Dutch Leonard

Dutch Leonard

George F. Baker, Jr. Professor of Public Management
Eliot I. Snider and Family Professor of Business Administration

George F. Baker, Jr. Professor of Public Management
Eliot I. Snider and Family Professor of Business Administration

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Dutch Leonard
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Featured Work Publications Research Summary Teaching

Herman B. ("Dutch") Leonard is Eliot I. Snider and Family Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School and the George F. Baker, Jr. Professor of Public Sector Management at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. In addition, he serves as co-chair of the HBS Social Enterprise Initiative. He teaches extensively in executive programs at the Business School and the Kennedy School and around the world in the areas of general organizational strategy, governance, performance management, crisis management and leadership, and corporate social responsibility. His work on leadership focuses on innovation, creativity, effective decision-making, and advocacy and persuasion. His current work in leadership and management is focused on the relationship between governance, accountability, and performance, and emphasizes the use of performance management as a tool for enhancing accountability. He has also worked and taught extensively in the area of crisis management and on issues related to corporate social responsibility. He is the co-author Why Was Boston Strong? (2014) and of Capitalism at Risk: Rethinking the Role of Business (2011), co-editor of Managing Crises (2009), the author of Checks Unbalanced: The Quiet Side of Public Spending (1984), of By Choice or By Chance: Tracking the Values in Massachusetts Public Spending (1992), and (annually from 1993 through 1999) of The Federal Budget and the States (an annual report on the geographic distribution of federal spending and taxation).

Professor Leonard is a member of the American Repertory Theatre Board of Trustees, was a member of the Board of Directors of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, a 1,000,000-member Massachusetts HMO and is a former director of the Hitachi Foundation and of the ACLU of Massachusetts. He was for a decade a member of the board of directors of the Massachusetts Health and Educational Facilities Authority and of CIVIC Investments, and was a member of the Massachusetts Commission on Performance Enhancement. He has been a financial advisor to the Connecticut Governor's Office of Policy and Management, to the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, and to the Central Artery-Third Harbor Tunnel Project. Professor Leonard was a member of the Governor's Council on Economic Policy for the State of Alaska, of the Governor's Advisory Council on Infrastructure in Massachusetts, and of the U.S. Senate Budget Committee's Private Sector Advisory Committee on Infrastructure. He served as chairman of the Massachusetts Governor's Task Force on Tuition Prepayment Plans, on the National Academy of Sciences Committees on National Urban Policy and on the Superconducting Supercollider, and on the New York City Comptroller's Debt Management Advisory Committee. In addition to his academic studies and teaching, he has been chief financial officer and chief executive officer of a human services agency and has served as a director of public, non-profit, and private sector organizations.

Featured Work
Capitalism at Risk: Rethinking the Role of Business
The spread of capitalism worldwide has made people wealthier than ever before. But capitalism's future is far from assured. The global financial meltdown of 2008 nearly produced a great depression. Economies in Europe are still teetering. Income inequality, resource depletion, mass migrations from poor to rich countries, religious fundamentalism--these are just a few of the threats to continuing prosperity. How can capitalism be sustained? And who should spearhead the effort? Critics turn to government. In Capitalism at Risk, Harvard Business School professors Joseph Bower, Herman Leonard, and Lynn Paine argue that while governments must play a role, businesses should take the lead. For enterprising companies--whether large multinationals, established regional players, or small start-ups--the current threats to market capitalism present important opportunities. Capitalism at Risk draws on discussions with business leaders around the world to identify ten potential disruptors of the global market system. Presenting examples of companies already making a difference, the authors explain how business must serve both as innovator and activist--developing corporate strategies that effect change at the community, national, and international levels. Filled with rich insights, Capitalism at Risk presents a compelling and constructive vision for the future of market capitalism.
Frameworks for Dialogue and Research about Social Impact Investing

Social Impact Investment is a rapidly expanding field, but terminology in the field is poorly defined and imprecise. This note suggests frameworks that help to clarify important dimensions of SII projects, distinguishing and clarifying key differences in approaches to social impact investments undertaken by different organizations and funders.

