The Magic | GSB at 100 Podcast Ep 1

The archives of a Graduate School of Business house historical documents like original telegrams, photographs, and letters, offering a glimpse into the school's founding in 1925. Herbert Hoover, an alum and future US president, initiated the idea to establish a business school on the Pacific Coast, proposing to raise $50,000 for a 5-year experimental period to prevent a talent drain to the East Coast.

The school's mission, articulated by early dean Jacob Hugh Jackson, was to train students for effective work, foster a spirit of service to communities, and develop the ability to live rich, happy lives, a sentiment that echoes the current motto: "Change lives, change organizations, change the world." As the school celebrates its 100th anniversary, a podcast series explores its impact through the perspectives of faculty, staff, alumni, and students, highlighting founding principles, frontier technologies, and the values that make the institution unique.

Professors reflect on the GSB's century-long influence, emphasizing its commitment to fostering curiosity, humility, and human progress. The school has been a hub for groundbreaking research in fields like market design and machine learning, influencing trillion-dollar markets and pioneering new areas of economic inquiry. Looking ahead, the GSB aims to lead in understanding and harnessing the implications of AI and large language models, while consistently prioritizing analytical thinking, research-driven insights, and fundamental social scientific innovation over quick fixes.

• The school's archives contain original documents dating back to its founding in 1925, initiated by Herbert Hoover to address a "brain drain" and establish a business education presence on the Pacific Coast.
• The founding mission focused on training effective leaders for societal contribution and personal fulfillment, aligning with its current motto.
• Faculty perspectives highlight the importance of people, environment, and a laser focus on the connection between human well-being, productivity, performance, and profitability.
• The institution has been at the forefront of academic and research breakthroughs, including market design, contributing to fields and markets worth trillions of dollars, and is now poised to lead in AI research.
• The school's enduring character is defined by a unique combination of humility, curiosity, and a drive for impact, resisting simple solutions in favor of analytical thinking and fundamental innovation.

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The Archives and Founding Vision [0:07]

• The school's archives are located in the basement of Bass Library and contain historical items like original telegrams from Herbert Hoover, old photographs, telegrams, and letters.
• Archivist Philip Lee describes the work as detective work, piecing together information from these "moments in time."
• These items trace the school's history back to 1925.

To me, it's like detective work. It's like a coal case where you you know there's stuff there, there's information and you have to try and piece it together. I think the items that like some of the items here is like they're like moments in time.

Herbert Hoover's Initiative [1:08]

• Herbert Hoover, a Stanford alum and future US president, conceived the idea for a business school.
• He noted that businessmen were going to Harvard, which opened in 1908, and realized Stanford should follow suit.
• Hoover believed a business school was urgently needed on the Pacific Coast to prevent a "brain drain" and "talent drain" to the East Coast.
• He proposed raising $50,000 to launch the school experimentally for 5 years.

"A graduate school of business administration is urgently needed upon the Pacific Coast,"

The School's Mission and Motto [2:02]

• A document describes the school's mission, quoting early dean Jacob Hugh Jackson.
• The goal was to train students to work effectively for themselves and their businesses, imbue them with a spirit of service to communities and society, and develop their ability to live rich and happy lives.
• This mission strongly aligns with the school's current motto: "Change lives, change organizations, change the world."

The goal of the school is to train our students to work effectively for themselves and the business of which they are part of to imbue them with the spirit of service for the communities and society as a whole and to develop in them the ability to live rich and happy lives.

100th Anniversary Celebration and Podcast [2:40]

• The Graduate School of Business is celebrating its 100th birthday.
• A podcast series is being created to capture this milestone through the stories of people who have shaped the school.
• The series will feature faculty, staff, alumni, and students, presenting a "scrapbook of memories, hopes, and dreams."

Professor Jeffrey Feffer on People and Environment [4:06]

• Jeffrey Feffer, a professor of organizational behavior since 1979, emphasizes the importance of people (faculty, staff, and students) for the school's power.
• He posits that productivity is a function of ability times motivation times environment, meaning a talented environment enhances individual performance.
• Feffer states the school is a "people-based organization," and the quality of its people defines the quality of the place.
• The growth of the school's brand helps attract top faculty and students, which is crucial.
• He warns against losing focus on what truly matters, such as human capital, and the tendency to be diverted by short-term financial considerations.

We are a peoplebased organization, and the quality of the people makes the quality of the place. And that's that's simply what has made the GSB what it is.

Professor Edmotti on Academic Rigor and Public Service [6:15]

• Edmotti, a professor of finance since 1983, highlights the school's evolution into a highly respectable academic institution within social sciences, producing high-quality research.
• Simultaneously, it has excelled in teaching future business leaders through professional and PhD programs.
• He singles out former dean R.J. Miller, who in 1969 conditioned his deanship on admitting 10% of students to a "public management program."
• Miller believed individuals in government and the public sector should receive the same high-quality business education as those in the private sector to ensure understanding of financial principles and governmental expertise.
• Miller, who was also vice chairman of Ford Motor Company, stressed the importance of good government, noting that a mayor has more problems than a corporate president.
• His 1968 speech reflected on the challenges to free society, acknowledging their gravity but asserting the power and obligation to address them.

