In his monthly column for the Harbus, Professor Kevin W. Sharer shares his thoughts on the issues facing HBS students. To state the obvious, we are in a time of crisis and great uncertainty. We are taking unprecedented steps on the societal, economic and healthcare fronts. Our leaders at the national, state, local and business…
It’s better to gird for the fight against socialism now than to put it off to another day. The 2020 election is underway, and America’s attention has shifted to the Democratic primaries. After winning the popular vote in Iowa, winning New Hampshire, and dramatically sweeping the field in Nevada, Bernie Sanders appears unstoppable. Like the…
In his monthly column for the Harbus, Professor Kevin W. Sharer shares his thoughts on the issues facing HBS students. California is America’s most populous state, the world’s seventh largest economy, a region of boundless diversity and riches, and the home of Hollywood and Silicon Valley—it is not called the Golden State without reason. California…
Hong Kong residents are experiencing unsustainable angst and anxiety because of perceived encroachment by mainland China and unaddressed ambiguity regarding their fate post-2047; Xi Jinping must formally provide clarity to alleviate the situation, and soon. On Wednesday, September 4, 2019, Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam decided to permanently withdraw the 2019 Hong Kong extradition…
Recently, the Business Roundtable released a new definition of the purpose of corporations. Tarun Galagali (MBA ’21) offers his thoughts on how we might use the pledge to go from reimagining capitalism to remaking it. Just about two weeks ago, a consortium of America’s most powerful CEOs signed a commitment to “[modernize] the principles on…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Over the course of his career, Ray Mabus (HLS ‘75) has held remarkably diverse, high-level roles in both state and federal government: from first serving as Mississippi State Auditor at the age of 35, to becoming the nation’s youngest governor, to his role as Ambassador to Saudi Arabia—and finally his tenure as Secretary of the…
Populism is all the rage. One cannot help but hear about it, sought amongst the conversation which makes up polite society. Or even politer society, such as HBS. In the last week of class, the Required Curriculum cohort had been learning about populism. It is something which has been threaded thoughtfully throughout BGIE, or the Business,…
At the end of President Donald Trump’s first week in the White House, Deputy-Editor-in-Chief Pippa Lamb caught up with British politician the Baroness Tessa Jowell of Brixton DBE, former British Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Minister for the London 2012 Olympics, and cabinet minister under both the Blair and Brown governments…
On January 20, 2017, shortly after being sworn in as the 45th President of the United States, Donald J. Trump formally submitted nominations for his Cabinet members and key senior advisors. Amongst the slate of those nominated to serve in senior administration positions are several notable HBS alumni. In fact, beyond HBS, Harvard as a…
Harvard reacts to the implications of President Trump’s Immigration Policies President Donald Trump on Friday 27th January signed an executive order limiting foreign nationals’ admission into America. While the first wave of the order affects citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries, due to the ambiguity embedded within the it, the full extent of the order’s scope…
Reflections on the Soul of HBS and a Response to a Trump Victory in the U.S. Election Dear Dean Nohria, I hope this finds you well, but expect that it does not. I’ve spent the last several weeks reflecting on my time at HBS and the role I want to play in the world. My…
A pickup truck rolled through Harvard Square on the morning of Wednesday, Nov. 9. A man in the truck bed waved a “Make America Great Again!” banner and the passengers yelled at anyone within earshot. Even if you couldn’t make out words, the tone – somewhere between energized and vindictive – was enough. They were…
The mood on the Harvard Business School campus last week was incredibly somber. The entire institution appeared to be paralyzed. Undoubtedly, some of this was driven by the fear and uncertainty around what a Trump administration will look like. A substantial portion of the underlying despair was, and still is, driven by disbelief. Disbelief that…
Losing sucks, but this election felt markedly different than anything most of us had ever faced. As Americans, we were fighting to define the soul of our country, and the man supported by the Klu Klux Klan (KKK) won the fight. The man that’s been accused of physically assaulting our daughters, mothers and sisters swept…
HBS Students React to Shock Election Result As the world reels from the shocking result of the US 2016 Presidential Election, HBS students have written to The Harbus with their reflections. The mood on campus this morning is somber and perplexed, no one expected this. Sitting in class on Monday morning only three people raised…
85% of HBS Votes For Clinton, Stark Contrast Against National Mood, More Socially Liberal and Optimistic, Mixed on Wealth Redistribution As the United States debates on who to choose as the next President, the students of Harvard Business School (HBS) have a clear favorite: Hillary Clinton. Hillary Clinton leads Donald Trump by 82% in the…
Can we just take a minute to talk about what happened this summer? I was surprised (and disappointed) when Britain voted to leave the European Union. How could more than 17 million people decide to take the risk of quitting the world’s largest common market, potentially compromising their own future? Having lived and studied…
It’s about time we build Government-as-a-Service Can we just take a minute to talk about what happened this summer? I was surprised (and disappointed) when Britain voted to leave the European Union. How could more than 17 million people decide to take the risk of quitting the world’s largest common market, potentially compromising…