Power Exacts a Price
"The difference between you and me and Congressman Weiner, John Edwards, and the other notables reflects an important price of power: intense public scrutiny and visibility. Not too many people care about my dinner companions, which was not the case for former HP CEO Mark Hurd. … We live not only in a celebrity- and media-saturated world but in a world of seeming moral certitude that, in its own way, produces immoral behavior."
—Jeffrey Pfeffer, writing in the Washington Post. Pfeffer, a specialist in power in organizations, is the Thomas D. Dee II Professor of Organizational Behavior.
- More: Pfeffer spoke with Stanford Business about understanding, achieving, and maintaining power. He is the author of Power: Why Some People Have It—and Others Don't.
Leadership Must Come from Managers
"Over the last 30 years or so, the over-selling of leadership has pushed managers into the background as being nothing more than boring administrators, while all the dynamic, exciting and creative things are done by 'leaders.' … The simple fact [is] that organizations are run on a day-to-day basis by managers; there are no 'leadership' positions as such. Any leadership must come from the managers — there's no one else."
—John Nicholls, MBA '71, PhD '73, writing for London Business School's Labnotes, as reprinted in the Business Spectator. Nicholls is an international business consultant.
Barghouti Calls for Intellectual Leadership in Middle East
"What happened in Tunisia and then in Egypt, and what will certainly follow in other places, cannot be produced or fabricated by a political party, movement, or force, domestic or otherwise. The uprisings are the product of a long cumulative evolution, lasting years, decades, or perhaps even centuries in some areas, that eventually erupted into millions-strong grassroots protest movements of a magnitude unprecedented in the modern history of the Arab world, and perhaps in its entire history. … The eruption may produce a newborn, but it cannot guarantee its survival and wellbeing. This is one of the tasks of an organized and aware intellectual vanguard."
—Mustafa Barghouti, Sloan '95, writing in Al-Ahram Weekly. Barghouti is a physician, Palestinian democracy activist, and founder and president of the Union of Palestinian Medical Relief Committees.
- More: Barghouti visited the Graduate School of Business in 2006 and answered students' questions in an exchange published by Stanford Business magazine.
Economists and Politicians Must Work Together to Solve Job Crisis
"Discussion about the lack of employment growth in the U.S … is driven by truly economic circumstances, but it has been conducted in the prevalent political mode of identifying heroes and villains. The resulting 'fingers-crossed' approach to watching the employment figures suggests a dangerous misunderstanding of the challenge facing American workers. The under-acknowledged truth is that many of the jobs that were lost over the past three years are gone forever. Americans who held them will not be rehired to do the same jobs, no matter how much the economy grows. … If the economists and politicians can work together, we can benefit from the effort and innovation of highly productive workers while supporting the adjustment of the rest."
— Jason Thomas, MBA '00, writing for CNN Opinion. Thomas is chief investment officer of Aspiriant, a fee-only wealth management firm with offices in San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Chinese Appearance, Jewish Identity
"Neither my looks nor my name announce my Jewishness. … Identity development for an individual and in groups is fundamental to who we are as human beings. For survival purposes, tribal affinity was necessary to determine who was friend or foe. Yet the process is often taken for granted and evolves at an unconscious level. By taking a closer look at how we decide who we are, we have the possibility of transcending some of the historical biases and prejudices that keep us from welcoming the stranger."
—Rose Yu, MBA '88, wrote the opinion piece "On Being Chinese and Jewish" for JTNews: The Voice of Jewish Washington. Yu was born in Taiwan and moved to the United States when she was 8. Sixteen years after marrying her business school classmate Stephen Brown, who is Jewish, she and her children converted to Judaism.
"This year's college graduates enter a job market nearly as challenging as the one confronted by last June's class, and scarce jobs make ethical decisions even tougher. … To resist 'going along' in a time of recession takes an extra dose of courage. We hope this year's graduates get the message that compromising values now only makes it easier to compromise them later. And long term, a weak ethical character may be the greatest career risk of all."
—Kirk Hanson, MBA '71, in an opinion piece for BusinessWeek. Hanson is a professor at Santa Clara University and the executive director of the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics.
More: Hanson debated the role of "the ethics of a new global economy" at a celebration of the 75th anniversary of the Stanford Graduate School of Business in 2000. Joining him on the panel were Professor David Brady; businessman Bowen "Buzz" McCoy; and economist Milton Friedman, whose 1970 article on the social responsibility of business provided fodder for the discussion.
