Business school evokes sense of entitlement
This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2008, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Philip Delves Broughton, an English newspaperman who graduated from Harvard Business School in 2006, chronicled the storied b-school in his new book, Ahead of the Curve: Two Years at Harvard Business School.

While lauding the smarts of his fellow students, he wonders what kinds of businesspeople Harvard is producing.

He noted that almost half his class accepted jobs in the financial services sector.

''If your day is spent fiddling with money on a screen, how real does your work become? How real is the fact that thousands are losing their homes?''

At the same time, he criticized what he saw as the school's mission of ''educating future leaders of the world,'' saying HBS should stick to churning out capable business managers.

The school's stated mission has encouraged hubristic behavior and a sense of entitlement among its graduates, he said. ''Business has become bigheaded. There's no reason . . . for every businessperson to think they should be running everything in the world.''

Kerry Parke, a school spokeswoman, would not comment on Broughton's opinions. But she did note that looking only at recent graduates' first jobs, as Broughton did, gives a skewed perspective.

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