Harvard Business School

Transcript

Well, "success" for the Harvard Business School, I think, is very simple. It starts with a mission. Say if the mission really is to educate leaders who make a difference in the world, and then you look at what that means, it becomes very clear how we measure the success of the institution. The success of the institution is in developing leaders who make a difference in the world. And that basically requires two things. There are a lot of ancillary stuff, but it's basically two things. It's real simple.

You attract the very finest students in the world. You attract them in all sorts of different ways, by being a great place, having great things happen to them. But that's key. You've got to attract people who have the capacity to be those leaders who make a difference.

And then the second thing you do is you attract to the place outstanding faculty, and great supporting staff. And you bring those people together in an institution that cares about its mission, and you do what we do. And that's success for the Harvard Business School is you get great students and great faculty. You create an environment in which that culture helps them work together to transform individuals, on both sides. And those individuals work to become leaders in what they do. And that's the Harvard Business School. And then you add, you know, there's all sorts of things that go into that. You know, great research, great ideas created a place that's institutionally viable, that has a great model itself, that is itself an educational experience.

We always said, "Look, when you come to the Harvard Business School, you not only come to a place that will teach you a lot about business, and a lot about how to run organizations, but it itself will be a great organization. So you'll live in a place where every day you're surrounded by an organization that is great, and has great service, is financially well-managed, has a great strategy. Is just a great place. And the school itself will be an education about leadership."

So I think if we pursue that strategy, and continue on that track, the School will be very successful. And, in fact, it will realize its mission.

And you'll look back decades from now, and you'll say, "Yeah, the Harvard Business School is a place that educates leaders who make a difference in the world. And is not just a great place, but it is absolutely preeminent in what it does. It is the best place in the world to go if you want to be a leader who makes a difference in the world."

So then it reinforces itself. And then you attract the people who want to do that, and you attract the faculty who want to be part of that, and it just sustains itself over time. It takes a lot of work. But that's, I think, how you measure the success of the Harvard Business School.