Frontier Exclusive Visionary Interview for hardware, software, system related business and and academia
Frontier Journal (FJ):
During your years of tenure as the Dean of MIT Sloan School, what is your most proud of, and what is your most regret for?
Prof. Richard Schmalensee (RS):
I suppose my major regrets have to do with
faculty recruiting battles we lost -- we didn't lose many, but we don't like
to lose any. I'm proud that the school made progress on a number of
important fronts and is well-positioned for the future. And, of course, I'm
proud that we have a major new facility under construction.
FJ:
MIT's motto of mens et manus, which translates to "mind and hand", and
MIT Sloan emphasizes both theory and practices in nurturing next generation
business leaders. Since its inception, how has MIT Sloan be influenced by
Alfred P Sloan's management philosophy? How does MIT Sloan differ from other
top-niche business schools in the world?
RS:
Mr. Sloan believed that management should be a profession, with all that
implies, and I believe we have been true to that vision. In addition, MIT
Sloan is an integral part of MIT, one of the most distinguished, innovative,
and entrepreneurial institutions in the world. We share in that culture,
which emphasized doing what it takes, with both mind and hand, to solve hard
and important problems. Like those at the rest of MIT, MIT Sloan students,
faculty, and staff are not afraid of hard work.
FJ:
On one hand, there are quite a few highly successful businessmen who
never went to business schools or received related education, such as Bill
Gates, Steve Jobs & Steve Woz, Larry Ellison, Michael Dell, Jack Welch,
Jerry Yang & David Filo, Larry Page & Sergey Brin, Jeff Bezos among others;
on the other hand, there are equally quite a few highly successful
businessmen who were trained at business schools or received related
education, such as Sam Walton, Warren Buffet, Lou Gerstner, John Chambers,
Steve Ballmer, Paul Otellini among others. What is your perspective on the
role of business education and management training on shaping the future of
our next generation business leaders?
RS:
At some level, you can learn anything on the job. After all, there were
doctors and lawyers for centuries before there were medical or law schools.
But in any area, those who are self-taught tend to have gaps in their
knowledge. An MBA from a leading business school is a very efficient way to
learn the latest sound thinking in all the management disciplines and to
acquire both a network of peers and a sense of global context that are very
hard to acquire otherwise.
FJ:
For most businessmen, who are very tight on bandwidths, even short-term
based Executive MBA program such as MIT Sloan's MIT Sloan Fellows Program is
considered a luxury to them. How business schools can help those busy
businessmen to fulfill their dreams of receiving formal (or semi-formal)
business education without significantly interrupting their current business
practice?
RS:
The solution to this problem is short-course executive education. We
and other schools offer programs ranging in length from a few days to a few
weeks, tailored for busy businesspeople and covering all fields of
management.
FJ:
Talking about innovation, we have both disruptive innovation and
non-disruptive innovation (or so called renovation); do you think it is
rational, for startups to go after disruptive innovation instead of pursuing
non-disruptive innovation?
RS:
Generally, yes. It is hard for established firms to bring to market
innovations that will disrupt their ongoing businesses; the advantage in
such innovation thus lies with startups. On the other hand, large fortunes
have been built on non-disruptive innovations -- sometimes by selling them
to established firms.
FJ:
How do we forecast, foster and embrace the disruptive innovation? For
example, when everyone thinks innovation stalls in operating system sector,
yet VMWare came up with virtual computing with wild success, and greatly
surprised most of us.
RS:
Disruptive innovation is generally hard to forecast because it involve
thinking outside the box and, sometimes, solving problems that most people
thought insoluble. A wise man once said that when an older engineer says
that something is possible, he is surely right; when he says that something
is impossible, pay no attention.
FJ:
If the core of any business is people, and the core of the people in any
business is those visionary leaders, how can we spot, foster, train, and
provide stages for those leaders to perform and out-perform in business
arena on the fly?
RS:
You must prepare people for increased responsibility and then watch
their performance. Those who do well should be promoted; those who don't,
not. Perhaps the key thing to look for in a leader is somebody who
recognizes that his or her job is not to do the work but to enhance the
ability of others to do the work.
FJ:
Any business is being run by people with certain culture, with leaders
making strategy, and followers executing them under certain business
processes, so among organization, culture, leadership, managers, and
business process, what is the most critical factor to bridge the gap between
strategy and execution?
RS:
It really depends on the setting. Often, though, it is demonstrated top
management commitment. If the CEO not only sets a strategy but regularly
and persistently checks on its execution and provides rewards for those who
move the strategy forward, the organization will get the message. It is
also important to make execution a creative process -- a good organization
taps its people's creativity and intellect, not just their effort.
FJ:
Some leaders were born to be leaders, and some were trained to be
leaders, according to Jack Welch. So what is the most crucial thing when we
try to train those wanna-to-to-be to be true winning leaders in an
organization?
RS:
I agree with Jack, but only to a point. I was not born to be a great
tennis player, but coaching improves my game. I believe everyone can become
a better leader, though only a few can become great, and I believe the first
key step is to realize that leadership is a skill that can be learned. The
key to learning any skill is to practice with good coaching; practice
without coaching can reinforce bad habits, and coaching without practice can
be empty theory. You can also learn a lot by watching others lead and
asking yourself what they do well and what they do poorly.
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