Executive Interviews: Interview with Allan R Cohen on Staying on Top, Always
October 2009
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By Dr. Nagendra V Chowdary
Allan R Cohen Edward A Madden Distinguished Professor of Global Leadership at Babson College.
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What is the role of business
schools in preparing either great
managers/great leaders to create great
companies? Any interesting
developments that you have observed
either in European or American
business schools? In my view, business schools have
the opportunity and obligation to try
to create great leaders. Business
schools are one mechanism which
society has invented to help accelerate
learning about management and
leadership. Too often they have
settled for developing technicians,
which does not serve society that
well. One central area where schools
have to pay a lot more attention is in
inculcating the idea that graduating
from a business school is joining a
profession that has obligations and
responsibilities as well as privilege.
Organizational members judge
leaders in part by who they are and
not just what they say, so for longterm
effectiveness business school
graduates will have to be honest and
committed to the greater good as well
as to their careers. Of course great
integrity without competence is also
empty. Many business schools are working
on these issues. They are integrating
ethical considerations into teaching
about decision-making, finding ways
to have students experience
leadership roles and learn from them,
coaching students on their
interpersonal skills as well as their
analytical skills, and trying to inspire
students to aim for extraordinary
contributions. The world needs them
to succeed.
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Many celebrated management
techniques and tools have been
propounded and a few of them
continue to be used. For companies to
stay always on top, which of the
management tools and techniques
strategic planning, scenario planning,
scanning the periphery, competitor
and industry analysis, vision &
mission statements, BPR,
diversification, Blue Ocean Strategy,
etc. you think are desirable and
must be practiced at any cost? As I have tried to convey, it is not
about tools and techniques, but about
finding ways to continuously learn
and grow. Any tool can be
misapplied or used poorly; it isnt the
existence of the tool or technique but
sound judgment and good leadership
that is required. -
Why do good companies go bad? Good companies go bad in part
because they are comprised of human
beings who are inherently fallible leaders, have poor judgment, miss
important market turns, forget that
they are there to serve others and not
just to feather their own nests, and so
on. Also, one of my favorite sayings
is that nothing fails like success nor
succeeds like failure. When
companies are successful they often
begin to think that they are infallible
and miss the signals that things are
changing. Conversely, when things
go bad they are often stimulated to do
more search and become more
innovative. In short, there are no
guarantees about perpetual success.
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The interview was conducted Dr. Nagendra V Chowdary, Consulting Editor, Effective
Executive and Dean, IBSCDC, Hyderabad. This interview was originally published in Effective Executive, IUP, OCT 2009. Copyright © OCT 2009, IBSCDC
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