Voices
What they're saying at the Stanford Graduate School of Business
A digest of speeches, blogs, videos, and essays from the GSB community.
To Meet Goals, Motivate Employees
"Goals on paper accomplish nothing. Motivated missionaries change the world. That may sound awfully crunchy-Northern-Californian to you, but really, is there any other way a great company has ever been built?"
—Jessica Herrin, MBA Class of 1999, writing in Inc., explains "how you can make your employees motivated missionaries." Herrin is founder and CEO of Stella & Dot. She cofounded WeddingChannel.com.
Regulations Burden Pharmaceutical Innovation
"I think you have to be very courageous to remain committed to R&D and to patient well-being in the current economic and healthcare climate. … The increasing number of regulatory and market access barriers to develop and commercialize innovative medicines … place an unfair burden on the industry and particularly on medium-sized R&D-based companies such as Almirall. According to Tufts University, the current cost of developing a successful new medicine is estimated to be at $1.3 billion, more than the total Almirall sales in one year!"
—Carlos Gallardo, MBA '02, in an interview in InPharm. Gallardo is managing director, UK and Ireland, of the international pharmaceutical company Almirall.
Successful Startup Reflects the Power of an Idea
"I had found a specific problem that engaged my passions and identified the common denominator that affects everyone from awkward girls in rural India to future CEOs in Silicon Valley. … I tried to get myself excited about other ideas. I talked to others about things that excited them, so that I might absorb some of their enthusiasm. But as much as I did this, I kept coming back to my idea. I couldn't not think about it. And that's how I knew it was the right idea. And thus Piazza was born."
—Pooja Sankar, MBA '10, blogging on Women 2.0. Sankar is founder of Piazza, an online platform that brings people together to solve problems. In its first year, Piazza served 100,000 college students and teachers around the world. The company announced $6 million in venture funding in January.
Fed Banker Calls for End to "Survival of the Fattest"
"Just as health authorities in the United States are waging a campaign against the plague of obesity, banking regulators must do the same with regard to oversized banks that undermine the nation's financial health and are a potential threat to economic stability. … Ultimately, we should move to end too big to fail and the apparatus of bailouts and do so well before bankers lose their memory of the recent crisis and embark on another round of excessive risk taking. Only then will we have a financial system fit and proper for servicing an economy as dynamic as that of the United States."
—Richard W. Fisher, MBA '75, speaking before a Columbia University audience in November 2011. Fisher is president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.
- More: Stanford Business visited the outspoken banker at his office in Dallas.
Private Equity Veteran Is Bullish on the Business
"There's so much [private equity] money out there that return expectations are lower than they used to be. That's just from all this competition bidding the prices up. It's like a bond. The higher the price, the lower the return. … [But] it's still a great business. We still can deliver good returns. It's just more competitive. The way the stock market performs, it makes our job easier. They're not a very tough standard to beat."
—Carl Thoma, MBA '73, in an interview by The Deal magazine. Thoma has been working in private equity investment in Chicago since 1974. He is currently a managing partner of Thoma Bravo.
- More: In 2002, Carl and Marilynn Thoma, MBA '74, endowed the GSB’s Thoma Chair, held by Hau Lee, an expert in supply chain management.
Former Military Officer Challenged to "Change the World"
"As I begin life outside of the military, I am faced with a constant inner struggle. Having been in Iraq during the surge and studied at Stanford, where we are challenged to 'change the world,' the projects of the private sector often feel uninspiring. The experience of [war] has taught me that more important than the size of the impact is where you have it. … I need to do something [my fallen West Point classmates] would be proud of, something worthy of their sacrifice."
—Jim Wilson, MBA '11, writing for the New York Times blog,"At War," on Veterans Day, 2011. A West Point graduate, Wilson served in Pakistan, Iraq, and Korea before enrolling at the GSB.
Looking for Diversity in Silicon Valley
"There's one date I keep focusing on, the year 2040. That's the year underrepresented minorities will … be the majority. And if that's the case, we need to start thinking about putting folks—blacks and Hispanics, among others—in positions of leadership and/or leading companies toward that goal and that year. The reason I say that is now you're going to have to start building products that appeal to a broader kind of consumer base. If we don't do that, we'll be missing the boat in a very big way."
—Tristan Walker, MBA '10, appearing on "The New Promised Land: Silicon Valley,"the fourth installment of CNN's Black in America series. Walker, director of business development for Foursquare, notes that "there aren't many folks who look like me" in the executive suites of the Valley or the VIP boxes at Candlestick Park, a situation he thinks will change.
