Harvard Business School

Addressing the National Press Club in Washington on February 26, 2003, Dean Kim Clark commented on the corporate abuses that were then dominating the headlines. He spoke about the School’s efforts to research and understand the causes of those abuses, and to prescribe solutions based on that understanding.

He then spoke of developments in the HBS classroom:

“The other important forum we have is our classroom. Underlying everything we do must be an awareness of and a commitment to the importance of values and standards in business and the role leaders play in articulating them. Fifteen years ago we began teaching a required course called Leadership, Values, and Decision Making. Last December, after a couple of years of work, the faculty voted to expand that experience and add a brand new course on our required curriculum next year. This course will draw on a great deal of work at the School, and focus on three issues:

“Individual decision making (how you as a leader confronting ethical dilemmas or difficult choices ought to frame and approach those problems.

“How to create organizational processes, systems, and culture that drive individual and organizational integrity.

“Accountability and responsibility to customers, the larger community, and society.

“Of course, we ought to — and we do — come at this work with some humility. The problems are very difficult, and we don’t always get everything right, nor do we see everything coming. So we need to be patient and diligent, and try to dig as deep as we can. I think this is what the academy does well: dig deep, maintain a healthy skepticism, and try to find things that will have real power in practice.”