Interview with Professor McFarlan
Global Business Summit Faculty Chair
Andrew J. Wylie (NI),Associate Editor
Issue date: 10/20/08 Section: News
"I was able to get Bill Gates, who spoke not as the CEO of Microsoft, but on behalf of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation." This was fitting for HBS's Centennial given that the school's first Dean touted the mission of teaching people how to make a decent profit decently. The operative word was "decently" and it was "good to see the most successful business man in the United States demonstrating this."
Professor McFarlan has been at HBS for some 50 of its 100 years. He received his MBA in 1961, continued with doctoral studies and then joined the faculty. He was appointed full professor in 1971. His experience at this institution gave him ample authority to open the summit with a welcoming speech about the history of HBS. He and Dean Light spoke to the attendees on Sunday night and recalled that when HBS first opened its doors "Women couldn't vote, African American students couldn't live on campus; Upton Sinclair had written The Jungle." That may all seem a long time ago, but when Professor McFarlan graduated from Harvard in 1959, there were alumni in town for their 50th anniversary who still looked young. Those early days didn't seem so long ago, and now another 50 years have come to pass at HBS.
There are perhaps three measures of success by which to gauge the summit: "It was a terrific reaching experience for all who attended. It was an integrative holistic experience for the community (reminiscent of President Drew Faust's message of interconnectedness - that what we do affects others) and I won't know if the third (metric) was a success until my successor plans the 150th reunion." The true test of this summit in the long term will be how well it chose to discuss the themes that will be applicable for business in the years 2008-2058. Judging at least by the enthusiasm of the participants and the rigor and honesty of the debates throughout, the summit was a tremendous success.
Professor McFarlan has been at HBS for some 50 of its 100 years. He received his MBA in 1961, continued with doctoral studies and then joined the faculty. He was appointed full professor in 1971. His experience at this institution gave him ample authority to open the summit with a welcoming speech about the history of HBS. He and Dean Light spoke to the attendees on Sunday night and recalled that when HBS first opened its doors "Women couldn't vote, African American students couldn't live on campus; Upton Sinclair had written The Jungle." That may all seem a long time ago, but when Professor McFarlan graduated from Harvard in 1959, there were alumni in town for their 50th anniversary who still looked young. Those early days didn't seem so long ago, and now another 50 years have come to pass at HBS.
There are perhaps three measures of success by which to gauge the summit: "It was a terrific reaching experience for all who attended. It was an integrative holistic experience for the community (reminiscent of President Drew Faust's message of interconnectedness - that what we do affects others) and I won't know if the third (metric) was a success until my successor plans the 150th reunion." The true test of this summit in the long term will be how well it chose to discuss the themes that will be applicable for business in the years 2008-2058. Judging at least by the enthusiasm of the participants and the rigor and honesty of the debates throughout, the summit was a tremendous success.
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