This column is addressed mostly to the class of 2018, but perhaps the class of 2019 might take a peek too. First, my congratulations for earning the right to be in perhaps the most admired, sought after and elite group in the business world. You very soon will be a graduate of Harvard Business School….
The Harbus Foundation has announced a total of $60,000 in grant awards to Boston-based nonprofit organizations Empower Schools, Generations Incorporated, and GroundTruth. The recipients took home $20,000 each in the categories of Education, Literacy, and Journalism, respectively, following the Harbus Foundation’s annual gala. The K-12 education efforts of Empower Schools, the Education grant recipient, have…
This year’s graduating MBA Class will re-enter the workforce ten years after the onset of the greatest economic recession in a generation. While the stock market has since recovered, business leaders today face an increasingly complex web of ethical and legal challenges amidst rising public scrutiny of their actions. As members of the MBA Class…
From starting out licensing coloring books at the Walt Disney company, to Pearson’s Penguin group, AOL Europe, Time Warner International, and then running Sony Pictures, Michael Lynton (MBA ’87) is one of the most experienced executives in the media and entertainment industry. Most recently in 2017 Lynton stepped down as CEO and Chairman of Sony…
The following is a Harbus exclusive interview with David Rubenstein, co-founder of The Carlyle Group, one of the world’s largest private equity and alternative asset management firms with $174 billion under management. Rubenstein, who is a member of the Harvard Corporation as of July 2017, addressed the community at Spangler Auditorium in an event co-hosted…
Creating a global company with social impact at its heart doesn’t happen overnight. But, as Prodigy Finance demonstrates, it can definitely happen within a matter of years. Cameron Stevens, like any recently-accepted INSEAD candidate, was looking forward to his MBA experience in France. And, like most other grad students, began looking for the financing needed…
Sana Mohammed (MBA ‘19) and Triston Francis (MBA ‘19) have been elected as the Harvard Business School Student Association Co-Presidents for 2018-2019. The co-presidency, elected at the end of February by the RC year, will begin after spring break. Sana and Triston campaigned under an overarching mission to “foster a more collaborative environment that enables…
When Drew Faust announced her intention to step down as Harvard University’s 28th President at the end of this academic year, she invoked “Fair Harvard,” the university’s alma mater, in reflecting upon the resilience of an institution that has found purpose and progress “through change and through storm.” Faust concludes her 11 years at the…
Securing educational financing as an international student is no easy feat. You might think getting into grad school is the tough part, but even securing a seat in a prestigious, competitive MBA program is likely to seem easier than finding the financing to accept it. And, it’s difficult to imagine affording an international MBA (or…
On March 1, 2018, Microsoft released the latest large-scale dataset for machine reading comprehension and question answering. You can access the public dataset, named MS MARCO, at //www.msmarco.org/. As human beings, we are so habituated to the daily routines of reading, writing, and conversing that we may deem it intuitive to transfer our language understanding…
Two billion people worldwide have enrolled in Facebook, and it is fair to say most of them have used the service. Many have integrated Facebook and its services deeply into their lives. While Facebook is the dominant social media product, there are other providers in America and around the world. But allow me to focus…
In 2017, the U.S. economy had a solid year. Unemployment fell to a 17-year low, GDP growth picked up, and the stock market reached record highs. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Trump Administration was quick to take credit for these positive developments. “The President’s economic agenda of lower taxes, less regulation, and more opportunity for all is…
Many powerful and influential men are being called out and finally being held to account for egregious behavior towards women that range from truly monstrous to profoundly stupid and wrong. This is long overdue. The history of mankind has a few enduring themes. Some are inspiring, and some are discouraging. The fact that men have…
After the release of their much anticipated report – Why Competition in the Politics Industry is Failing America – Harvard’s Michael Porter and business executive and political innovation activist Katherine Gehl sat down with Kenneth Zauderer (MBA ’18) to share a bit of color on their findings, what led them to take a business lens…
Why Competition in the Politics Industry is Failing America If our political system were an industry – the Political Industrial Complex – it would be valued at more than $16 billon. Furthermore, if you include the $3.6 trillion budget allocated by this apparatus at the federal and state level, it’s the biggest industry out there….
