Each call features a topic of significant appeal to HBS alumni, followed by a Q&A session with the professor. VLS calls are open to HBS Alumni Club members only. For more information and to register please see your local club.

January 19, 2010
12-1pm EST  
Professor Ranjay Gulati
Reorganizing for Resilience - Professor Ranjay Gulati reveals how “resilient” companies—those that prosper in good times and bad—are driving growth and increasing profitability by immersing themselves in the lives of their customers.  By reorienting their organizations to be proactive, flexible, and truly customer-centric, these pioneering companies have spiked growth even in the face of some of the most daunting economic conditions in modern history.
Drawing on more than a decade of research at firms ranging from manufacturing and retail to professional services, media, information technology, and healthcare, Gulati uncovers the path to resilience by showing how to break down internal barriers at your company and build bridges across internal units while also creating a network of external collaborators.

February 8, 2010
12-1pm EST    
Professor Michael Wheeler 
Negotiation Ethics - Whenever we negotiate, our values are put to the test.  Our words and deeds reflect what we think we owe our counterparts – if anything—in regard to candor, fairness, and the possible use of pressure tactics.  Professor Michael Wheeler, co-author of What’s Fair? Ethics for Negotiators (with Carrie Menkel-Meadow), will discuss the challenge of preserving one’s own integrity in world where we often have conflicting obligations and others may not be as scrupulous.

March 10, 2010
12-1pm EST  
Professor Noam Wasserman
Founders’ Dilemma – Recipient of the Class of 2009 Faculty Award, Professor Noam Wasserman will discuss how early decisions around money and power in entrepreneurial ventures have important long-term consequences for founders and their ventures. Professor Wasserman’s research indicates that a founder who gives up more equity to attract cofounders, new hires, and investors builds a more valuable company than one who parts with less equity. More often than not, however, those superior returns come from replacing the founder with a professional CEO more experienced with the needs of a growing company. This fundamental tension requires founders to make "rich" versus "king" trade-offs to maximize either their wealth or their control over the company.


Please check here for the full VLS Speaker lineup.