B-School Bulletin: Trudeau Speaks!

Harvard Business School Professor Anita Elberse is leading a new program that pairs NBA players with MBA student mentors to help young athletes up their business game

The NBA-HBS Career Connection

News from Harvard Business School

“Years ago, when children were asked what they wanted to be when they grew up, they often answered firefighter, astronaut, or teacher. Today, they’d likely say pop star, tech entrepreneur, or professional athlete.

“And why not be a pro athlete? Famous and admired, many get paid a lot of money to have fun playing sports. They devote years to perfecting their skills and competing to become the best. And given the long odds of making it, getting drafted by a pro team, signing a contract, or a getting a sponsorship deal can feel like winning the lottery.

“But for every savvy athlete-business whiz like basketball stars Magic Johnson or LeBron James, there are hundreds more who squander their earnings by getting involved in sketchy investment schemes, bankrolling risky ventures like restaurants, hiring family and friends for nonessential jobs, or simply living beyond their means.”

Etinosa Obanor, representing global youth constituencies, addressed the high-level segment at COP23 on Nov. 16

Cornell Student Tells COP23 Delegates: ‘Face Up To Reality’

News from Cornell University Johnson Graduate School of Management

“On the world stage, Etinosa Obanor ’18 minced no words. Representing global youth constituencies at the high-level segment at the Conference of the Parties (COP23) in Bonn, Germany, Nov. 6-17, the student delivered a strong statement to the convention delegates as they negotiated and wrestled with climate change.

“’In the past, you’ve never stopped promising action,’ Obanor said. ‘But there is no need to keep talking endlessly in closed rooms, if you don’t face up to reality and act accordingly. Distinguished delegates, it is your choice if you want future generations to remember you as heroes of the century.’”

How Attention From Top Managers Impacts Innovation

News from INSEAD

“It seems strange to buy something without using it, but people do it all the time. Some buy gym memberships, planning on changing their lives, but never get around to using them. Companies too make purchases believing that the purchase itself is enough to make a change at the firm. When licensing external knowledge, for example, management might believe that once the knowledge has been acquired, it is being used efficiently. But, like that unused gym card, buying outside knowledge on its own doesn’t mean that it is put to the best use. It needs to be integrated into the firm for the best result.

“Licensing outside knowledge is now a factor in the way that we innovate. More and more firms are moving from doing everything themselves to bringing in ideas from the outside through purchasing wholesale packages of knowledge. Two different licensing options are common – either standard licences, in which knowledge is bought without further engagement from the data/knowledge creator, or partnership/embedded licences, which establish a relationship with the provider.”

Executives Step Ahead Of The Curve With The Latest Insights

News from London Business School

“Two hundred professionals visited London Business School in search of cutting-edge insights to keep them and their organizations ultra-competitive in today’s dynamic business environment.

“The full-day LBS Live event offered global executives from diverse backgrounds and industries a taster of the hot topics taught on the School’s Executive Education programs, as well as time away from their organizations to reflect and refocus.”

“Mark Wilson, finance director of family-owned group Squire’s Garden Centres and former vice president of corporate strategy at Unilever, attended the event. He said: ‘I saw this as an opportunity to get exposure to the bright lights of strategy.'”

Part of the Baker Library collection: Account book of the Monte di Pietà (a charitable credit institution) in Rome, 1574-1643

How To Succeed In Business (According To A 15th-Century Trade Merchant)

News from HBS

“In what could be considered the first business how-to book, an Italian merchant from the 1400s advises leaders to be charitable, ethical, and treat people fairly; be modest; look for the right qualities in a wife; be selective in deals; and retire at 50, when ‘natural fervor abates, his blood calms down, his intelligence dims and his memory becomes less quick, so that he risks committing many errors in his business.’

“’In a sense, these are very early concepts of corporate social responsibility,’ says Harvard Business School professor of management practice Dante Roscini. ‘He’s addressing the issue of responsibility to the community and who you are as a person.’

“Written in 1458 in Venice by trade merchant Benedetto Cotrugli, The Book of the Art of Trade has just received its first English translation. Baker Library at HBS and the HBS Business History Initiative recently hosted a reception celebrating the new release. The library’s late medieval and early Renaissance Italian business records housed in HBS’s Historical Collections in Baker Library are among the largest and most important collections in the world outside of Italy.”

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