Harvard Business School

The Harvard Business School, with its elegant 61-acre campus and 55,000 graduates, has been dubbed the "cathedral of management" and the "West Point of capitalism." People with MBAs from Harvard are in the news every day, and in business and government they wield enormous power. At a time when industry is striving for excellence, the B school stresses higher standards of "quality control" in teaching than almost any other educational institution in the world.

Andrew Brimmer, the son of a Louisiana sharecropper who in 1966 became the first black member of the Federal Reserve Board, has died. He was 86. Brimmer died Oct. 7 at a Washington hospital after a lengthy illness, said his daughter, Esther Brimmer. An economist, Brimmer held a doctorate from Harvard Business School and several high-ranking positions in Washington. He worked as a staff economist for the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and as an economics professor before being named a deputy assistant secretary of commerce under President John F. Kennedy.

The Harvard Business School said Tuesday that it will require its first-year students to take a course in ethics, a move designed to send a signal that fairness and honesty are critical components of business. Harvard has offered ethics as an elective for years, and officials said ethical questions ordinarily are discussed in many courses. But they said it is time to make sure no students are "squeezed out" of ethics training.

The gig: As founder and chief executive of Sunrise Co., William Bone has been developing master-planned golf-course communities in Palm Springs and other resort areas since the early 1970s. The company has built 13 resort communities and constructed more than 14,000 homes, two resort hotels and several office buildings, shopping centers and hotels. A seed is planted: Bone's interest in construction grew from working in his teens for his father's material salvage business. When he was an undergraduate at Stanford University, he interned for a home builder.

You're an Australian manufacturing expert. You've been parachuted into your company's money-losing sock factory in China. You don't speak Chinese, the factory's computer data has been wiped clean, and you are so swamped with technical problems that you can't get any sleep. What to do? This is the kind of case study Harvard Business School students have been presented with for years.

Clayton Christensen achieves the difficult feat of being at once imposing and humble. When I visited him last autumn at Harvard Business School, he laid out with quiet authority his latest thoughts on disruptive technology, the concept that justly made him famous in the mid-1990s. But he also took time to chat about his son's college basketball team, a poster of which hangs on one wall of an office full of family photos and memorabilia. Although he places great value on his family and faith — he is a devout Mormon — his research and teaching have dominated his public story.

I think what I've learned at Harvard Business School is that I need to build a strong foundation. Without my family, I couldn't do that. Being away from home, I learned to appreciate them more. They're the ones I've come to depend on. The competition at Harvard is very intense. I get up at 7 a.m. and go to sleep at 2 a.m. I was physically, emotionally and mentally drained by the end of the first semester.

Harvard Business School said it was rejecting applications from 119 would-be students it accused of hacking into a website to learn if they were accepted. "This behavior is unethical at best -- a serious breach of trust that cannot be countered by rationalization," said Kim Clark, dean of Harvard Business School.

Biotechnology company Amgen Inc. said Rebecca Henderson had been appointed to its board of directors. Henderson, 48, recently became a professor at Harvard Business School. She has been a director at Idexx Laboratories Inc. since 2003. Her appointment expands the size of Thousand Oaks-based Amgen's board to 13.

In many ways David Ewing's commentary, "Even Harvard Business School Has a Downside" (Sept. 30), based on his recently published book, "Inside the Harvard Business School," was fair in its critique. Nevertheless, I found the article profoundly disturbing. If there is one thing we are taught here at HBS, it is that the right decision is not always the easy decision. It is sometimes easier to make a profit by polluting the environment; easier to cut costs by underpaying and mistreating employees, and easier to accumulate cash by bending a few rules or regulations.

Clayton Christensen achieves the difficult feat of being at once imposing and humble. When I visited him last autumn at Harvard Business School, he laid out with quiet authority his latest thoughts on disruptive technology, the concept that justly made him famous in the mid-1990s. But he also took time to chat about his son's college basketball team, a poster of which hangs on one wall of an office full of family photos and memorabilia. Although he places great value on his family and faith — he is a devout Mormon — his research and teaching have dominated his public story.

Meg Whitman Party: Republican Occupation: Former chief executive, EBay online auction business Age: 53, born Long Island, New York City of residence: Atherton (Bay Area) Personal: husband Griffith Harsh, two sons Education: Bachelor's degree in economics, Princeton University; MBA, Harvard Business School Career highlights: Executive positions at several companies, including senior vice president at Walt Disney Co., 1989-1992; president, Stride Rite Division, Stride Rite Corp.

Biotechnology company Amgen Inc. said Rebecca Henderson had been appointed to its board of directors. Henderson, 48, recently became a professor at Harvard Business School. She has been a director at Idexx Laboratories Inc. since 2003. Her appointment expands the size of Thousand Oaks-based Amgen's board to 13.

The gig: Founder and chief marketing officer of Angie's List, a home improvement directory that combines business listings with consumer reviews. Education: Bachelor's in economics, DePauw University; master's, Harvard Business School. First job: Sold popcorn and hot dogs at the Fort Wayne Children's Zoo in Indiana at age 16. Salary: $4 an hour. Got the idea: When her friend Bill Oesterle had trouble finding a contractor for his home, the pair figured there should be a better way for consumers to share information.

Let us now give praise to the officials at City Hall in Albuquerque, who in many ways are the inspiration behind this entertaining new book. A few years ago, managers of refuse collection in that city were facing a knotty problem. The garbage trucks were taking too long to complete their rounds, creating a huge overtime bill. But those officials were not stupid. They knew all about the power of incentives to motivate employees. Emboldened by this knowledge, they hit upon a brilliant plan.

Many highly qualified women take a detour from their career paths because of personal responsibilities. But when they want to resume their jobs, they might find themselves stalled. Developing workplace policies and practices that help them get back on track is the focus of Sylvia Ann Hewlett's book "Off-Ramps and On-Ramps." To attract talent, she says, companies must work harder to retain women professionals. Diversity increases a business' competitive edge.

The gig: As founder and chief executive of Sunrise Co., William Bone has been developing master-planned golf-course communities in Palm Springs and other resort areas since the early 1970s. The company has built 13 resort communities and constructed more than 14,000 homes, two resort hotels and several office buildings, shopping centers and hotels. A seed is planted: Bone's interest in construction grew from working in his teens for his father's material salvage business. When he was an undergraduate at Stanford University, he interned for a home builder.

Thanks, Coke. Thanks for allowing me to be in the audience to witness the most monumental publicity stunt in U.S. history. In just a few years, the Harvard Business School will be using your master plan as a paragon of how to generate billions of dollars worth of free publicity while introducing a new product. Naturally, it will be called "a classic case." JOSEPH H. FREDERICKSON Riverside

It took someone named Ford to spell out the truth. "The business model that sustained us for decades is no longer sufficient to ensure profitability," said Bill Ford, then chief executive of the great motor company, in an e-mail to his staff last summer. That was bound to attract the attention of any decent strategy consultant, and it is not surprising to see Chris Zook quoting it in his new book. Zook, head of Bain & Co.'

GEORGE W. BUSH is the first president with an MBA (from Harvard Business School, no less), but it's not clear that being a master of business administration has made him a better chief executive. The disarray in Iraq, the debacle after Hurricane Katrina -- these aren't exactly the kinds of triumphs that the alumni office likes to boast about. Business schools are a relatively new institution. The MBA was invented in the Progressive era as a way to abort future generations of robber barons.