Ahead of the Curve: Two Years at Harvard Business School | Philip Delves Broughton

Ahead of the Curve: Two Years at Harvard Business School | Philip Delves Broughton | Excellent insight into a MBA degree program

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Ahead of the Curve...

	Ahead of the Curve: Two Years at Harvard Business School Philip Delves Broughton Penguin Press HC, The, 2008 - 304 pages average customer review:based on 37 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

A Thoughtful and Introspective Memoir That Should Be Required Reading for HBS Applicants

First, some disclosure: Philip and I were classmates at HBS, did a project together (which he doesn't directly mention in the book), I've had dinner at his house, and I consider him a friend. If you choose to ignore my perspective because of the above bias, I wouldn't blame you, but I want to make sure that myths (generated by some press coverage) of what this book is about are dispelled: by no means is Ahead of the Curve a tell-all insider-guide bashing of the HBS experience. In fact, I suspect that some of the negative reviews are written by folks who either didn't read the book or didn't read it all the way through.

What the book is instead is a rather touching introspective memoir on Philip's personal experience at HBS as an outsider - someone who, because of his age, career background, nationality, but most of all personality did not fit into the traditional HBS mold. Despite that, the reader comes away clear on the fact that Philip learned a great deal from HBS, respects its educational method tremendously, made some very good friends, and overall came away a bigger person after it. I want to elaborate on that last point - Philip was already a fully formed individual before coming to HBS: a father, a husband, a successful journalist, a well-traveled man. To feel growth after HBS, where the average age is ~5 years younger and the average experience is much more junior is a BIG DEAL.

The book really has two elements to it. One is a witty description of the HBS stereotypes, fun stories about interactions, and, ultimately, a fascinating tale of what it's like to be immersed into the HBS experience. The second (one that I didn't find as exciting having gone there) is a reasonably in-depth description of the cases and educational method. The first element is a joy to read and sometimes laugh-out-loud funny. Moreover, it's quite an experience to observe Philip's thought process and see how life touches him. Highlights include getting stuck in a white wedding limo in the parking lot at the Google headquarters and frantically taking notes on a loose-leaf sheet of paper during a McKinsey interview. The second element is geared to the book's main target audience: potential b-school applicants. To be honest, I was shocked by how well Philip recollects the cases and formulae from HBS. I certainly got quite a refresher!

In the end, Philip chooses to opt out of the post-HBS grind, having fully opted into the experience while there. Funnily enough, too many people do the opposite. They float through HBS, barely read cases, sign up for courses on Tue-Thu so they can travel all second year, and then opt into a grueling i-banking or hedge fund job. Personally, I think Philip has come out a better person having learned much from what HBS has to offer and still chosen to pursue life in his own manner. He's the type of graduate HBS should be proud of - I certainly am proud to have gotten to know him while there!

Despite everything I wrote above, I must point out that PDB is a writer and as such, he left plenty out that didn't fit his theses. For example, I was a part of a team of three with him on a first-semester project in our second year. Of the three of us, exactly zero has jobs we accepted after graduation. Of course, all of us has unusual ambitions, but comparisons are driven by one's choice of peer groups. Philip stands out dramatically when compared to i-banker types, but he may not be so unusual amongst others, albeit smaller, HBS groups. One of his section-mates, for example, joined a record label in a creative role after school for a salary of at most 1/4 of what he would have gotten had he gone back to his investment banking career.

Overall, Philip gives a balanced perspective on HBS. He gives an even more balanced perspective on himself and it was a joy to follow his personal travails. Yes, he does omit descriptions of some of the more "out there" folks from HBS, but no, he doesn't break any sacred bonds of the HBS classrooms. If you went to HBS and are fuming based on the press coverage of this book, please read it first before forming an opinion. And if you think about going there, PLEASE READ IT!

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Excellent insight into a MBA degree program

Witty, insightful and at times, quite saddening. Well worth the time investing in this book. Beware of some of the other reviews of this book on Amazon, the negative ones seem to be written by people who have either not read it, or did not understand it. A must read for anyone who is seeking a career change and is contemplating getting a MBA in order to achieve it.

Two Years Before the Spreadsheet

There is a genre of memoir that recounts the strange and exotic experiences of an author who has chosen to take a less traveled road, for example to join the French Foreign Legion. Such a memoir is fascinating to the reader in part because it is so far outside the reader's experience. For this reader this book belongs to that genre.

The book provides what appears to be an accurate and well balanced account of the Master of Business Administration (MBA) program of the venerated Harvard Business School (HBS). The writer is admittedly an atypical MBA candidate, but nonetheless has apparently succeeded in capturing the culture of HBS and the philosophy of its MBA program. Broughton encapsulates the MBA curriculum and provides some detail about the famous `case study' method developed by HBS,. He also provides a mostly sympathetic description of his fellow members of the `Class of 2006' and their motivations. Broughton himself is somewhat conflicted as to why he wants to acquire an MBA , but he gives a straightforward account of how one goes about achieving a Harvard MBA. Also he is willing to share some of the kind of knowledge that he gained while in the program which gives tangible examples of what HBS students actually learn.