We wanted to tell you a little more about Miller's speech. He delivered it on December 29, 1968 in the final days of a turbulent year of anti-war protests, urban riots, and the assassinations of Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. At the time, Miller was also vice chairman of the board of Ford Motor Company. We don't have audio or video of Miller's speech, so I'm going to read some of it. There can be no doubt about the magnitude and gravity of the present challenge to our free society. The task we face is both awesome and urgent. But there can be no doubt, on the other hand, of our power to meet our problems and achieve a better society. Having that power, we have also an obligation to recognize the challenge and the opportunities and to make a beginning. Let us not fail to use all of the vision, goodwill, and power at our command. RJ Miller, December 1968.

Professor Ay on Market Design and Machine Learning [10:00]

• Susan Ay, professor of economics, discusses the school's role in pioneering important ideas, specifically in market design and the application of strategic thinking, game theory, and information economics.
• She mentions Bob Wilson's work in the 1960s with oil companies, which led to formal theories that improved market understanding and bidding strategies.
• Wilson and his advisee Paul Milgrom shared a Nobel Prize for their work on market design.
• The school has also been at the cutting edge of using machine learning for decision problems and causal inference, becoming a leading global center for this research.
• Ay emphasizes the school's ability to connect to real-world problems, develop cutting-edge theory, and create new fields of study.
• The GSB supports research that builds foundations for solving applied problems, not just immediate tactical issues.

The GSB has had so many impacts, but let me just pick one particular issue that's sort of close to my heart, which is that it's been um several times in its history, it's really been on the frontier of important ideas.

Professor Majori on Finance and AI [12:46]

• Matteo Majori, professor of finance, connects historical financial formulas developed at the school to modern markets worth trillions of dollars.
• He highlights Nobel laureates like Bill Sharp, who developed equilibrium models of asset pricing, and Myron Scholes, an inventor of the option pricing formula.
• These discoveries were instrumental in creating derivative markets that likely wouldn't exist otherwise, by providing ways to understand risks and price instruments.
• Looking ahead, Majori points to the advent of massive datasets, expanded computing power, and the wave of artificial intelligence and large language models.
• He believes the school should seize leadership in these developments, which represent intellectual pursuits with significant real-world impact.

We have, you know, trillion dollars worth of derivative markets that exist today that would probably not have existed had it not been for uh those discoveries that told us how to understand those risks, price these derivatives. Essentially, you know, they were really instrumental in creating a market for these instruments.

Professor Goldberg on Analytical Thinking and AI [14:34]

• Amir Goldberg, a professor of organizational behavior, evaluates how new technologies like AI are already being used in business and government.
• He believes the GSB is uniquely equipped to prepare future leaders for the promise of AI.
• Goldberg states the GSB resists providing simple recipes or one-size-fits-all solutions, instead focusing on analytical thinking and research-driven insights.
• The school aims to equip students with analytical frameworks to become better leaders and managers, emphasizing fundamental social scientific innovation over quick fixes.
• He sees the GSB as a "mecca" for computational innovation and believes it is exceptionally positioned to lead in understanding and harnessing AI as a managerial and productivity tool.
• The GSB's role includes educating students to think with and through data, predictive, and generative AI.

What makes the Stanford GSB unique is that it has always resisted the temptation of giving simple recipes and one size fit all war stories. And we have always been at the forefront of analytical thinking and researchdriven insight.

Professor Gelfin on Humility, Curiosity, and Impact [17:38]

• Michelle Gelfin, a professor of organizational behavior, describes the intangible quality that defines the GSB's character as "magic."
• This magic is characterized by a simultaneous focus on humility and impact, reflected in the motto "Change people, change organizations, change the world."
• She highlights the astonishing humility combined with a high level of curiosity as a unique and amazing combination.
• Gelfin describes the GSB as an "ambidextrous place" with creativity and speed, balanced by a sense of accountability and a mission to contribute to the world.
• This "secret code" unites students and faculty.

The magic here and I will say it's magical is the simultaneous focus on humility but also impact and and trying to really change I mean that's the logo change people change organizations change the world but the humility that goes with that is just astonishing and and I I would say also just the level of curiosity at the GSB combined with that humility is is really amazing.

The Enduring Mission and Future Promise [19:12]

• The GSB was founded with the purpose of training leaders who could serve society, a mission that continues 100 years later.
• The belief persists that progress depends on individuals willing to question, imagine, and build.
• The next century is expected to bring unforeseen ideas and leaders, driven by the school's collaborative creation process.

The promise of this place. Not that we know what's next, but that we're creating it together.