The Stern Opportunity

Dean Peter Blair Henry

By now you should know at least a few things about Dean Peter Blair Henry.  If you read the Financial Times, Stern’s website, or even your email, you know our fearless leader is a master economist and Rhodes Scholar who comes to us from Stanford University. You also know he led the Obama Transition Team’s review of the IMF. You may be too shy to admit it but let’s be honest,  you definitely know takes a pretty picture.

Those things are all a good start, but now that our new Dean has been on the job for almost 90 days, it is time to step behind the curtain. On a busy Wednesday morning, I dropped in on the hustle and bustle of the Dean Suite for a lovely chat with the man behind all of the press releases.

We started from the very beginning. When his family left sunny Jamaica for the bitter cold of Chicago winters, 9-year-old Peter Blair Henry began to ask himself the questions that would frame the path of his career.

“When you move from rural Jamaica to the US in January, you notice a couple things,” said Dean Henry. “The first is that it’s colder, the second is that people on average seem to have a lot more income. That is something that sort of captured my attention.”

This revelation led to a decision to study economics at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill.

“Both my parents are scientists so I grew up in a household where there was a lot of thinking and talking about ideas. The combination of the method of thinking [in economics] and the subject matter was the perfect blend for me. It was a chance for me to answer a lot of questions about my childhood and also a chance to do it using tools that I love.”

As Dean Henry tells the story of how he came to pursue his life’s work,  his energy and passion are palpable. The economic disparity that initially inspired him is not the most positive topic, but he discusses it with enthusiasm. To borrow a term from our current administration, he seems to be excited about hope for change.

“I’m basically a Sunday school teacher with a PHD in economics. I am at heart an idealist...but a pragmatic one. When you come from a place where there’s substantial poverty like Jamaica and you wonder why you have opportunities and other people don’t, you start thinking about those issues and you get really consumed by them. But the key for me is, how do we marry good sentiment and good will with good thinking? We [migrated to the US] because in the 1970s Jamaica had this little experiment with social democracy, nationalized a lot of companies, had great
ambitions, but kind of ignored some of the basic lessons of economics and did a lot of damage to the country. I want countries to avoid that path. Whereas I am an idealist in many respects I truly believe that we can make the world a better place.”

Dean Henry acknowledges that business schools are not often regarded as institutions that are particularly devoted to making the world a better place.
“People say oh business school is different, it’s vocational…but it’s a very important vocation.”

He believes that business schools create leaders to consider the following fundamental question. “How do you come up with new ideas for delivering goods and services that improve the lives of people?
How do you organize the firm to put employees and machines and technology in the right combinations in the right places to generate better products and services and create jobs that help lift people out of poverty and create dignity?”

Dean Henry’s vision for Stern is that we continue to build our reputation of being known as people who solve such difficult  problems.

“What would make me enormously happy is if at some point in the future, a student who came to Stern from say Omaha, Nebraska and because of our approach discovers some unfilled need in Bangladesh and starts a company that creates 1,000 jobs and gets rich while [he or
she] is doing it. That’s the sort of thing that gets me really excited, that we can be a key input in that process of opening up and seeing the bigger picture. You do that not just by mastering finance or by mastering economics or by mastering marketing…it’s about how all these things fit     
together.”

Aside from shop-talk, Dean Henry shared a bit about how he spends his time when is not advising the President or running business schools. A former college football player, Dean Henry enjoys watching college sports with his kids, reading novels, and watching Masterpiece Theater on BBC with his wife. (aww!)

The dichotomy present in his leisure activities is reflected in Dean Henry’s workstyle. “A lot of my friends who have known me for a long time call me the gentle giant. I am pretty easygoing while at the same time very competitive. I want us (Stern) to succeed in our mission. In that sense I am competitive and I am driven. But at the same time I’m really easygoing and I think sometimes it’s initially mistaken for being soft, but people that know me know that there’s real steel.”

Despite his ability to succeed in very public positions, Dean Henry considers himself a natural introvert.

“I’m not the person who walks in the room and is the life of the party, but if there’s an interesting topic for us to talk about then I’m happy to talk and be in front of lots of people. I’m very comfortable in front of a large group, so I think what people would find surprising is that I’m actually a very quiet person. You don’t have to be a natural extrovert to be an effective communicator and leader.”

Dean Henry’s advice to Stern students who consider themselves introverted is to use one’s natural listening skills as an asset.

“Value every person you talk to,” he advised. “Say to yourself, this person has something that I can learn.”

One thing is certain, Dean Henry has a lot to share. I left the 11th floor excited for what is next for Stern under the leadership of someone who is committed to seeing the big picture but still understands the importance of the details. Now that you know a bit more about him, welcome Dean Henry when you see him in the halls. Knowing that our new Dean is well versed in the world of sports, novels, and Masterpiece Theater as well as economics should take the pressure off making small talk!

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