It's a conversation heard more and more around the halls of Harvard Business School these days: One of President George W. Bush (news - web sites)'s unique qualifications for office was his Harvard MBA. Yet the mess in postwar Iraq (news - web sites) has revealed a lack of the careful planning that Harvard teaches its elite clientele.
And a related problem -- the ballooning federal budget deficit -- hints at much less financial discipline than B-school alums are supposed to have. "Because George is a graduate of the school, there's lots of casual discussion about what he learned, or didn't learn, while he was here," says David Yoffie, a Harvard Business School professor of international business administration.
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Certainly, postwar Iraq could be a Harvard case study of crisis management gone wrong. Five months after the President proclaimed the U.S. invasion a victory and declared a cessation of hostilities, basic services such as electricity and water remain subpar, public safety in Iraq is lacking
, deposed dictator Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) remains on the loose -- and the continued loss of American soldiers, including 16 killed in one attack on Nov. 1, threatens to turn U.S. public opinion against the Bush Administration and its war.
ABSENT THAT DAY? In response to a call seeking comment about the lessons Bush was taught as a B-school student, Harvard sent an e-mail statement: "Although courses and content in the curriculum change continuously over time," it reads, "the HBS learning model, which is based on analyzing some 500 case studies in which teams of students work together to address the uncertainty and complexity of real-world problems, remains constant and leaves a lasting mark on the thought processes of every student.... The school's focus is on general managers who can see the big strategic picture, establish priorities, and make the most of the functional expertise of those who work with them to make decisions and take action."
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