#118 Dean of Stanford GSB, Jonathan Levin: Innovation Engines

Jon Levin has been teaching at Stanford for more than 20 years, and has been the dean of the famous Graduate School of Business since 2016. Although teaching at Stanford puts him in contact with some of the most promising future entrepreneurs in tech, he says he hasn’t yet been tempted to leave academia for a startup because “I actually love being part of an institution that’s gonna be around for hundreds of years.” As public trust in institutions has eroded in recent years, Jon and his colleagues have had to make changes. For example: Proactively challenging GSB students to think about “What does it mean to be a leader of an organization in today’s world?”

In this episode, Jon and Joubin discuss honorific names, applying research in the real world, matching med school students, the “endless frontier,” the globalization of innovation, the entrepreneurial “itch,” the erosion of trust in institutions, US-China relations, students from Ukraine and Russia, what the GSB admissions staff looks for, self-awareness, the “Touchy Feely” class, and the serendipity of in-person classes.

In this episode, we cover:

• The John Bates Clark Medal, and researching economic topics like auction design (01:56)
• Nobel Prize winners at the Stanford GSB and the uniqueness of the US university system (10:15)
• Teaching entrepreneurial students and the value of institutions (16:30)
• Being affirmative vs. reactive and how Jon measures success (23:07)
• International MBA students and the importance of geographic diversity (27:27)
• Growing up in an academic family and how Jon’s theory of teaching (34:47)
• The qualities that “great” GSB alumni have in common, and the gradual changes to business school cohorts (39:12)
• The qualities of “great” faculty and what was lost when classes moved to Zoom during COVID (47:06)

Links:

• Connect with Jon
  • LinkedIn
• Connect with Joubin
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Email: grit@kleinerperkins.com
• Learn more about Kleiner Perkins
• This episode was edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm