KennedyJOH NF.KENNEDYSCHOOLOFGOVERNMENTBULLETINHARVARDUNIVERSITYSchoow i n t e r 2l 0 0 9

DECISIONS After the Outside In 1,000 DECISIONS Flood A new vision for Words Jennifer Lerner shows how Alumni aid in Washington, DC, Photos record emotions play a role recovery schools world travels Fred Hochberg s&l 1996 Tony Conza Executive Committee At-Large Peggy Klaus Kennedy School Board of Directors of the hks Alumni Association Henry Hubschman mpp 1973, Howard Cox, Jr. Sharon Allen Patricia Kouba JOHNF.KENNEDYSCHOOLOFGOVERNMENTBULLETINHARVARDUNIVERSITY w i n t e r 2 0 0 9 jd 1972 Bharat Desai Michèle Boutros-Ghali Roelfien Kuijpers Executive Committee David Hulse mpp 1984 Arnold Donald Diane Dixon Renee LaBran Rudy Brioché mpp 2000, Chair Mazen Jaidah mpp 1996 Bülent Eczacıbasi Jean Minskoff Grant, Former Chair Catherine Lee Rosario Calderon mpa 1988, David Johnson mpp 1983 hrh Princess Firyal of Jordan Janice Bryant Howroyd Robin Leeds Vice Chair Karen Kalish mpa 2000 Jacob Frenkel Claudia Kahn Amy Levine Jacquelyne Weatherspoon Stacey Keare mpp 1994 Steven Green Francine LeFrak Renee Brody Levow mpa 1991, Treasurer John Kennedy mpa 1988 Clifford Gundle Corporate Members Sheela Levy Gary Schwarz mpa 2007, Secretary Petros Kokkalis mpa 2002 Azadeh Hariri Carol Locke Farahnaz Karim mpa 2001, Jennifer Allyn mpp 1994, Florence Koplow mpa 1995 James Harpel PricewaterhouseCoopers Linda LoRe Member-at-Large James Langevin mpa2 1994 Alan Hassenfeld Ann Lovell Paul Hodge mpa 2000, Ex-Officio Mary Bennett, Crowe Horwath llp Pat Lawson mpa 1989 Robert Hefner III Beth Brooke, Ernst & Young Maria Paola Luksic Features Departments Members Nancy LeaMond mcp 1974 John Incledon Michelle Gadsden-Williams, Nancy Malone Gayane Afrikian mpa 2005 Leon Loeb mpp 1972 Tasso Jereissati Novartis Ranjini Manian Jeff Amestoy mpa 1982 Kent Lucken mpa 2001 Nicholas Josefowitz Dana Hagendorf, Audemars Piguet Florine Mark Marilyn Averill mpa 2000 J. Michael McGinnis mpp 1977 Maha Kaddoura mpa 2000 Janice Bryant Howroyd, Lana Marks 14 Science of Decisions 2 executive summary Michael Cardoso mpa 2005 Patricia McGinnis mpa 1975 Joseph Kasputys Act-1 Personnel Services Bobbi McKenna Roland Castañeda jd/mpp 1974 Robert Metzger bcsia George Kellner Lorie Jackson mpa 1982, Ellen McLaughlin Jennifer Lerner brings the art of decision making into Kriengsak Chareonwongsak Preston Miller, Jr. mpa 1976 Jamileh Kharrazi ExxonMobil Pamela McLean letters mpa 2007 Marcia Morris mpa 1993 Nemir Kirdar Angela Schwers, Pearson Neena Mehta the laboratory. 3 Shannon Christian mpp 1987 Ajay Nagpal mpp 1992 Latifa Kosta Education Ellen Mignoni Andrea Marmolejo mpa 1988 Robert Olian mpp/jd 1977 Ned Lamont Diane Miller Kathe Mullally mpa 1998 Anthony Otten mpp 1981 Nicholas Lazares Members Patricia Mitchell 4 from the Charles Daniel Ostergaard mpa 2004 Howard Paster mcrp 1979 Brandt Louie Carla Abourjeily Ellen Jane Moore 20 After the Flood Pradeep Singh mpa 1991 Anne Reed mpa 1981 Bertram Lubner Giselle Acevedo Barbara Morrison Warren Cikins mpa 1954, a life in public service… Janet Thompson mpa 1987 Jorge Rosenblut mpa2 1985 Yoko Makino Mindy Lipson Aisen Valerie Mosley The hks network mobilizes to help an Executive Giles Whiting mpp 2005 Sean Rowland mpa 1997 George Mallinckrodt Maha Al-Juffali-Ghandour Pansy Muller Bohnet on trust…Risse examines global order and Wendy Appelbaum Education alumna helping others. Associate Members Sean Charles Rush mpa2 2007 W.A. Manoukian Marilyn Carlson Nelson Deryck Maughan Elizabeth Arky Greg Rosenbaum jd/mpp 1977 Danny Sebright mpa 2001 Anne Nobles collective ownership…What they did during their Mark Mendell Jan Babiak Lenora Peters Gant Daniel Sheffey mpp 1989 Julia Novy-Hildesley James Metzger Ellyn Bank summer internships ksgee 1997/99 Harry Sherr mpa 2003 Gun Nowak Yogendra Modi Marilyn Barrett Emily Card phd, mpa 1981, Andrew Sieg mpp 1992 Anna Ouroumian 24 Outside In Anthony Morris Barbara Beck haa Representative Heather Steans mpp 1987 Aysen Ozyegin Marvin Odum Clare Beckton mpa 2005 Michelle Rhee mpp 1997 offers a new vision for Armando Lopez-Fernandez Donald Stewart mpa 1969, Kristine Pearson bully pulpit Idan Ofer Stephanie Bell Rose mpa 1984 32 mpa 1978, haa Representative dpa 1975 Maureen Peckman Bob Suh mpa2 1985 Jorma Ollila Carol Lavin Bernick Carol Penn Washington, DC, school system. Dean’s Alumni Leadership Harriett “Tee” Taggart mcp 1973 Alvar Ortiz Cusnier mpa 1983 Susan Bogart Carol Perrin Maria Efantis Brennan Council Elizabeth Tamposi mpa 1984 Minnie Osmeña mpa Sarah Raiss 34 in print William Tobey mpp 1984 Richard Plepler Anna Burger Joyce Reuben Greg Rosenbaum mpp/jd 1977, Joseph Tompkins mpp 1975, Andrew Rappaport Maxine Burton Margaret Rose 28 1,000 Words The Character of Harms…One Economics — Many Chair jd 1974 Gordon Rawlinson Mary Carrington Nancy Russell Joseph Caldwell mpa 1985, Stacey Gillis Weber mpa2 1990 John Reed Deborah Carstens Sarina Russo Summer interns chronicle their travels in photographs. Recipes…Unlocking the Power of Networks Vice Chair Thomas White mpa2 1982 David Richards Joan Chrestay Kim Samuel-Johnson José María Figueres mpa 1991, Wilfred Wong mpa 1987 James Rogers, Jr. Eloise Yellen Clark Virginia Sanchez Vice Chair Rudy Brioche mpp 2000, Greg Rosenbaum mpp/jd 1977 Kathy Cloninger Hoda Sarofim-Sawiris Joshua Gotbaum mpp/jd 1976, Ex-Officio Joseph Roxe Betty Cohen Susan Silbermann MARIGEN;COURTESYOFLINDALANGSTON Vice Chair Mohammad Safadi Anne Cointreau Pamela Smith Paul Hodge mpa 2000, Visiting Committee Paul Sagan Elizabeth Colton Pernille Spiers-Lopez Founding Chair and Vice Chair Joel Fleishman, Chair Armen Sarkissian Lizbeth Cooney Fredericka Stevenson 14 4 28 Yoko Makino mpa 1999, Charles Baker, Jr. John Shane Diane Creel Vickie Sullivan Vice Chair Robert Belfer Nicholas Shreiber Laurie Cunnington Mary Green Swig Hilda Ochoa-Brillembourg Douglas Bereuter mcp 1966 Douglas Sims Martha De Laurentiis Robin Talbert mpa 1972, Vice Chair Rebecca Blank Neil Smith Cristina de Manuel Sandra Taylor Michael Spies mcrp 1982, John Deutch Rory Stear Roxanne Decyk Linda Kaplan Thaler Vice Chair Cheryl Dorsey mpa/md 1992 Peter Steiner Saundra Dockser Beatrice Trussardi Judy Wade mpp 1989, Vice Chair Ann Fudge Björn Stigson Ivelisse Estrada Kathleen Valenti Jill Wagner mpa2 1983, Vice Chair John Gage Christen Sveaas Haifa Fakhouri Damayanti Vasudevan Joan Abrams mpa 1993 Joshua Gotbaum mpp/jd 1976 Tony Tamer Nina Fialkow Herta Von Stiegel Geraldine Bermejo Acuna- James Harpel John Taysom Anne Finucane Lauren Wachtler Sunshine mpp 1996 James Johnson Edward Tian Marsha Firestone Diedra Wager Merribel Ayres smg 1984 Lawrence Katz Sidney Topol Stacy Fisher Judith Wagner Douglas Bereuter mcp 1966, Harold Koh Samir Toubassy Janie Fong Meredith Wagner mpa 1973 Peter Malkin Stokley Towles Karen Frank Geraldine Waldorf Stuart Bernstein mpa2 1991 Bijan Mossavar-Rahmani Marvin Traub Carolee Friedlander Claudia Walters Jeffrey Bialos mpp 1980 mpa 1982 Donald Tsang mpa 1982 Carol Fulp Lara Warner William Blais mpa2 1982 Franklin Raines Adair Turner Maureen Gaffney Leigh Wasson Osman Boyner mpa2 2001 Alice Rivlin Agâh U˘gur Denise Gatling Marcia Wilson Teresa Brady mpp 1983 David Rubenstein Enzo Viscusi Dana Goldinger Marie Wilson Joseph Campbell mpp 1978 Ralph Schlosstein Brooke Wade Sandra Gooch Ellen Wingard Craig Cardon mpa 2002 Klaus Schwab mpa 1967 John Whitehead Sarah Moores Walker Guthrie Ann Ziegler Alexandre Chavarot mpp 1992 Marta Tienda Malcolm Wiener Sheila Harrell Nancy Connery mpa 1979 Lan Xue J. McDonald Williams Barbara Harris Robert Culver mpa 1978 Kathy Harris William Cunningham mpa 1983 Dean’s Council Women’s Leadership Board Patricia Harris 20 Mark Dalzell mpp 1979 Peter Malkin, Chair Executive Committee Linda Hart Diane Damskey mpa2 1988 Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki, Roxanne Mankin Cason, Chair Joan Helpern 36 capital ideas Michael Davis mpp 1992 Vice Chair Barbara Annis, Chair Elect Sara Hildebrand Shari Davis mpp 1989 Roy Ash Haifa Fahoum Al Kaylani, Margaret Holzworth Beth deHamel mpp 1982 Kathleen Bader Vice Chair, International Dzana Homan 38 classnotes James DeNaut mpa2 1989 Thomas Barry Renee White Fraser, Mary Ellen Iskenderian Christine Dillon mpa 2004 Pius Baschera Vice Chair, Domestic Tamara Jacobs From the Field: Carol Chyau and Marie So (both Scott Eblin mpa 1987 Ralph Baxter, Jr. Margaret Traub, Treasurer Janis Jones Philip Edmundson mpa 2004 Robert Belfer Jennifer Allyn mpp 1994 Laurie McDonald Jonsson mpa/id 2006) put entrepreneurial know-how to work Arturo Fermandois mpa 1994 Hazem Ben-Gacem Loreen Arbus Margaret Jurca Ernesto Fernandez-Hurtado Judith Benardete Linda Coughlin Claudia Kahn to create jobs in Western China. mpa 1948 Steven Berger Julia Bailey Dulan Ann Kaplan Robert Ferri mpa 1986 Daniel Biederman Rayona Sharpnack Laurel Karabian XX% Caroline Flueh mpa2 1990 Mary Boies Anisya Thomas Dato Fawziah Abdul Karim 50 recognizing donors John Gage ksgp 1971 Ali Bozkurt Margaret Kavalaris Thomas Gallagher mpp 1978 Robert Calhoun Lou Kerr Aaron Gershenberg mpp 1989 Cecilia Chan Sung Joo Kim Victor Chu Julia Hobbs Kivistik Cert no. SW-COC-002556 64 exit poll CLOCKWISEFROMTOPLEFT:TANITSAKAKINI;DAVIDDEAL,NAREA Ferdinand “Moose” Colloredo-Mansfeld executive summary THEDEAN’SWORD letters THOUGHTSFROMTHECONSTITUENCY

