If there was a theme to the evening it was the call for bold, new action in business leadership. Columbia Business School’s 33rd Annual Dinner, held at the Waldorf-Astoria on May 4, honored Meg Whitman, former CEO of eBay, and Cory Booker, mayor of Newark, N.J., for their leadership in private and public sectors.
“We are on the cusp of a new era of business,” Dean Glenn Hubbard said in his introduction. “We must reaffirm the positive role that business plays in society and to reinforce the responsibility of schools like ours to create whole business leaders — problem solvers who understand the puzzle, not just one piece of it.”
The dinner, which was attended by more than 800 alumni, students and friends of the School, included remarks by Board of Overseers member Paul Calello ’87, Columbia University President Lee Bollinger and Professor Bruce Greenwald.
Whitman, who is seeking the Republican nomination for California governor in 2010, discussed her experience at eBay and offered a few ideas that she said were key to the company’s success under her leadership. Those ideas included focusing on what you do best, surrounding yourself with talented people, and being courageous enough to take calculated risks.
“The price of inaction is greater than making a mistake,” she said.
Booker, honored for his leadership in public service, received a standing ovation for his remarks, which were a call to action for value-based leadership.
“We must answer to the call of courage in our own way,” said Booker. “It falls on us to do something in this century that we will be remembered for.”
UPDATE (5/21/09): View more photos from the Annual Dinner, now posted on Columbia Business School’s Flickr group. -CN
Photo credit: Jon Roemer
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