Dean Spotlight: Stanford GSB’s Garth Saloner
For those in the midst of the school selection process, it may be helpful to have a mental snapshot of those who are at the helm of some of the top-ranked MBA programs. This week, we’ll take a look at Garth Saloner, who has served as the ninth dean of the Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB) since September 2009.
In 2006, Saloner led the Curriculum Review Committee that restructured the GSB’s MBA program, prioritizing a personalized approach to drive leadership transformation. Saloner played a pivotal role in pushing through changes to the curriculum to emphasize ethics, leadership and, in particular, critical analytical thinking. Leadership skills have to be taught experientially, not through lectures, Saloner believes, which is a dramatic departure from management education of 15 or 20 years ago.
He has been a Stanford faculty member since 1990, and is recognized for his ground-breaking research on network effects, which underlie much of the economics of e-commerce and business. A native of South Africa, his intellectual interests focus on organizational economics, antitrust economics, strategic management, competitive strategy, and entrepreneurship.
