That trip came the day before the release ofRudenstine's 83-page report on the results of theacademic planning process. The president hadlabored over the manuscript himself, andsome--including Boston Globe columnist David L.Warsh '66--suggested that McArthur hadintentionally timed his speech to overshadow thepresident.

The next day, media attention focused on theBusiness School's closed-door faculty meeting toreview a draft of Leadership and Learning, ratherthan on the Rudenstine report.

By far Harvard's wealthiest graduate school,the Business School has also been criticized fornot fully contributing to the University-wide $2.1billion capital campaign, an effort Rudenstine hadhoped to use to link the graduate schools closertogether.

McArthur, however, says he has full confidencein the president's ability to effectively run theUniversity upon his return. But he warns that theHarvard community must be careful.

"He looks a lot better than he did four monthsago, and the rest of us have to understand wecan't make endless demands on the poor bugger,"McArthur says. "When he came here it was likelanding on Normandy beach...it's this poor bastardgetting swept in from Princeton and landing on thebeach and he doesn't know anybody, but I think hecan put it in second gear now."

Initiative to Change

During his term as dean, McArthur has built oneof the most prestigious learning institutions inthe world. Yet he is hardly set in his ways.

"He has a great vision of change," says RichardL. Menschel, who was one of McArthur's classmatesat the Business School.

That made it natural for him to move quickly inthe fall of 1993 to reform the Business School'scurriculum. Business leaders and reports in thenational media, including a cover piece inBusiness Week in the summer of 1993, had claimedthat the school, with its emphasis on oldstandards and the case study method, was fallingbehind the competition.

The result was Leadership and Learning, thelargest and most comprehensive revisions of theMBA program implemented by the Business School todate.

Faculty members say McArthur's foresight anddrive were essential in guiding the Leadership andLearning initiative to its conclusion lastDecember.

"When [McArthur] has something he wants to do,he doesn't let minor or even more substantialobstacles get in his way," says Little Professorof Business Administration Charles J. Christenson."He keeps working on them and very frequentlysomething eventually happens."

But McArthur's influence has extended beyondchanges in the curriculum, faculty say.

"So much has been accomplished," says Professorof Business Administration Leonard Schlesinger."Something like Leadership and Learning wouldusually be the hallmark of someone's tenure, buthere it's only been the last three years."

Professors and administrators say McArthur hasdone a great deal to ensure the school's financialhealth.