Ahead of the Curve: Two Years at Harvard Business School

by Philip Delves Broughton

book data

129 ratings, 3.52 average rating, 43 reviews (more data...)

rating	frequency	%
5		13%
4		37%
3		37%
2		9%
1		1%

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published

July 31st 2008 by Penguin Press HC, The

binding

Hardcover, 283 pages

isbn

1594201757 (isbn13: 9781594201752)

description

As One L did for Harvard Law School, Ahead of the Curve does for Harvard Business Schoolproviding an incisive students-eye view that pulls the vei...more

[close] As One L did for Harvard Law School, Ahead of the Curve does for Harvard Business Schoolproviding an incisive students-eye view that pulls the veil away from this vaunted institution and probes the methods it uses to make its students into the elite of the business world

In the century since its founding, Harvard Business School has become the single most influential institution in global business. Twenty percent of the CEOs of Fortune 500 companies are HBS graduates, as are many of our savviest entrepreneurs (e.g., Michael Bloomberg) and canniest felons (e.g., Jeffrey Skilling). The top investment banks and brokerage houses routinely send their brightest young stars to HBS to groom them for future power. To these people and many others, a Harvard MBA is a golden ticket to the Olympian heights of American business.

In 2004, Philip Delves Broughton abandoned a post as Paris bureau chief of the London Daily Telegraph to join nine hundred other would-be tycoons on HBSs plush campus. Over the next two years, he and his classmates would be inundated with the bestand the restof American business culture that HBS epitomizes. The core of the schools curriculum is the casean analysis of a real business situation from which the students must, with a professors guidance, tease lessons. Delves Broughton studied more than five hundred cases and recounts the most revelatory ones here. He also learns the surprising pleasures of accounting, the allure of beta, the ingenious chicanery of leveraging, and innumerable other hidden workings of the business world, all of which he limns with a wry clarity reminiscent of Liars Poker. He also exposes the less savory trappings of b-school culture, from the booze luge to the pandemic obsession with PowerPoint to the specter of depression that stalks too many overburdened students. With acute and often uproarious candor, he assesses the schools success at teaching the traits it extols as most important in businessleadership, decisiveness, ethical behavior, work/life balance.

Published during the one hundredth anniversary of Harvard Business School, Ahead of the Curve offers a richly detailed and revealing you-are-there account of the institution that has, for good or ill, made American business what it is today. [close]

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08/18/08

Stuart Nachbar rated it:

I have read four “insider” accounts of life at top business schools, three written by Harvard MBAs, the fourth by a Stanford graduate. I read two of these: Peter Cohen’s The Gospel According to Harvard Business School and Peter Robinson’s Snapshots from Hell about the Stanford experience prior to going to business school. I read the third: Robert Reid’s Year One: An Intimate Look Inside Harvard Business School five years after I finished my MBA. Now I’ve read Philip Delves Broughton...more I have read four “insider” accounts of life at top business schools, three written by Harvard MBAs, the fourth by a Stanford graduate. I read two of these: Peter Cohen’s The Gospel According to Harvard Business School and Peter Robinson’s Snapshots from Hell about the Stanford experience prior to going to business school. I read the third: Robert Reid’s Year One: An Intimate Look Inside Harvard Business School five years after I finished my MBA. Now I’ve read Philip Delves Broughton’s Ahead of the Curve, the first 21st century inside account of life in the Harvard fishbowl.

These inside accounts all share these things in common: criticism of school administrations and over-extensive commentary on the rigors of a demanding full-time education at a top business school. All Harvard stories also talk about the case method, where all material is taught through applied “real world” and fictional problems.

Broughton, however, takes things a little further than I expected. He spends more time talking about the quality of his classmates and a surprise networking opportunity from working among them. He gets the chance to present a business plan for an education and media podcast site to Boston and Silicon Valley venture capitalists through a classmate’s connections, though he fails to get funding.

Formerly a New York and Paris bureau chief for the London Daily Telegraph, Broughton constantly reminds readers that he is not the typical Harvard Business School student. He entered Harvard with ten years experience in journalism and a young family. His only previous business experience was a short stint in telemarketing. His journalist accomplishments and a 750 GMAT get him into Harvard, but he explains that students with prior experience in consulting or investment banking have a big leg up in the job search. Broughton is the first insider to write that he fails to find a summer internship or a permanent job offer at graduation. He did not find Harvard to be a springboard to a career change, though he learns to think like an entrepreneur.

