Harvard Business School - Yearbook (Boston, MA)

Page 13 text:

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Fra' idea! Hanan! is' Mas age T0 THE CLASSES CF I949 AND I95O I submit that the prime need of our university graduates is intellectual and moral courage. For however much one may discount the wild talk of ill-in- formed prophets or the calculated misinformation of special pleaders, the reali- ties of the civilized world will be sufficiently grim to frighten many men. . . We must have the boldness required to regard possible disaster with as much calmness as possible good fortune, we must be content with reckoning in terms of probabilities, we must resist the temptation to believe that because modern man can survey the present with miraculous ease . . . he can therefore foresee the future more clearly than in other times. In short, we must be reconciled to our limitations as mere morlals in spite of the triumphs of the machines we build. In an age in which methods of communication are such that bad news from every quarter pounds upon our sensibilities almost hourly, we must doggedly determine to limit to a bare minimum the acceptance of hearsay evidence . . . A deep concern for the welfare of humanity, a desire to participate in a struggle for a better world, can be coupled with a skeptical approach to many matters. Easy solutions for hard problems must be tested in the light of history and an accurate knowledge of current situations. To the extent that a university today can develop a critical attitude in its students and fortify their idealism and their courage, it will have succeeded in its task. 9

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Dann vid is Message T0 THE CLASSES OF l949 A D l950 Every day it is becoming increasingly clear that we are engaged in a war of ideas-a war of ideals. Democracy and Totalitarianism are the adversaries. The stakes are high. Almost everyone believes that it will be a long conflict, unless a shooting war is resorted to in a futile attempt to resolve the conflict more quickly. There is obviously some Possibility, we hope a remote possibility, of a shoot- ing war within a relatively short time. In that event, we must face the conflict with the physical and ideological equipment we now have. Long-range prep- arations for success in the battle of ideas would have little bearing on the out- come of an immediate shooting war. If, as we hope, war can be averted, we nevertheless face a long-continuing struggle throughout the world for men's minds and, indeed, for men's souls. The ideas opposed in this underlying struggle flnd their expression in a conflict of systems-of methods through which society makes its decisions in economid social and political matters. The test of these systems lies in their effectiveness as instruments for attaining the human satisfactions which are the goals of any society. It seems to me that, as in so many instances of conflict, the best defense is a strong offense. In this conflict of systems, the best way to preserve our system is to make it work. It is obviously everybody's responsibility to do his part to make it work. However, by the very nature of the system, the businessman has especially heavy responsibilities. He must understand them, he must be prepared to meet them. To me the brightest ray of hope in these troubled times is my flrm belief that the businessman can and will measure up to the task. It is not easy-we have a lot to learn-but it can be done. ll