Wednesday, August 13, 2008

HBS's two failings

The Economist reviews a book, Ahead of the curve: two years at Harvard Business School, by a recent graduate, Philips Delves Broughton. It quotes Delves as citing two main failings of HBS:
First, it pushed the idea that its alumni would be equipped as leaders capable of solving all the world’s problems, rather than merely doing a decent job of running a company. “Business needs to relearn its limits, and if the Harvard Business School let some air out of its own balloon, business would listen,” he grumbles.

His second worry was that so many of his classmates seemed destined for careers that would leave them no space for a happy personal life. He opted for more time with his family, rather than follow in the footsteps of the “Goldman Sachs executive who came to talk about leadership and values…I just remember this look of total defeat on his face when he said how he had four ex-wives.”

7 comments:

All Is Whole said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
All Is Whole said...

Well i think we all know the fact always at all times....Its only matter of time that we accept those, some accept it early and some late...Thats why we have concept of regret and rejoicing

Smiles :)

adarsh said...

dear sir,
i went through the the various article which even included OSO..i would request you to kindly write on INVESTMENT BANKING as i am keen to know about it...and would be helpful for many other students like me to get the basics about finance etc.
thank you

adarsh kumar

The VJ said...

When compared to Graduates passing out of HBS or the Ivy League institutions, home-grown entrepreneurs in India like the Tatas or Ambanis or Mittals or our very own IIM grads are much better in juggling both corporate, social and personal life with much adroitness.Indian culture is indeed incredible!

arun.goel said...

Well, I would say that its a matter of personal choice. Whether an individual prioritizes career over family life is his/her's personal decision.
But, recently there been a trend that B-school graduates are opting for a better quality of life rather than a fat pay packet.
Also, after a few years of grinding corporate life, one does long for a good family life.

Anonymous said...

Hi,

I'm Alisha from Wowzio, and I'm excited to tell you about our new widget platform that helps bloggers increase readership by providing engaging widgets containing your blog's rich content. You can check out widgets customized for your blog here:

Wowzio Widgets for your Blog

I wanted to reach out to you to ask for your feedback on these widgets (feel free to install them on your blog, if you feel they are a good fit). I'm sorry for leaving this message via a comment, it's not at all our intent to spam you ( which is why i'm leaving this comment on an older post and you can always remove this comment ). Again, we would love to hear your feedback.

Thanks,
Alisha Wright
alisha.wright1@gmail.com

Rahul said...

Brillient! just loved this piece...