Dear reader, Apples and Oranges coverage through a pluralistic system. Associate Dean for Communications and Public Affairs I suspect people in every generation feel they live in historic In the Summer 2008 Bulletin, Profes- But I will believe it when I see it. Melodie Jackson mpa 2001 times, but this moment certainly feels unique in my lifetime. sor Newhouse compares percentages Elijah B.Z. Kaminsky Director of Alumni Relations and As 2008 comes to a close, we are facing a multitude of chal- of gdp for health care in American ab 1947, ab 1950, phd 1962 Annual Giving lenges: Global economic turmoil, terrorism, war, climate oecd states with some countries and Professor Emeritus of Political Science Wendy Wiedenmann change, and immigration all require our urgent attention. finds there is little difference. There- Arizona State University Editor At the same time, our mission to train, support, and provide fore the pluralistic U.S. health care Sarah Abrams new ideas for public leaders has never been more critical. financing system may not be the Professor Newhouse responds: Associate Editor The recent presidential election highlighted the enthu- reason for the heavy cost of American I thank Professor Kaminsky for his Robert O’Neill siasm of this generation for integrating public service into health care. letter. The good news is that he is Contributing Writers Madeline Drexler their lives. Among our students, our prospective students, This is the proverbial comparison wrong that universal coverage would Julia Hanna and even our faculty, I have rarely seen such a high level of of oranges and apples. Millions of necessarily result in a “much larger” Matt Kohut mpa 2003 excitement and engagement. Americans are either not covered by percentage of gdp going to health David McKay Wilson There is no doubt that our society is facing some insurance or have inadequate insur- care. A little under a sixth of the U.S. Designers extremely difficult problems, not the least of which is the ance. They go without health care and population is uninsured, and a con- Diane Sibley challenge that the current economic climate presents to any thus reduce the apparent cost. If cov- sensus estimate is that the uninsured Jennifer Eaton Alden university. But we remain committed and energized as a erage here were as broad as in other get about half as much care as the Printer Lane Press school to developing, through our research and training, countries and we continued with our fully insured. Thus, insuring this the leaders who will help to solve many of these problems. current system, the percentage of gdp group would increase the share of John F. Kennedy School of Government Publications Office The people featured in the following pages are wonderful for health care could be much larger. gdp by less than a twelfth. Even that 79 John F. Kennedy Street examples of such leaders. Also, one should take into account the is overstated because whatever insur- Cambridge, MA 02138 Michelle Rhee mpp 1997 is making national headlines fact that some of the other countries ance plan the uninsured would receive Phone: 617-495-1164 daily for her bold innovation in working to turn around the have a lower gdp than the United would not likely be full coverage and Fax: 617-495-5424 E-mail: [email protected] Washington, DC, school system, and psychologist Jennifer States, which means that even if they because the uninsured are almost all Copyright ©2009 by the President and Fellows Lerner, professor of public policy and management, is spend the same percentage as in our non-elderly, who are disproportion- of Harvard College. All rights reserved. widely recognized for her work studying the relationship country, they are spending less actual ately less expensive. Front cover photograph: Tanit Sakakini between emotions and decision making. And Linda money. Some of the other countries Langston hksee 2007 continues to provide an example keep their health costs at or below Bulletin Advisory Board of leadership in Iowa. Later this month, Barack Obama will be sworn in as American averages even though they Jennifer Armini mpa 2001 But as many of you are aware, the choice to pursue a the 44th president of the United States. President-elect must take care of a larger proportion Jeanie Barnett mpa 2002 career in public service is becoming increasingly difficult for Obama has repeatedly spoken on the importance of public of older people than is the case here in Phil Cronin mpp 1996 mpa 2001 our students, for many reasons, including increased debt service, and his candidacy and election galvanized a renewed Henry DeSio the United States. Bill Dodd mpa 2004 burdens and the widening gap between public and private spirit of service in young people in particular and our Although his comparison may be Harry Durning, Jr. mpa 1970 sector salaries. In the upcoming months you will be hearing nation in general. Several of our faculty are working with questionable, I still hope that Sayuri Inoue mpp 1996 about a renewed effort at the Kennedy School to encourage the Obama/Biden transition, and more will help the new Professor Newhouse will be proven Colin Jackson mpa 1993 students to choose careers that serve the public good. administration, both officially and in advisory capacities. David King right. It would be wonderful if we David Luberoff mpa 1989 We have already stepped up our efforts to help our stu- We are proud of the hks community’s long tradition of could have good universal health Ben McKay mpa 2003 dents. We recently expanded our loan forgiveness program, public service. Heather Price mpa2 2002 created more public service fellowships, and expanded our I look forward to working with you as we renew our Craig Sandler mpa 2000 Office of Career Advancement. We have also established an commitment to training and encouraging the next genera- Janice Saragoni mpa 1989 Steven Singer mpa 1986 Office of Public Service and launched an “Inspiring Public tion of public leaders. Scott Talan mpa 2002 Service” campaign, an initiative you will be hearing more May we all enjoy a peaceful and prosperous New Year. about. All of this is especially challenging in the current economic climate, but I am committed to doing all I can Dean David T. Ellwood

to support our students on this front. January 2009 KENTDAYTON

2 HARVARDKENNEDYSCHOOLBULLETIN | w i n t e r 2 0 0 9 3 from the Charles NEWSFROMTHESCHOOL

ARRENCIKINS mpa 1954 remembers As a senior administrator at the Brookings how his decision to attend the Kennedy Institution, where he spent more than 15 years, School — then the Littauer School — Cikins continued to promote outreach and con- was met with skepticism by peers and ciliation by establishing, among many programs mentors alike. His closest friends from he created there, a highly successful annual semi- his undergraduate days at Harvard were nar on the administration of justice, which sought going into medicine, business, and law. His father had dreamed of his to resolve differences between the three branches Wbecoming an engineer, and one of his government professors wondered of government, and the Newly Elected Members aloud; “Why go here? Make a lot of money, then go into public service.” of Congress seminar, an effort that helped bring But he never doubted his career choice. His ambition, he says, began new members of Congress up to speed. Towards as a boy, living in Dorchester, Massachusetts, listening to President the end of his career at Brookings, he devoted Franklin Delano Roosevelt on the radio talk to the American people. much of his energy to bringing greater attention “It was always my intent to serve the public; I was committed to to improving criminal rehabilitation. making a difference,” says Cikins, 78, who grew up in a devout Ortho- In his 2001 class report marking the 50th dox Jewish household. Nothing, it seemed to him, could be more anniversary of his graduation from Harvard, important than the work of the public servant. Cikins wrote that he considered his work in Looking back, Cikins says he has no regrets. His career, spanning improving the criminal justice system, in cooper- more than 50 years and including work with all three branches of ation with Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren government, overlapped with many of the country’s pivotal events. Burger, one of his greatest accomplishments. In his first full-time job after the Kennedy School, he served as legisla- Quoting Dostoyevsky, Cikins noted in his tive assistant to Arkansas Congressman Brooks Hays when Hays inter- memoir, “Civilization will be judged by how it vened in Governor Orval Faubus’s attempt to block the integration of treats its wrongdoers.” Little Rock’s Central High School — an effort that would later cost Cikins’s personal life reflects these same Hays his seat. values. He remains close to his friends from high Cikins served with Hays in the Kennedy White House after first school at Boston Latin, many of whom went on serving as Hays’ assistant when he was appointed Assistant Secretary of with him to Harvard. Recently with his wife of State for Congressional Relations. At the Commission on Civil Rights in 44 years, Sylvia, Cikins celebrated the 80th 1964 Cikins helped bring about the enactment of the Voting Rights Act birthday of his longtime Kennedy School friend, of 1965. He followed with stints at the United States Agency for Mark Cannon mpp 1953, a Mormon and political International Development (usaid), where he sought to attract highly conservative. And Cikins regarded Hays, whose qualified minorities, and at the Equal Employment Opportunity Baptist faith ran as deep as Cikins’s did in Commission (eeoc). Judaism, as one of the most influential and A self-described moderate liberal, Cikins fought throughout his inspirational people in his life. They remained career for those who had no voice. And he did it, he says, by looking for close until Hays’s death in 1981. the similarities he shared with his colleagues rather than the differences. Of the many accolades recognizing his contri- In his 2005 memoir, In Search of Middle Ground, Cikins writes, “My butions to public service that he’s received over style was always one of outreach. I believed in bipartisanship, bridge- the years, from prominent figures that include His Brilliant Career building, compromise, and civility. Confrontational approaches were Supreme Court Justices Burger and William an anathema to me.” Rehnquist, a letter he recently received from Life devoted to service, bipartisanship He put this advice to great use and success as a two-term elected former New York Congressman and Harvard member of the Fairfax County (VA) Board of Supervisors, on which he alumnus Amo Houghton, a Republican, says it served from 1975 to 1980. Local politician Gerry Hyland, who worked most succinctly: with Cikins, noted in a profile in the local newspaper: “Warren is “You were the role model; you’re the person viewed as a person who cares and who works toward consensus. who constantly tried to bring us back toward the The will of the group is going to prevail above his own point of view.” center, and I thank you for it…you’re a great It is in the compromises, he says, that the work gets done, repeating example.” — SA often a truism he attributes to Hays, his former boss and mentor:

DAVIDDEAL “Half of something is better than all of nothing.”

