Roger Shamel (MBA ’74) explains why some HBS alumni are worried about climate change, and why you might worry too. “Leaders making a difference” is the hoped-for outcome of the Harvard Business School mission, “To educate leaders who make a difference in the world.” And perhaps no greater difference is needed today than the difference…
Ryo Takahashi (MBA ’20) reflects on the attack. Eighteen years ago, on September 11, which started as an ordinary day with clear blue skies, 19 Al-Qaeda linked hijackers claimed the lives of 2,977 victims, many of whom were expecting an uneventful day at work. On 9/11, I was in middle school in New York. Defying…
The Harvard admissions trial has shed light on some troubling facts that must be addressed. This October, Lawrence Bacow was inaugurated as the 29th President of Harvard University. In his inaugural address, President Bacow, quoting the theologian Reinhold Neibuhr, urged, “We must always seek the truth in our opponent’s errors, and the errors in our…
Exploring Asian identity and minority politics beyond the SFFA v. Harvard lawsuit On Lee’s first call with his MBA admissions coach, she told him, bluntly, that he’d drawn one of the worst hands for admission to HBS: Asian-American, heterosexual, male, with a background in finance and technology. There were simply far too many people “like…
When it all started The first time I had my period I was in middle school. The end of classes was fast approaching and, after the initial shock of seeing my underwear full of blood, all I could think of was that my summer at the seaside would have been ruined. No more sea bathing,…
Work has been a central concern of Harvard Business School since the first days of this campus. On June 4, 1927, with construction complete, faculty and students gathered for the dedication ceremony. The campus was much smaller then. Only Baker Library, Morgan Hall and the six HBS dorms stood. Spangler, Aldrich and Klarman lay far…
‘What would you do if you were Africa?’ This question said it all to me. I came to HBS excited to learn more about the role of business in a global context. After having worked and lived in a few different countries on the African continent, I expected to meet many classmates from the continent…
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 tech world can’t stop talking about blockchain, and nowhere is that more apparent than in the healthcare sector. As one HealthTech contributor put it, “it was impossible to ignore the growing buzz around blockchain at HIMSS 2018 in Las Vegas.” But behind the buzz and hype, what are the substantial ways that blockchain will…
To many, Cape Town, the host of the 2018 MBA World Summit, evokes images of a tourist mecca, known for picturesque mountains and animated nightlife that draw ten million visitors each year. The spotlight at the Summit, however, was on the heart of the city beneath its blissful veneer. The event, which annually sponsors 100…
Dear Mark, You founded and built Facebook into a global colossus in a remarkably short time. You conceived of a need to allow people to connect easily, quickly everywhere and at virtually unlimited scale. You recruited the team to help you, made adjustments along the way and in the process built a commercial juggernaut with…
It is the season for the EC to close in on career choices and the RC to lock in internships. The realization is dawning that HBS is actually a twenty month experience that quickly is over. You must have questions. What industry? What functional area? What company? Compensation in the first few years? Experiences of…
On April 16, 2016, I turned left on Commonwealth Avenue. One foot trotting past the other, I glanced up. Above me, a freshly painted banner arched across the light grey sky on the Bowker Overpass, reading “BOSTON STRONG.” I smiled, and got a little kick in my step. Along with several thousand other runners, I…
For all the attention directed toward startups in an era of record venture capital financing, massive appetite for early-stage investments, and an ever-growing club of VC-backed “unicorns” crossing billion-dollar valuations, entrepreneurial activity by MBAs from leading programs has lagged far behind. Entrepreneurship among recent MBA graduates has reached its lowest level in eight years, falling…
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…
In the first of a two part series, Editor Emeritus Pippa Lamb (HBS ‘18) takes a look at the first-ever hackathon to be hosted at the Vatican. You might not expect to read the words “Hackathon” and “Vatican” in the same sentence. However, this month, a Harvard-led team of students is helping to change just…
On a brisk January day in San Francisco, California, 10,000 attendees from more than 450 companies spanning medical devices, healthcare service providers, and pharmaceuticals piled into the heart of the city to attend the annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference. The days were filled by a rapid fire of ideas in innovation and investing—from how to…
Unappetizing, dry, bland: these are the adjectives that come to mind when we hear the phrase “veggie burger” and start imagining that scary frankenpatty. Insert the Impossible Burger: a burger that bleeds and sizzles like beef but, since it’s made entirely from plants, with none of the downsides. Targeted at meat eaters, it is one…
Even the most ardent cryptocurrency enthusiast will usually admit, in a vulnerable moment or after a few drinks, that parts of the cryptocurrency market are likely overvalued, and perhaps enormously so. But the question of precisely how cryptocurrencies should be valued is rarely discussed at HBS. Given the level of investment in the space, this…
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…
THE ROBIN HOOD ARMY AT HBS Did you know that, of the 800 million hungry people in the world, 82% live in countries with food surpluses? Or that one-third of the food produced around the world is never consumed? Or that, despite these figures, every 10 seconds a child dies from hunger? The challenge isn’t…
Roaming the halls of Harvard Business School over the past few weeks, you would never know it, but the U.S. Senate just voted on one of the most consequential pieces of legislation of our time. Early Saturday morning, the Senate passed a tax “overhaul” that dramatically lowers corporate tax rates, balloons the federal deficit, reduces…
To get into HBS, family money matters. It’s an uncomfortable truth. “At 38 colleges in America,” The New York Times provocatively declared earlier this year, “more students came from the top 1 percent of the income scale than from the entire bottom 60 percent.” Stated another way, a child born into the top 1 percent…
Alumni and students pose answers to the question: Where’s the Leadership on Climate Change, Harvard? In the past several years the Harbus has run an alumni-sponsored series of at least nine ads and articles urging more action on climate change. Seven HBS alumni have joined forces to make this happen. The latest of these, “Where’s…
President Trump has nominated Jerome Powell, member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors since 2012 and former partner of private equity giant The Carlyle Group, as the next Chair of the Fed. The President’s decision to forgo reappointment of current Chair Janet Yellen will make her only the third single-term leader of the Fed…
Most likely you have spent many hours thinking about and preparing for your professional life. In fact, for most of you, the core reason you came to HBS is to make a career pivot, to find a new, more attractive professional track. Once on that track, in the wider world, most of your time will…
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…
To the Harvard Business School MBA class of 2017: congratulations! You’ve earned a degree that is the envy of business leaders everywhere. It will imbue you with the golden brand of a gilded school and allow you easier entry into careers and opportunities. Some may say that your degree gives you the right to a…