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International Senior Executive Programs Interview with Professor Robert Burgelman Forging new paths Other programs offered in 1998 Interview with Professor Robert Burgelman "Leaders are people who make organizations do things that don't come naturally"Minutes after finishing a class at Stanford University, Professor Robert Burgelman boarded a plane to Barcelona for IESE´s international senior executive program with Stanford, "Strategic Management of Technology-based Companies."In a brief interview, he discussed his reputation as a strategic management "guru" and his involvement in the field
· How has a Belgian managed to conquer Silicon Valley? My research has always dealt with innovation in large established companies. Not long ago, however, most of the companies in Silicon Valley were quite small. Interestingly, some of the smaller successful ones have now become very large ones and I was able to document this process in my research. My work with Andy Grove of Intel, for example, has done two things for me. One, it has added to my research and conceptual work and two, it has familiarized me with how one of the major companies in Silicon Valley operate. Mosts of all, I´m very grateful to my school, Stanford, for recognizing and valuing what I do. · Is your heart in research or teaching? Both. You can't really be a good teacher if you don´t have your own core ideas. My ideas keep growing, but I have developed a framework over the last 12 years which has worked. My core ideas, however, are based on serious research. · Do you tailor your teaching for specific companies or groups? No. I base everything on key ideas, concepts which should be useful and applicable. My job is to get people to think. That's really what I do. The last thing I want to do is to cover ideas that people have already heard. I want to lift them from that and expose them to new ways of thinking about their organizations. · You are extremely dynamic in the class-room. Yet this week you gave a class at Stanford University, after which you boarded a plane, flew to Barcelona, and immediately gave another two-hour class. How do you maintain this pace? It takes a tremendous amount of energy, both physical and intellectual. I used to have to pump my self up, but now it happens by itself. I have to generate energy from the people in the group and that energy then maintains itself. If I had to do it alone, it would be impossible. · You are considered a strategic management "guru." How does one become a guru? I don't consider myself a guru. That shifts all the responsibility of learning onto the teacher, rather than the learner. That's not my style. My style is to be interactive. I look at every classroom situation as a new one, but with a strong core. My teaching is like music, but more like jazz than a classical symphony. You have the key themes but you can play them in any sequence. · Some of the main principles you discuss in your sessions, such as vision and intuition, seem to be common sense for leaders. Why do you say these issues are particularly important for managers of high tech companies? Because not everybody will understand these principles right away. I try to get people to think deeper about things that have lasting value and it's not easy. Why do we need leaders? I always say that leaders are people who make organizations do things that don´t come naturally. Otherwise, change will not come about by itself. · You´ve led executive programs around the world: India, Thailand, Japan, Australia, in Europe, as well as the United States. How do you adapt your teaching to those different settings? I don't. I believe that you must respect the uniqueness of each group, but the key ideas and my energy are the same. I've done this in India the same way I've done this in the United States. It´s not a uniform thing. Some-times I have to work harder, sometimes less hard. But the energy is generated by the situation itself. Everybody in the group, however, has to be committed. I don't like passive spectators. In the class, however, I have to be extremely focused and have the ability to engage all the people in the group. When I'm teaching, the only thing I see is the participants. Forging new paths
He adds, "because the programs are held through long-term partnerships
with other leading universities, the faculty from both sides are committed
to providing the highest quality of program. Many of our faculty are world-renowned
in their fields. They come from the best schools in the world. This unique
blending of knowledge is our competitive advantage. Companies are realizing
that what we offer is truly different". IESE´s portfolio of executive programs has been forged through alliances with Harvard Business School, Stanford University, the University of Michigan, IAE and CEIBS. In 1998, the IESE portfolio will expand to include a new program with MIT Sloan School of Management. "Management in the Information Age: Aligning Information Technology
with Business Strategy," will take place June 1-5, 1998 in Barcelona.
The program illuminates new ways of leveraging IT capabilities to make more
effective business decisions. The program will include MIT professors John
F. Rockart, Michael S. Scott Morton and Lester Thurow; and IESE professors
Josep Valor, Jaume Ribera and Brian Subirana.
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