I want to open this month’s piece by acknowledging the toll the violence in the Middle East has taken on our campuses and our extended community. Emotions are high as war continues to escalate—with an impact that extends far beyond the region—and our hearts go out to all who feel the pain of this ongoing conflict.

As I have heard from students, faculty, staff, alumni, and friends of the college, I am reminded of our commitment to civil discourse and our foundational values. Even when we deeply disagree, perhaps especially when we find ourselves facing opposing points of view, this is a time for us to hear each other, to really hear each other. Freedom of expression, after all, requires us to be engaged, open listeners and to welcome meaningful dialogue, in ways that are respectful, with compassion and empathy.

That said, I assure you that the SC Johnson College of Business stands unequivocally against violence, hatred, antisemitism, and Islamophobia. While it may be difficult at this point to envision a resolution that will bring lasting peace or stability, we are resolute in our belief that meaningful change will require critical inquiry, constructive and respectful dialogue, and deeply responsible leadership. We remain aligned with President Pollack’s messages denouncing terrorism, condemning remarks that glorify it, and assuring enhanced attention to our policies and actions. We are committed to supporting a marketplace of ideas which supports productive dialogue. And we join President Pollack in hoping that we are “able to find grace, care and empathy for one another, and to support one another in the very difficult days ahead.”

When our students and campus community were directly targeted, the university acted quickly and decisively with the health and safety of our students, faculty, and staff at the forefront. And I’ve reached out to our college community to encourage us to be aware, to extend empathy, and to offer support to our students who may be struggling during this difficult time.

Religious Studies Professor Jane-Marie Law wrote a frank and fond open letter to the Cornell community, “An Everyday Miracle at Cornell.” In it, she describes the interactions of her students in the wake of October 7: “…my students did not scramble to find a simple position to take. They opened to one another in remarkable ways and, led by our discussions in class and the kind of atmosphere that is actually fairly common in these kinds of diverse settings, they listened to one another, and showed an enormous care for one another that was beyond avoiding uncomfortable conversations.” I smiled to read this, and smile sharing it. Our beautifully diverse community learns in harmony more often than not – in ways that don’t make headlines but do make up the essential work we do together. May we continue doing the best we can. I’m sending my wishes for peace to all.

The reach of business: Personal and global

More and more it seems that the personal and the global are destined to interact dynamically.

The complex and dynamic reach of business was at the forefront last week at the Smith Family Business initiative’s (SFBI) 9th Annual Families in Business Conference in Ithaca. I confess to a particular affinity for the SFBI, perhaps because I grew up in a family business myself (ask me about it sometime), and because our very college is the namesake of a privately held family business with a long legacy: SC Johnson.

Family businesses are truly impressive. They consistently outperform public companies on key indicators, such as ROE and ROI, as they juggle the challenges of multigenerational succession planning, family ownership and governance systems, managerial practices, and so much more. While there is no single type of family business, as a class they are powerful drivers of the economy, accounting for 54% of the US GDP and generating 59% of the country’s private-sector employment. Studies have shown that family-controlled firms now make up 19% of the companies in the Fortune Global 500 which tracks the world’s largest firms by sales. No matter their size or industry, family businesses are all dedicated to stakeholders including—and reaching far beyond—
one’s relations.

Yet there continues to be a dearth of curriculum and research in the field of family business. A 2020 study in the Journal of Family Business Strategy by Johansson, Karlsson, and Malm found that family business is rarely included in the stated curricula of economics and business programs in the US and Europe. They also showed that scholars publish too little research on family businesses in top journals in economics and business. And not because the questions are not intriguing, rather because of nontrivial constraints, such as data access as most family businesses are privately held with limited reporting obligations. The study does speculate that part of the problem might very well be inertia in business schools in terms of what is researched.

Nearly ten years ago, John (MBA ’74) and Dyan Smith saw this need first hand, and conceived of the Smith Family Business Initiative as a means for Cornell to lead. Since 2014, the SFBI has teamed with the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business to become the premier contributor of family business research, teaching, and outreach. Founding Director Dann Van Der Vliet continues to lead thoughtfully, providing education for students and knowledge-sharing networks for family business owners and their successors.

A generous and genuine community has grown around this work, as our students become alumni who then come back to show us how they’ve implemented what they’ve learned into the family businesses they steward. From current students to members of the class of ’74, last week’s panelist contributions were human, funny, heart-wrenching, and full of clear-eyed pride at doing the honest work of safeguarding professional and family goals with equal dedication.

The panels were stimulating, the food and drink (much of it sourced from the SFBI-affiliated family business community) delightful. I think my favorite part of the event, however, was dinner with Brian ‘94 and Emily ’27 Nicholson of Red Jacket Orchards. Emily, a first-year student, is a brand ambassador for the family concern, while dad Brian conducts Grand Challenges projects, serves on the Dyson Advisory Council, and performs a host of other Cornell commitments. The multigenerational present-day and future-focused work on display gives me such hope for the future.

And I couldn’t leave without mentioning:

• Last week I served on a panel at a dean’s conference held at Rutgers University, Innovations in Undergraduate and Graduate Business Education. John Byrne (of Poets & Quants) convened a discussion on business school rankings, and my job was make the case for adding nuance to such measurements, as expressed in a shared editorial from last spring, Business school rankings must measure the ‘societal value added’ (ft.com). In that piece, fellow business school deans Ann Harrison (Berkeley Haas), Geoffrey Garrett (USC Marshall), and I argue that rather than eliminating rankings, responsible business schools should modify them to include the societal value of a school’s education, well beyond graduates’ salaries. I hope you’ll have a read and feel free to share your thoughts with me. We have great ambitions to effect positive change in the world of business school rankings.

• This past Friday’s 13th Emerging Markets Institute Conference was memorable for so many reasons, not least of which my fireside chat with Iván Duque, former President of Colombia and EMI’s newest Distinguished Fellow. He brings deep experience and fresh energy to EMI’s global cohort. More to come on that conversation in my next blog.

• Next month, I’ll also share news from my trip to Beijing and Shanghai as part of a delegation with Vice Provost Wendy Wolford and Human Ecology Dean Rachel Dunifon, connecting with our dedicated and accomplished Cornell alumni in China.