Strategic thinking has been long been part of political analysis. From Thucydides to contemporary military and social science, people have deployed frameworks to understand and build models of prediction since time immemorial. Take the following: “If the dawn of democracy in a given country finds the decision makers divided into two parties, they may wish…
Interview with Alan Horn (MBA ’71), Chairman of The Walt Disney Studios Alan Horn (HBS ’71) may be the humblest man in Hollywood. This might not be what you’d expect from one of the most influential figures in the film and television industry, and one of the individuals responsible for shaping much of what we’ve watched…
President Trump defended his decision to rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program as an effort to promote “safe communities, a robust middle class, and economic fairness for all Americans.” In his statement, the President painted his stance as simultaneously shrewd and compassionate. He pointed a finger at roughly 800,000 undocumented immigrants brought…
Manning Invite Widened the Civilian-Military Divide at Harvard In honoring former US Army Specialist Chelsea Manning by naming her a Visiting Fellow, the Institute of Politics at Harvard Kennedy School opened wide a wound that leaders at Harvard have diligently worked to close in recent years: the civilian-military divide. There are few Rorschach Tests more…
How the mission of one EC student sets an example for us all Why did you come to HBS? To switch careers, build your resume, or simply to push yourself outside of your comfort zone? For Rich Horgan (HBS ‘18) the answer is more complex: to further his goal of advancing research to commercialize treatments…
The Issue Burden Hall was supposed to be demolished after Klarman Hall became fully operational in 2018. Over the Summer of 2017, the administration decided to advance this demolition to mid-October 2017. The student body was not consulted until months after the decision had been taken. The HBS Student Association Senate first came to know…
The new year starts. For the class of 2019, the new, challenging, and hopefully rewarding world of HBS is coming into focus. For the class of 2018, the freedom, diversity, and enrichment of the EC year awaits. The question of career and first job choice is lurking somewhere in just about everyone’s psyche though as…
I recently saw a photo of my favorite Houston street art. On the side of a bridge that carries trains over interstate highway 45, big block letters remind drivers, “Be Someone.” I’ve probably read these words hundreds of times, but as of August 27, “Be Someone” doesn’t challenge drivers any more. The highway lies under…
What is a shared attribute among the following items? The digital archive of the Baker Library, the endless emails from LinkedIn suggesting new connections, the “you may also like” section on Amazon, and the top three most-used mobile apps on your smartphone. One shared attribute may be that they are all powered by information retrieval…
Last spring, we published a Harbus piece asserting that “coding is the new business literacy.” As we look back on the student-led digital literacy movements at HBS over the past year, we’d say that the student body agrees. There’s a blossoming ecosystem on campus of tech-driven clubs, hackathons, and ventures. It’s hard to believe that…
Drew, thank you for taking the time to talk with us, we’re excited to have you. I’d like to take you to the beginning, to the very first days of Dropbox. Some entrepreneurs have a grand vision for their startup to take over the world right from the get-go. Did you ever imagine that Dropbox…
Hi HBS! We are excited to serve as your 2017-2018 Student Association Co-Presidents. We are honored to have the opportunity to represent you and continue the legacy of LaToya and Libby. The leadership our outgoing Co-Presidents have shown over their tenure has not gone unnoticed and is immensely appreciated. HBS is indeed a little smaller,…
To our classmates, As of March 20th 2017, we have officially transitioned the SA presidency to Angelica Castellanos and Kevin Ferguson. We have the utmost confidence in both Angie and Kevin and wish the two of them – and their new team – a very successful year in the SA. When we were elected to…
In a landmark decision, Harvard Business School’s admissions department has announced that, beginning next fall, all applicants will be required to submit their social media passwords to be considered for the full-time MBA program. Admissions Director Chad Losee shared the thinking behind the change. “It was daunting to fill Dee Leopold’s shoes this year; the…
WSA CONFERENCE & THE 2016 U.S. PRESIDENTIAL RACE SERIES: INTERVIEW WITH HEIDI CRUZ Editor-in-Chief Pippa Lamb caught up with the closing keynote speaker of this year’s WSA conference, Heidi Cruz (HBS ’00) to discuss her views on empowerment, a career on Wall Street, working for President George W. Bush, and her time on the 2016…