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Ahead of the Curve: Two Years at Harvard Business School Audiobook
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(3.02) - 1,024 listener ratings
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Publisher Description
In the century since its founding, Harvard Business School has become the single most influential institution in global business. Twenty percent of the CEOs of Fortune 500 companies are HBS graduates, as are many of our savviest entrepreneurs (e.g., Michael Bloomberg) and canniest felons (e.g., Jeffrey Skilling). The top investment banks and brokerage houses routinely send their brightest young stars to HBS to groom them for future power. To these people and many others, a Harvard MBA is a golden ticket to the Olympian heights of American business.
In 2004, Philip Delves Broughton abandoned a post as Paris bureau chief of the London Daily Telegraph to join 900 other would-be tycoons on HBS's plush campus. Over the next two years, he and his classmates would be inundated with the best—and the rest—of American business culture, which HBS epitomizes. The core of the school's curriculum is the "case"—an analysis of a real business situation, from which the students must, with a professor's guidance, tease lessons. Broughton studied over 500 cases and recounts the most revelatory ones here. He also learns the surprising pleasures of accounting, the allure of "beta," the ingenious chicanery of leveraging, and innumerable other hidden workings of the business world, all of which he limns with a wry clarity reminiscent of Liar's Poker. He also exposes the less savory trappings of business school culture, from the "booze luge" to the pandemic obsession with PowerPoint to the specter of depression, which stalks too many overburdened students. With acute and often uproarious candor, he assesses the school's success at teaching the traits it extols as most important in business—leadership, decisiveness, ethical behavior, and work/life balance.
Published during the 100th anniversary of Harvard Business School, Ahead of the Curve offers a richly detailed and revealing you-are-there account of the institution that has, for good or ill, made American business what it is today.
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"If you went to business school, are thinking about going to business school, or wonder what people learn in business school this book is great. I found it captivating. Every once in a while he gets too text booky but overall this guy sounds like me. I would have hated HBS."
— Marcia (4 out of 5 stars)
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The audio is valuable as people ponder deeply whether they should go to business school, given the current climate.
— Library Journal Starred Audio Review -
“The audio is valuable as people ponder deeply whether they should go to business school, given the current climate.”
— Library Journal (starred audio review) -
“Broughton provides an account of his experiences in and out of the classroom as he struggles to survive the academic rigor and find a suitably principled yet lucrative path…Cleverly narrated and marked by a professional journalist’s polish and remarkable attention to detail.”
— Publishers Weekly
Ahead of the Curve Listener Reviews
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" A very good look at Harvard Business School by a journlist who wanted to get his MBA. Funny, horrifying (are these people really running our businesses??) and makes you think "
— Kara, 2/6/2014 -
" Fairly quick read and definitely an interesting perspective on the revered Harvard Business School in light of the market crash of 2008. "
— Roopal, 1/30/2014 -
" interesting perspective on Harvard Business school "
— G, 12/19/2013 -
" Reading this sure beats 2 yrs tuition! "
— Luke, 12/18/2013 -
" THe author relates his experience as a student at Harvard Business School. It was interesting to compare his experience to my own experience completing an MBA program. "
— Steve, 11/15/2013 -
" Wow... my MBA is looking pretty good next to Harvard. "
— Jay, 11/7/2013 -
" Interesting info about Harvard Business School's MBA program from a recent graduate. "
— Dan, 10/28/2013 -
" Curios description at the real capitalist culture. I got it what universities are for. I loved the author's moderately critical or sane style of thinking. Sometime I'm going to read his other book "The Art of the Sale" "
— Georgi, 10/23/2013 -
" Useful info, went too much into technical/academic details, not enough on social life, whiny. 1L was much better. "
— Ray, 8/9/2013 -
" Funny and easy to read, but also had some insightful observations about the Harvard MBA "mystique". "
— Ian, 6/19/2013 -
" Excellent inside look at the elite MBA. Broughton did an expert (and witty) job at addressing many of my own concerns with Ivy league business school. Highly recommend for aspiring MBAs, the curious, and the skeptics. "
— Ben, 4/27/2013 -
" I'd wager this is the book every Harvard Business School student wishes they had written. "
— May, 4/11/2013 -
" An entertaining look into Harvard Business School from the inside ... I'm not sure if I could ever quite get "excited" in that environment. "
— Katherine, 12/11/2012 -
" "Factory for unhappy people.", wisdom right there. "
— Sam, 7/9/2012 -
" Great insight into what HBS is like and what you will and will not learn. I have read the book twice and each time I pick up more and more. Overall a great read. "
— Morgan, 3/7/2012 -
" entertaining account of a daily telegraph journalist's experience at harvard business school. the google interview process is particularly good. good for a plane journey and a good insight into n.american business school thinking and greed in general "
— Mark, 11/20/2011 -
" Great inside into HBS from a non pedigree alumni. Good Book. "
— Nic, 6/19/2011 -
" Solid read. Forced me to reflect on my time in business school. Should be read if you ever consider getting an MBA. "
— Kyle, 4/3/2011 -
" Good insight into what it is like to attend HBS and the implications for having an MBA in today's world. "
— Michele, 1/30/2011 -
" The author is clearly a bit cynical about HBS, but at the same time the reader can tell that he really got a lot out of it. I'm sure there are plenty of people (HBS students, faculty, alumni etc) who are going to hate this book. But I really enjoyed it. "
— Tom, 1/21/2011 -
" great inside scoop for those who want to know what 2 years at Harvard MBA is like. "
— Gvlacic, 1/8/2011 -
" An interesting perspective on business school, and business itself. All the more so because the author doesn't shy away from the conflicting self-analysis that goes with the clash between one's desire for money and one's sense of obligation to a greater social good. "
— selenized, 9/5/2010 -
" must read for anyone going to biz school or thinking about going "
— Hma, 8/16/2010 -
" Interesting eye inside the very powerful program. However, the author is rather skeptical. This both tempers the allure for the school, as well as provides a firm dose of reality. Recommended to learn more about one person's experience. "
— Jawspeak, 7/26/2010 -
" THe author relates his experience as a student at Harvard Business School. It was interesting to compare his experience to my own experience completing an MBA program. "
— Steve, 5/23/2010 -
" Provides honest insight into the bschool experience at one America's top universities. "
— Rmaeking, 3/27/2010 -
" A good inside scoop to HBS, a world that I doubt I will ever gain membership into :P "
— Howard, 3/7/2010 -
" Essential reading for prospective MBA girlfriends and wives. "
— Maggie, 2/3/2010
About Philip Delves Broughton
Philip Delves Broughton was born in Bangladesh and grew up in the UK. He spent ten years as a newspaper reporter mainly for the Daily Telegraph (London). From 1998-2002, he was the paper’s New York correspondent and from 2002-2004 it’s Paris Bureau Chief. During that time he reported on scores of events from more than twenty countries. He has worked at Apple, as a writer at the Kauffman Foundation for Entrepreneurship and Education, and as a contributing columnist to the Financial Times (London).
About Simon Vance
Simon Vance (a.k.a. Robert Whitfield) is an award-winning actor and narrator. He has earned more than fifty Earphones Awards and won the prestigious Audie Award for best narration thirteen times. He was named Booklist’s very first Voice of Choice in 2008 and has been named an AudioFile Golden Voice as well as an AudioFile Best Voice of 2009. He has narrated more than eight hundred audiobooks over almost thirty years, beginning when he was a radio newsreader for the BBC in London. He is also an actor who has appeared on both stage and television.