However I sense that Broughton might have learned more from the experience than his classmates. He shows concern when guest speakers, successful financiers, entrepreneurs and chief executive officers, talk about work-life balance when their scales tilt too far towards work. He envisions a life where he is comfortably successful in business and as a family man. Then again, he is one of the few family men in his class.

Near the end of Curve, Broughton mentions that Harvard is considering admitting fewer students over 30 and rethinking its attitude towards admitting recent college graduates. The average student is 28, and too many come from the two-year analyst programs in investment banking and consulting; so, this is hardly a diverse student body. My hunch is that Harvard will continue to take very few recent college graduates, but will listen more closely to the recruiters. If more employers want candidates with banking and consulting experience, then Harvard will try to become a better matchmaker.

I did not earn my MBA from Harvard, though my experience was equally positive and negative. Like the Harvard students, I experienced some of the best and worst teaching I’d ever seen in my life. I had teachers who were very kind and wanted us to learn as well as those who just showed up. I also enjoyed the case method; it was in all of my marketing courses. However, there was one important difference: I worked at least part-time over the full two years. I needed the income and equally important, I needed business experience. Like Broughton, I did not come from business, consulting or banking. And I knew I would not get any work experience sitting in classrooms all day. Harvard does not appear willing to arrange such experiences for the students who need them the most, though it pushes expensive MBA study abroad programs at extra cost.

I strongly recommend Curve to anyone considering business school. Unlike the other inside stories, Curve shows that the intense full-time experience may not benefit everyone. Harvard and its kin all admit very bright people, and they graduate a little smarter than they started. However, it has become a much riskier investment for anyone contemplating a career change or wanting to start their own business.
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04/12/09

Dave rated it:

Read in April, 2009

Excellent Read.

Impressive read by an interesting guy who was born in Bangladesh and grew up in England.

After working as a journalist for many papers and in many cities the author decided he wanted to expand his opportunities and got into HBS. He effectively brings the reader on his journey through the business school and profiles a good deal of his classmates and professors in a way that lets you relate quite well. The book isn't too heavy on cramming business terms and...more

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08/16/08

IreneandJohn rated it:

Read in August, 2008

Great book that will be read by business students for decades. Raises serious questions about the role of business schools, capitalism and business leaders in society. Very surprising how insecure most of the students are. Whilst reading I experienced a severe amount of cognitive dissonance that combined whispers of Milton Friedman, Hugh Nibley and Faust. Thoroughly enjoyable read.

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01/28/09

Eveline rated it:

Read in February, 2009

This wasn't as juicy/entertaining as I thought it was going to be. Nonetheless, it's definitely useful for anyone undecided about whether to go to business school.

There are a lot of things I take for granted about any educational institution in America, like getting-to-know-each-other games and binge drinking, that the author found really strange. Partially it's because he's a lot older than most of his classmates (apparently the average age at HBS is 27 or 28) but ultimately I view...more

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06/08/09

Aichi rated it:

Read in July, 2009

Some good quotes to summarize why I like this book:

Hank Paulson:

“Professional happiness would come from being very good at something difficult.”

“The victors are those who made change their friend. (1) Resist the temptation to be a short-termist; (2) Be honest with yourself about what jobs are the right ones for you; (3) Keep your moral compass; (4) Maintain the proper balance between your professional career and your personal life. Do not be career-...more

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02/11/09

Brian rated it:

Read in February, 2009

A thoughtful exploration of the culture and people at Harvard Business School, their motivations, and the positives and negatives of a business mindset. From the perspective of a mid-career journalist with a family who wants a new career and new opportunities, we get to experience the high-pressure coursework and the struggles to find the "right" summer internship and the "right" job on the outside. The book motivated my entrepreneurial spirit (while I was reading it), and I ...more

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10/15/08

Alana rated it:

bookshelves: 2008october, reviewed

Read in October, 2008

recommends it for: anyone considering business school.

As a person considering business school, this was an obvious read for me. A timely insider account is worth quite a lot -- and given the current economic crisis, people definitely want to examine the worth of a Harvard MBA and its role on Wall Street.

