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What HBS Learned from West Point
Topics: Education-Business EducationEducation-Business EducationEducation-Higher EducationLeadership-Leadership DevelopmentIf talk of knowing, doing, and being sounds a little touchy-feely, take heart. By embracing the educational framework, HBS is taking a page directly out of the US Military Academy’s playbook on leadership development. MBA Class of 1958 Senior Lecturer Scott Snook, a US Army colonel and decorated combat veteran, should know. As an instructor at West Point and head of its Center of Leadership and Organizations Research during the 1990s, Snook helped the academy update its approach to developing military leaders. It came down squarely in favor of putting more emphasis on character development.
“Knowing—competence—is obviously important if you want to lead,” says Snook, who came to HBS in 2002 after over 22 years in the military. “No matter what your occupation, you can always improve your knowledge. But with leadership, we know that beyond knowledge and skills, people really respond to something more holistic. They respond to character—who you are, your values, and your identity.”
The parallels for business educators are striking. Business schools have been criticized for relying too heavily on teaching disciplinary knowledge and developing analytical understanding at the expense of how-to skills and the self-knowledge needed to be an effective leader.
In short, business schools have excelled at teaching about leadership from a fundamentally analytical perspective. But there are things that every leader should be able to do: for example, lead a team or deliver a performance review. And there are things that every leader should be, notably a person of character who understands his or her impact on others.
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