Books
Journal Articles
Book Chapters
  • Austin, James E., Megan Epler Woods, and Herman B. Leonard. "Key Success Factors in Environmental Entrepreneurship: The Case of Wilderness Safaris." Chap. 7 in World Scientific Encyclopedia of Business Sustainability, Ethics, and Entrepreneurship, Volume 1: Environmental and Social Entrepreneurship, edited by Peter Gianiodis, Maritza I. Espina, and William R. Meek, 175–196. World Scientific Publishing, 2022. View Details
  • Leonard, Dutch, and Richard J. Zeckhauser. "Amnesty, Enforcement, and Tax Policy." In Tax Policy and the Economy, Volume 1, edited by Lawrence Summers, 55–85. NBER and MIT Press Journals, 1987. View Details
  • Leonard, Dutch. "Paying for College After 2000: What Can We Do for the Access-Endangered?" College Board Review (1989). View Details
  • Leonard, Herman B., and Mark H. Moore. "Pursuing Public Value: Frameworks for Strategic Analysis and Action." Chap. 5 in Ports in a Storm: Public Management in a Turbulent World, edited by John D. Donahue and Mark H. Moore, 84–115. Innovative Governance in the 21st Century. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 2012. View Details
  • Leonard, Herman B., and Arnold M. Howitt. "Leading in Crises: Observations on the Political and Decision-Making Dimensions of Response." Chap. 3 in Mega-Crises: Understanding the Prospects, Nature, Characteristics and the Effects of Cataclysmic Events, edited by Ira Helsloot, Arjen Boin, Brian Jacobs, and Louise K. Comfort, 25–36. Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas, 2012. View Details
  • Leonard, Dutch, and Arnold M. Howitt. "Advance Recovery and the Development of Resilient Organizations and Societies." In Integrative Risk Management: Advanced Disaster Recovery, edited by Simon Woodward. Zurich, Switzerland: Swiss Re, Centre for Global Dialogue, 2010. View Details
  • Leonard, Dutch, and Arnold M. Howitt. "Understanding and Coping with the Increasing Risk of System-Level Accidents." In Integrative Risk Management: Advanced Disaster Recovery, edited by Simon Woodward. Zurich, Switzerland: Swiss Re, Centre for Global Dialogue, 2010. View Details
  • Leonard, Herman B., and Arnold M. Howitt. "Acting in Time Against Disasters: A Comprehensive Risk Management Framework." Chap. 2 in Learning from Catastrophes: Strategies for Reaction and Response, edited by Howard Kunreuther and Michael Useem, 18–41. Wharton School Publishing, 2009. View Details
  • Leonard, Herman B. "Measuring Performance." In Entrepreneurship in the Social Sector, by Jane Wei-Skillern, James Austin, Herman Leonard, and Howard Stevenson. Sage Publications, 2007. View Details
  • Leonard, Dutch. "When is Doing Business with the Poor Good - For the Poor? A Household and National Income Accounting Approach." In Business Solutions for the Global Poor: Creating Social and Economic Value, edited by V. Kasturi Rangan, John A. Quelch, Gustavo Herrero, and Brooke Barton. John Wiley & Sons, 2007. View Details
  • Leonard, Herman B. "Against Desperate Peril: High Performance in Emergency Preparation and Response." In Communicable Crises: Prevention, Response, and Recovery in the Global Arena, edited by Deborah E. Gibbons. Information Age Publishing (IAP), 2007. View Details
  • Leonard, Dutch, Ezequiel Reficco, Jane Wei-Skillern, and James E. Austin. "Social Entrepreneurship: It's for Corporations, Too." Chap. 8 in Social Entrepreneurship, edited by Johanna Mair, Jeffrey Robinson, and Kai Hockerts. Palgrave Macmillan, 2006. View Details
  • Austin, James E., Dutch Leonard, Ezequiel Reficco, and Jane Wei-Skillern. "Corporate Social Entrepreneurship: A New Vision for CSR." In The Accountable Corporation, Vol. 3: Corporate Social Responsibility, edited by Marc J. Epstein and Kirk O. Hanson. Praeger, 2006. View Details
  • Leonard, Dutch. "Leadership in Crisis Situations." In The Encyclopedia of Leadership, edited by James MacGregor Burns, George R. Goethals, and Georgia J. Sorenson. Great Barrington, MA: Berkshire Publishing, 2004. View Details
  • Leonard, Dutch. "The Role of Policy Analysis and Evaluation." In Ecole Nationale d'Administration: L'impact de l'evaluation sur des Decisions Publiques., 1992. View Details
  • Leonard, Dutch. "Learning About Learning from Data: The Work of Edward Leamer." In New Horizons in Economic Thought, edited by Keith E. Maskus. Aldershot, U.K.: Edward Elgar Publishing, 1992. View Details
