Stories
Stories
School’s Entrepreneurial Spirit Runs Deep
Contrary to popular perception, Harvard Business School isn’t just a training ground for future Fortune 500 CEOs, says author Jeffrey L. Cruikshank (PMD 51, 1986). Just as important, it’s a launching pad for thousands of graduates who bypass the corporate track to take the entrepreneurial route to success.
In Shaping the Waves: A History of Entrepreneurship at Harvard Business School (HBS Press, 2005), Cruikshank debunks the characterization of HBS as a “handmaiden to the Fortune 500,” churning out only top CEOs. In fact, Cruikshank says, more than half of HBS alumni call themselves entrepreneurs. “Many HBS alums graduate with a certain attitude and inclination toward entrepreneurship and wind up as self-employed — starting, growing, and selling businesses, and starting over again,” he explains.
His book chronicles the birth and growth of the entrepreneurship curriculum at HBS from World War II to today and reveals the broad and deep entrepreneurial ethos that has permeated many required and elective courses at the School. Cruikshank also recounts how alumni have used the resources, networks, and expertise of HBS to “shape the waves of change” and launch their ideas directly (in the form of hugely successful companies like Staples and Orbital Sciences) and indirectly (for example, through the venture capital industry).
“These stories are about restless academics who can’t quite stay away from business,” writes Cruikshank. “Or alternatively, they are about entrepreneurs who can’t quite stay away from the academy.”
— Margie Kelley
Post a Comment
Related Stories
-
- 15 Dec 2024
- HBS Magazine
Alumni and Faculty Books
Re: Kavita Bhatnagar (SELP 11); Amar Bhide (MBA 1979); Siri Chilazi (MBA 2016); Christopher Cox (MBA 1997); Gurcharan Das (AMP 91); Maria Ellis (OPM 32); Brooks Fenno (MBA 1962); Sue Hemphill (PMD 47); Frank Lorenzo (MBA 1963); John Lotz (MBA 1971); Ron May (AMP 165); Rusty McClure (MBA 1975); Allie Nava (MBA 2002); Wilbur Ross (MBA 1961); Garry Sanderson (AMP 175); Ken Wilcox (MBA 1983); Rick Williams (PMD 33); Michael Horn (MBA 2006); Max H. Bazerman (Jesse Isidor Straus Professor of Business Administration); Ethan S. Bernstein (Edward W. Conard Associate Professor of Business Administration); Malcolm S. Salter (James J. Hill Professor of Business Administration, Emeritus); Feng Zhu (MBA Class of 1958 Professor of Business Administration) -
- 01 Sep 2024
- HBS Alumni Bulletin
Ink: Framing the Full Picture
Re: Amy Chu (MBA 1999); By: Jen McFarland Flint -
- 01 Sep 2024
- HBS Alumni Bulletin
Alumni Books
Re: Patrice Derrington (MBA 1991); Rosemary Scanlon (PMD 42); Fred Kinch (MBA 1965); Teri Martin (MBA 1980); Jack Ryan (MBA 1984); Scott Saslow (MBA 1997); Shalinee Sharma (MBA 2005); Marty Sneider (MBA 1968) -
- 01 Jun 2024
- HBS Alumni Bulletin
Renaissance Man
Re: Kim Brooker (MBA 1968); By: Julia Hanna
Stories Featuring Jeffrey Cruikshank
-
- 01 Dec 2010
- Alumni Stories
The Father of Modern Advertising
Re: Jeffrey Cruikshank (PMD 51); By: Sean Silverthorne -
- 19 Aug 2010
- Alumni Stories
Classroom Hijinks: Catchphrases, Mottos, Cheers, and Mascots
Re: Jeffrey Cruikshank (PMD 51); By: Keith Larson -
- 01 Mar 2008
- Alumni Stories
Alumni Books
Re: Leslie Crutchfield (MBA 2001); Gordon Binder (MBA 1962); Dermot Berkery (MBA 1991); Jim Citrin (MBA 1986); Jane Linder (MBA 1976); Jeffrey Cruikshank (PMD 51); Matt Morgan (MBA 2007); Brenda Bence (MBA 1991); Chris Leinberger (MBA 1976); Don Olexa (AMP 82); Dennis Powers (MBA 1969); Gordon Shearer (MBA 1978)
