Former Dean Says The FT “Makes Stuff Up”

“To be clear: they published defamatory misstatements about me without a shred of research or evidence. That notwithstanding, the burden was on me to prove that the misstatements weren’t true. The arrogance was breathtaking,” Martin said.

Nonetheless, University President Naylor wrote a letter on behalf of Martin. In it, he said “The editorial unfortunately contained a disturbing misrepresentation of the transition back to the ranks of our former dean of the Rotman School of Management, Roger Martin. Roger made a massive and transformative contribution to the growth and development of the Rotman School. We have strict decanal term limits, which are very seldom waived. A third term requires the president to intervene and the concurrence of a review committee. I asked Roger to put his name in play for that unusual third term, given the importance to the School and University of the completion of major projects that he was driving forward with his characteristic vision, energy, and skill. We agreed in advance that once the projects were completed, it would be Roger’s call as to a date of departure. So far from being ‘unceremoniously kicked out’, Roger Martin finished those projects, chose his own date of departure, and left his post amidst celebrations of his legacy. I urge you to correct the record immediately. Sincerely, David Naylor, President Emeritus.”

‘THERE IS A LOT OF STUFF IN THE FT MBA RANKINGS THAT COULD BE MADE UP’

Martin says even the letter didn’t result in an immediate correction. “We negotiated back and forth and in the end, our draft was rejected. The FT lawyer indicated that FT would unilaterally publish whatever it damn well pleased, which it did. The real elephant in the room, however, is that Bradshaw runs the FT’s incredibly powerful and lucrative MBA-ranking franchise,” Martin wrote.

“It is clear from this example that not only is Bradshaw game to apparently make stuff up to fit a story that she wishes to write, neither she nor her paper are very apologetic when caught red-handed. This does raise the rather important question: What gives the business schools and business school students worldwide the confidence that Bradshaw and the FT don’t just make up rankings stuff to fit whatever story they happen to want to tell to sell that year’s rankings publication? It is an issue because there is a lot of stuff in the FT MBA rankings that could be made up without the schools in question ever being able to detect the fraud.”