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What They Teach You At Harvard Business School: My Two Years Inside The Cauldron Of Capitalism (2005)

by Philip Delves Broughton(Favorite Author)

3.73 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

0670917761 (ISBN13: 9780670917761)

languge

English

genre

Memoir & Autobiography

publisher

Penguin

review 1: I picked up this book to learn about someone's experience at business school. I can't lie, even though I have no interest in going there, I picked this book partially because it’s about the Harvard Business School (HBS). There were high and lows for this book. The great part is that the author isn't as overtly biased as I expected and not in the way that I expected. What I mean by that is that he has his issues with HBS and isn't afraid to mention them. He goes into life in his Section and the fact that the school is inundated by consultants and investment bankers, a big fear for me going into business school. He also goes into the problems that this sometimes caused. The downside for me was that I wanted more of what he was going through in his ‘every day’ life and ... morehow that affected his experience. He touches on his life in school a bit but mostly talks about his interactions with others, professors and gives detailed descriptions of classes. I wanted more of a balance between the two. This might be attributed to the fact that he was an ‘older’ student and had a family prior to enrollment. There was also a lot of talk of the HBS brand and all the doors that are open to you and the access to important figures you get just from matriculating. It did motivate me to be more certain in my choice about business school. From what I read, it seemed as if the author picked HBS due to its rank and popularity. His experience there and what he said in the afterword about what he would change shows just how little rankings matter in how much you'll enjoy your experience. You really need to look beyond the rankings when applying to a school, undergraduate or graduate, and make sure that you are going to not only grow from the education you get but also from the people and university you wind up interacting with. A good read for anyone interested in business school.
review 2: This book was a present from a close friend who just graduated from HBS and has been trying to convince me to go there for the past two years. I enjoyed this book much more than I expected. There was good discussion of the content/curriculum. The discussions on culture came from the view of an outsider, and I think the book is missing something there. I was expecting something more controversial or a type of expose, but the author enjoyed his time there, learned a lot, and benefited from the experience. While there are criticisms of the school, they are fairly stated. Overall, a good read. less

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