Harvard Business School - Yearbook (Boston, MA)

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The Cost of Loyalty N SOBIE respects one of the most amazing things about the Harvard Business School is the loyalty which it has inspired from its graduatcska loyalty which apparently increases rather than diminishes with the passage of years. Outwardly there are few of the noncurrieular conditions here which one commonly associates with college life. lien come to Soldiers Field with colle- giate loyalties already firmly established, and they remain but two years. There are no athletic teams to represent the School, nor are there other forms of collegiate competition to take their place. There exists no fraternity life and, relatively speaking, but a mini- mum of social activity. Yet, in spite of the lack of what may be termed the conventional rallying points for college allegiance, Harvard Business School graduates remain an intensely loyal group of men. Nor is this loyalty merely a temporary glow of enthusiastic devotionf' On the contrary, it becomes in time a very deep-rooted feeling of real significance. There is no need to argue this pointg the evidence is conclusive, particularly to those who have been with tl1e School for some time and who know the graduates. Two things may be observed in connection with this loyalty. Une is that the School itself must bc, in some measure at least, deserving ol' such esteem. Seemingly, the life and the Work at this institution develop firm and lasting friendships. Graduation creates a sense of real achievement. The long, hard grind finds its reward in broad factual background, sound habits ot thought, and keen vision, qualities Whose value becomes the more plainly evident as time gives added perspective. The other thing to note is that this very loyalty to the School isfor should be-a force tor good within the community to which

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Dedication To Howard Thompson Lewis WE DEDICATE Tl-IIS BOOK Respected for l'tis obility ond genuinely liked for lwis worm-lweorted, stimulating personolity, lwe is recognizedo leoder in tlte profession of purcltosing ond o teoclter vvlwose inimitoble methods inspire, Instruct, and entertoin.

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the graduate goes. For loyalty to the School means fidelity to the principles for which it stands and a belief in the objectives toward which it is striving. If there be a conviction among graduates of the School that its objectives are sound, then their allegiance will express itself as a powerful and constructive force for good, rather than exist as a merely passive sentiment. By virtue of the same fact, this School loyalty becomes an exacting requirement, demanding, even at a sacrifice, adherence to and the promotion of those objec- tives for which the School stands. And-let there be no mistake about it-the School does stand for one very definite ideal. That ideal is not simply financial success in business, although such an achievement is an integral part of the whole. Nor is it correct to say that a sense of social responsi- bility, alert and active citizenship, appreciation of scholarly achieve- ments, and a deep sense of religious values are underlying funda- mentals Which the School must take for granted and upon which it is to superimpose the training which makes for business success. Far from it. All these characteristics are united in varying degrees in the same person. If this institution stresses those qualities which make for business success, it docs so not because it lacks apprecia- tion of the other basic values, but because of obvious limitations of quite a diderent sort. The real task of the School is to make its graduates men in whom business training is an integral part of the essential qualities of a well-educated man. This is the ideal of the School and it is to this ideal that its graduates are loyal. It is well that it should be so. In the words of Josiah Royce: Be loyal, grow in loyalty . . . therein lies the solution of the problems of the philosophy of lifef' Howard Thompson Lewis