
Presentation Summary (pdf) -
The Challenge of the Changing Workforce
Tamara J. Erickson (MBA 1978), President, The Concours Institute
view alumna profile
Saturday, September 24; 11:45 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.Seismic shifts are occurring in the workforce. Over the next several years, the number of jobs created could begin to outstrip the number of people who desire to participate in the workforce. And, values toward "work" are changing. Today four generations are working together—each bringing different experiences and assumptions to the job. These and other changes will affect the relationships we forge with employees, the opportunities ahead for us and our children, our approaches to education, our philosophies toward retirement, and the fundamental way we live out our lives.
In this provocative and fun session, Tammy offers a deep understanding of the composition of the future workforce, characteristics and expectations of the four generations in today's workforce, and actions to attract and retain great talent.
Related Resources:
Reunion Presentation (pdf)
Presentation Video (Spring 2011) - What Boards are Looking For in the Year Ahead
Julie Norris (MBA/JD 1993), Partner, CTPartners and Christine Sullivan, Director, Alumni Career and Professional Development
Saturday, September 24; 10:00 a.m. - 11:15 a.m.
Boards are under pressure from shareholders and other constituencies to oversee corporate performance in a still uncertain economy. Traditional sources of director talent are drying up, and active CEOs are less able to serve on outside boards than before. Do you have the skills and expertise that corporate boards are looking for? This session will provide an overview of current trends and offer suggestions for finding and evaluating board opportunities. Key takeaways will include:
- How to develop a game plan to make yourself more visible to boards
- Questions you should ask when considering joining a board
- Qualities and experiences boards are looking for in new directors
- Understanding the process boards use to find directors
Philanthropy & Social Enterprise
- Giving Something Back to Society
Professor Michael Chu
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Saturday, September 24; 10:00 a.m. - 11:15 a.m.A number of HBS alumni have expressed a desire to give something back to society while also stating they are not quite sure how to go about it. Michael Chu who teaches at HBS in the social enterprise group will lead a panel discussion on "Giving Back." The panel, all HBS alumni, with extensive experience in the non-profit world consists of:
Chris Crane is the founder and CEO of Edify Inc., a humanitarian organization that makes small business loans to sustainable schools educating impoverished children in Africa and Latin America.
Karen Robards is a founder, past President and Chairman of the Board of The Cooke Center for Learning & Development which provides quality inclusive education to individuals with special needs, regardless of ability to pay.
Chris Rodrigues was made by The Queen a CBE (Commander of the British Empire) for his various charitable endeavors.
Eileen Rudden is the Chief of the Office of College and Career Preparation at Chicago Public Schools, the third largest K-12 school system in the nation
Sam Yates is the Chief Operating Officer of the Migraine Research Foundation.
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How Charitable Giving Improves Your Own Happiness — and Your Organization's Bottom Line
Associate Professor Michael I. Norton
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Friday, September 23; 10:00 a.m. - 11:15 a.m.Can money make you happy? Our research suggests that it can—if you give it away. We show that encouraging people to spend on others—for example, by giving them $20 in the morning and asking them to give it away by the end of the day—makes people happier than spending on themselves. In addition, the positive impact of behaving charitably can improve organizational health and performance. When we gave employees in two organizations "prosocial incentives" (bonuses given to charity or spent on co-workers) rather than standard incentives (bonuses for themselves), both employee satisfaction and job performance improved dramatically. I will discuss how these findings change the way organizations should think about incentivizing employees—and how we should think about spending our own money.
Related Resources:
Presentation Slides (pdf)
Presentation Video (Spring 2011) -
Social Enterprise Governance — it is different
Emeritus Professor F. Warren McFarlan
view faculty profile
Friday, September 23; 2:15 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.This session will be built off my new book Joining a Nonprofit Board—What you need to know. These mission driven organizations are very different in character than for-profit organizations. The role of board members, the importance of mission identification, measurement of mission performance and the role of finances and philanthropy create a very different environment from the for-profit board. It is very easy for people from a for-profit background to make false steps in this environment which are difficult to recover from.
Related Resources:
Presentation Summary (pdf)
Presentation Slides (pdf)
Presentation Video (Spring 2011)
Real Estate
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Hard Assets in Age of Uncertainty
Professor Arthur I. Segel
view faculty profile
Friday, September 23; 11:45 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.Discussion of real estate, farmland and gold investing during uncertain economic times.