  • Leonard, Dutch. "Financing Sub-National Government Expenditures: Perspectives from the United States Experience." In Will Decentralization Succeed? National, Regional, and Local Development in Multi-Party Democracies, edited by Robert P. Beschel Jr. and Kerry S. McNamara. Taubman Center for State and Local Government, 1991. View Details
  • Leonard, Dutch. "Why Massachusetts Struggles." In Massachusetts Business Yearbook., 1991. View Details
  • Leonard, Herman B. "With Open Ears: Listening and the Art of Discussion Learning." In Education for Judgment: The Artistry of Discussion Leadership, edited by C. R. Christensen, David A. Garvin, and A. Sweet. Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 1991. View Details
  • Leonard, Dutch. "Private Time: The Political Economy of Private Prison Finance." In Private Prisons and the Public Interest, edited by Douglas McDonald. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1990. View Details
  • Leonard, Dutch. "In God We Trust: The Political Economy of the Social Security Reserves." In Social Security's Looming Surpluses: Prospects and Implications, edited by Carolyn L. Weaver. Washington, D.C.: American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, 1990. View Details
  • Leonard, Dutch. "Investing in the Defense Workforce: The Debt and Structure of Military Pensions." In Public Sector Payrolls, edited by David A. Wise. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1986. View Details
  • Leonard, Dutch. "Promise Them Anything: The Incentive Structures of Local Public Pension Plans." In Public Sector Payrolls, edited by David A. Wise. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1986. View Details
  • Leonard, Dutch. "The Federal Civil Service Retirement System." In Pensions, Labor and Individual Choice, edited by David A. Wise. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1985. View Details
  • Leonard, Dutch, and Richard Zeckhauser. "Cost-Benefit Analysis Applied to Risks: Its Philosophy and Legitimacy." In Values at Risk, edited by Douglas MacLean. Totowa, NJ: Roman & Allanheld, 1985. View Details
  • Leonard, Dutch, and Helen F. Ladd. "Taxation and the Poor." In The State and the Poor in the 1980s, edited by Manuel Carballo and Mary Jo Bane. Boston: Auburn House, 1984. View Details
  • Leonard, Dutch. "Matrix-Weighted Averages: Computation and Presentation." In Proceedings of the Eleventh Symposium on the Interface of Computers and Statistics, edited by Ronald A. Gallant and Thomas Michael Gerig. Raleigh, NC: North Carolina State University, Institute of Statistics, 1978. View Details
Working Papers
Cases and Teaching Materials
Presentations
  • Leonard, Dutch, and Arnold M. Howitt. "Political Control and Operational Command: Building a Balanced Disaster Control System." Lecture at the U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, United States Senate, Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, March 22, 2006. View Details
  • Leonard, Dutch, and Arnold M. Howitt. "Katrina as Prelude: Preparing for and Responding to Katrina-Class Disturbances in the United States." U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, United States Senate, Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, March 8, 2006. View Details
  • Leonard, Dutch. "Four Divergent Challenges of Performance Management." Paper presented at the Kennedy School Executive Session on Performance Management, June 01, 2000. View Details
  • Leonard, Dutch. "Motivation, Learning, and Performance Management." Paper presented at the Kennedy School Executive Session on Performance Management, June 01, 2000. View Details
  • Leonard, Dutch. "What is Public Finance?" In Teaching Public Management: Proceedings of a Workshop to Assess Materials and Strategies. Paper presented at the Boston University School of Management Public Policy and Management Program for Case and Course Development, January 1, 1984. View Details
Other Publications and Materials
  • Koehn, Nancy F., and Dutch Leonard. "We Need a COVID-19 D-Day—and the Leadership to Execute it." FastCompany.com (September 24, 2020). View Details
  • Leonard, Dutch, and Arnold M. Howitt. "Preliminary Thoughts and Observation on the Boston Marathon Bombings." 2013. View Details
