Question and Answer with Dean Saloner

Question and Answer with Dean Saloner
You came to the U.S. for more education in 1978. Why Stanford?
Finance research for my MBA in South Africa got me excited about going for a PhD. I was really impressed by Jim Van Horne’s Financial Management and Policy which had been my introduction to the subject. I thought any school that was good enough to have this fine scholar was where I wanted to be. Stanford was at the apex of new ideas, and Silicon Valley was burgeoning.
Why did you lead the charge for a new MBA curriculum in 2006?
We were seeing an increasing diversity of experience among students—from Teach For America veterans to hedge fund managers—so we created a menu of courses that would challenge them all. I was excited about innovating an already strong program for the complexities of leadership in this century. We didn’t want to tinker at the margins; we wanted a wholesale change that would inject more critical thinking, more global experience, and more leadership preparation. Many people were involved in the process. Alumni, whom I interviewed in focus groups whenever I traveled, significantly shaped our thoughts.
During your early years at Stanford, which Business School faculty were most influential?
In the late 1970s, I took a course in the emerging field of information economics taught by economist Robert Wilson. I took that class three times because every year it was different; Bob only taught working papers. Stanford was at the cutting edge of so many fields that I barely had known of from 10,000 miles away. It was exhilarating because the work here was opening up so many fields. My advisor was John Roberts, a Canadian who became a tireless advocate for a more global curriculum. He took his advisees under his wing socially and academically. One exciting event for me at that time was my first conference paper presentation. The chair of my session was Harvard economist Michael Spence—who later became dean here and a 2001 Nobel Prize winner for his work in information economics. I later applied my own work on network effects to practical implications for the internet.
From 2001–2003 you took a leave from teaching to work with startups. What did you take from that experience?
In 1999, as the dot-com boom accelerated, I got very interested in the phenomenon of Silicon Valley: the ability of entrepreneurs to take ideas, build teams around them, get access to capital, and put together a thriving company very quickly. During my leave I spent time as an advisor, board member, or investor with a number of startups. I learned a ton about effective (and ineffective) team management and board governance. When I came back I taught entre-preneurship with practitioners from whom I learned even more, like private equity director Jeff Chambers, MBA ’80, and entrepreneur Jim Ellis, MBA ’93.
What impact did student-led MBA study trips have on you?
I didn’t go on study trips when my children were young. Then I got invited to India and Pakistan in 2005. We met extraordinary people who led corporations and the government; but at the same time we were introduced to the cultural life of India by our student leaders who had lived their whole lives there. It opened my eyes to how big the challenges are in developing countries. It led to trips in East Africa, China, Ghana, Thailand, Egypt, Jordan, and the Philippines. I saw how entrepreneurship and social innovation could be the engines of growth for the bottom of the economic pyramid. This year I am going to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
What is something most people don’t know about you?
I am passionate about photography. I’m self-taught. As a student, I supported myself by shooting weddings and graduations. I always take my camera on study trips.
Meeting a tribal chief on a study trip to Ghana to discuss the impact of mining operations on the community. “I saw how entrepreneurship and social innovation could be the engines of growth,” Saloner said.