AT SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT, AN ABRUPT GOODBYE
Dean Joel Podolny resigns, joins Apple as vice president
Joel Podolny, the dean of the Yale School of Management, announced Wednesday that he will leave Yale at the end of the calendar year to assume an executive position at Apple Inc. in California.
Podolny, who is widely credited with transforming SOM’s curriculum and building the school’s reputation, will assume his post as the first-ever vice president and dean of Apple University. His unexpected resignation comes as SOM continues to implement broad institutional changes, many of which were initiated by Podolny himself.
Veteran SOM professor Sharon Oster, who has taught at...
Hopefully we'll get someone with more Wall St credz. I think Paulson will be looking for a job soon...
SOM was never a good idea. If you want an MBA, go to Harvard. It's been a drain on Yale's resources for decades, with nothing to show for it.
OK so let's get down to it: how many orders of magnitude more clams is he getting to go to Apple??
While Podolny's resignation comes as an utter shock to all of us in the SOM community, we also need to recognize that institutions are much larger than their leaders. The responsibility rests on all of SOM's constituents to continue pursuing the school's reinvigorated vision of creating "values based leaders that own and solve the hard problems that matter." Many of us came to SOM because of what Podolny started. Over the last few years, we have witnessed innovative curricular reform, bold initiatives, and a restored vision of SOM leadership. This vision is bigger than Podolny, and we will move forward without him. Perhaps now more than ever, the world needs Yale's vision of leadership.
Time will ultimately reveal the true intentions behind Podolny's decision. But for now, his legacy remains a confusing duality. As a leader, he inspired and ultimately betrayed. He instituted the most radical curricular reform in the history of business education yet left during its successful execution. He practiced a highly personal form of leadership, yet his resignation was quick and impersonal. And finally, he emphasized the importance of commitment yet abandoned the one that would define his legacy.
Let's face it. He left because Yale SOM is light years behind other top business schools such as HBS, Chicago and Stanford.
With the collapse of Wall St its obvious that all business schools are going to have a very hard time in the near future at the very least. Podlony is only doing what he and his staff teach. Follow the stars and leave the dogs
I'm a fundamentally negative person, but thanks to the three reporters who worked on this story (and all the editors up the food chain), because it's really, really solid. Although I think the story assumes a little too much causality between JP's tenure and SOM's rise, you provide a spectacular amount of context regarding every aspect of this move. Keep up the good work.
P.S. I'm duly impressed, but at least tell me which one of you got ahold of "Apple company insiders."