BUSINESS LEADERSHIP

Just a year ago, as the Business School entered its second quarter century, the CRIMSON said of it, "If its instructions were based on any assumptions of the fundamental soundness of capitalism, those assumptions are now called into question."

During the year which has since elapsed, capitalism has demonstrated to many people that in a grave emergency it has the capacity to save itself. But if capitalism has saved itself, government and not business has been the instrumentality. Insofar as capitalism continues to flourish, it will be within an industrial system very different from that which the Harvard Business School has' up to now postulated in its teaching. The economic system of the future will be a functional one, it will be planned, and it will be, to an as yet indeterminate degree, dependent on government.

The business leaders of the future, if they are to hold the confidence of the people, must have more than executive ability within some socially irresponsible corporation. They must have a broad conception of the nature of our industrial system, and of the reasons why policies which are sound for a single enterprise may lead to utter collapse in the system as a whole. They must realize their responsibility to society and have the knowledge necessary to fulfill it. To the task of training such leaders, it is high time that the Business School turned its full attention.