- More: Walker joined Foursquare in 2009 when it had only three other employees, including its two cofounders. By September 2011, the company had 85.
Mature Companies Lose Creativity
"By the time I got reasonably high up in management, I was the one person who had kind of kept the creative side alive. This is the dilemma of American corporations: They don't know how to deal with creative thinkers. Most American companies are created by slightly wild, visionary people that the company would never hire 50 years later."
—Dana Gioia, MBA '77, in an interview by the Los Angeles Times. A former marketing executive and a lifetime poet, Gioia chaired the National Endowment for the Arts for two terms and is currently the Judge Widney Professor of Poetry and Public Culture at the University of Southern California.
More: In 2005, Stanford Business went "On the Road with Dana Gioia," then the NEA chair.
Fans of Solar Are Everywhere Under the Sun
"Our customer base isn't just people saying, 'I'm an environmentalist, I'm in my Birkenstocks, I went to Woodstock.' Solar is a bipartisan technology. Republicans like solar, conservatives like solar. Over 30% of our customers are veterans. There's something very American about being able to produce power on your own rooftop."
—Lynn Jurich, MBA '07, in an interview with Fast Company. Jurich and Edward Fenster, also MBA '07, cofounded SunRun, which leases solar panels to homeowners. The company launched its first solar financing plan in 2007; it now has 14,000 customers in nine states.
Documentary Focuses on Misrepresentation of Women
"I started acting at the age of 28, and my agent told me to lie about my age and take my MBA off my resume. I didn't do either, but that was like Whoa! I thought there was value in being smart. I thought there was value and wisdom in getting older. … The media companies are giving us what they want. They're not necessarily giving us what we want. … [We] women need to start voting with our remote and voting with our dollar."
—Jennifer Siebel Newsom, MBA '01, in an interview with Mother Jones. A former actress, Siebel Newsom is founder and chair of Girls' Club Entertainment, which produced the film Miss Representation, a documentary about the misrepresentation of women by the media. Siebel Newsom directed the film.
Returning Employees Pariahs No More
"In the old days, [people who left a company] were treated as traitors who were betraying the organization. … These days, some companies look at them as alumni who know your culture very well. … If they want to come back, companies can say, 'Fantastic, we'd love to have you.' The employees come back with a renewed appreciation for what they have, a good job in a stable company. But they also have had the experience of trying things on the outside, so they have all that learning experience they're bringing with them to the job. They can be very valuable employees."
— Henry Chesbrough, MBA '83, in an interview in TMCnet. Chesbrough is currently executive director of the Program in Open Innovation at UC-Berkeley's Haas School of Business.
Who ARE These 21st-Century Kids?
"The Millennials have a much greater integration between who they are and what they do. The applicants today are saying, 'I can't be a person who goes to a job that I don't care about, and then make a difference in my community on the side.' It's the generation that's never made tradeoffs."
— Derrick Bolton, MBA/AM Education '98, in a Q&A in the Wall Street Journal. As director of MBA admissions at the GSB, Bolton has an inside track on the generation that came of age after the year 2000.
Funding Is Key to Going International
"No one in their right mind would consider doing two startups in parallel, would they? And yet that's what going international is: A second startup inside your first one. And like any startup, it needs people and money to succeed. ... We mapped out up front all of the work required to make our international startups successful, and assigned a funded budget for it — down to the finance, legal, and HR heads we would need to draw on for tax, incorporation, and compensation advice. The key takeaway to remember is this: If it's unfunded, it's not going to get done."
— John O'Farrell, MBA '86, blogging for Fast Company. He is a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz and led the firm's investments in Facebook, Twitter, and Groupon.
Houston Rockets' Front Office Talks Real-Life Moneyball
"Sports are actually late to [the] party of using objective analysis. ... From wildcatters to winemakers, Wall Street investing to brand marketing, decisions once entrusted entirely to Don Draper are now made by today's leaders, who decide only after poring over real-time metrics, leaning on statistical analysis, and soliciting the advice of veteran experts. ... In baseball, what started as a small movement with the Oakland A's has become routine. ... While the storytelling genius of Michael Lewis turned baseball's adoption of analytics into a fascinating yarn, the phenomenon is actually just the mundane manifestation of the march of progress."
— Daryl Morey and Sam Hinkie, MBA '05, writing in Grantland about the book Moneyball, by Michael Lewis. Morey is general manager and Hinkie is EVP of basketball operations, as well as chief number cruncher, of the Houston Rockets.