Kindred Spirits: Harvard Business School's Extraordinary Class of 1949 and How They Transformed American Business [Hardcover]

Forbes Inc. (Author), David Callahan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 18, 2002

Raised in the Great Depression and shaped by World War II, they changed the business world and helped build modern America . . .
Kindred Spirits tells the story of Harvard Business School's remarkable class of 1949, which included some of the most innovative business visionaries of the postwar era. Among the members of this exceptional class, 28 percent retired as presidents, chairmen, or CEOs. Kindred Spirits shows how these businessmen shaped the business trends that transformed America: from the advent of modern marketing techniques, fueled by television and a growing middle class, to the rise of high technology as key driver of the American economy and the importance of using Wall Street to leverage wealth and build companies. Among the legendary figures intimately profiled are Marvin Traub, who built Bloomingdale's; Jim Burke, who guided Johnson & Johnson's tremendous rise and saw the company through the trauma of the Tylenol poisonings; and Peter McCullough, who transformed a little-known company into the powerhouse Xerox. Kindred Spirits is more than a story of an extraordinary group of business leaders; it is a story of how today's America came to be.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...Mr. Callahan makes a convincing case that the values of the class of 1949 shaped its members' conduct in a profoundly positive way." (New York Times, October 27, 2002)

From the Inside Flap

"Harvard Business School is a unique place and its Class of '49 was a unique class, which produced a wide array of leaders in all parts of our society." -John C. Whitehead, former Co-Chairman, Goldman Sachs

They stormed the beaches of Normandy and the islands of the South Pacific, but the exceptional generation of Americans that won World War II also produced the greatest group of business leaders of the post-war era. Harvard Business School's class of 1949 consisted mostly of military veterans who came to Cambridge thanks to the GI Bill. Molded by the hardships of depression and war, few 49ers sought fabulous wealth as an end in itself. Their conscientious leadership would forever change the course of American business.

By the standards of the go-go '80s and '90s, and today's corporate scandals, the values that defined the 49ers seem quaint; that wealth is created patiently, without cutting corners; that successful companies are those that make real things of real value; that integrity is an end in itself; and that greed is not good.

Those values guided the 49ers to the pinnacle of business success. Leading 49ers helped orchestrate a profound transformation of business in the decades after World War II: The rise of consumer products and services as a key engine of growth; the growing role of technology in spurring innovation and profits; and creative changes on Wall Street that leveraged wealth in extraordinary ways. From the heights of power-28 percent of the class retired as CEO or president of his company-the 49ers shaped trends in nearly every sector of American business.

Based on extensive interviews with class members, Kindred Spirits profiles this amazing group of leaders in a rich and evocative narrative. Critically acclaimed author David Callahan examines the intense bonds of friendship that kept them close for half a century, and reveals their influence on the landscape of modern American business.

Among the legendary figures of the Class of '49 are Marvin Traub, who turned Bloomingdale's into a fashion trendsetter; James Burke, who built Johnson & Johnson into a household name; Peter McColough, whose Xerox Corporation spearheaded the personal computer revolution; and William Ruane, who helped bring "value investing" to Wall Street, creating one of the most successful mutual funds of all time.

As David Callahan explores the legacy of these visionaries in contemporary business, he draws lessons from their timeless values and exceptional leadership-lessons to be heeded by today's troubled corporate world. A sweeping look at the changing face of American business, Kindred Spirits is more than just the story of a single class. It's a story of American innovation and reward.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (October 18, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471418196
• ISBN-13: 978-0471418191
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,864,388 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A magazine article - only longer, and in hardback, August 8, 2004

By 

E. Castro (Austin, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Kindred Spirits: Harvard Business School's Extraordinary Class of 1949 and How They Transformed American Business (Hardcover)

There are a lot of things to like about Kindred Spirits. Its written with a solid pace, with a fair eye to both the achievments and limitations of a notable group, and with care not to overreach its modest ambitions. At the same time, I found this book somewhat dissapointing.

The deepest dissapointment comes from incongruity of the book's central thesis and the data it presents. The back cover carries the blurb "It was a time when value had meaning, with lessons we can learn from." In it, though, I found an account of a group no more or less scrupulous than those I've worked with over the last 10 years - in Business School and in industry. The subjects of this book donate to charity and don't seem to drive exotic sports cars, but they do bribe officials, fake the numbers, and repress unions. Its not that they're a bad bunch; the men portrayed here work incredibly hard and seem genuinely insightful about business, but they're not substantially ethically different from MBAs today. I had trouble identifying where the bygone values were - criticizing the tech bubble? questioning the wisdom of 80s LBOs? - its pretty easy to make those calls in hindsight.