HARVARDKENNEDYSCHOOLBULLETIN | w i n t e r 2 0 0 9 5 FROMTHECHARLES

Remembering Good Friends Hale Champion

Friends, former colleagues, and family remembered and celebrated the life of Hale Champion, former executive dean, lecturer, and good friend of the The timing was sadly auspicious. Kennedy School at a memorial service in October. Tragic campus shootings at Virginia Champion served during a time of great growth Tech and Northern Illinois University, for the school and was valued for his professional and the colleges and universities dev- expertise, wise counsel, and keen sense of humor. Among the many positions he held during his astated by Hurricane Katrina served half-century career, Champion served as journalist; as stark reminders of the need for academic crisis leadership skills. In “Hale played a vital role in the response to a survey indicating John Montgomery considerable interest among higher creation of Harvard’s Kennedy education administrators, the two School.…Hale anchored the effort schools began joint development of John Montgomery an Executive Education program in real-world experience.” designed to tailor the expertise of Last spring, Harvard Kennedy School mourned the Leonard and Howitt to the particular press secretary to California Governor Pat Brown; loss of John Montgomery, one of the school’s early Crisis Management ABCs needs and interests of the higher edu- head of the Boston Redevelopment Authority; under- pioneers. An expert in international development who cation community. secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare during the Carter administration; and chief of staff to Governor Partnership offers senior educators crisis “Higher education institutions are “He was an outstanding practitioner Michael S. Dukakis. simultaneously strong and fragile, leadership training “Hale played a vital role in the creation of Harvard’s and a serious scholar. He showed a resilient and vulnerable,” says Leonard, Kennedy School,” said Kennedy School Dean Graham deep interest in Asia long before it ATACOLLEGEORUNIVERSITY, a wide range of events noting that these are settings “that are deliberately designed Allison, for whom Champion served as executive dean can trigger a crisis. On-campus violence, natural disasters, to be open and diverse and are therefore potentially volatile from 1980 to 1987. “From acquiring the land on which became popular.” disorderly protests, and controversial statements or actions and difficult to control.” we sit to creation of the jfk Memorial Park in our front by faculty or staff members are just a few exam- The resulting collaboration, Crisis yard, Hale was a moving force. As the school was cre- served in more than 80 countries as an international ples. The quality of an institution’s response can Above, police tape surrounds Nor- Leadership in Higher Education, is ating curriculum in public management, Hale anchored development advisor, Montgomery was Harvard’s first have a lasting impact on its people, culture, and ris Hall on the campus of Virginia slated to debut in March 2009. The the effort in real-world experience.” professor of public administration. reputation. Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia, where program will focus on helping senior “Jack had it all,” said Steve Kelman, Harvard a gunman killed 30 people and Kennedy School professor of public management. “He Joseph Zolner, director of the Harvard himself April 16, 2007. leaders in higher education develop Institutes for Higher Education at the Harvard the skills — gathering critical infor- was an outstanding practitioner and a serious scholar. He showed a deep interest in Asia long before it Graduate School of Education (hgse), recognized mation, adapting to unique circum- became popular. And he was a great tennis partner!” that crisis leadership was a growing concern among senior stances, and prioritizing actions and responses — needed Throughout his career he consulted for numerous hgse administrators at colleges and universities. faculty to respond to and manage crises effectively. Leonard, Howitt, organizations, including the Agency for International member James Honan had previously worked with Harvard Honan, and Judith Block McLaughlin of hgse are working Development, the World Bank, the Department of Agri- Kennedy School faculty Herman “Dutch” Leonard and Arn together to develop new curriculum materials. culture, the Ford and Rockefeller foundations, unesco, Howitt on crisis leadership, and Honan invited Leonard to Zolner is enthusiastic about the partnership. “It’s a terrific the Asian Center for Development Administration, the teach a session at the Institute for Educational Management, blending of the expertise that Harvard Kennedy School has und, the Southern Africa Coordinating, and several an hgse Executive Education program designed for presi- with our knowledge of academe and a desire to continue to foreign governments. He joined Harvard in 1963 and dents, provosts, and senior leaders in institutions of higher serve the leadership development needs of the higher ed was the Ford Foundation Professor of International learning. “The session was incredibly well received by our community.” — MK Studies Emeritus. audience,” Zolner recalls. “It certainly had direct application Hale Champion

to many issues they were dealing with.” APPHOTO/ROBERTF.BUKATY MARTHASTEWART

6 HARVARDKENNEDYSCHOOLBULLETIN | w i n t e r 2 0 0 9 7 FROMTHECHARLES

International Develop- Breaking News Robert Newsmakers ment, has been named Yoon mpp 1998 was part of assistant professor of cnn’s Emmy-winning team APPOINTMENTSANDPROMOTIONS public policy. Hanna’s earlier this year for its coverage Media Message Matthew Baum was interests include of elections. Yoon serves as the appointed the Marvin Kalb Professor of development and cable network’s political Who Do You Trust? Global Communications. Baum’s research environmental research director. focuses on the role of mass media and economics. DEBUT public opinion on contemporary American Hail Sarah Wald was named Impact A new quarterly politics and the effects of domestic politics For the past several years, in studies conducted in chief of staff and senior advisor in Dean newsletter launched this fall will bring the on international conflict and cooperation. Q A>>> Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait, the United Arab ’s office. Wald, a lawyer, & David Ellwood breadth and depth of our faculty’s cutting- Emirates, and most recently in Jordan, behavioral Our Man in Cambridge Following a held several previous positions at Harvard, edge research to as wide an audience economist Iris Bohnet has been looking at the various factors that 27-year diplomatic career capped by his including assistant provost for policy and as possible. Impact was conceived and motivate individuals to trust. service as the third-highest-ranking official planning and dean of students at Harvard created in large part through the enthu- in the State Department, Nicholas Burns Law School. Most recently she was at the siasm and generous support of Dan Paul, Can you describe the focus of your most recent work? has joined Harvard Kennedy School as University of North Carolina, where she long-time friend of the school. Look for it One of the questions Mohamad Al-Issis, phd candidate in public professor of the practice of diplomacy. was special assistant to the dean at the at hks.harvard.edu/news-events. policy, and I examined in Jordan this past summer was whether indi- law school. Atomic Matt Bunn has been appointed CENTERSANDPROGRAMS viduals are more willing to trust if we (partially) insure them against associate professor of public policy. Before Second Tour Robin Engels mpa 2005 Carr Center Rory Stewart has been losses in case things go badly. In many ways, that’s the way the West is coming to Harvard Kennedy School in 1997, has been appointed director of mpa named the new director of the Carr Center fostering trust. Our contract law makes it cheaper for people to trust he served as an advisor to the U.S. Office programs. Besides senior administrative for Human Rights Policy and Ryan Family others as it offers damages for the betrayed party in case of breach. of Science and Technology Policy. experience in higher education at Professor of the Practice of Human Rights. Mercyhurst and Pine Manor colleges, Stewart’s career has included service as And what did you find? Engels has also held leadership positions an officer in the British Army and as a Insurance does not increase trust in Jordan. In fact, the more vulnerable in a number of political campaigns. diplomat. He has also written two critically people made themselves when trusting, the more their trust was acclaimed books. The center is marking returned. In Jordan this also meant individuals were more likely to AWARDSANDHONORS the 60th anniversary of the Universal Good Fellow John Ruggie, professor of reward the trust of women and Palestinians who are part of more Declaration of Human Rights through international affairs, is the recipient of a disadvantaged groups and thus more vulnerable. visual displays and a series of lectures. Guggenheim Fellowship. Ruggie, who will What is the significance of this finding? use the fellowship to help fund his work on Center for Business and Government What we’re seeing is that instruments, such as insurance, that decrease multinationals and human rights, is on sab- Roger Porter, who served as director from the costs of betrayal also affect the likelihood of trustworthiness. batical after a six-year tenure as director of 1995 to 2000, is returning to head the This leaves people with a difficult optimization problem: it is cheaper the Center for Business and Government. Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business to trust when insured but insurance also makes betrayal occur. It also (See Centers and Programs news below.) and Government for the year. suggests that we have to be careful when exporting Western institu- Genius Wafaa El-Sadr mpa 1996 has Ash Institute Tony Saich is the new tions to other parts of the world. They may work quite differently there. been named a MacArthur Fellow. El-Sadr, head of the Ash Institute for Democratic the director of the International Center for Governance. Saich’s appointment was As the new faculty director of the Women and Public Policy Program aids Care and Treatment Programs at marked by the integration within the Ash (wappp), can you talk about your plans for the program? Columbia University Mailman School of Institute of the school’s Asia Programs. My goal is for wappp to be a knowledge center on gender and public Public Health, was selected for her innova- Arn Howitt also joined the Ash Institute policy and leadership. We’ve created a new structure consisting of four New Faculty Tarek Masoud, who spe- tive work in the treatment of hiv/aids and as executive director, after 24 years at areas: gender and decision making and negotiation, gender and policy, cializes on comparative politics and the tuberculosis. the Taubman Center for State and Local gender and politics, and gender and security. Some of our research is Middle East, has been named assistant Government. Truth to Power Linda Bilmes received focusing currently on how to overcome stereotypes and on whether professor of public policy. Moshik the annual “Speaking Truth to Power” has “counter-factual positive experiences” might change people’s beliefs Temkin joins the faculty as assistant pro- Taubman Center Sandra Garron award from the American Friends Service been named executive director of the fessor of public policy. Temkin’s first book, about what they and people like them can accomplish even in areas Committee. Previous recipients have Taubman Center for State and Local The Sacco-Vanzetti Affair: America on Trial, stereotyped to “not be for them.” — SA included Studs Terkel and the founders of Government. Garron, who has been at will be published in 2009. Rema Hanna, Military Families Speak Out. Taubman since 1991, replaces , To read more about Bohnet’s work, go to www.hks.harvard.edu/ a research fellow in the Sustainability Arn Howitt Iris Bohnet who moved to the Ash Institute. research/working_papers/index.htm.

Science Program at the Center for ILLUSTRATION:A.RICHARDALLEN MARTHASTEWART

8 HARVARDKENNEDYSCHOOLBULLETIN | w i n t e r 2 0 0 9 9 FROMTHECHARLES

“If the internship at City Hall was like a course who practicum in city governance, the research I amy moran mpp 2009 undertook for the Research Division of the Boston home United States Redevelopment Authority was like a field trip on internship Policy Development and Research leadership. Through interviewing executive directors Division, Boston Redevelopment Authority, of immigrant-led nonprofit organizations, I learned Boston, Massachusetts about the daily sacrifices leaders make to give a number of students in sector Footprint sponsor Rappaport Fellowship voice to their communities.” what sectort the breakdown first-time experience in sector

international organizations 24 20 What They Did Last Summer government 58 28

Each June, with classes finished, exams completed, nonprofits and ngos 47 17 and quantitative analysis safely behind them, about private sector 31 14 400 Harvard Kennedy School students head for summer internships. For students the internships are a chance to use those skills they worked so hard to acquire during their first year. It’s also often a chance to explore new directions. For many students the internships provide a first opportunity to work outside their home countries or their first professional experi- ence in government. It’s also a chance to be reminded of financial reali- how ties. Slightly fewer than one in four students receive fundingt number of students awards from hks’s two largest internship funds, the unpaid 68 Harvard International Development Internship Fund partially paid 21 (hidif) and the Summer Internship Fund (sif). The paid 85 funds total about $190,000 a year, and their awards average around $2,500. Other students find funding outside funding 80 elsewhere, or fully paid internships (see graphic). The eight to ten weeks students typically spend in internships vary greatly in content. But whether working with organizations like unicef or Google or the Center for Microfinance, or in places from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, to Lusaka, Zambia, they find ways to put to the test across the world the school’s tradition of academic excellence, technical preparation, and commitment to solving public problems. The map on this page was created using surveys completed by students following their internships where and compiled by the school. Roughly half of returning locationt most popular and new territory students provided information. who Washington, DC 29 number of students kenzo asahi mpa/id 2009 Boston 24 first-time experience New York 12 home Chile internship Center for Microfinance, who Monrovia 9 Institute for Financial Management and chris trimble “I spent three months working with sitawi in Rio, a start-up Research, Chennai and Ahmedabad, India mpa/id 2009 social enterprise in Brazil providing consulting and low- developing countries 18 sponsor Summer Internship Fund cost capital to other social enterprises. Speaking industrialized countries 7 home Ireland “My experience in India was fascinating. The job was very interesting. internship sitawi, Rio de Janeiro, Portuguese with an Irish accent was certainly a challenge, home country 10 I helped in a research project on the impact of access to microfinance Brazil but spending time in Brazil was hugely rewarding for me, on the economic lives of poor families led by Professor Rohini Pande sponsor hidif and drclas not only because it is at such an interesting point as a from the Kennedy School. The institution in which I worked is a very country, but also as a contrast to my previous international interesting one that specializes in cutting-edge research. Moreover, development experiences in Africa.” the possibility of traveling around India, getting to know its beautiful people and lively culture, marked me profoundly.”

