Burnt by the brand

Larry Summers, soon-to-be ex-president of Harvard University, should get to know Bill Perez, ex-CEO of Nike. Neither guy seemed to appreciate the essence of their respective institutional “brands” and its power to neutralize even top officers. Each overestimated their political capital and underestimated the power of the pitchfork brigades. In Perez’s case, hard-headed business sense apparently made little sense to the sports-apparel creatives – who are not only the ruling class at Nike but evidently rule by divine right. At Harvard, Summers’ insistence on hard-headedness didn’t sit well with the pointy-heads: first, he had the audacity to challenge the scholarship of certain faculty members. Then he touched the third rail: speculating aloud that there may be something biological about why more females don’t gravitate toward science and math. Of course, there are always issues surrounding the departures of executives that will remain forever confidential. Still, it’s an object lesson that an institution’s brand has a life of its own inside the walls of the organization, as well as outside