The other dissapointment for me was the story not told. In the book there is a subset of the class - the most dynamic, smartest, most successful - called "The Group". There's a handful of them, 8 or so, and every year they make a ski trip with all their families. They stick together in an usually tight, powerful network. I would love to hear more about what personal and professional bonds keep that kind of association intact for better than 50 years. What's missing here is the personal dimension behind that concentration of power. An in-depth look into that could be a book on its own.

Other complaints ran a bit less deep, but were nevertheless distracting. Worst among these was pretty shoddy editing - there were several pieces of narrative that were repeated verbatim in different parts of the book. Initially, I thought I'd lost my place and was re-reading an earlier chapter.

All that said, these are inspiring people, particularly in their courage and their confidence, and the lead interesting lives. Callahan succeeds most when he lets them speak in their own words. I was not at all sorry to have read this, but wish more of the potential depth could have been realized.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A bit of a snooze, July 29, 2003

By 

J. Turk "entrepreneur" (Evanston, IL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Kindred Spirits: Harvard Business School's Extraordinary Class of 1949 and How They Transformed American Business (Hardcover)

I bought this book for a friend of mine as a congratulations gift on her acceptance to the Harvard Business School class of 2005. Knowing I'm a voracious reader, she asked me to preview it for her. I have to admit I was a bit disappointed.

To be sure, Mr. Callahan has a difficult task - to shape several hundred biographies into a coherent work in 320 pages. It is difficult enough to write one compelling biography! Unfortunately, Mr. Callahan was not able to pull out enough personalities, interesting trivia, or intersecting events to weave an interesting tapestry, instead writing about those experiences virtually everyone has shared -- drinking and reminiscing at old reunions, talking about how we went our own way and returned older and wiser, and in this case, how the collected group rose the corporate ladder. The book lacks the space to give more than a cursory examination to any single business leader, and it does not bother to illuminate us at to what experiences at Harvard tied directly to the success of the class, or exactly what common values they shared (other than some trite yet vigorous finger shaking at the fact that nearly the entire class participated in WWII). However, there are some eye-rolling and oft-repeated lines about how some members of the class suffered the hardship of working their way through their undergraduate years, as if tens of thousands of college students don't do that today (in fact Mr. Callahan alludes that they do not.) As a result, the book reads more like a long resuscitation of facts than as a compelling narrative.

The quotes on the jacket cover promised, "A time when values had meaning, with lessons we can learn", and included the engaging hook "They stormed the beaches of Normandy and the islands of the South Pacific, but the exceptional generation of Americans that won World War II also produced the greatest group of business leaders of the post-war era", but Callahan seems to give up his thesis of common experiences forging common values from the first pages, revealing that several graduates of the esteemed class of '49 have been investigated variously for insider trading by the SEC, by the Justice Department for bribery, or by the FBI for mafia connections. In fact, several of the alums he writes extensively about have extremely questionable business backgrounds. Additionally, it would be hard to differentiate between today's top business school graduates and those of the middle-last century, who went to find job stability and make money, "although millions, not billions as some leaders today." To paraphrase Mr. Dickens, in short, the period was so like the present period, that one of its nosiest authorities insists on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.

This isn't to say that there isn't a fascinating story to tell in the graduates of Harvard Business School, or the class of '49. In my opinion, it just hasn't been told here.

At this point I'll share that this is a qualified review -- I stopped reading about halfway into the book, which is rare for me. It is entirely possible that Mr. Callahan successfully ties the book together and presents its lessons in the final pages. I'll never know. I've since moved on to purchase "Pinstipes and Pearls: The Women of the Harvard Law Class of '64..." which thus far is much more personal and compelling.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good book on HBS, November 29, 2008

By 

San Antonio man - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Kindred Spirits: Harvard Business School's Extraordinary Class of 1949 and How They Transformed American Business (Hardcover)

Not a bad book except for the fact that the author's liberal leanings were too obvious. HBS (or any business school for that matter) is meant to teach business leaders, not focus on making graduates respected social agenda leaders. The author took several shots at the decade of the 80s and the Reagan era, but certainly gave a pass on the corrupt 90s (WorldCom, Enron, etc.) and the Clinton years.

All in all, though, I enjoyed the background on some of the key graduates, but I would not buy another book by this author.