New HBS Program Teaches How to Sell Science

Faculty members will teach senior executives the art of selling science in a new executive program called “Leading Science-Based Enterprises” at the Harvard Business School (HBS).

One of the goals of the three-day program, which will take place in late June, is to help leaders of science-based enterprises transition from science and innovation to management and implementation.

“Some of those scientists have to become business leaders,” said the program’s faculty chair, H. Kent Bowen.

He said that HBS may look to expand the program in its later iterations, perhaps even bringing in students from across the Charles.

“For the future, we are also trying to involve undergraduates, but we haven’t figured that out yet,” said Bowen.

This June’s program will include 50 “senior level, high potential candidates” who will most likely have been with their companies for five to 10 years, Bowen said.

“We need industries that are sophisticated and can add a lot of value, such as science- and engineering-based ones,” Bowen said, noting that one of the big challenges in a developed economy is to maintain economic growth even with the rising power of other countries.

Another key component of the executive program is to bridge scientific innovation and practical implementation and to find ways to manage breakthrough ideas, or platforms, which “cause havoc with companies,” Bowen said.

The executive program’s increased focus on the intersection between business and science comes a year and a half after the Medical and Business Schools began a joint master’s degree program.

And construction on a life sciences research center in Allston is scheduled to begin this June. The center’s close proximity to HBS is expected to strengthen collaboration between HBS professors and faculty from across the University.

The executive program will use the case method, which is known at HBS for intensifying interaction between students and professors, to “spontaneously ignite” the class, Bowen said.

The new science-based leadership program will add to the Business School’s collection of over 70 executive education programs, which attract thousands of executives every year, according to Bowen.

The faculty members who will be teaching include professors who came to HBS after years of experience in the business world.

Professor of Management Practice Raymond V. Gilmartin was the chairman, president and CEO of Merck & Co., Inc., a leading pharmaceutical research company, for 11 years.

“The success of your company depends on the success of your scientist,” Gilmartin said.

The other faculty members leading the program are Senior Associate Dean Srikant M. Datar, Professor of the Practice of Molecular and Cellular Biology Vicki L. Sato, Figgie Professor of Business Administration Gary P. Pisano, and Lawrence Professor of Business Administration Michael L. Tushman.

Associate Professor of Business Administration Lee O. Fleming and Senior Lecturer Willy C. Shih are also involved in developing the executive program.

—Staff writer Daniela Nemerenco can be reached at dnemeren@fas.harvard.edu.