Stanford GSB: Stanford Business February 2001: About This Issue

Stanford Business

February 2001, Volume 69, Number 2

Starting the Conversation

In my time at Stanford, I've become addicted to the letters-to-the-editor column of the Stanford Daily, where students routinely engage in lively debate. A freshman-writing teacher once explained to me that this is no accident. A core of teachers harass students into public writing. They want to transit their charges from the childhood experience of having their grammar, style, and content judged by an all-powerful teacher to the adult world of critique by fellow citizens. More than a few freshmen who have dashed off a half thought-out gripe have found themselves lambasted by a chorus of writers in the next several issues. This lesson is one of the marks of quality, I think, in a Stanford education.

Unfortunately, editors of most publications don't have teacher-instigators. I was therefore excited when, as editor of this magazine, I spotted the first envelope in my mailbox with a handwritten "the editor" addressee. In it, a reader offered his disagreement with an opinion expressed in an article we had published on the Microsoft antitrust case. Three weeks later, we received a second missive—from an alumnus who tapped his executive experience in South Africa to critique ideas expressed in our article on business ethics. With two letters in hand, we had the bare minimum to offer you a letters column in this issue.

Why is this important? At a recent Web publishing conference, Paul Saffo of the Institute for the Future said it well: American newspapers and magazines sometimes look as though we have forgotten their primary role in society. It is not to dole out information or entertainment, he said, but to "start conversations in the community."

We try to do that by seeking your expertise and ideas for stories, but we aren't smart enough to mine all you have to offer each other. So if you find yourself second-guessing something in this issue, why not dash off an email or letter to keep the discussion going?

Editor

Contributors

CATHERINE LEDNER (cover) loves to photograph people of all types and to allow her personal and commercial work to collide. She graduated from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, where she currently lives. Ledner's clients include IBM, Travel and Leisure, and Fast Company.

Illustrator LEO ESPINOSA (Spreadsheet illustrations) recently moved to Barcelona from New York. "I love the flexibility the Web gives me. I can work from the park or from Morocco. It doesn't matter as long as I remember what time it is in the Big Apple." Espinosa's work can be found in illustration annuals, advertising campaigns, and publications all over the world.

JANET ZICH ("The New Face of Philanthropy") was editor of Stanford Business for 10 years. She retired in May 2000 and has since been freelancing as an editor and writer. She lives with her husband, Art, who is also a writer, and cat, Sanbao, who isn't in Half Moon Bay, Calif.

JAMES YANG (Faculty Research illustrations) has won over 190 awards for excellence in illustration. His work has appeared in some of the most prestigious trade publications in the United States. One of his many posters was featured at the Hiroshima Museum of Art. Yang currently lives and works in New York City.