Philip Delves Broughton wrote Ahead of the Curve to chronicle his two years at Harvard Business School. He didn't come from a finance background -- in fact, he was Bureau Chief for The Daily Telegraph in Paris -- and he insists t...more
As a person considering business school, this was an obvious read for me. A timely insider account is worth quite a lot -- and given the current economic crisis, people definitely want to examine the worth of a Harvard MBA and its role on Wall Street.

Philip Delves Broughton wrote Ahead of the Curve to chronicle his two years at Harvard Business School. He didn't come from a finance background -- in fact, he was Bureau Chief for The Daily Telegraph in Paris -- and he insists that he didn't go to business school with the intention of writing a book about the experience. With two kids (one of which was born during the course of his time at HBS) and a wife, he decided to take the plunge and to to business school because he saw the Harvard MBA as his "in" to the business world. It certainly doesn't take an MBA to know the prestige of the Harvard brand, and as Broughton saw newspapers as a dying medium, he knew it was time for a change.

Broughton gives a very honest and clear account of his personal experience at HBS (and the fact that it's a personal experience is important to keep in mind)... Discussing his classes, explaining the case method, going over the general structure of his time as a student, quoting the professors and administration in depth as they talk about the students' futures as the elite of the business world. He shares basic business ideas and examples of cases and projects. (The first big group project of "Crimson Greetings" where a group simulates the running of a greeting card company affirmed all of my worst fears about group projects in b-school.) I could have done with a lot more on the actual goings-on of b-school and his classes, but I thought he made good use of his time and I never felt like he was spending unwarranted time on these scenes.

But time and time again, he reminders the readers that he is not one of "them"... He is different from a majority of his classmates and don't you forget it. He's older and he comes from an incredibly different background, so he automatically puts himself in the position of observer, even as you want him to succeed in classes where his lack of business experience means he's clearly got to catch up. (This is perhaps important for younger people reading this who are looking to Broughton for a description of life at b-school... You definitely need to remember that he's a very different person from the average single 27-year-old that applies.) He's ever the reporter and he's often asking whether or not anyone else is concerned with how tactical they've become in their time at HBS. He gives an example when he takes a class that is attended by both HBS and Kennedy School students -- the professor asks whether or not a company should sell and automatically, Broughton gives the business school response of "yes" without taking into account the personal feelings or emotions of the business owner. He realizes just how much his mindset has changed as he approaches business decisions and it rather frightens him. Of course, with the amount of discussion he gives to being an ethical and moral person in business, I was rather surprised that he gave the b-school response at all. He's very concerned with the idea of not selling out and becoming a consultant, sacrificing his time with his family for money. While he came to business school to make a better life for himself and his family, to bring about a career change, and to speak the language of business, Broughton also emphasizes that he didn't get a summer job and he didn't receive any job offers upon graduation. From his perspective, he simply wasn't willing to give up his family for a career, but he points out that a great many of his classmates were. They accepted finance and consulting positions in droves, convinced that these with the doors to opportunity that Harvard had given them.

While Broughton clearly doesn't approve of these sacrifices and choices (more on his classmates later), I think it's important to note that this is very much Broughton talking here. He is a man who wants to be a good husband and father, which is honorable, but that means he often quotes the speakers who say they didn't get enough time with their kids. Those quotes rang true for him and influenced his decisions. While Broughton might have thought that HBS was pushing him to a future of earning lots of money and disappearing from his family, any credible reader knows to take this with a grain of salt. HBS is clearly interested in giving its students the ability to make decisions for themselves, and supplying them with the contacts and opportunities to join the business world. HBS is concerned with creating business leaders, and while HBS might describe itself in grand and prideful language, I often wanted to tell Broughton to give it a rest on the critique. You go to HBS for the brand and the alumni network, and if you don't know that when you go in, then you haven't done your research. And there's a reason for the prestige, even if sometimes it is a circle of business elite Harvard alums giving the leg up to other alums. Harvard clearly teaches confidence, and when entering the business world, that seems to be one of the most valuable lessons. (In light of recent economic events, that's scary, right?)

