Newsstand: Stanford Business
The May 2006 issue of Stanford Business can be viewed online at http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/news/bmag/index.html.
Here are some highlights:
HALF-TRUTHS OF LEADERSHIPLeaders have far less control over organizations than people believe, but they can be more effective if they understand leadership myths and use them to their organizations' advantage.
HANDS ACROSS THE WATERForty-four MBA students spent last summer interning for corporations and nonprofits outside the United States. The experiences were brief but enriching for interns and the hosting organizations.
SAY GOODBYE TO MR. TOUGH GUYAccording to Peter A. Georgescu, MBA '63, in a new global economy defined by excess supply of everything from capital to human labor, there's no longer any room for the traditional autocratic tycoon. Rather, the business world needs leaders who are supportive of creative endeavors and who foster cooperation and teamwork, and aggressively advocate for the consumer.
RETAINERS, REBUTTALS, RECRIMINATIONS"Let me start by addressing your comments on our fees. I thought you business people understood sunk costs (as in, 'don't cry over'). Please; your payment is overdue." —Fictitious business correspondence with a JD.
LYDIA GARTRELL, MBA '92Lydia Gartrell's parents never put a limit on what was possible, so building megastores is all in a day's work. She joined Ikea to oversee construction of the store it was building in her hometown of East Palo Alto, Calif. She was given a budget, an opening date and a directive to meet Ikea's standards.
PAUL KAUFMANN, MBA '63When Paul Kaufmann opened the vault, he found bones in a dusty box labeled Beethoven. It was supposed to be his retirement project: Determine the true origin of the bones in a small metal box that his family had safeguarded for generations—bones that were rumored to have been chiseled from the composer's skull.