Related Resources:
Presentation Slides (pdf)
Science
- The $1,000 Genome: The Brave New World of Personal Genomics
Kevin Davies PhD, Founding editor of Bio-IT World and author of The $1,000 Genome
Saturday, September 24; 11:45 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
In 2007, James Watson, who co-discovered the double helix structure of DNA, received the first personal genome sequence for about $1 million. Today, the cost of reading a person's complete DNA sequence has dropped to less than $10,000. Today, anybody with a doctor's note can get their genome sequenced for $10,000. More importantly, genome analysis is offering life-saving diagnoses and treatment options for some cancer patients and patients suffering serious genetic disorders. Kevin Davies, the author of The $1,000 Genome and a regular guest at HBS alumni reunions, will share his experiences in decoding his own genome, spotlight the next generation of sequencing systems and their growing impact in the clinic, and discuss the medical and ethical implications of personal genomics.
Related Resources:
Presentation Slides (pdf) - The Promise of Stem Cell Science
Professor Douglas Melton, Faculty of Arts and Sciences
Saturday, September 24; 10:00 a.m. - 11:15 a.m.
Advances in stem cell science have moved closer to the development of new medicines and cellular transplantations for degenerative diseases. This science of how our bodies are made and maintained by stem cells is also opening a door to regeneration and a life of healthy ageing.
Related Resources:
Presentation Slides (pdf) - Neuroscience and the Roots of Human Capital Development: Implications for Economic Productivity and Corporate Responsibility
Dr. Jack P. Shonkoff, Julius B. Richmond FAMRI Professor in Child Health and Development; Director, Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University; Professor of Pediatrics
Friday, September 23; 10:00 a.m. - 11:15 a.m.
There is a broad understanding that the current explosion of knowledge in neuroscience, molecular biology, and genomics is fueling investment in new technologies that will revolutionize the way we treat disease. Less appreciated is the extent to which this same science could inform more effective approaches to education reform, workforce development, health promotion, crime prevention, and the reduction of intergenerational poverty. This session will provide an overview of the science of early childhood and early brain development for business leaders who are interested in strengthening the US workforce, building human capital in developing countries, and leveraging scientific advances to generate innovative solutions to enduring societal problems as a new strategy for corporate responsibility.
Related Resources:
Presentation Summary (pdf)
Presentation Slides (pdf)
Social Media & the Internet
- Blockbuster Strategies: Will Creative Industries Survive the Rise of Digital Technology?
Associate Professor Anita Elberse
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Friday, September 23; 11:45 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.The emergence of digital technology is having a profound impact on the media and entertainment industries and is putting pressure on existing business models. Drawing on empirical research involving large data sets as well as in-depth case studies of companies in this space, Professor Elberse will offer insights into consumer behavior in digital channels and the likely consequences for managers. The central question is whether popular "blockbuster strategies" remain viable in the digital age. The session will focus on issues such as the possibilities for monetizing the "long tail" of media content, the consequences of the unbundling of content, and the new rules of promoting content online.
Related Resources:
Presentation Summary (pdf) - Google and Facebook
Professor John A. Deighton, Assistant Professor Benjamin G. Edelman, and Associate Professor Mikolaj Jan Piskorski
Deighton faculty profile, Edelman faculty profile, Piskorski faculty profile
Friday, September 23; 10:00 a.m. - 11:15 a.m.Some firms changed our physical lives, as Ford did with the automobile. More recently some have begun to change our psychic lives. First there was Google, which put a dent in world ignorance, and then there was Facebook, which did the same for global loneliness. Do these virtues come at a cost? They change the character of marketing, but is it for the good? They alter the line between private life and life in the marketplace, they change the balance of information between buyer and seller, they turn word-of-mouth from a one-to-one sharing activity to one-to-many broadcasting. And as Google enters Facebook's domain with Google+, what will happen to the balance of information age power??
Related Resources:
Presentation Slides (pdf) - The Digital Revolution: How Technology is Changing the World
Professor David B. Yoffie
view faculty profile
Friday, September 23; 2:15 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.Cloud computing, social networking, the explosion of smartphones and tablets, and the drive to connect all digital products together are having a profound impact on management, strategies, and the way we live our lives. This session will explore the underlying drivers of technological change, the critical trends in technology today, and the impact this revolution will have on tomorrow.
Related Resources:
Presentation Slides (pdf)