In the end, Broughton never seemed to "buy in" to HBS the way that some alums do (which I suppose one could hardly do if writing a book about the experience, or it would just be a "yay Harvard!" piece), but he clearly left the experience with a new way to view the world. He became an entrepreneur in thought and deed, and he would certainly tell you that he did manage to keep his soul in the process, even though some people might see this kind of expose as a bit of a betrayal of HBS. He's rather critical in his closing remarks about how he would change the HBS administration, and he talks a lot about the Harvard hype, but despite his disapproval for the career choices of his classmates, he does a rather good job of describing the diversity found in the class. He attributes a great deal of his learning experience at Harvard to this exposure to people from many different backgrounds, and he ends the book with many quotes from people in his class, summarizing the things they took away from Harvard (and they seem to have a great deal more good to say about HBS than Broughton).

So... My opinion on his opinion on HBS? Ultimately, I thought this was a good book when you understand that this is a single person's experience. In my mind, this is about on par with asking people who are currently in business school about their experiences. (The trade off to not being able to ask specific questions comes with the fact that no sane b-school attendee would be able to speak at such length about their courses.) If you're considering business school, definitely read this book.(less)

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10/01/08

James rated it:

Good descriptions of the reasons why people look to go to Business school. The book was written from somewhat of an outsider's perspective, as the author did not consider himself the average HBS student. There is a lot of emphasis placed on the pressure to conform to Investment banking and Consulting careers, and the author shares his understanding of private equity, consulting and venture capital.

I also was impressed on the running commentary on the sacrifices that one is requir...more

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09/15/08

Adam rated it:

Read in September, 2008

If I didn't work at HBS I wouldn't have touched this book with a 10 foot pole. But I do work at HBS and I know many of the players mentioned in this book and I was there for the stir this book created when it was released. Needless to say the institution was less than thrilled. However, I found the narrator, whose writing a memoir of his experience as a HBS student, very credible and honest. He's willing to admit his own flaws and his own struggles as much as he is willing to expose the percei...more If I didn't work at HBS I wouldn't have touched this book with a 10 foot pole. But I do work at HBS and I know many of the players mentioned in this book and I was there for the stir this book created when it was released. Needless to say the institution was less than thrilled. However, I found the narrator, whose writing a memoir of his experience as a HBS student, very credible and honest. He's willing to admit his own flaws and his own struggles as much as he is willing to expose the perceived fault of his classmates, teachers and ultimately the institution that is HBS. I also felt a tinge of self defense as it feels like he's trying to prove to someone how much he learned in business school. Perhaps it is his classmates who took high paying jobs after graduation while he struggled to find work, clearly an embarrassment for him. Or perhaps it was the faculty or his family or his former journalism colleagues. I'm not sure who it is but his description of the subject matter of the classes, the hard core business principles, felt to me like he needed to show that the experience was worthwhile.

If you read this book you must do so with an understanding of the lens through which this person saw HBS, a 30+ married father (with 2 kids by the time he graduates from the 2 year program) who left a journalism career of significant substance at the London Telegraph to attend business school. This lens is much different than that of a 26 year old who enrolls in HBS after a few year working on Wall St. There is clearly a clash of world views within the classroom at HBS and he certainly falls in the minority as he is surrounded by younger, less mature peers who are closer to their halcyon college days and aren't afraid to act that way. Being a little older prove a challenge when surrounded by the hunger and drive of younger peers who are striving to earn enormous salaries out of the gate.

Also involved in the clash of world views is the idea of "selling out", sacrificing your personal life to make huge money. This is probably the true crux of the book. Despite countless CEO's and Alumni who come into the classroom and stress the idea of protecting your personal life because the money that big business offers is not worth the sacrifice of not watching your kids grow up, many of the students at HBS ignore the warnings and head for the high salaries anyway. This life couldn’t be painted clearer to the students yet most head off to earn hundreds of thousands of dollars and to 90 hour work weeks anyway. This theme came up again and again and the author clearly fell in the minority as he struggled to find a path that would allow him to use the business education he was getting while also being a visible father and husband.

By the end he realizes it is one or the other, commitment to family and personal life or commitment to career; it can’t be both. How much HBS creates and cultivates the culture of selling out is up to us to decide? The author clearly feels one way. His younger peers likly feel another way. I'm not sure HBS does anything more than provide a means by which the students can reach the goals they set out to reach in the first place. It seems that no matter how much you tell them that wealth does not provide the ideal lifestyle they think it does, they still are going to lead their lives toward it anyway. HBS simply brings out in them their best by pushing them and allowing them to live up to their potential.

