The other night, I attended an historic gathering of five deans of the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University: Arjay Miller, Robert Jaedicke, A. Michael Spence, and Robert Joss discuss the school’s past and its future, with Dean Garth Saloner moderating. The discussion was sponsored by the Oral History Program of the Stanford GSB Library.
A couple of things struck me. I was struck by the fact that the conversation was way more macro than micro — a type of conversation that was very rare for me.
Here in Silicon Valley, we tend to think of our work in terms of sprints, and occasionally marathons. Our efforts are usually done alone, or maybe with our team of peers or employees. But people are woefully unaware of how they fit into the bigger picture, how they're building on those who came earlier and how what they leave as their legacy will help or hinder the leaders to come.
The deans were talking about their work as a relay race. They were very aware of the key successes and failures of their respective terms, as well as the role of those before and after them on the design of the GSB.
I was struck by something else. was one of the few non-GSB-Staff guests under 60. I attend and host numerous events at Stanford, many with bigger audiences, most with younger audiences. Most of the events with younger and bigger audiences are focused on short term trends, or self-help skills. But for me, the most useful event of the past several months was this one with the deans. It helped me change my point of view, from microscope to telescope, and to take a moment to pause, and think about the bigger picture.