10 HARVARDKENNEDYSCHOOLBULLETIN | w i n t e r 2 0 0 9 11 FROMTHECHARLES

Stokey Honored

Risse’s starting point is equal entitlement to Imagine if You Can resources, and from there flows a notion of human rights and global responsibility designed to protect Human rights, countries, collective ownership those entitlements. The state, then, according to this view, is an area ON A TYPICAL DAY at the Kennedy School, as students political philosophy: whether the state is the best form of fenced off from outsiders and exercising power over study the management of a state, as speeches are delivered organized government and what that means for us as indi- those inside. It has a responsibility to make sure that by heads of state, as faculty members advise national leaders viduals and our relationship to one another. But his novel people inside its borders are able to pursue those enti- on matters of state, Mathias Risse is likely to be questioning approach is being formulated at a time when those questions tlements. But what of people elsewhere? something more fundamental. are more relevant than ever. “It’s not just that the state has to do right by those Should there be states at all? What obligations does a Globalization is exposing much of humanity to the same who live in it,” says Risse. The state also has to be able state have toward its citizens? And what does it owe those political and economic forces, making borders less relevant, to explain to immigrants at its border why they can’t living outside its borders? increasing the power and coerciveness of international get in because it is exercising power over people by The questions that Risse, associate professor of public organizations, and imposing vastly different opportunities forcibly keeping them from entering. policy and philosophy, ponders are the basic questions of on people. In other words, a wealthy, sparsely populated In that context, the state not country must justify closing its borders to people only needs to be acceptable to escaping a crowded, poor one. its own citizens, it also needs to The approach raises many questions that cannot make itself acceptable to citizens yet be answered: What is the value of resources we of other countries, Risse argues. are entitled to? How do we calculate potential wealth? “Principles of justice need to How can one country’s obligation towards others apply not only within, but also be satisfied? across states,” he writes. But it also reorients the language of rights, so long Kennedy School founder and One central component of rooted in the language of human dignity. …the fact that Edith longtime teacher and adminis- Risse’s argument is the concept “The dignity approach to human rights makes it trator Edith Stokey spoke at did the jobs, and did her portrait unveiling last of collective ownership, an easy to explain why everyone should have human spring, where she was cele- evolution of a once crucial con- rights but not why people over there should worry them so well, laid brated by colleagues, family, cept in political philosophy: about these people here, whereas my approach can the groundwork for and friends. Characteristically that the earth had been given explain that,” Risse contends. “Keeping these people humble, Stokey said she to mankind in common. at a distance comes at a cost.” those of us lucky was honored by the portrait, That idea gained great cur- That obligation, Risse is careful to point out, enough to be born but noted she was only a rency among European thinkers extends not only across space, but through time to symbol for the many founders in the 17th century, at the begin- future generations, providing “philosophical founda- a generation later… who worked so hard for the ning of another type of global- tions to the idea of sustainability.” school’s success. The oil ization, when European naval But collective ownership does not imply a world portrait, painted by Cambridge powers began to explore and without borders. Instead, Risse sees it as an alternative artist Stephen Coit, hangs on the second floor outside the entrance project their power across the to “the two ‘standard’ views: that principles of justice to the dean’s office. Academic Dean Mary Jo Bane credited Stokey with opening the doors to many women who have since followed world. But it was soon eclipsed either apply only within states or to all human beings her. “In 1987, I became the first woman to hold the title of tenured by the rise of the nation state, regardless of their state membership.” professor at the Kennedy School. Last year I became the first whose cornerstone of inviolable Changing the state system, he also argues, is too woman to hold the title of academic dean. I use the language of sovereignty has ruled supreme fraught with risk. “This question doesn’t have much “hold the title” quite consciously because I am not the first woman for much of the past three of a strong answer except to say ‘we have it now, we to do the jobs; Edith is. And the fact that Edith did the jobs and did centuries. understand things about the state system, we don’t them so well laid the groundwork for those of us lucky enough to entirely know what the global order would be without be born a generation later to both do the jobs, though probably not

ILLUSTRATION:A.RICHARDALLEN TOMFITZSIMMONS states.’” — RDO as well, and to hold the titles,” said Bane.

12 HARVARDKENNEDYSCHOOLBULLETIN | w i n t e r 2 0 0 9 13 The Harvard Decision Science Laboratory staff (left to right): Serena Rwejuna, finance coordinator; Yoel Inbar, postdoctoral fellow; Viral Gandhi, doctoral student; Jennifer Lerner, professor and laboratory director; Jessica Kustoff, research associate; Paul Litvak, doctoral student; Andrea Robbett, doctoral student; Ayres Heller, laboratory manager; Eric Mattison, information systems Science of specialist DECISIONS At the Kennedy School, the art of decision making is brought into the lab

BYMADELINEDREXLERPHOTOGRAPHYBYTANITSAKAKINI

15 “PEOPLE Jennifer Lerner’s favorite emotion — ASK, intellectually speaking — is anger. THE LABORATORY world. And many of our enrolled students will go ‘HOW contains 36 cubicles on to lead governments or multinational corpo- where subjects Partly that’s because anger courses through rations. In one capacity or another, they will have CAN YOU participate in American political rhetoric: capturing the numerous research international influence. I get to reach people who studies. attention of media and citizens and conferring SUBJECTS’ HANDS STUDY are in a position to structure the decision envi- higher approval ratings for leaders who display are hooked up in TRUST, ronments of their governments. I cannot think of it. Partly it’s because anger’s stark effects on three spots to another place in the world where I could do that.” measure blood judgment are measurable in a controlled lab pressure (wrist), EMOTION, setting, where Lerner — director of the galvanic skin Lerner’s work rests on the tenet that Harvard Decision Science Laboratory and response (palm), ETHICS, most people can’t fathom why they make the professor at the Harvard Kennedy School — and skin tempera- ture (finger). AND decisions they do. As President John F. Kennedy does much of her research. himself observed: “The essence of ultimate But it’s also because anger as a topic of MORALITY decision remains impenetrable to the observer — philosophical inquiry has smoldered in IN A often, indeed, to the decider himself.” scholars’ minds for thousands of years. First at the University of California at “Anyone can become angry — that is easy,” LAB?’” Berkeley, then at Carnegie Mellon University, wrote Aristotle in Nichomachean Ethics. Lerner shined light on that disconnect. She’s “But to be angry with the right person, and “MY best known for teasing apart the effects of to the right degree, and at the right time, and specific emotions on judgment and choice — particularly when the emotion is for the right purpose, and in the right way — ULTIMATE “incidental,” meaning it has no inherent relevance to the decision being made. that is not easy.”At the Kennedy School, Lerner QUESTION One study showed that, contrary to expectations, volunteers who were sad and hopes to apply fundamental research on the self-absorbed (after watching a tear-jerker video clip) dramatically increased the hidden mechanisms of decision making to help leaders recognize their own IS: HOW amount of money they would pay to acquire something (in the experiment, a cognitive and emotional biases, avoid those pitfalls, and set up environments that sports water bottle); the finding, which Lerner dubbed the “misery is not miserly can help whole organizations avert individuals’ fallibilities. As she put it, “I want DOES effect,” brings psychological insight to theories of consumer behavior. Another to add data to Aristotle’s speculation.” THE MIND experiment demonstrated that volunteers primed to anger reduced the amount of WORK? government assistance in a hypothetical case, while those primed to sadness chose The science of decision making is relatively new, operating at the to increase government largesse. Lerner has also delved into the physiological nexus of psychology, economics, and neuroscience. And Lerner, 40, is one of its THAT’S underpinnings of emotion — linking, for instance, fine muscle movement in the pioneers. Small, trim, her hair pinned up in a practical style, she is often mistaken WHAT face to secretion of the stress hormone cortisol. for a student. A standard part of her academic “uniform,” as she calls it, are a prim At the Kennedy School, she plans to broaden her field of investigation while pearl necklace and set of earrings handed down from her mother. The combina- WAKES continuing to explore the biological substrates of emotions. Admittedly, launching tion of outward composure and animating passion seems typical of Lerner. ME UP a state-of-the-art decision science laboratory — where researchers take saliva She punctuates careful explanations of theory with a deep, ironic laugh. And samples, chart blood pressure, and measure skin temperature, as well as map the her main area of inquiry, exploring how emotions color and often skew judgment IN THE cognitive path of volunteers’ decisions — has been a stretch for some resident and decision making, has rattled a discipline long in thrall to the rational ideal MORNING.” scholars. “There’s a tendency to think that emotion is not something we can study of Homo economicus. rigorously, scientifically, experimentally,” Lerner said. “People ask, ‘How can you Lerner’s publications have been cited in scholarly articles more than 2,000 study trust, emotion, ethics, and morality in a lab?’ They think I’m being too times. In 2004, she won the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and reductionistic.” Engineers, from the National Science Foundation. But Lerner has reached far Some of the fiercest skeptics are ceos and other powerful alumni — often those beyond academic outlets to communicate her ideas, having presented in such who have learned, through escalating career challenges, to trust their “gut,” not to policy arenas as nato Headquarters and in such public forums as Good Morning observe their mind. “I had one person say to me: ‘What does this have to do with

America.“My ultimate question is: How does the mind work? That’s what wakes CLOCKWISEFROMTOPLEFT:COURTESYOFDAVIDLAIBSON,MARTHASTEWART,RICHARDCHASE,STUARTCAHILL public policy?’” me up in the morning,” she said. But her ultimate application is public policy Clockwise from top left: Associate Directors What does her work have to do with public policy? “Emotion is a huge driver and society. David Laibson, professor of economics, of human behavior,” Lerner said, her voice rising. “And a lot of the problems that Harvard University; Iris Bohnet, professor At the Kennedy School, where the seismic impact of good and bad decisions is of public policy, hks; Chair of the Advisory we have in the world today come from non-rational human behavior. We have well appreciated, Lerner feels she is in her element. What can she do here that she Board Max Bazerman, professor of business technological solutions that aren’t working — because of human behavior. can’t anywhere else? “A lot,” she replied. “We have approximately 3,000 executive administration, Harvard Business School; and We have the technologies that we need to improve national security — but not Honorary Chair of the Advisory Board Howard education students come through each year — over and above the enrolled stu- Raiffa, professor of managerial economics the human performance to carry them out. We have energy solutions — but not dents. The executive ed students are often leaders of governments around the emeritus, hks. the political will to enact them.”