The true irony to me is that HBS is a wonderful place to work. Employees are encouraged to find a work-life balance that works for them. In fact, resources are available to HBS employees to facilitate the work-life balance. So while many of the students in the classroom shun this balance for money despite being warned about the sacrifices they will be forced to make, the staff that supports the institution itself is actually encouraged to find and sustain it.
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08/16/08

Sunil rated it:

The beginning of the book started fairly well, at least enough to pique my interest enough to purchase the book. PDB does a good job of chronicling his classes and experiences at HBS, but I thought it was a little too cursory. There were many characters introduced, but not a lot of depth to any one of them. This book read more like a series of anecdotes than something with an overall storyline.

Still, there were a couple of things about this book that I liked. PDB was an atypical ...more

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01/30/09

Elaina rated it:

Read in March, 2009

This is interesting and well written, but I am not going to finish it. For one thing, its on a 2-week loan and I'm not even halfway through, but the biggest reason is that it's stressing me out a bit. I read at night before bed, and there is something about all the deadlines, business issues and consultant-speak that reminds me of work, and I can feel my blood pressure rising as I read it.

What I like most about it is that it is written from both the "inside" and the "...more

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11/23/08

Daisy rated it:

bookshelves: biography, business-books

Read in February, 2009

Harvard certainly is not how I imagined it to be after I read this book. I found that it gives me hope as much as disappointment. I feel hope because apparently I can be Harvard MBA students' boss if I can. It does not really matter which college you are truly from, so many Harvard MBAs are having hard time finding jobs at google, yet my high school friend who is currently in pursuing of her San Diego State University Business bacholar degree is able to get the job with google. Just because you ...more

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01/21/09

LeAndra rated it:

Read in January, 2009

Having gone through the experience of business school as a non-traditional business student myself, I related to a lot of what the author wrote. I don't know that someone who hadn't gone through this shared experience would find the book quite as funny as I did. The book has relevance to what drives the thinking behind a lot of business leaders' decisions, and that is something that definitely affects us all (i.e. the current state of the financial services industry).

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08/23/08

Sean Flynn rated it:

Read in August, 2008

For the first ~270 pages Phillip Delves Broughton does a very good job of reporting what happens on the prestigious HBS campus. He chronicles the classes, the case studies, the students, the teachers, and the job hunt in a manner that helps you feel like you were there.

However, his last 10 pages devolve into a preachy chorus of all that is wrong with HBS, all that is wrong with business in general, and why he is above it all. He implies that if you care about your family, then you c...more

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05/04/09

Kosh rated it:

Read in April, 2009

To be perfectly honest, I didn't care much for this book, felt like it was just several hundred pages of the author complaining about what I would think most people already know, Harvard is more about the name than the education. While there were interesting parts to the book, I found it hard to connect with the story.

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11/16/08

Wendy rated it:

Read in November, 2008

really enjoyed this book- very intriguing description of what few experience- life as a student at Harvard Business School. Author did great job organizing content into a compelling story- could have been dry and difficult to follow-but it wasn't. I highly recommend this book!

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03/01/09

SB rated it:

Read in March, 2009

recommended to SB by: library hot off the press

This is an interesting book for job seekers, recent grads, and anyone already entrenched in a career. It is the story of the author's two years at Harvard Business School,written from the perspective of a journalist trying to crack the code of business and balance the needs of his family. Entertaining and enlightening.

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12/28/08

David Smith rated it:

Read in January, 2009

Good book overall, but should probably be titled:

The Meaning of Life:

How to obtain a Harvard MBA and still not get a job!

Best paraphrased quote:

"If you want to change the world, get a ticket to Darfur. If you want to be rich, go to Harvard!"

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06/12/09

Brian rated it:

bookshelves: nonfiction

Read in June, 2009

Great book. It deflates the egotism inherent in attending HBS, while simultaneously revealing the process by which the school imparts business wisdom. HBS is not the be all and end all of business schools, but it does have a lot to teach.

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04/28/09

Katherine rated it:

Read in January, 2009

An entertaining look into Harvard Business School from the inside ... I'm not sure if I could ever quite get "excited" in that environment.

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