More than two decades ago the Institute created its highly regarded
School of Management and Strategic Studies, the first
program ever to employ online distance education, thereby launching
this now burgeoning field. This program brought together senior
executives from all sectors of the economy, and 26 countries,
meeting for a week every six months in La Jolla to begin deliberations
on the new requirements of leadership. These deliberations,
led by outstanding faculty members drawn from major universities
and research centers, were continued for the next six months
via computer conferencing, with members participating from their
homes and offices. The school demonstrated the power of this
medium not only to serve educational goals, but to create a
community, a network of leaders communicating in relevant, detailed,
thoughtful, and personal ways.
The
curriculum covered Globalism and Interdependence, the Corporation
and Government, Technology and the Management of Change, Environment
and Resources, Capital and Productivity, Organization and Human
Resources, and Management Philosophy and Ethics.
Among
the alumni of the program are outstanding leaders including
Wayne Peterson, retired president of Sprint, General Barry McCaffrey,
US Drug Czar, Gloria Feldt, President of Planned Parenthood
Federation, General Wesley Clark, Supreme Commander of NATO,
Michael Crichton, author and filmmaker, and many others.
The
distinguished faculty included more than 100 senior academics
drawn from such leading institutions as Yale, Harvard, Chicago,
Berkeley, MIT, Cambridge, Haifa, NYU, Stanford, and UCLA. A
representative sample of the faculty would include political
economist and Labor Secretary Robert Reich, NATO Ambassador
Harlan Cleveland, philosopher Abraham Kaplan, New Yorker editor
Hendrik Hertzberg, futurist Herman Kahn, British anthropologist
Mary Douglas, social psychologist Alex Bavelas, philosopher
of technology Langdon Winner, economist Rachel McCulloch, Whole
Earth Catalog founder Stewart Brand, management theorist Elliott
Jaques, economics columnist Robet Kuttner, climatologist Walter
Orr Roberts, environmental philosopher Kristin Schrader-Frechette,
political scientist Charles Lindblom, poet laureate Howard Nemerov,
Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Ambassador Herbert York, sociologist
Arlie Hochschild, and FCC commissioner Nicholas Johnson.
Among
the dozens of speakers at the gatherings in La Jolla were leadership
authority Warren Bennis, columnist Molly Ivins, management consultant
Anthony Athos, Army General Max Thurman, California governor
Jerry Brown, writer Erica Jong, feminist Betty Friedan, psychologist
Carl Rogers, labor leader William Winpinsinger, Rockefeller
Foundation head Peter Goldmark, computer pioneer Douglas Englebart,
and Common Cause founder John Gardner.
Weeklong
VIP interviews online included conversations with politician
Geraldine Ferraro, Nobel physicist Glenn Seaborg, conservative
author William F. Buckley, astronaut Rusty Schweikart, polio
researcher Jonas Salk and others.
Many
of the world's most important organizations sent their best
executives. Those organizations included AT&T, Polaroid, IBM,
Disney, Westinghouse, CIA, Chase Manhattan Bank, U. S. Army,
TRW, Westinghouse, National Science Foundation, Jet Propulsion
Laboratory, Exxon, Computer Sciences Corp., Herman Miller, Digital
Equipment Corp., Lockheed, and many others.
For
a more complete introduction to the School of Management and
Strategic Studies, its rationale, curriculum, faculty and speakers,
participating organizations, and comments from participants,
download the various elements of the 1991 Program Guide by linking
to the following areas of interest, using the navigational menu
at the top:
Introduction
Curriculum
Faculty and Speakers
Sample program
Participating organizations
Participants' comments