Harvard Business School\'s Greatest Lesson

Harvard Business School's Greatest Lesson

Fortune   |  Geoff Colvin   |   March 27, 2008 10:29 AM


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Does Harvard Business School have a future? Its storied past will get extra attention when the school turns 100 years old on April 8. But in a fast-changing global economy, the world's iconic business school faces new threats of the type that confront all established institutions.

New direct competitors (Beijing University, for example) are gaining appeal. Disruptive competitors, such as corporations that offer faster, better training, are increasing. The market could even see a secular shift in demand if ambitious twentysomethings decide they need a different education for a future right-brain economy based on creativity and imagination.

Since HBS's challenge is faced by many companies, I wanted to find the essence of what has made the place so successful, the core that must remain, no matter what else might have to change. So I asked a varied sample of alumni the same simple question: What's the most valuable thing you learned at Harvard Business School?


 
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- Irons I'm a Fan of Irons 2 fans permalink

Gonzo - Harvard Law - LMAO

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 01:47 AM on 03/28/2008
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Forget the future. Basic decency demands that this school keep a low profile. It humiliated itself beyond redemption by giving Junior an MBA.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 11:55 PM on 03/27/2008
- BigSid I'm a Fan of BigSid 9 fans permalink

SIMPLY THE BEST BUSINESS SCHOOLS OUT THERE...

Harvard Business School

Wharton

Darden

Kellogg

Stanford

The Top Five (in no particular order) really don't have to worry about the competition -- not for at least another 100 years.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 10:22 PM on 03/27/2008
- MACS I'm a Fan of MACS permalink

.
Harvard has learned not to sell an admission and graduation through the LEGACY program. The bush mob made fools of the school. They should DEMAND the return of the said MBA. The donation money is not worth the political capital. and reputation loss
.i

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 09:45 PM on 03/27/2008

Stan O'Neal was a Harvard MBA. He is also responsible for the billions of dollars in losses for Merrill Lynch last year. Oh then he was given 161 million dollar buyout package. Oh then he was appointed to the Board of Directors at ALCOA. DUH........

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 08:58 PM on 03/27/2008

How does a college graduate with skating, 'gentlemanly 'Cs' get into a graduate school? I have a cousin who graduated at the top of his class from a well known university taking only pre med courses, Made one 'B', and spent a year teaching chemistry at the school because he had to wait a year to get into medical school. He became a superb neuro-surgeon. He was the son of a school teacher, not a doctor.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 08:47 PM on 03/27/2008
- MrHumidty I'm a Fan of MrHumidty 2 fans permalink

As others have alluded to, if they haven't yet learned that they should have flunked Bush, then they still have a lot to learn.

Actually, as a graduate of two public universities, I can say Bush's tenure has been great for the proletariate when it comes to academic prestige (undoubtedly the only good thing he's ever done for the proletariate). Never again can an Ivy League graduate use prestige to dismiss someone without risking a comparison to George W. Bush.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 07:27 PM on 03/27/2008
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GWB, Harvard MBA, 'nuf said.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 03:52 PM on 03/27/2008
- mmckinl I'm a Fan of mmckinl 22 fans permalink

Yep, Harvard is just training for the oligarchy ...

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 03:47 PM on 03/27/2008
- Rule Of Law I'm a Fan of Rule Of Law 171 fans permalink

test

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 02:06 PM on 03/27/2008
- Rule Of Law I'm a Fan of Rule Of Law 171 fans permalink

If I were in charge of bringing this country back to Constitutional Sanity one of the first moves I would make would be to tear down every Ivy League school, Beginning with Harvard. They are nothing more than the semi-pro leagues for our entrenched royalty in politics and business, an old boys network built on secrecy and deceit (skull and bones anyone?) and an incestuous pit of privilege and nepotism! They reflect an old money, East Coast oriented view of how the world should work that bears no resemblance to the way in which the vast majority in this nation really live. Look at our President (s) and heads of corporations, especially banking, and the common thread among far too many is the Ivy League, and the damage they do from generation to generation, eerily the same! You want to break the back of this self serving, entitled, arrogant, system? Tear down the places where they learn that we are expendable and they are our masters!