16 KENNEDYSCHOOLBULLETIN | w i n t e r 2 0 0 9 17 “To say that you can exclude emotion…” She In her own life Jenn Lerner has had plenty of reason to harbor a sense looked dumbstruck. “It’s like saying you’re going of grievance and anger, but apparently has avoided those sentiments. At the age to exclude oxygen from co .” 2 of 16, she was diagnosed with lupus, a chronic autoimmune disease that can affect the joints and almost every major organ in the body. Typically lupus causes joint At the Kennedy School, inflammation, fever, and fatigue. For Lerner, the condition has brought ceaseless students and faculty often approach Lerner — pain, advanced osteoporosis, and problems with her eyes, lungs, hands, feet, and the only tenured psychologist in their midst — knees. She takes daily medication to ease the worst symptoms. with a commonplace question: “What should Lupus is notoriously capricious, with unpredictable flare-ups and remissions. I do when I’m really mad and have to make Though Lerner suffers flare-ups, she has not been lucky enough to experience a a decision?” FIFTY MILES remission that would allow her to eliminate the array of medications needed to Lerner can quickly tell them what not to of cable wire manage the illness. Over the last 24 years, as a result, she has made extraordinary transmit audio, do. For example, “The idea that you can hit a visual, and data accommodations to move forward in her career. She’s conducted graduate semi- punching bag and feel better: That’s wrong. information to the nars in her home, where she would lecture from a horizontal position on her Generally speaking, aggression leads to more laboratory’s AV couch. She’s held meetings with students while undergoing intravenous infusions. aggression. Another thing that doesn’t work is racks. She has given lectures from a wheelchair. Confined to hospital beds, she’s plotted telling people: ‘Don’t be mad.’” “ANGER IS out future lab experiments. What does work, Lerner has found, is altering ONE OF THE “I have an extremely strong will,” she said. “But I don’t think I could do it if the environment in which angry people make it were just a matter of will. Here’s the way it works — it’s actually very simple: decisions. The technical term is: “predecisional EMOTIONS Work is a treat for me. Work is a balm. And I feel really lucky to have my work. accountability to an audience with unknown views.” In one study, volunteers who THAT IS It is a distraction from pain and fatigue.” were primed to anger (by watching a video) were asked to render a judgment in a fictional tort case. When asked to explain their decisions to a well-informed audi- MOST LIKELY Building the Decision Research Laboratory as a Harvard-wide enterprise, ence whose views they did not know in advance, their anger did not lead them to TO SEEP Lerner will be collaborating with Associate Directors Iris Bohnet, professor of be more punitive — as it did when they weren’t asked to justify their decisions. public policy, hks; David Laibson, professor of economics, Harvard University; Being accountable created the conditions by which they could consciously monitor INTO Chair of the Advisory Board Max Bazerman, professor of business administration, their thinking and perceive the issue with more nuance and complexity. JUDGMENTS Harvard Business School; and Honorary Chair of the Advisory Board Howard In other words, context matters. The environment in which a decision is made Raiffa, professor of managerial economics emeritus, hks. At the lab, Lerner intends turns out to be more important than the decider. Traditionally experts assumed AND to broaden the scope of her questions to a vast range of public policy issues. that good decision making stemmed from individual personality traits — some DECISIONS She wants to know how sadness and disgust affect decisions on whether to people naturally made smart choices, others did not. They assumed that great a way with words donate the organs of a deceased loved one. She will continue to study the physio- leaders were great decision makers. And they assumed that the smarter the deci- WITHOUT SELECTED TITLES from logical underpinnings of emotion. And as part of a recent $610,000 grant from the sion maker, the better the decisions. Jennifer Lerner’s academic National Science Foundation, she will study high-level decision makers — from Lerner takes the opposite tack. “What we find is that there are situations OUR publications: governments, militaries, nongovernmental organizations, and corporations — to that affect all of us in similar ways, leading us to be biased, and that personality REALIZING Misery Is Not Miserly: Sad explore whether their knowledge and leadership experience protects them from doesn’t matter in those cases. It’s not so much about finding people with the right and Self-Focused Individuals decision-making biases. When are such leaders, for instance, willing to make personal characteristics as it is changing the judgment and decision context.” IT.” Spend More (2008) “tough calls”: taking actions that improve things in the long term but impose costs Which takes her back to anger. “Anger is a more positive emotion in the Heart Strings and Purse in the short term? Do angry leaders focus so much on winning battles that they States than it is in cultures that are more interdependent and collectivistic,” Strings: Carryover Effects of lose the war? Does anger prompt risk-taking? These and related questions will she explained. In America, anger pervades political culture and many styles of Emotions on Economic Decisions (2004) focus her work in the school’s Center for Public Leadership, where she has brought organizational leadership. Indeed, research shows that the effects of being in power Professor David Gergen in as a consultant to the grant, bringing real-world resemble the effects of being angry. So if any emotion needs to be contextually The Psychology of the Unthinkable: Taboo Trade-Offs, experience to the formation of theory-driven hypotheses. de-fanged, it’s anger. Forbidden Base Rates, and “Most people at the Kennedy School start with the policy problem. I’m One of Lerner’s best-known papers is titled “Portrait of the Angry Decision Heretical Counterfactuals unusual here in that I start with: How does the mind work?” Lerner said. Maker.” Though the 2006 article was not connected to the Bush presidency, the (2000) “We’re studying basic processes that underlie countless decisions in daily life — picture she paints almost uncannily describes President George W. Bush’s behavior Rage and Reason: The in medicine, business, finance, law. There are many different places where I could leading up to the invasion of Iraq. Lerner is careful to say that scientific findings Psychology of the Intuitive be. I feel very lucky to be in the place where it will do the most public good.” about decision making in general can’t be proven determinative in any specific Prosecutor (1999) instance. Still, the Bush Administration’s process in going to war in Iraq mirrors Sober Second Thought: Madeline Drexler is a Boston-based journalist and author, specializing in science, her findings about angry deciders: “Not feeling you need more information. The Effects of Accountability, medicine, and public health. Underperceiving risks. Being prone to taking risks. Attributing causality to Anger and Authoritarianism on individuals rather than situations. Simplistic thought.” Attributions of Responsibility (1998)

18 KENNEDYSCHOOLBULLETIN | w i n t e r 2 0 0 9 19 31' AFTER In the aftermath of a catastrophe, THE the Kennedy School network mobilizes to help an alumna BYROBERTO’NEILL

20'

Linda Langston hksee 2007 The surging Cedar River swept (front left) in the Linn County through Cedar Rapids and much of emergency operations center southeast Iowa, uprooting homes, during the June 2008 flood that businesses, and people. inundated much of Iowa.

LINN COUNTY is a neat rectangle cut from Midwest prairie in the 12' eastern part of Iowa. It’s the second most populous county in the state, with 200,000 residents and the state’s largest manufacturing center. The Cedar River flows from the northwest to the southeast, cutting through Cedar Rapids, the county seat, on its way from Minnesota to the Iowa River and then the Mississippi. Four times in the past 160 years, including during the great floods of 1993, the river has reached a flood level of 20 feet, 8 feet over the flood limit. In summer 2008, the area was anticipating another big flood. Heavy winter snowfalls and an unusually wet and cool spring had left the area waterlogged. Experts were calling for flood levels of 22 feet. Instead, they got 31. PHOTOSCOURTESYOFLINDALANGSTON 20 21 program, one of the flagships of Harvard Kennedy School Executive Infrastructure crumbled as roads Education. Allowing alumni to keep in were destroyed by the surging touch, learn from one another, and waters. even teach others are important aspects of the program’s success. Helping Langston would be a virtual As a former psychotherapist, she was particularly sensitive to the case study in that. effect the crisis was having on herself and those around her. Not only herself turning often to those peers “When the floods were happening were officials and disaster workers dealing with the unprecedented and mentors she had found and the we happened to be in the middle crisis, they were also dealing with personal difficulty (Langston’s own invaluable lessons she had learned, at of the State and Local program,” home was flooded). She has seen, months after the disaster first struck, the Harvard Kennedy School. Practical Kaboolian remembers. “Langston some people around her falling apart. and technical advice, friendship and literally had up to 12 feet of water in “You’re consumed by [the crisis], you’re moving very fast, and the sympathy, and lessons on leadership her office. So I asked the class, ‘What sheer, I almost would call it terror that you have about it does not allow poured in from the school’s extensive do you guys know about recovery you to see clearly,” she says of her experience. network. And the school gained some- from a disaster like this?’” Kaboolian, who talked often with Langston, said Langston in thing beyond seeing an alum rise to Quite a bit, it turned out. Several of many ways personified the reflective leader they often discuss in the the occasion; Linn County’s experi- the people in the course were man- classroom. ence allowed researchers to study and aging infrastructure recovery in New “She’s a person in the world working on really hard public problems, learn important lessons about gover- Orleans. Other faculty members, but also asking: ‘Is what I’m doing contributing to or undermining the nance and recovery from disaster that such as Dutch Leonard, Julie Wilson, healthy dynamic of people working together to solve this problem?’” are at the heart of its Acting in Time Henry Lee, and researchers working Kaboolian says. Linda Langston hksee 2007, one of three commissioners initiative. at the school such as Arietta Chakos That leadership has real consequences after a disaster, according to on the Linn County board of supervisors, remembers the near panic as mpa 2008 also sent along important Kaboolian. When people have lost everything and the choice of the waters began to rise. A 400-bed jail, a hospital, small towns, and city Linn County, and in fact much of technical information or helped con- rebuilding or pulling up stakes is actually at one’s disposal, the decision neighborhoods had to be evacuated. County and city officials had to Iowa, is rich in what social scientists nect Langston to experts in the field. is often made quickly and based in part on the messages people receive move their offices to a local community college. call “social capital,” roughly speaking, “In a situation like this, the last from leaders. And in the middle of all that, a fellow alumna of the 2007 Senior those threads between people and thing you’re thinking about is getting “How do you instill energy and hope when they’re faced with this is Executives in State and Local Government program called. Karyn Dest institutions that are woven together to out the manual,” Kaboolian says. one of the crucial leadership tests,” says Kaboolian. Harrington hksee 2007 was in the state attending a conference. Her form a strong social fabric. It is also Through Langston, Linn County Harvard Kennedy School has also been able to learn through the employer, Coca Cola, was donating supplies to the community. But no stranger to disasters, having experi- received expertise in the seemingly experience of Langston and Linn County. Harrington decided to visit Langston with a load of soda and snacks. It enced, and learned much from, the small things that matter a lot in dis- Chakos, who works with Leonard on a post-disaster recovery project was a small gesture, but the only one she could make. catastrophic 1993 floods. So when the aster recovery, like how you negotiate as part of Dean David Ellwood’s Acting in Time initiative and had Langston remembers thanking her, feeling bad she had no time to water started to rise last summer, with the federal government for dis- also worked on earthquake preparedness as a city official in Berkeley, give her, and then passing the food and drink along to volunteers filling much had been done to prepare. Land aster assistance, how you put a value California, spoke often with Langston in the aftermath of the flood and sandbags. As the water rose, the offers of help from fellow hksee use improvements helped minimize on what’s been lost, or how to maxi- visited in July. alumni also began to trickle and then pour in. damage. Debris was removed quickly. mize child protection when child care “Cedar Rapids has become just what Dean Ellwood envisioned. “I will need help, and I don’t even know what that help looks like,” And, remarkably, there were no deaths networks are broken. How, just after the disaster impact, do you improve the resilience of the Langston remembers telling fellow alumni. Those alumni helped attributed to the flooding. Langston connected the experts community and its ability to recover,” says Chakos. “It’s a living labora- Langston reconnect with her online Executive Education friends’ group Still, six months after the flood, sent her way to the appropriate people tory with regard to that initiative.” when she couldn’t reach her computer and then reached out on her Cedar Rapids is a changed city. In the in county government. But despite the Chakos, who as part of the project has worked with San Francisco behalf to Harvard Kennedy School faculty. downtown area, there isn’t much left endless work hours, she remained studying that city’s earthquake preparedness, is connecting Linn On June 20th, Langston was meeting with government officials and below the second floor of most build- mindful of taking a step back to reflect County and San Francisco experts so they can compare notes. business leaders. Much of the county was under water, including 1,300 ings. In the city and the surrounding on the situation. She said the disaster has also helped underscore the importance of square blocks, or 9.2 square miles, of Cedar Rapids. rural areas, many people have simply She constantly referred to Leader- social and political dimensions in responding to disasters, as opposed to Then the phone rang. It was Linda Kaboolian, public policy lecturer, picked up and left to start a new life ship on the Line by Harvard Kennedy simply technical and practical solutions. faculty chair of the State and Local program. elsewhere. Langston estimates it will School faculty members Marty Linsky, Langston could testify to the importance of connections. What is so “The day she called she said: ‘Here are some names, and they will be take at the minimum five years to one of her teachers, and Ronald terrifying to leaders about crises, says Professor Herman “Dutch” in touch with you, and here’s the program,’” Langston remembers. “And return to normal. Heifetz, turning to the section on Leonard, is the “stark knowledge that they are beyond the playbook and it was just one of those ‘Thank God!’ moments.” And at the time of the flood, how a leader must be both on the truly on their own.” While she also made use of other personal and professional net- normal wasn’t even on the horizon. dance floor and the balcony at the “In moments like these, support networks — a sense that they are works, as well as her own extensive experience, in the midst of one of Building peer networks is an same time. (She bought copies for not completely alone — can be a crucial source of confidence and, the largest natural disasters in the country’s history, Langston found important part of the State and Local her colleagues too.) therefore, of the capacity to invent the way forward.”

