Srikant Datar took over the leadership of Harvard Business School in January 2021, mid-way through the academic year, and in the midst of the covid pandemic. Rather than derailing his vision, the pandemic, with its emphasis on technology and hybrid learning formats, has actually expedited it. “COVID is the passage to the school’s future. Without any doubt, it has been an extremely exciting and rewarding year,” he said.
Datar spent a considerable amount of time seeking input from the HBS community when building his agenda. He spoke with every faculty member and facilitated individual and small group meetings with alumni, students, staff, and others to understand their goals and perspectives. Datar then defined three “aspirations” for the school, “...stretching HBS and its learners beyond notions of merely personal success toward becoming, collectively and individually, driving forces in redefining the role of business in society around the world—addressing inequality, exclusion, climate change, and other intractable problems. Second, directing HBS’s research to action, ensuring that the leaders it trains or influences change practices and engage human differences to enhance the constructive role of capitalism. And, finally, the school must transform learning, extend its reach, and work with its students throughout their careers.”
Datar also named the “engines” that would make these aspirations possible: recruiting a diverse array of talent and enabling their success, undergoing a digital transformation for education delivery and the HBS “research infrastructure”, and “expanding and deepening ties” to the greater University, particularly into the humanities.
To activate the aspirations, Datar announced that Harvard Business School will be creating two institutes, one focused on business and society, and the other on digital and technology. These institutes will provide a structure that facilitates faculty interactions, student engagement with research efforts and new technologies, and space for alumni and businesses to access, train and collaborate using the latest research.
The Institute for the Study of Business in Global Society, which will be led by Debora L. Spar, will house the following activities:
HBS’s academic partnership with OneTen, an organization dedicated to advocating for black individuals who do not have an undergraduate degree, but wish to use skills and knowledge to obtain “family-sustaining careers”
Climate change research and the promotion of carbon neutral goals by considering alternative accounting metrics
Economic development within mid-American cities harmed most by de-industrialization; researching promising engines to spur business and economic growth
Social Enterprise research and the development of new models to enhance impact
The second institute, currently labeled “D3,” will be led by Karim R. Lakhani and focus on digital and technology, data science, artificial intelligence and machine learning, and design thinking. Clustering the topics together will optimize research efforts and maximize the impact for HBS and business overall.
While the HBS priorities are centered on two key pillars, business and society, and data and technology, Datar says he considers these components two parts of a whole. “When I think about the challenges we’re talking about,” Datar said, alluding to both the school and society writ large, “every time we have talked about technology on one side of the coin, on the other side is humanities and people. Any time you let those two get out of synch, the opportunity for division arises, and with it, economic harm. Leadership at the core means always thinking about impact on people, and on what you are trying to achieve through an organization.”
Read the full interview between Srikant Datar and the Harvard Magazine here.