Sam Palmisano on Improving Business Education

The former IBM chairman talks about his Center for Global Enterprise, which works with CEOs and professors to create teaching tools for MBAs and managers.

B-schools are very compartmentalized. Isn’t that an issue when you’re trying to teach students the collaborative skills they’ll need?
I did a lecture at one of the most prestigious business schools in our country. There were 300 or 400 people and a couple of faculty guys. Afterward, we go into the dean’s office, and I ask, “Why is it that in this meeting I’m the only guy that can answer the students’ questions?” We know the answer: because they’re all in silos. Finance can talk finance. Marketing can talk marketing. But this is an end-to-end problem, and none of them can discuss it holistically for an enterprise. They’re smart as can be. But they don’t have the view.