22 KENNEDYSCHOOLBULLETIN | w i n t e r 2 0 0 9 23 [Outside] Michelle Rhee’s vision for Washington, DC, schools is turning the system inside out

Plucked from the nonprofit education world to become Washington, DC, schools chancellor last year, Michelle Rhee mpp 1997 has taken the city by storm in her first year on the job. She closed 23 schools, laid off close to 100 employees in the district’s central office staff, and fired 250 teachers who lacked proper certification. She restructured 27 of Washington’s remaining 120 schools and challenged the teachers union to give up tenure rights in exchange for a salary plan that would boost salaries to as high as $122,000. Feeling pressure to perform, Rhee says, can motivate. It certainly motivates her. Rhee’s selection in 2007 made her the latest big-city “Every day, I feel pressure because I have 47,000 kids in schoolsin chief to come from outside the education establish- my purview,” says Rhee, 38, the mother of two children who ment. Like Joel Klein in New York City and Arne Duncan in attend the Washington, DC, schools, in an interview in early Chicago, Rhee had served neither as a principal nor district August. “I want every educator to feel that pressure. What administrator. She also lacked the traditional academic we are doing is incredibly important, and if you are going credentials for such a position. But Rhee had made a name into a classroom, you need to produce for the kids.” in education circles as founder of the New Teacher Project, Rhee now oversees a budget of close to $1 billion. The a nonprofit she developed as she left the Harvard Kennedy students, overwhelmingly from poor black families, have a School that addresses the issues of teacher quality and long way to go. The 2007 National Assessment for Educa- teacher shortages in inner-city schools. tional Progress ranked the Washington, DC, district dead Through that work, she came to the attention of Wash- last, behind all 50 states, with just 12 percent of its eighth- ington Mayor Adrian Fenty, who had just been granted con- graders proficient in reading and just 8 percent up to par trol of the district schools by the city council. He turned to in math. Rhee, vowing to back her bold initiatives to turn around a district viewed as one of the nation’s most troubled. At first, Rhee balked, unwilling to give up her role as a social entrepreneur for the demands of heading up a sprawling government bureaucracy. She feared Fenty BYDAVIDMCKAYWILSON wouldn’t support her in the face of the community uproar

PHOTOGRAPHBYDAVIDDEAL she knew could erupt. But Fenty insisted she had his support, promising Rhee he was the only one in his admin- istration who would tell her “No.” “I told him he didn’t want me for the job because he was a politician and he was interested in keeping the noise down and keeping people happy,” says Rhee. “I asked him what he was willing to risk. He said, ‘Everything.’”

24 25 After years of standing on the outside, it was her chance to be on the says provided a strong foundation for her work in the field Rhee says she’s able to handle the opposition because By giving up tenure, teachers would subject themselves inside, at the top. of education, which has become increasingly reliant on test- she’s able to keep the criticism from getting inside her. to annual evaluations based on the performance of their “My gut instinct was that I needed to do this, in order score data to drive policy discussions. “I don’t take things personally,” she says. “I never really students, which would determine salary increases. to change the face of public education,” she told a gathering Toward the end of her second year at Harvard, she had cared what people think of me. I came to understand why “It’s going to be a game-changer,” said Rhee. “The bottom at the Kennedy School in September. “I wanted to show that lunch with Teach For America founder Wendy Kopp, at six chancellors had come and gone in the 10 years before I line is that teacher union contracts are one of the big prob- it was possible for poor and minority kids to achieve at the which they discussed the difficulties urban districts have arrived. If you let this stuff get to you, you start thinking, lems we have in public schools. I don’t want to demonize [same level as their wealthy white counterparts.” recruiting quality teachers. Kopp suggested Rhee develop a ‘maybe they are right.’ And at that point, you have lost.” the union. These contracts are signed by two parties, and Education Trust President Kati Haycock, who has known program to address that problem and offered her office those who have signed these contracts are just as guilty. Rhee for a decade and chairs the New Teacher Project’s space at Teach for America for the nonprofit start-up. But I’m not going to sign my name to a document that puts board, says that Fenty’s unwavering support, along with At the New Teacher Project, Rhee worked with urban Rhee has the rights and privileges of adults above the best interests Rhee’s steely drive to do what’s best for kids, has helped districts to recruit college graduates and mid-career of kids.” move the reform agenda. professionals with an unapologetic appeal to aspiring The contract had yet to be resolved by mid-September. “Michelle is very courageous and very smart, but she educators who want to work in some of the nation’s weathered the First, Rhee was still wooing foundations to help provide also has a very courageous mayor,” says Haycock. “What she toughest school districts. the funding to so dramatically raise teacher pay. The is trying to do is take a system that has been systemically A decade later, she left the nonprofit to run an urban storm as an outsider in a city of insiders. teachers union was also decidedly split on the proposal. mis-educating mostly low-income black kids and turn it into school district with more than 5,000 employees, several She’s a Korean-American running a The Washington Teachers’ Union is a local of the American a system where they are getting quality education in every labor unions, and the volatile political pressures from school district that’s predominantly African-American. Federation of Teachers, whose president, Randi Weingarten, classroom. And she’s in a big hurry to do it.” Washington’s diverse community. She has retained some And she’s an outspoken critic of the alliance between the collaborated with Rhee when both were working in New Rhee, the daughter of South Korean immigrants, grew up of the personal touch that served her well working for a Democrats and teachers’ unions in a city where Democrats York City. Rhee was setting up a fellowship program to in the suburbs of Toledo, Ohio, aware of the poverty down- smaller organization. She still responds to every e-mail, a rule the urban political roost. attract teachers to the city while Weingarten then led New town. Her father, a physician, would remind her she was practice that can keep her at her computer at home late “The Democratic Party has been extraordinarily weak York’s teachers union. blessed to grow up in an upper-middle-class family and that into the evening. on education and education policy, and its ties to the labor “This whole notion that you scare people into better the poor kids in Toledo were no less deserving. After gradu- She says reporting directly to the mayor has helped push unions have got to be broken if we are going to transform teaching will garner great headlines and make you look like ating from Cornell, she joined Teach for America, the non- her reform agenda. With his support, Rhee began to reshape the public education system in this country,” says Rhee. a warrior, but it never works,” says Weingarten. “The DC profit that sends college graduates into inner-city schools. the district. Too many DC schools were half-full, as students Rhee’s national stature has been burnished by the contin- schools will improve when there’s cooperation and collabo- She calls it “the defining experience of my life.” had fled to private schools or public charter schools, which uing coverage of her tenure by the Lehrer News Hour, where ration between teachers and administration.” Rhee taught at Harlem Park Elementary School, one of now educate almost 30 percent of Washington’s children, veteran education journalist John Merrow had produced But Rhee maintains new work rules would help instill Baltimore’s lowest-performing schools. Her first year was outside the purview of Rhee’s administration. Closing 23 six segments of “Leadership: A Challenging Course” during a culture of accountability among the district’s adults, as miserable, with her second-grade class scoring at the bottom schools at once spared the city a prolonged battle over which her first year in office. In December, Rhee was on the cover well as its students, who need 24 credits to graduate, of the district’s competency tests. But the next year she schools would be shuttered. Rhee held a difficult series of of Time magazine. including three lab sciences and math courses up through teamed up with a third-grade teacher, combined the two public hearings over nine weeks on the closures, at which “She’s very engaging, yet reserved, and very direct,” says Algebra ii. This past summer, her staff audited the tran- classes, and they taught that group for two years. By the time time the anguished, and often angry, voices of parents and Merrow. “She says what she means and means what she says. scripts of each incoming 12th-grader to make sure they were those children completed third grade, they were scoring in school staff were heard. That kind of candor is refreshing.” on track to graduate. The audit found hundreds of students the top tier. At the meetings she listened carefully, and the final Rhee’s biggest battle in her second year involves her plan scheduled for classes that would not lead them to gradua- “People told me I couldn’t do it because the kids came closing plan reflected what she learned at those meetings. to raise teacher pay while eliminating tenure, which has tion, including several signed up to take algebra classes they from poor homes, they didn’t get breakfast, and no one was The closings allowed Rhee to cut operating costs because been the heart of teacher contracts across the nation. In had already passed. helping them out,” she recalls. “The reality was that they she had fewer schools to heat, clean, and staff. She vowed to Washington, teachers can be granted tenure after two years Rhee gets her hackles up over such mismanagement, went from the bottom to the top, and their home environ- use the savings to ensure that all 62 elementary schools had on the job. Rhee’s plan would create two tiers of service. especially when it is students who suffer. A high school ment didn’t change. What changed were the adults in front a library, physical education, music, and art program when Under the “red” tier, teachers would retain tenure rights diploma is the minimum credential for a young adult of them who were teaching. That gave me the conviction the school year opened in September. She delivered on in exchange for a 28 percent raise over five years, the entering today’s job market. that academic outcomes are dependent upon what the adults that promise. Washington Post reported. Pay for teachers in the “green” “Nobody was paying attention to the fact that they’d are doing.” “People were yelling and screaming and picketing,” she tier would rise from $46,500 to as much as $101,000 by 2010. already taken algebra,” says Rhee. “How can we hold the kids After three years in Baltimore, she came to the Kennedy says. “But we did it, and every school will have those posi- Teachers with a decade on the job could see their pay more accountable until we do our job? We have to hold the adults School, where she earned a degree in public policy. There tions filled.” than double to $122,500. accountable too.” she honed her skills in data analysis and statistics, which she David McKay Wilson is a New York-based freelance journalist.] 26 KENNEDYSCHOOLBULLETIN | w i n t e r 2 0 0 9 27 STAIRS Gujarat, India. Women climb steps out of an ancient water tank, also known as a baoli. Narea Marigen, mpa/id spouse 1,000 Words

Harvard Kennedy School has a uniquely international makeup, and that is certainly a part of the student internship experience, as every summer hundreds of students travel far and wide, driven by their passion and their curiosity. Many of the photographs in these pages, taken by hks SWEAT IT OUT Juba, students, will be featured in the 2009 “1,000 Words” Southern Sudan. A member of the presi- calendar. Proceeds from sales of the calendar help support dential guard of the the Summer Internship Fund. To purchase a calendar President of Southern contact [email protected]. Sudan Salva Kiir Mayardit stands at attention in the searing heat. Francisco Almendra mpa/id 2009

WATER AND SMOKE Bahid Dar, Ethiopia. During the rainy season, the Blue Nile Falls turn a chocolate color. Pastures are green and lush and cattle graze freely. Francisco Almendra mpa/id 2009

28 RETURNING HOME THE UNDRESSING Shanghai, China. OF THE PRIEST Maria Agustina Moldova. Mascitti, mpa/id In a ritual of the spouse Christian Orthodox Church, a priest reads prayers to bring health and drive away bad spirits from those LAUNDERING under the cover. Kolkata, India. Alexander Culiuc, The color of the phd Public Policy city’s street culture may not be so evident to weary residents. Esther Hsu, mpa/mba 2010 ANGKOR Siem Reap, Cambodia. Monks walking in front of Angkor Wat, Cambodia. Liewi Liu, Lee Kwan Yew Fellow

THE MALAM AND HIS DAUGHTER Daggo, Niger. Malam Sadik is a religious leader in a small, mud hut village and leads the children in Koranic readings and prayers every evening. Laura Bacon, mpp 2009

RWANDAN SOLDIER Rwanda. A soldier protecting moun- tain gorillas from poachers in Volcanoes National Park. Joseph Koo, mpa/id 2009

DALAI LAMA Leh, India. A group of exiled Tibetans waiting to see the Dalai Lama. Joseph Koo, mpa/id 2009

SOLDIERS Yerevan, Armenia. Soldiers stand around rockets in advance of the annual Independence Day Parade. Varoujan Avedikian, mpa 2009