  • Leonard, Dutch, and Arnold M. Howitt. "Sudden Conflict: The Clash of Cultures at the Heart of Crisis Management." July 2004. View Details
  • Leonard, Dutch. "Firefighting and Fire Size: A Dimensional Analysis." April 2004. View Details
  • Leonard, Dutch, and Elizabeth Keating. "The Federal Budget and the States: Fiscal Year 2003." Taubman Center for State and Local Government, Cambridge, MA, January 2004. (in progress.) View Details
  • Leonard, Dutch. "A Short Note on Public Sector Strategy Building." September 2001. View Details
  • Leonard, Dutch, and Jay H. Walder. "The Federal Budget and the States: Fiscal Year 1999." Taubman Center for State and Local Government, Washington, D.C., January 2000. View Details
  • Leonard, Dutch, and John D. Donahue. "Taxes and Retirement in the State of Maine." October 1999. (Report to the Libra Foundation.) View Details
  • Leonard, Dutch, Jay H. Walder, and Jose A. Acevedo. "The Federal Budget and the States: Fiscal Year 1998." Taubman Center for State and Local Government, Washington, D.C., January 1999. View Details
  • Leonard, Dutch, Henry Lee, Jay H. Walder, Peter Zimmerman, and Wendy Vanasselt. "National Park Bonds: A Patch or A Panacea?: A Report on Meeting the Financial Needs of Our National Parks." Report, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, January 1998. View Details
  • Leonard, Dutch, and Jay H. Walder. "The Federal Budget and the States: Fiscal Year 1997." Taubman Center for State and Local Government, Washington, D.C., January 1998. View Details
  • Leonard, Dutch, and Jay H. Walder. "The Federal Budget and the States: Fiscal Year 1996." Taubman Center for State and Local Government, Washington, D.C., January 1997. View Details
  • Leonard, Dutch, Monica E. Friar, and Jay H. Walder. "The Federal Budget and the States: Fiscal Year 1995." Taubman Center for State and Local Government, Washington, D.C., January 1996. View Details
  • Leonard, Dutch, and Monica E. Friar. "State Poverty Rates Adjusted by Variations in Costs of Living Across States." January 1995. View Details
  • Leonard, Dutch, and Monica E. Friar. "The Federal Budget and the States: Fiscal Year 1994." Taubman Center for State and Local Government, Washington, D.C., January 1995. View Details
  • Leonard, Dutch, and Monica Friar. "The Value Choices in State and Local Spending: A Workbook." Council of Governors' Policy Advisors, Washington, D.C., January 1994. View Details
  • Leonard, Dutch, and Monica E. Friar. "The Federal Budget and the States: Fiscal Year 1993." Taubman Center for State and Local Government, Washington, D.C., January 1994. View Details
  • Leonard, Dutch, and Monica E. Friar. "Values in Transition: The Choices Embodied in State and Local Spending." Taubman Center for State and Local Government, Boston, MA, January 1992. View Details
  • Leonard, Dutch. "By Choice or By Chance? Tracking the Values in Massachusetts' Public Spending." Pioneer Institute, January 1992. View Details
  • Leonard, Dutch. "Good Ideas: What Makes for Quality in Innovation?" John F. Kennedy School of Government, January 1988. (Innovation Project.) View Details
  • Leonard, Dutch, Joseph P. Kalt, and Henry Lee. "Re-Establishing the Regulatory Bargain in the Electric Utility Industry." Boston Edison Review Panel, January 1987. View Details
  • Leonard, Dutch. "Opening the Window: Needs Analysis and Long Term Effort to Pay for College." College Board, January 1987. View Details
  • Leonard, Dutch, and Howard L. Frant. "Block Grants and the Accountability of Capital Spending." U.S. Urban Mass Transportation Administration, January 1986. View Details
  • Leonard, Dutch, and Richard Zeckhauser. "Legitimizing Risk Management for Toxic Chemicals." Interdepartmental Committee on Toxic Chemicals (Canada), Canada, March 1984. View Details
  • Leonard, Dutch. "Creative Financing of New York City Projects." New York, Office of Economic Development, New York, January 1984. View Details
  • Leonard, Dutch. "Theory S and Theory T." National Academy of Public Administration, January 1984. (project on public management.) View Details
  • Leonard, Dutch. "Theory S and Theory T, and Financial Management." National Academy of Public Administration, January 1984. (project on public management.) View Details
