Our Favorite B-School Professors of 2015

Steve Blank teaches entrepreneurship at Berkeley, Stanford, NYU, and Columbia

Steve Blank teaches entrepreneurship at Berkeley, Stanford, NYU, and Columbia

Steve Blank: Blank is awfully busy for a man who’s supposedly “retired.” The founder of eight startups and credited as a pioneer of the “lean” startup movement, Blank is currently lecturing at several schools, including Stanford and Berkeley – not to mention being a senior fellow at Columbia Business School. Now, he is turning his attention towards future business school students – high school and middle school students, in particular.

In his Learn Launchpad for Educators, Blank is training teachers on how to prepare students for the workplace of tomorrow, which requires resourcefulness, speed, and flexibility. Here, students must understand how to come up with ideas, ask the right questions, and work as a team. In doing so, Blank is hoping the next wave of students will enjoy a head start in business savvy and problem-solving skills.

“The analogy is what happened when kids started programming in high school,” Blank told Poets&Quants. “It kind of raised the bar on what you were expected to know when you got to computer science programs in undergrad. We’re going to teach them a set of skills that are going to raise the bar by the time they get to business school. You’re going to have people coming in who now know how to come up with ideas, not just run someone else’s business.”

Craig Garthwaite

Craig Garthwaite

Craig Garthwaite, Northwestern University (Kellogg): Think of Professor Garthwaite as old school meets new school. On one hand, you could think of him as a traditional headmaster who holds students to the highest standards. “He demands and expects a lot from his students and because he thinks at such a high level, you have to constantly stay on your toes just to keep up with him,” writes Sheila Shah (’15). For example, Rhett Braunschweig (’15) shares that Garthwaite will quickly unravel an ill-prepared student’s argument layer by layer. “If you haven’t analyzed a strategy from all angles and considered all possibilities, he will expose the weaknesses of your argument and logic in front of your peers.” However, there is nothing punitive about his approach. “[It’s] extremely genuine,” Braunschweig adds. “You come to class prepared because you don’t want to disappoint him.”

Students also flock to Garthwaite’s class because it focuses on the contemporary and practical. “Professor Garthwaite’s class is grounded in taking core economic principles and using them to analyze business decisions that we’re reading about in the Wall Street Journal today and experiencing firsthand in our day to day lives,” Braunschweig adds. “Furthermore, Professor Garthwaite and his colleagues have written most of their cases based on firsthand discussions with leaders at companies like Boeing and Starbucks – the content and feedback is straight from the source, not secondhand or through video.” Garthwaite himself focuses on the intertwining relationships between the public and private sectors. He has even testified before the United States House of Representatives and several state legislatures on matters related to the minimum wage and health care reforms. In fact, he was driven from public policy to business school by the 2008 financial crisis, believing it was critical for future business leaders to better understand the mentality and economics of the public sector. In his spare time, Garthwaite loves to cook and often invites several Kellogg students to dine with this family during the school year.

Howard Yu

Howard Yu

Howard Yu, IMD: One student describes Howard Yu’s class like being in a microwave: “intense, full of energy and one fells switched on.” Armed with Harvard Ph.D., Yu teaches courses in change management and executive development at IMD. Raised in Hong Kong – and a fan of Friends, food fairs, and flee markets – Yu claims he would be an interior designer if he wasn’t teaching. If he was a designer, you could expect an eclectic mix of colors and styles – no different than his class where he weaves in a variety of industries, management theories, and cultural perspectives.

Yu’s biggest strength? He is a master storyteller. “Being in Howard’s class was great because he was able to take a complex situation and break it down into a compelling narrative,” writes Alex Chao (’13). In one class, adds Isaak Tsalikoglou (’13), “Howard was guiding us through one of his business cases about a personal computing company and the evolution of its innovation, sourcing, branding, partnering and outsourcing strategy throughout its years of strong growth in a highly competitive global market. I vividly remember how Howard slowly and surely demonstrated how the company progressively – and not entirely intentionally – hollowed out its technology and product development competences, with detrimental consequences to its ability to keep up with new trends. He kept me glued to the lecture, watching the story unravel and the company face the consequences of its short-sighted actions. Involving an audience emotionally is something that few cases do well, and Howard is among the professors who can exploit such a case perfectly for didactic effect.”

DON’T MISS:

2015 BEST 40 UNDER 40 PROFESSORS

THE TOP MBAs NAME THEIR FAVORITE BUSINESS SCHOOL PROFESSORS

BUSINESS SCHOOLS WITH THE BEST TEACHING FACULTY

NEW FACULTY FACES AT TOP BUSINESS SCHOOLS

Questions about this article? Email us or leave a comment below.