So what is taught in the HBS MBA Program? Well by this account, essentially it is number crunching. HBS graduates know a lot about financial risk, costs and revenues, leverage, and increasing profitability. They also know how to document such knowledge using spreadsheets and graphs. Not surprisingly the majority of Broughton's MBA class went into either financial services (investment banking, hedge funds, etc) or management consulting. Indeed one gets the impression that HBS has more or less focused on financial management to the exclusion of management of people or processes. The information provided by Broughton is a fascinating account of what to some of us is a very exotic place, but perhaps more importantly a good summation of what those considering trying for a Harvard MBA have to expect.

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A lost opportunity

In a narrative that often produces nuggets of intriguing observations, what stands out mostly is a clear lack of focus - for the book and perhaps for the author's own experience at HBS. The honesty and conversational narrative style is certainly welcoming, but it doesn't do enough to prevent a sense of self-pity and insecurity to escape through the story.

For readers unfamiliar with the case method of teaching at Harvard, this is an interesting read (though you may be able to get that information from HBS itself without having to suffer through the rest of the book). An outsider will also get some version of a vicarious life at HBS through the narration as the authors takes us through his two years at the business school - curriculum, course selection, study groups, faculty, guest speakers, internships, exams, recruiting, graduation - the whole thing. Unfortunately, the discussion is more often than not, jaded with his personal observations that often comes out as insecure ramblings (discussion of his parking lot experience - student-owned BMWs and financial aid chicanery; his experiences with Google interview process and his reaction to the outcome, to cite a few). Moreover, his tendency to almost always use a ethnic/racial descriptor to talk about any character often seems silly and adds no value to the discussion.

A chapter, inexplicably titled as Ethical Jihadists, is one of the better chapters in the book. The initial chapters that talked about case-based teaching and experiences with it is also interesting reading. At the end, though, through his observations on others ambitions/choices, the author comes across as mostly a clear misfit and then makes a fairly grand observation - "a factory of unhappy people". Considering all his narrations and observations throughout the book, the "dean-for-a-day wishlist" reads mostly amusing than come across as insightful analysis.

Often times, it seems like the author never grew out of his initial job as a gossip columnist - always piquing interest with a statement and promising more, only to deliver a fluff.

It is worth reading if you've never read anything on business schools, else, this should not be on your priority list for reading.

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Misplaced Person

The author takes a strange path to the HBS, never fits into its culture, and leaves without benefit. Thus, it is not surprising that "Ahead of the Curve" offers little value for those seeking to learn about the HBS and business. However, he does end with a few good insights.

In 1960, 5,000 MBAs graduated in America; by 2000 the number had risen to 100,000. During 2004-2006 HBS alumni filled 20% of the top three jobs at Fortune 500 firms. Readers learn that the HBS mission is to educate leaders who would make a difference in the world. Mormons, McKinsey, and the Military make up its three major groups.

HBS adopted its neighboring Harvard Law School's case method at its 1908 inception - the valued outcome of this is the approach used to analyze cases. Unfortunately, Broughton does not tell us what this approach is.

Readers also learn that it is virtually impossible to flunk out of the HBS - class discussions represent half the grade, and to fail one basically has to stop showing up. Professors would eventually pick you out and make you talk so you could get some credit - if you showed up.

Finance is a major area at the HBS (42% of graduates go into financial services, vs. 21% for consulting) - calculating a company's discount rate is a process of using historical data to figure out a company's "beta" (use similar companies if the firm is not listed), then multiply this by the risk of investing in the stock market as a whole. However, Broughton also tells us Warren Buffett ignores this process - he simply looks for bargains.

Broughton concludes that there is too much emphasis on statistics that are malleable, and that students and graduates place too much emphasis on work. Finally, Broughton observes that the surest way to acquire mega-bucks is to acquire distressed firms and subject them to extreme leverage while stripping assets and expenses (eg. employee health plans). That hardly seems to require a $174,000 HBS education.

Several important topics are not addressed, such as "Why do many outstanding business leaders lack an MBA?" Prime examples include Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Jack Welch, as well as much of Asia. Another revolves on the likelihood of the MBA market becoming satiated - eg. its rapid growth, despite the enormous loss of American jobs and manufacturing; recently the proportion of the world's finance handled in the U.S. dropped from 50% in 2005 to 33% in 2005 - seemingly inevitable given our rapid rise as a debtor nation. And then there is the question of "Why is an MBA needed in today's world?" - major business tactics include the previously mentioned extreme leveraging and asset stripping, while outsourcing manufacturing to China and services to India, while hiring as many illegal aliens within the U.S. as possible.

Bottom Line: "Ahead of the Curve" provides readers with little value.

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reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4, page 5, 6, 7, 8

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