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 02:08 PM on 03/27/2008
- mmckinl I'm a Fan of mmckinl 22 fans permalink

Yep, Harvard is just training for the oligarchy.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 03:47 PM on 03/27/2008
- Rog49Thomas I'm a Fan of Rog49Thomas 193 fans permalink

I went to an Ivy League school and I wasn't trained to think that I am anyone's master or better.

Nor did I think that before attending undergrad or graduate school. Nor do I now.

I also have an MBA from a "prestigious" school.

I am also a banker.

(Perhaps, the "three strikes" law applies here?)

From the group I ran with and run with now, I really don't think we're much different than the general population in terms of our shortocmings and prejudices.

There is an article on HuffPo today about a rather high percentage of "Democrats" who believe that Obama is a secret Muslim and will therefore not vote for him. There are a lot of folks in this country who aren't troubled by torture, who think Pan is the greatest President.
Not many of these people - I'm guessing - went to an Ivy League school.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 01:39 AM on 03/28/2008
- Rog49Thomas I'm a Fan of Rog49Thomas 193 fans permalink

It takes a big man to admit he's made a mistake.

I've looked a bit more at Ivy League schools.

Here's a list of graduates (some of them with undergrad and grad degrees from the Ivy League):

(1) Barack Obama
(2) Mike Gravel
(3) Noam Chomsky
(4) Ralph Nader
(5) Michael Parenti
(6) Katrina vanden Heuvel
(7) William Greider
(8) Joe Klein
(9) Brooke Shields

Pretty scary crop of graduates, I suppose.

On the other hand, Karl Rove went to Utah and Maryland and Tom DeLay to Houston!

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 03:34 AM on 03/28/2008
- gcallaghan I'm a Fan of gcallaghan 52 fans permalink
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Competition won't lead to the downfall of Harvard Business School. Their fatal error was in bestowing an MBA on one George W. Bush, thereby deflating the prestige and value of all others who hold them.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 02:05 PM on 03/27/2008
- Rule Of Law I'm a Fan of Rule Of Law 171 fans permalink

If I were in charge of bringing this country back to Constitutional Sanity one of the first moves I would make would be to tear down every Ivy League school, Beginning with Harvard. They are nothing more than the semi-pro leagues for our entrenched royalty in politics and business, an old boys network built on secrecy and deceit (skull and bones anyone?) and an incestuous pit of privilege and nepotism! They reflect an old money, East Coast oriented view of how the world should work that bears no resemblance to the way in which the vast majority in this nation really live. Look at our President (s) and heads of corporations, especially banking, and the common thread among far too many is the Ivy League, and the damage they do from generation to generation, eerily the same! You want to break the back of this self serving, entitled, arrogant, system? Tear down the places where they learn that we are expendable and they are our masters!

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 01:09 PM on 03/27/2008

This article caused me to go back and look at what George Bush did at Harvard and I found this article. http://www.americanthinker.com/2004/02/gwb_hbs_mba.html (Paragraph) Apparently he was good at poker and making decisions with not enough information. He was known for bringing his buds up to Kennebunkport when the parents were away. The linked to article was written in early 2004; there are others. It indicates that people at that time in the business community were still snookered by him. Apparently a Harvard education is valuable, no matter whether you use it for good or evil.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 11:53 AM on 03/27/2008

Crikes! America folds to a pair of deuces.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 12:32 PM on 03/27/2008

In the 80s, I worked for a small family run 7 million dollar a year printing company that made a profit. Within 2 years the new owner a Harvard Business School graduate who's daddy purchased the company for him like you would buy your kid a toy, the company had doubled it's earnings, yet was losing money. The reasons were obvious, at that time a 6 color press was becoming essential, but Harvard boy thought that sales force needed high end European cars instead, spoilage tripled, because mentioned salesman were promising deadlines that could not be met without a 6 color press. Since than, I have had little confidence in Harvard Business School of no common sense. Bush is a Harvard Business School graduate, enough said.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 11:45 AM on 03/27/2008

The lesson is a lot simpler than suggested by the article. The courses themselves are a hodgepodge of fairly elementary courses from various disciplines. The one and only opportunity provided by big name MBA programs is to network with the biggest players and figures in business. That's it, but of course that is a big deal. But that is also why MBAs from no-name schools are considered nearly worthless.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 11:27 AM on 03/27/2008
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