As George W. Bush is the first U.S. president with an MBA degree, there is some irony that management, particularly in Iraq, has been such a vexing problem. That should be of some concern to the president, since the most important challenges the nation faces during the next four years are largely managerial in nature.
Ordinarily, Bush's upcoming 30th Harvard Business School reunion would be an opportunity for the "MBA President" to get a tune-up, but he probably won't have the time. So, as a more recent graduate, I can offer several reminders from his schooling that could improve his management:
• "No" to yes-men and -women. There is a great danger if the Oval Office resembles more an echo chamber than Bush's old Socratic Harvard classroom. At business school, he was taught that airing conflicting views makes it more likely that the final decision will be fully vetted.
Many of his top new Cabinet appointments are loyalists. That will be helpful in ensuring the administration speaks with one voice. Yet, Bush also needs to make sure there are voices who will tell him when his decisions aren't looking so good.
A need for order
• Organization. Bush's difficulties on Iraq have stemmed in part from his inability to settle on a management style.
The day before his 2001 inauguration, Bush said of his leadership style: "I hope the American people realize that a good executive is one that understands how to recruit people and how to delegate."
But in the days after 9/11, Bush shifted to the more hands-on style. As Bob Woodward describes in his book Plan of Attack, the president was the "burglar in the house" during the run-up to the Iraq war, moving secretly among advisers. Unfortunately, the existing White House organizational structure was not able to provide the necessary checks and balances on the newly hands-on Bush to ensure, for example, adequate post-war planning.
Harvard should have taught the president that an inconsistent managerial approach often leads to inconsistent results.
• Don't sweat all of the details, just enough of them. The centerpiece of Harvard training is a famous case study — a real-life management situation with intentionally incomplete and conflicting data.
In class, Bush had to present a plan and defend it in the face of the analysis of 90 fellow classmates whose grades depended largely on how well they picked apart his ideas. Bush succeeded largely because he studied hard and came to class prepared.
Know enough to act
If he wants to manage hands-on, Bush has to take an equally hands-on approach to information. At business school, Bush was taught not to learn every fact, but to know enough to be able to effectively evaluate his aides' counsel, ask them the right questions and hold each fully accountable.
• Resolute flexibility. Resolve is a hallmark of Bush's leadership style, but pragmatism is also a bedrock of his Harvard training. In school, Bush was taught to make decisions on the merits of the evidence, not on a rigid philosophy or faith.
In the case-study method, there was far less emphasis on getting the "right" answer than on the rigor in which students arrive there. In the classroom, students find it best to be resolute in the face of criticism rather than show weakness by admitting mistakes. Yet "strong and wrong" was not the lesson for the real world.
Thirty years later, Bush should remember that those were learning experiences; the day's critiques were integrated into future performances. In fact, he should view his first term as a case study whose lessons can be applied for the next four years.
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