Controversy Roils Business Review

Editors of the Harvard Business Review have demanded the resignation of their boss, alleging an affair she carried on with one of her sources has compromised the integrity of the publication.

The letters, written in recent weeks by four editors, called for the resignation of editor Suzy Wetlaufer after she asked the magazine in late December to pull an article she had written on former General Electric Chair Jack Welch. The article, scheduled to appear in the Review’s February issue, was an interview with Welch—with whom Wetlaufer admitted to having an affair.

Wetlaufer told The Wall Street Journal, which broke the story on Monday, that she asked for the article to be canceled because she felt she “had become too close to [Mr. Welch]” and that their relationship might call into question the objectivity of both the article itself and the Review as a whole.

Wetlaufer said in a prepared statement to the Journal that she became romantically involved with Welch “seven weeks after [the] interview was written.” Wetlaufer is 42 and divorced. Welch, who is 66 and married, has repeatedly declined to comment.

According to the Journal story, concern for the neutrality of Wetlaufer’s article was not even brought into question until Welch’s wife called Wetlaufer to ask whether she thought she could write an objective article given her relationship with the former GE chair.

Though Wetlaufer’s article on Welch did not run, one written by two lower-ranking editors ran on schedule in the February issue of the Review. The article is titled “Jack on Jack” and is based on a subsequent interview with Welch.

Written by four Review editors, the letters were addressed to Walter Kiechel, editorial director of the Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation.

In an interview with The Crimson yesterday, Kiechel declined to comment on Wetlaufer’s future with the Review, saying he will not comment on personnel decisions. But he said the concerns raised by the letters are being taken seriously.

“There are lots of conversations going on, lots of concerned people,” Kiechel said. “The Economist says the Harvard Business Review sets the standard for business discussions, and nothing will change.”

Senior editors Diane Coutu and Harris Collingwood, along with executive editors Sarah Cliffe and Nicholas Carr, wrote the letters to Kiechel, who said he has been receiving them over the last several weeks. According to The Journal, Carr asked to be granted leave until Wetlaufer leaves.

Kiechel defended those editors who wrote him letters.

“They were acting out of a principled concern for the Review and its reputation,” he said. “I admire principled actions.”

In the wake of the controversy, Harvard Business Publishing has decided to form a task force to review ethics policies and conflicts of interest within the publishing branch, according to the Journal. The commitee will determine what kind of relationships between reporters and sources should be considered appropriate.