INNOVATION >>
Innovating Early and Often BY KRISTEN WALSH
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REAL APPETITE FOR RISK-TAKING. Dedication to a core set of values. Leaders who can articulate a vision and enlist others to the cause. The ability to adapt against changes in the world at large. These qualities have marked Bentley from day one and continue to pave the way for innovation.
DEFINING BUSINESS EDUCATION Bentley’s original innovator was Harry Bentley. In establishing his school, he was out to change business education itself. Instead of learning basic tasks such as filing and bookkeeping, students would be fully immersed in a specialized field (accountancy) that recognized expertise (the certified public accountant credential). The founder’s vision emerged from discontent with how accounting was being taught at his three prior institutions, the most recent being Boston University. He wrote about the field and his teaching philosophy in two books, The Science of Accountants and Trends in Higher Education; the former is credited with stimulating the growth of accountancy as a profession. Faculty members who joined the Bentley School were required to write their own textbooks, owing to Mr. Bentley’s firm beliefs about accounting practice and the material best suited for the school’s students. “Mr. Bentley excelled as a chief strategist for his school,” says Associate Professor of History Cliff Putney. “He wasn’t simply teaching the subject, he was elevating accounting from a trade without any particular qualifications to a licensed profession. His school really was a pathway to success.” PIONEERING ETHICS Mr. Bentley considered accounting an honorable profession and, through his writings, expected others to uphold high standards. “He urged his readers to avoid the manipulation of inventory values and other sketchy bookkeeping practices,” explains Putney. “His works on accounting are imbued with what two historians have described as a ‘moralistic tone.’”
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Fast-forward to the 1970s, when ethical lapses by corporations began making headlines. One early case in point is Ford Motor Company and the exploding gas tanks of its Pinto: Executives were alleged to have quashed — or at least ignored — reports that exposed the problem. Still, the term “business ethics” was largely missing from the corporate lexicon. That did not stop W. Michael Hoffman, then chair of the Philosophy Department, from launching the Center for Business Ethics (CBE) in 1976 and weaving business ethics into courses throughout Bentley’s curriculum. Almost immediately, the CBE held the first in a series of 10 national conferences that engaged leading thinkers to craft a vision of responsible business. In 1980, Hoffman collaborated with Thomas Donaldson of Loyola University of Chicago to establish the Society for Business Ethics, the primary academic association for the field. In 1992, Hoffman founded the Ethics Officer Association (now the Ethics & Compliance Initiative), which has become the leading organization for corporate ethics and compliance professionals. Today, the newly named W. Michael Hoffman Center for Business Ethics is credited as a major influence in developing and advancing the business ethics movement in the U.S. and around the world. Companies are operating with greater transparency, equity, social responsibility and environmental stewardship. But as Hoffman says: “The journey has just begun.” (Hoffman and the CBE are also featured on page 100.) GOING GLOBAL The university has always tried to model itself to supply workers needed in the marketplace, changing along with the economy. The mission started with Mr. Bentley himself. His school answered the