I am prompted to write my review of the book The Golden Passport that I just read in The New York Times. It is a critical analysis of the Harvard Business School.
Over my years in pr, I have often thought long and hard about the role business schools play in my professional life. They are, in fact, ever present, because they are the training ground for many of the executives I have and do represent. They shape these leaders whose personal and corporate reputations we pr folks burnish and protect. How does what they have been taught in business school affect their behavior and their communications philosophy? Are they quarter-to-quarter pragmatists, or do they have fine-tuned emotional IQ’s? Do they value internal audiences or are they mono-focused on shareholders and external stakeholders? Have they been taught to embrace or dismiss transparency?
I am not sure if business school curricula include courses in communication. But if they don’t, they certainly should. The recent United debacle certainly speaks to the need for the C-suite to have more than a cursory understanding of the practice and power of PR.
What are your thoughts on the role of B schools in preparing the next generation of clients?
Sandy Hillman