  • Leonard, Dutch, and Richard P. Nathan. "Federal and State Infrastructure Banking: Political and Institutional Issues." Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, November 1983. View Details
  • Leonard, Dutch, Arnold Howitt, Helen F. Ladd, and Ann B. Weeks. "Services from Public Capital: The Outlook for Boston's Physical Infrastructure." Harvard-MIT Joint Center for Urban Studies, Cambridge, MA, January 1983. View Details
  • Leonard, Dutch, Henry Lee, and Susan Bender. "Financing the Cleanup of Uncontrolled Hazardous Waste Sites." U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, September 1982. View Details
  • Leonard, Dutch. "Housing Regulation in Cambridge: Its Goals and Effects." Cambridge Chamber of Commerce, January 1981. View Details
  • Leonard, Dutch, J.F. Kain, and K.E. Case. "Condominium Conversion in Massachusetts: An Evaluation of its Benefits and Costs." January 1980. View Details
  • Leonard, Dutch. "Inference in Partially Identified Models." Diss., Harvard University, 1979. View Details
  • Leonard, Dutch. "Baseline Analysis of the Urban Homesteading Program." Urban Systems Research & Engineering, Cambridge, MA, January 1978. (co-author.) View Details
  • Leonard, Dutch, Gregory K. Ingram, and Robert Schafer. "Simulation of the Market Effects of Housing Allowance." National Bureau of Economic Research, New York, January 1976. View Details
  • Leonard, Dutch. "Barriers to Equal Opportunity in Rural Housing Markets." Urban Systems Research & Engineering, Cambridge, MA, January 1976. View Details
Research Summary
Overview
Professor Leonard's research focuses on understanding the role of leadership in the development of strategy and processes for execution in private sector and socially-oriented organizations, including an emphasis on innovation, uncertainty, building successful adaptive response in rapidly-evolving environments, enterprise risk management, and crisis management.
Keywords: Strategy And Leadership; Social Business; Social Capital; Social Enterprise; Social Entrepreneurship; Risk Management; Crisis Management
Crisis Management
This project examines the special challenges of leadership in crisis situations and the associated challenges of leadership in preparing in advance for the possibility of crises to come. It includes both physical life safety crises (natural disasters, industrial accidents, and terrorism) and reputational crises (scandals, embezzlement, stock fraud, and so on). What behaviors and organizational structures perform best when crises strike? And what can leaders do in advance to create the structures and conditions that make high performance more likely in the event of a future crisis? This project includes work on designing organizational structures that are most likely to be able to handle both the technical challenges of crisis action and the political challenges that are likely to arise as well.
Governance, Accountability, and Performance for Social Enterprise
This project examines the relationship between governance structures, accountability relationships, and performance outcomes for social enterprises. Most previous work in this area has examined these topics separately, or in pairs; the purpose of this project is to explore the appropriate linkages and relationships among the three. The working hypothesis is that more carefully designed integration of systems of governance, accountability, and performance will improve all three.
Business Leadership and Corporate Social Responsibility
This project focuses on how business leaders can be most effective at creating better social outcomes and vibrant, successful businesses at the same time. What forms of leadership -- and in what venues (in the community, in the corporation, in politics, ...) -- turn out to be most effective at creating business value and social value simultaneously?
Teaching
Overview
Professor Leonard teaches about leadership and strategy for both private sector and social organizations. Topics covered in his courses include leadership and the design of strategy for social-mission organizations (including the corporate social responsibility efforts of private businesses), enterprise risk management, and crisis management.
Keywords: Leadership; Strategy; Social Enterprise; Social Entrepreneurship; Risk Management; Crisis Management; Innovation and Management; Decision Making
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