Harvard in the news...But not as it likes to be. The news this week is the resignation of Larry Summers as President of the University.

See Harvard's version here: http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/daily/2006/02/21-summers.html
And a Financial Times view here: http://news.ft.com/cms/s/62b790f0-a411-11da-83cc-0000779e2340.html

Looked at from our perspective, the Summers tenure provides a "cross-boundary" story. As he said in his resignation letter:

"...we still have a great distance to travel. We cannot maintain pre-eminence in intellectual fields if we remain constrained by artificial boundaries of departments and Schools. "Each Tub On Its Own Bottom" is a vivid, but limiting, metaphor for decision making at Harvard. We will not escape its limits unless our Schools and Faculties increase their willingness to transcend parochial interests in support of broader university goals."

On this theme, Summers pushed and prodded for an international focus, cross-disciplinary science, a better technology environment, and - perhaps most importantly - against the dangers of complacency.

Good goals, all. But he was not so good on the execution.

His tragic flaw - at least as seen from a perspective close enough to pick up local stories but not close enough to be in on the closed-door conversations - was that the opposition to things he did was too easily turned personal. When his abrasiveness didn't show respect to those he was working with, he didn't get much in return. His message wasn't as effective as it should have been because the messenger was too easy to dislike.

While focus, tenacity, and even ruthlessness may be essential in some settings, leadership - especially when you have limited command and control authority - is a game best fought on "the issues." Ronald Reagan was more effective than many people hoped for (or feared) because his likable personality made him hard to organize against.

Going forward, Harvard still needs to execute on the big issues ahead. Many of the right ideas are those put forward by Summers. What the University needs now is a leader more effective at turning these ideas into action.
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March 8-9 workshop on Financing Cross-Boundary Initiatives: http://3ecompass.net/finance