whyroots

 
 

I have sympathy for President Bush, our first Business School President (A graduate from Harvard Business School no less).  By way of his father’s network and influence he came to know Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Colin Powell, Paul Wolfowitz, I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby and Richard Pearl among others, as the best foreign policy minds the United States had to offer. So logically he asked them to serve with him and take part in the highest levels of his decision-making apparatus.   

Early in his presidency the attacks of September 11th provided him with power few presidents have ever acquired.  These “great minds,” with the exception of Colin Powell who was excluded from Bush’s inner circle for dissenting and ultimately fired, came to him and told him that if he chose to he could use his new found power to topple dictators allowing democracy to spring forth from freed peoples.  In essence, he was told that if he was bold enough his legacy could be one of a man who through temporary military action created a lasting peace in the Middle East and the world at large.  The temptation of such a legacy turned out to be too great to bear. 

The president’s role is a managerial one.  There is not enough time for study and research.  He or she must create an organizational structure that funnels the right information to the top allowing for good decision-making.  It follows then that having a business school degree would help a president be successful.

I have not been to business school but I assume that they teach their students how to manage large organizations.  In my research on what they teach in business school I have come across a business principal that I imagine they teach on the first day of any management class: in any decision making process, disagreement is good. If it so happens that everyone agrees, force someone to disagree.  There is no introductory course for presidents but if there were this basic principal should be included.

History proves the importance of this lesson as well.  Lincoln, touted by many as our greatest president, took this basic business school lesson to heart. Upon his inauguration he appointed his rivals for the Republican presidential nomination, who were against going to war with the south, to his cabinet. These dissenting voices no-doubt helped Lincoln refine his arguments and think through his toughest decisions. 

President elect Obama is not a graduate from a business school but I hope that he internalizes this principal (his appointments suggest that he has). We live in a complex world.  The temptation to simplify it in an attempt to make decisions easier is great. I hope our next president heeds the advice that all business schools offer that our current business school president seemed to miss. 

-- Ottavio Siani

 


Comments

Daniela Perdomo

Wed, 10 Dec 2008 12:21:42

Tavio, You're aware that Bush is a Harvard Business School graduate?

 

Danish

Wed, 10 Dec 2008 18:18:39

Tavio, I was with you for the first three paragraphs. I'm not sure if you realize this, but MBA's have very little to do with actual management training and a lot more to do with creating networks of people (via partying together for two years). I think management is far more innate than learned, which is why Bush -- an MBA -- will prove to be a far inferior manager than Obama, who has no business experience.

 

Ottavio Siani

Mon, 19 Jan 2009 12:56:37

I think I have more faith than you two that Business School does actually teach its students something. While networking is a part of it management training is too. I feel like they must touch on this principal.

 



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