Harvard's New President

Dr. Drew Gilpin Faust will become Harvard's first female president in its 371 year history. So what?

Lawrence Summers was Secretary of the Treasury during the second Clinton Administration. Apologies for the blunder.

Bob Sutton's excellent blog can be found here:
http://bobsutton.typepad.com/my_weblog/

My blog posts about Summers' tenure at Harvard can be found here:
http://truetalk.typepad.com/truetalk/2005/01/crimsonfaced.html
http://www.truetalkblog.com/truetalk/2005/02/16/index.html
http://truetalk.typepad.com/truetalk/2006/02/larry_we_hardly.html

PBS Supreme Court Series:
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/supremecourt/

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Harvard
• President
• Faust
• Summers
• Sutton
• Supreme
• Court

[crazymml]

So good to hear that skills required for higher level jobs now include "getting along with others", should it ever reach the level of govt...oh I just can't imagine. Could this be an example of bringing the feminine back into the equation which has for so long been dominated by competitive male mind-think?

[tlg847]

I think "the feminine" is now a key aspect of the successful leadership equation. Of course, there are all those female leaders out there who've learned to be successful using the old game...but things are changing. As for government leadership...oy oy oy.

[MHarris1920]

I care. I live in Cambridge, and my husband Martin went to Harvard. We met Larry Summers when we were here in Sarasota and he spoke at the Harvard Club.  His presidency was not a debacle. But he spoke what he thought.

[tlg847]

Hi Teresa. Obviously, I care as well, as the vid hopefully showed. I respectfully disagree with your assessment of Summers' presidency. Definition: "debacle: A sudden, disastrous collapse, downfall, or defeat; a rout." I doubt anyone involved would see his tenure as a success, regardless of his speaking what he thought.

[OhhhThatGuy]

Sounds like her assignment is something out of Daniel Goleman's (sp?) books on emotional intelligence: Running a successful widget organisation requires far more knowledge of how to get along with people than it requires knowledge about widgets.

[tlg847]

No doubt about it: emotional intelligence has become an increasingly important aspect of any leader's repertoire. Technical knowledge is important, but secondary, AND acquirable. Likability and resonance with others is primary, and much more difficult, if not impossible, to acquire. Thanks.

[kimonov]

Why is there so much beating around the bush here? How could this possibly any else besides feminism-gone-wild - typical of american academia.. 'works-well-with-others?"-gimm­e a break.

[ockteby]

Since the Graduate emerges from Harvard, and the Graduate is created by Harvard, it is ambiguous which originally gave rise to the other. Oh I am sorry that's the chicken and egg dilemma.

[DClaudeKatz]

I would consider Larry rather an idiot-savant than an asshole. He was provocative, but not really hostile. Clearly, he was more a savant than an idiot, and he thrived in environments where provocativeness was rewarded (economics faculty) or authority respected (Treasury Department). Surely it is beneficial that such environments exist, but university administration is not one of them, and perhaps should not be.

[ExperimentsinHonesty]

Oh, I look forward to checking out the book, looks like a good read.

[pnkdragn]

Sounds like Dr. Faust should run for president of the United States.

[2of6Solutions]

Getting along with others is a wonderful skill to have and maybe even a must have in business. I don't see as much of it as I would like in our political system. Getting elected or re-elected seems to supersede all else. Who knows maybe one day we can prioritize solving problems over of making each other right or wrong.