30 KENNEDYSCHOOLBULLETIN | w i n t e r 2 0 0 9 31 bully pulpit EXPERTSSPEAKOUT

Michelle Bachelet Carlos Gutierrez David Gergen and Nicholas Burns FORUM | Difficult Challenges Chile’s FORUM | THEWORLDHADALREADY been facing first woman president, Michelle Bachelet, FORUM | Present Sacrifice U.S. a dangerous confluence of challenges, including climate FORUM | In the Arena The Forum told a Forum audience in September that Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez change and soaring food and energy prices, before the onset of the recent global financial crisis, un Secretary-General kicked off the academic year with an event the great advances achieved in Latin spoke about relations between the United Ban Ki-moon mpa 1984 said at the John F. Kennedy Jr. on the importance of public service. America over the last quarter of a century States and Cuba as the Caribbean island Forum in October. Following Dean David Ellwood’s welcome, are being eroded by unresolved problems. nation transitions from the rule of Fidel David Gergen led a panel of faculty and “Yes, we have presidents and parlia- Castro towards an uncertain future. Now, more than ever, these challenges must be met alumni in a discussion on the importance ments elected, but that’s not good Questioned during a Forum appearance together. of working in the public sphere. enough. We have to do more,” said the in September by several audience mem- “In these times of crisis when we are tempted to look Nicholas Burns, who recently joined the former physician and minister of both bers who had fled Cuba or were children inward, it is precisely the time when we must move the Kennedy School faculty after a 27-year health and defense, who was elected to of refugees, Gutierrez defended the United common good to the top of the agenda,” said Ban, a former career as a diplomat, said that as a person the presidency in January 2006. States’ policy of isolating Cuba, which Mason Fellow. interested in governance, he “wanted to “We forget that in addition to free includes an economic embargo and limits He warned that global goods, such as climate change be in the arena.” elections, modern democracy also calls on travel there. solutions, global health, disarmament, and action against “You can practice idealism, you can for the equality of opportunity that has its “I think we’re all sacrificing,” said terrorism can only be addressed in a global context. make a difference, and you can be directly roots in access to education, health care, Gutierrez, who fled Cuba with his family as involved in the life of your country and the social security, and housing, just to name a boy in 1960. “We’re all sacrificing for the world. I can’t think of a better thing, on an a few,” she said. “It must be inclusive day when Cuba will change.” Globally Challenged existential basis, to do with your life.” across all areas.”

“These global public goods distinguish themselves from other issues of concern because they endanger all countries, “Frankly, I am not worried about today’s presidential campaigns and the whether rich or poor, small or big, and all their people, and The Buzz either of the Donalds — Trump or media’s challenge in covering them, at they cross borders freely,” said Ban, a former South Korean Duck. The “D-word” I am more a Shorenstein Center brown bag. foreign minister. “They cannot be resolved without action “When you write concerned by is Detroit.” “Even if it’s a fragile instrument, it’s by all.” six things a day Jed Horne, former city editor of still an instrument that gives an Ban said terrorism, combined with the spread of as opposed to the The Times-Picayune of New awareness of how one should be weapons of mass destruction, represent the most serious one thing a day, Orleans, speaking about the treated.” threat to international peace and security. And he called on you become possible influences on New Manuel Duarte de Oliveira, co- a more coordinated effort in combating global public health codependent.” Orleans’ future in the after- founder and president of the Institute challenges, such as malaria and tuberculosis. “We must Alex Castellanos, math of Hurricane Katrina, at Republican media for Humane Studies and Intelligent move from silos to building systems, systems that work for Alex Castellanos a brown bag in September. Sciences, about the Universal the poorest and most vulnerable,” he said. strategist and iop Fall “We live in the era of the Declaration of Human But Ban said he believed that the “historical pendulum” 2008 resident fellow, on the freak show. It’s worse Rights, at a speaker series was swinging back towards multilateralism and said he was changing relationships between every four years.” marking the document’s convinced the next U.S. president would take a leadership journalists adapting to the new media Mark Halperin, editor- 60th anniversary, spon- role in solving global problems. environment and their sources in political campaigns. at-large and senior polit- sored by the Carr Center ical analyst for Time, for Human Rights Policy,

ALLPHOTOGRAPHY:MARTHASTEWART describing the nature of in September. Mark Halperin

32 HARVARDKENNEDYSCHOOLBULLETIN | w i n t e r 2 0 0 9 33 in print PUBLICATIONSBYTHEEXPERTS

The book offers numerous illustrations. In the United One Economics — Many Recipes States in the early 1990s, for example, emergency room Globalization, Institutions, and Economic Growth injuries involving baby-walkers averaged around 25,000 a Dani Rodrik year. Federal safety officials worked with manufacturers to Development is working. Globalization is change the walkers’ design and came up with new standards working. But the advice on offer from develop- that would make them, among other things, less prone to ment and globalization experts is not. tipping over once they came to the edge of a stairway. By “We thought we knew a lot about what 2005, injuries were reduced by almost 90 percent to 2,600. governments needed to do. But…reality has been In Holland, analysis of train derailments and collisions unkind to our expectations,” writes Dani Rodrik, found that almost all the accidents were preceded by a train Rafiq Hariri Professor of International Political passing red signals, leading to a collaborative effort — Economy, about the intriguing paradox at the including railways companies, rail traffic controllers, and heart of his new book, One Economics — Many environmental planners — focused on this specific precursor. Stephen Goldsmith Recipes. “If Latin America were booming today and China In both those instances, regulatory agencies changed their and India were stagnating, we would have an easier time approach from one of function and process to one of focused fitting the world to our policy framework. Instead, we are problem solving — “substantial departure from business as Unlocking the Power of Networks straining to explain why unorthodox, two-track, gradualist usual” — and one fraught with organizational problems. Keys to High-Performance Government reform paths have done so much better than sure-fire adop- “When staff gather in functional units, they gather Stephen Goldsmith and Donald Kettl, editors tion of the standard package.” around their shared past, their shared training, their shared That standard package refers to the Washington Con- Few would argue that public management no skills. When staff gather around processes, they gather sensus: a neoliberal approach characterized by policies such longer employs a top-down management style around a visible and tangible flow of calls, files, transactions, as privatization, trade liberalization, fiscal discipline, and, that directly manages workers and provides serv- or reports. Little imagination is required in either case to Rodrik argues “simple rules of thumb, regardless of context.” ices. Instead, public managers direct networks of public, pri- understand the nature of the work,” Sparrow writes. The path toward the neoliberal goals of sound growth — vate, and nonprofit organizations to deliver those services. “But when people gather around a specific identified goals such as global integration, sound money, institutions In Unlocking the Power of Networks, Stephen Goldsmith, harm, what is it exactly they are gathering around? Some and property rights, which Rodrik endorses — can be trav- Dan Paul Professor of Government and director of the piece of a more general harm to be reduced? Who says eled in any number of ways. China, which has lifted 400 mil- Innovations in American Government Program, and Donald which piece, and how best to define it? Who decides which Kettl, professor of leadership at the University of Pennsyl- The Character of Harms lion out of extreme poverty since 1980, has done so by steer- component of a risk to address? Who decides if the focus vania, offer a cast of policy practitioners and scholars who Operational Challenges in Control ing clear of orthodoxies, changing the system at the margins, should be on reducing the probability of some class of explore potential strategies and best practices of high-per- Malcolm Sparrow mpa 1986 building support for reforms, and avoiding large disruptions. events, or changing their distribution, or limiting their formance networks and identify next-generation issues in Controlling corruption is not the same as consequences?” To read more on Rodrik, including his blog, visit public sector network management. promoting integrity. Reducing crime is not Sparrow, faculty chair of Harvard Kennedy School’s http://ksghome.harvard.edu/~drodrik/. The publication offers sector-specific analyses to show simply the flip side of promoting public safety. Executive Education program on Strategic Management of how networked governance achieves previously unthinkable The difference is not just one of vantage point Regulatory and Enforcement Agencies and faculty chair of goals. The environmental movement in particular is taking or semantics, but instead marks a critical the mpp program, aims to provide practitioners working in advantage of the networked governance movement. Con- change in approach, writes Malcolm Sparrow harm reduction with a set of guiding principles and the tributing writers examine the Interior Department’s efforts in The Character of Harms. institutional and conceptual framework needed to accom- to organize a network of state and local officials, land- “Scrutinizing the harms themselves, and discovering modate that new approach. owners, businesses, and citizens to protect natural resources. their dynamics and dependencies, leads to the possibility of “[Practitioners] very much want to understand what hap- American officials are not the only ones employing net- sabotage,” Sparrow argues. “Cleverly conceived acts of sabo- pens to the nature of managerial decision making, forms of worked governance. One contributing writer reveals how tage, exploiting identified vulnerabilities of the object under organizational accountability, and the character of their rela- Islamic terror organizations have adapted and transformed attack, can be not only effective, but extremely resource- tionships with the regulated community, when an agency themselves since September 11. On the flip side, another con- efficient too.” tilts its focus towards the central purpose of harm reduction siders how network management could be used in the fight Put crudely, building something is a lot harder than and away from functional, programmatic, or process-based against terrorism, utilizing new organizational structures, destroying it. And Sparrow’s book attempts to describe traditions,” Sparrow writes. upgraded technology, and new cross-agency mechanisms. the science, or art, of identifying problems and organizing To hear Sparrow discuss his work, visit www.hks.harvard.edu/ To read more on Goldsmith, visit www.ashinstitute.harvard. around resolving them. research-publications/vbt/index/sparrow-character-of-harm. edu/innovations.

