September 4, 2002
Contact: Catherine Walsh
Harvard Business School
(617) 495-6931
Secretary of Labor Chao Advises New Harvard Business School Students On Business Ethics
Leadership and values are themes of Dean's talk and a student speech
BOSTON -- During orientation at Harvard Business School (HBS) recently, U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao (Harvard MBA '79) told 899 entering MBA students that they had an obligation to help fix the American free enterprise system. "This system, which has given so much to so many, is under attack because of the actions of an unscrupulous few," she said.
"Each of you has an extraordinary opportunity to help turn around the crisis in confidence we face today," emphasized Chao. "You are the future business leaders of our country. You can and must lead by example."
Chao praised HBS Dean Kim B. Clark for founding the Leadership and Values Initiative, an effort launched in 1996 that has sought to more fully integrate Harvard Business School's community standards of integrity and honesty, respect for others, and personal accountability with students' experiences in and out of the classroom. "Dean Clark understands that ethics is the practical application of character," said Chao. "And only character can help us resist the temptations that are out there."
Noting that the Labor Department is the "regulatory watchdog for many of the nation's retirement plans," Chao said she is deeply concerned about the current crisis in corporate America. "Safeguarding people's pensions is one of my top priorities as U.S. Secretary of Labor," she said, lauding the corporate governance reforms signed into law recently by President George W. Bush (Harvard MBA '75).
Her experience of taking over the helm of United Way of America a decade ago after financial scandals and executive wrongdoing had shaken public trust in the charity taught Chao valuable leadership lessons. "Restoring financial integrity to the organization's basic business practices was just the beginning and the easy part," she said. "The most difficult task was rebuilding trust and confidence both inside and outside the organization."
Chao, who immigrated to the United States with her family from Taiwan when she was eight, also said she was delighted to see numerous women and international students in the Harvard Business School MBA Class of 2004. "I'm particularly pleased that more women are discovering the excitement and challenge of being a business leader," she said. "When I was here, women comprised about nineteen percent of the entering first-year class. Today, it's nearly double that."
In welcoming new students, Dean Clark began on a light note, telling them, "I'm interested in getting a good look at you, as your class was chosen out of the largest applicant pool in Harvard Business School's history." More than 10,400 people applied to HBS for the Class of 2004, compared to 8,900 applicants for the Class of 2003.
Clark pointed out that students in the Class of 2004 had come to HBS at "an extraordinary time," because of changes in technology, the globe's geopolitical structures, and the fundamental nature of markets. "We are living in a time of what I like to call 'fast history.' It's a time when we need leaders who are prepared to take responsibility and be held accountable," he said. "We believe that you have the capacity to be precisely those leaders."
Lisa Lewin, a second-year student who serves on the Leadership and Values Student Committee, reminded the new students that they had made a commitment to ethical leadership by accepting HBS's offer of admission. "When I look at why I and probably most of you chose to go to school here, it has to do with the notion that this school trains and graduates leaders," she said.
Harvard Business School's case method curriculum "broadens your set of analytic tools to include the very careful consideration of ethical and moral issues in the normal course of the decision-making process," said Lewin. "At the end of the school year, you realize that you've exercised and developed this muscle called 'good judgment.'"
Lewin urged students to use the HBS experience, in the classroom
and out of it, to develop a strong moral compass. "Once you do that,
you will be in a position to offer capable, principled management,
which is what the best leaders do."
Transcript of Secretary Chao's speech.
Transcript of Lisa Lewin's (HBS '03) speech.