Rakesh Khurana
Professor of business administration, Harvard Business School, Cambridge, Mass.
Big Idea: Charismatic CEOs don't work; management needs to become a profession, like law.
Clients: IBM, Tyson Foods, American Family
Do business leaders have a responsibility beyond earning profits? Absolutely, says Khurana, who thinks the management should be a profession with licensing tests, a code of ethics à la law or medicine, and a stated commitment to improving the well-being of shareholders and society. Despite his scathing condemnation of business school education, the 41-year-old was awarded tenure at Harvard.
Khurana has consulted for several companies about leadership, and he's cautioned against what he calls the "irrational search for charismatic CEOs," a misguided belief that a CEO with a magnetic personality translates to corporate success (it doesn't).
NEXT: Valerie Casey
Last updated November 13 2008: 7:28 AM ET
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