ALLPHOTOGRAPHY:MARTHASTEWART Dani Rodrik

34 HARVARDKENNEDYSCHOOLBULLETIN | w i n t e r 2 0 0 9 35 ways and means OPPORTUNITIESFORIMPACT

Sosa cites the Kennedy School’s global network of part- our data available for research, though in doing so we could ners, including alumni, as one of the most important rea- create invaluable findings for all humankind.” sons for their decision to invest in this project. “This is an Citing the Kennedy School motto, “Ask what you can do,” incredible place where research, policy, and practice meet. Sosa hopes more alumni will consider how they can create Suzi Sosa joins forces with the Kennedy School to extend For the complex questions of extending the reach of mar- long-term partnerships with the school. “Few of us realize markets to the poor kets, it is critical to leverage the expertise and experience of how many resources we have at our disposal and what an each of these perspectives.” In addition to the seed capital impact we could have if we collaborated with the school.” given to launch the lab, the mpower Foundation is also In addition to her role as founder and president of the TISEASYTOTHINK that the greatest value you expensive products and services of inferior quality. This agreeing to fund a cutting-edge data warehouse to which mpower Foundation, Sosa is also chief of staff of mpower will ever get from the Kennedy School is in the years affects not only consumer goods, but also health care, educa- organizations and companies can donate data for use by Labs, a global business incubator and accelerator. She served that you spend as a graduate student here,” remarks tion, and basic infrastructure,” says Sosa. The Empowerment researchers in The Empowerment Lab. “Many important as a presidential management intern in the U.S. Department mpa/id 2001 alumna Suzi Sosa, “But, in fact, I’m seeing Lab will fund interdisciplinary research to explore the most research questions are not explored because of lack of data,” of Commerce, and before that as a short-term policy advisor “Inow that the greatest benefit I will have is through this long- complex questions around why some individuals have been says Sosa. Businesses, nonprofits, and governments all gen- for the prime ministers of Bermuda and Lebanon. Sosa and term partnership with the school.”As founder and president perpetually excluded from mainstream markets. In addition, erate information that could be used for research and lead her husband, Roy, live in Austin, Texas, where they are com- of the mpower Foundation, the philanthropic investment through events like the Global Empowerment Meeting, the to discoveries about the reasons for exclusion and systemic munity leaders in entrepreneurship and philanthropy. arm of the mpower Group, Sosa recently made a $3 million lab will create strategic partnerships with global leaders who poverty. “We often don’t think about how we could make seed capital grant to the Center for International Develop- can translate applied research findings into direct business ment to create The Empowerment Lab. “Our mpower and policy applications. companies seek to empower underserved individuals Commenting on the impact of the Sosas’ generosity, through products and services that transform their lives. Professor Ricardo Hausmann, director of the Center for Fellowship will help develop international leadership As I thought about our work in the global context, I recog- International Development, said, “The Sosas share the nized that the systemic change we are seeking to create center’s commitment to global empowerment and are would require partnerships with both researchers and willing to invest their resources, tremendous talent, and ONYTAMER, cofounder and managing partner of Not only will Tamer Fellows benefit from a Harvard policymakers, and the Kennedy School is without a doubt vision in making a difference.” h.i.g. Capital and a member of the Harvard Kennedy School education, each will also bring to the hks the best place to do that.” Kennedy School Dean’s Council, helps businesses community a unique perspective that will enrich the experi- To mark its official launch, The Empowerment grow. He knows a solid foundation is the key to ence of their classmates. Tsuccess. And that is what he believes hks strives Lab hosted the first annual Global Empowerment Meeting on September 22 and 23 at the Kennedy to provide its students — a firm intellectual and School campus. This event, which included practical foundation that gives them the tools Tamer’s concern for the citizens of leaders from business, government, academia, and leadership skills to make a significant differ- and nonprofits, focused on the question of how ence in the world. the Middle East and Africa also 45 to expand the reach of financial markets to With over percent of the student body intersects with the hks mission to underserved communities. “We often take for drawn from countries outside the United States, granted one of the greatest privileges we have in the school is also a truly global community educate, support, and inspire the the developed world: freedom of choice. In most with an environment that encourages cultural parts of the world, markets do not function well, exchange and fosters lifelong bonds. Tamer’s con- next generation of world leaders. leaving people with fewer choices for more cern for the citizens of the Middle East and Africa also intersects with the hks mission to educate, support, and inspire the next generation of world “This new fellowship will play a vital role in the Kennedy leaders. For prospective students from poorer countries, School’s mission of attracting the best students from around “For the rest of our lives we’re alumni, and however, financial constraints can be insurmountable. the world and giving them the ideas, inspiration, and oppor- Recognizing a unique opportunity to help potential tunities they need to realize their dreams of making a differ- I believe the more we are engaged as leaders from the poorest countries in the Middle East and ence in the world,” said Dean David Ellwood. “Key to this continuing members of the community, the Suzi Sosa mpa/id 2001, her husband, Roy Sosa, Africa — such as Lebanon, Jordan, Tanzania, and Ethiopia mission is our ability to offer financial aid at a level that will and Dean David Ellwood. — attend hks, Tamer and his wife, Sandra, have endowed allow our students, especially those from developing coun- better it’s going to be both for us and for the the Tamer Fellowship Fund. tries, to pursue their highest ideals and deepest convictions. Kennedy School.” — Suzi Sosa mpa/id 2001 We are deeply grateful to Tony and Sandra Tamer for

MARTHASTEWART helping make this possible.”

36 HARVARDKENNEDYSCHOOLBULLETIN | w i n t e r 2 0 0 9 37 classnotes THEINSIDESCOOP

From the Field Carol Chyau mpa/id 2006 Marie So mpa/id 2006

Uncommon Thread Cheese made from yak milk (left) and yarn made from the one-ton animal’s warm coat (above). The FORCAROLCHYAUANDMARIESO products help create wealth for a region bypassed by China’s (both mpa/id 2006), a yak is more than a hairy, economic development. one-ton animal. It’s an undeveloped asset, num- bering in the millions, that can bring change to the mountainous areas of Western China that have missed out on the country’s stunning ties there. In Kunming, the capital of Yunnan turing partner to produce a sample batch of yarn. “It was but it’s an essential part of the process. “Otherwise you’re economic success story. The nomadic people who Province, they met with How Man Wong, so beautiful that it confirmed we had a doable just talking, right?” So remarks. “We focus on income gener- have herded yaks for centuries already know that founder of the China Exploration Research business plan,” Chyau recalls. In September 2006 they ation, but also on what is done with the money. We do our it’s an extremely useful creature, of course. They Society, and learned that the organization had changed their name from Yashmere to Shokay (“yak down” best to educate people on the value of investing in an use it as a pack animal, eat its meat, and make brought over an expert from the University of in Tibetan) and formed an umbrella nonprofit organization, education for their children versus buying a radio or dairy products from its milk; use its dung to Wisconsin a couple of years earlier to help Ventu res in Development, to serve as an incubator for it alcohol, although we can’t dictate how the money is spent.” build walls for their homes and burn the same villagers start up a yak cheese project in the and the Mei Xiang Cheese Farm, which is run by a Tibetan Recently the pair took a short break from their field work stuff for heat; and they turn its fibrous coat into isolated Diquing region. family. Each has the goal of operating as a sustainable, to attend an Echoing Green Fellowship conference at Duke tents and clothing. What they probably didn’t “The society’s mission was exploration, for-profit enterprise that can bring about long-term University. (The fellows hip awards a two-year, $90,000 know is that patrons of fine restaurants in Hong not economic development,” Chyau explains. economic development. grant to social entrepreneurs.) Carol Chyau and Marie So, Kong and Shanghai would pay good money to “Marie and I thought we could add the most “When we looked at traditional models, it didn’t seem Shokay has scaled up quickly, working with 15,000 both mpa/id 2006 dine on yak cheese (a bit like sharp cheddar in value by trying to bring the cheese to market.” that charity and philanthropy could do the job on its own,” people this year compared with 3,000 last year. In 2009, they consistency and flavor), or that in cities as far They returned to Cambridge and wrote up a says So. “We were attracted to the idea of bringing private expect to break even and expand their reach into new away as New York, San Francisco, and London, plan for two yak-based, for-profit businesses: sector business efficiency to social enterprise.” It’s a concept communities. After an initial product launch with yarn, customers would buy clothing and accessories one selling cheese, the other, marketing a that doesn’t always go over easily, So acknowledges. When hand-knitted scarves, and throws, the business has branched made from the finest hand-combed yak down. luxurious, cashmere-like yarn produced from she and Chyau speak to new herders about coming into the out into pillows, children’s clothing, and accessories like hats That’s where Chyau and So come in. The pair the softest yak fiber. After teaming up with two business, they often find they have to do quite a bit of and mittens, all of which can be purchased via the Internet, met at the Kennedy School. Chyau, a native of hbs students and an undergraduate from Penn, explaining. “If you go into rural areas in China, people at the Shokay retail store in Shanghai, or at boutiques in Taiwan, came directly from the University of “Yashmere” (thei r proposed name) won the often expect free stuff,” says So. “We try to show them the cities around the world. Soon, Shokay will even be offering Pennsylvania, where she studied abroad in Chile social enterprise track of the hbs Business Plan difference between a onetime deal and something more hats, gloves, and scarves through Harvard Student Agencies. and Peru and wrote her senior thesis on microfi- Contest and a $20,000 start-up grant. sustainable that they can create by using their own Despite these early successes, the demands of Shokay, the nance. So, a native of Hong Kong, left an Chyau and So went back to China after resources. It’s a paradigm shift; the government doesn’t cheese business, and building the Ventures in Development engineering career (her last project was the graduating to do more on-the-ground research, always understand what we’re doing, and we’re learning nonprofit can be overwhelming at times. “My brain every Beijing Olympics’ swimming pool). They began traveling to four yak-rich provinces in three as we go too. It can be very challenging.” day is divided into 10-minute slots,” says So. “The driving to talk seriously about their shared passion for months to gain some clarity around the details No day is the same, she adds. From April to October, factor is the level of satisfaction that comes from making a bringing economic change to the poorest parts of their proposed endeavor. (Their business plan Chyau and So are often in the field, exploring new areas for differen ce in someone else’s life.” of China at a social enterpri se conference at teammates chose to pursue other opportunities.) development, training villagers in proper shearing tech- “Balancing the double bottom line of financial return Harvard Business School and traveled to China They worked with experts in China’s Bureau of niques, or surveying households to measure the program’s and social impact is challenging,” Chyau agrees. “But I love over winter break in January 2006 to research Animal Husbandry to develop the best method impact. Given that they’re working with nomadic herders using business skills in a way that helps other people.”

existing nonprofit organizations and opportuni- to hand-comb yak fiber and sourced a manufac- PHOTOSCOURTESYOFVENTURESINDEVELOPMENT who don’t follow a set schedule, this can take a while — —JH

38 HARVARDKENNEDYSCHOOLBULLETIN | w i n t e r 2 0 0 9 39 exit poll THELASTWORD Why do you give to Harvard Kennedy School?

I am enormously grateful for what hks has provided me—the insights, analysis, focus, and friendships. The fact is I doubt seri- ously that many of the career opportunities I have encountered would have occurred without hks. In short, hks remains for me the gift that keeps on giving. That each year I give a substantial amount to hks in return seems a natural step for me, and one I will continue to make a priority.

Joe Caldwell mpa 1985

THE GIFT THAT cerning U.S. Supreme Court nomina- tions. While at the firm, I volunteered as legal counsel for Sharon Pratt KEEPS ON GIVING Dixon’s campaign for mayor (of the District of Columbia) and became her chief of staff and legal counsel after she won the election. (In that post, What inspired you gifted students. Each night posed the I quickly hired a hks faculty member to attend hks? difficult choice of reading several hun- to study some of dc’s more intransi- While the first 10 years of my career dred pages from insightful authors, or gent problems.) After returning to the were spent in government — the latter sitting in the Forum to listen to, and firm, I joined, and became the eventual of those as legal counsel at the talk personally with, world leaders and cochair of, the National Lawyers Supreme Court of the United States notable figures on global issues. Council of the Democratic National and assistant to Chief Justice Warren Committee. Where has life Burger — those years did not include taken you since hks? active participation in politics. So on After graduation, I put my hks To learn more about what you can do leaving the Supreme Court, I was insights to work right away. I joined to support Harvard Kennedy School, thrilled to become submerged in gov- Chez David Yoko Makino mpa 1999 successfully bidding for a dinner for six at Dean Ellwood’s a law firm in Washington, dc, where visit ww.hks.harvard.edu/about/giving. ernment and politics at the Kennedy home. The dinner, personally prepared by the dean, is one of the highlights of the annual Summer my practice included representing 617-496-7073 School. Internship Fund auction, which raises money for stipends for students’ unpaid summer internships in the clients in several disputes connected 617-496-4511 FAX nonprofit and public sectors (see more on pages 10 and 28). Among the more than 150 items were a handknit Could you describe to politics, political figures, and civil sweater by Academic Dean Mary Jo Bane and a tour of New York in an nypd squad car, courtesy of Police your experience at hks? rights. It has also included serving Commissioner Ray Kelly mpa 1984. This year, the event raised more than $52,000. Makino, pictured with Every day was exciting, informative, as an advisor to a U.S. senator con- guest Shigeru Aoi, a prospective student from Japan, is a founding member of the hks Club of Japan and and gratifying — from the enormous talent of the faculty through the shared also a member of the Dean’s Alumni Leadership Council. experiences of the extraordinarily

64 Nonprofit Organization U.S. Postage PAID 79 John F. Kennedy Street Burlington, VT Cambridge, MA 02138 USA Permit No. 216 617-495-1100 www.hks.harvard.edu

HARVARD Degree program alumni from the classes of 1984, 1989, 1994, 1999, and 2004, mark your calendars and return to Cambridge for Reunion KENNEDY Weekend 2009! MARTHASTEWART SCHOOL For more information on the web t www.hks.harvard.edu/about/alumni/reunions REUNION e-mail t [email protected] WEEKEND call t the Reunion Help Line at 617-496-9959 Calling all volunteers If you are interested in being a part of your May 15–16, 2009 Reunion Committee, contact: Carolyn Hogan, Associate Director of Reunions e-mail t [email protected] call t 617-495-0549