There are two ways to achieve business success in America. The first is obvious: you make it into the top ranks of a major corporation or build a business through entrepreneurial initiative, and you are rewarded with the familiar trappings of wealth, status and power. Only a tiny handful of people can be successful in this sense.

The second path to business success is less obvious, but many more people can achieve it. Moreover, for those who do, it is as or even more self-fulfilling than the first kind of success. To win success in this second sense, you must, over the course of a life-long career, have resolved to your own satisfaction three thorny conflicts.

The first is the conflict between finding work you enjoy vs. making money at work that is tedious, unchallenging and grim.

The second conflict is holding onto the love of your family while maintaining your commitment to a serious business career.

The third is the conflict between the pressures of a competitive economy vs. a high standard of business ethics -- the ability to manage your career without cutting corners and with having given everyone for whom you have worked or who you have served full value for their money.

A special survey of the Harvard Business School class of '49, commissioned by the editors of HBR, reveals that the vast majority of the class, reflecting on their business careers 45 long years after receiving their MBAs, feel that they have achieved business success in this second sense of the word, and it fills them with a deep and abiding conviction of having lived their lives purposefully and well.

Their most troubling conflict proved to be reconciling the demands of career with the demands of family life. Finding the right balance took decades to achieve, and a majority (52%) feel in retrospect that they might have done a better job (their chief regret: not having spent more time with the family). Nonetheless, at this stage in their lives, a majority have large families (three or more children and four or more grandchildren) with whom they feel they have close and loving relations.

Finding work that nourishes the soul as well as the pocketbook proved much less difficult for them: only a handful chose careers from which they derived little or no enjoyment. One of the class' most striking characteristics is its extraordinary stability: a majority of all class members (58%) have devoted their entire business career to a single company, and more than two thirds (69%) to a single type of work. The stability paid off for most of them in intangible as well as tangible ways. In the early part of their careers, they equated success with money and advancement. But over the years, enjoyment of work grew increasingly important to them. Today, the ability to enjoy one's work is their number one criterion of success, and more than nine out of ten (92%) say that they enjoyed their work in the sense of having had "fun" with their careers.

The conflict between ethics and business pressures is very much on their minds. The survey findings suggest that they brought to their own careers a strong code of ethics instilled by their parents (especially being straight with people and always doing their best). Almost none of them mentioned ethical values derived from their own Business School education, stressing instead such benefits as problem solving skills and greater comfort with the corporate world. And yet, they are convinced that ethics should be the number one subject the Business School should teach to today's students. (Imparting "ethics and ethical values" is their top response by a wide margin to the question, "What are the most important things the Business School should try to instill in today's students?").

On objective criteria such as wealth and position, the class of '49 may well be the most successful class ever to have graduated from the Harvard Business School. Here, then, is a living, breathing, articulate specimen of success in America. The editors invited the authors of this article (an historian of business and a social scientist whose field is changing American values) to survey the class of '49 in order to answer the specific question, What do the lives and careers of the class of '49 reveal about the nature of success in America in the period that starts at the threshold of the placid Eisenhower era of the 1950s and ends in the turbulent present?

In the survey, we interviewed a random sample of the class comprising almost one out of five of its 526 living members. The one hundred class members who participated in the ninety-minute telephone interview did so enthusiastically: they were eager to share their experience and to pass on to younger people the lessons they had learned from their own lives and careers.

Our interviews focused mainly on values. We set out to learn what values loom large in their lives as their business careers wind down, and whether these values have changed over the years. We queried them about the achievements that gave them the greatest satisfaction, and about the mistakes they had made and what they had learned from them. We asked about their non-business activities in the larger community, and what values these served. We asked what, in retrospect, they might have done differently with their lives and also what advice they had for young people getting their MBAs today.

Interestingly, most class members do not regard themselves as exemplars of business success. They are proud of the handful of their classmates who have garnered great wealth and fame, but do not identify themselves with this kind of success: though they are pleased with their own particular type of success, they do not hold themselves up as personifications of the American success story. Most of them take great satisfaction from their families, while admitting that their most difficult struggle in life was finding a sound balance between family and the demands of their work. They are also pleased with their contributions to their communities, though they don't make much fuss about it. Some have found the life of the large corporation trying on the spirit -- those who work for themselves are the most satisfied with their work life and most reluctant to retire. (In this regard, they are typical of mainstream America). Overall, the great majority have found their business careers to be profoundly fulfilling.

The members of the class began their careers in an era of American life that, from the point of view of its social values, seems astonishingly remote from today's America. It was one of those magical moments in our national life when the aspirations of the individual were perfectly matched with the opportunities open to those with the appropriate education, skills and motivation, particularly if they were white males. This was a time of expansiveness without the zero sum mentality that marks our own era where one person's gain is often reckoned as another's loss. There was enough for all, a situation that unleashed vast energies.

The lives and careers of the class of '49 spanned the era of American life that most radically transformed the nation's social values. Raised in the 1930s by depression-scarred parents, they postponed their education to fight in a war that made Americans feel good about themselves. As veterans, they were older than average students when they began their careers, more disciplined and more likely to be married. They launched their business careers in an era of family togetherness and social conformity.

The greatest influence on class members' success values in the late 1940s, as they recalled them, was the experience of the Great Depression. The depression had two opposite effects. For many it lowered expectations, causing them to consider themselves lucky if they managed to scrape together a living and support a family. Here is how this group described their success aspirations at the time:

" "To have a job that gave me security, having lived through the Depression."

" "Just to make a living."

" "A steady job and a three bedroom home on a 100 ft. lot...Maybe doing as well as your parents did."

" "Financial security."

" "If I ever earned $10,000 a year, I'd be successful."

The depression had the very opposite effect on others, causing them to go vigorously for wealth. Their desire and appetite for money -- large amounts of it -- had been whetted by the hard times their parents had experienced:

" "Success meant making a lot of money (and being) admired by my peers for my success at making money."

" "I wanted to make big bucks"

" "Good job, lots of money..."

" "Lots of money."

" "I probably measured success in dollars and cents..."

Accompanying the hunger for money is the theme of working for a big company and moving up the ranks of the hierarchy. Remember that the class of '49 was entering the 1 950s, the era of the "organization man" in the uniform of a gray flannel suit. They were the predecessors of what the Japanese have come to call "salary men." Their success expectations are clear-cut:

" "Success meant getting to the next rung on the ladder and moving up from there."

" "Getting a job with a strong reputable company. Getting a good salary."

" "Long term success was probably to end up as the boss."

" "Getting a good paying job and having the opportunity to rise up to senior management."

" "I think that all (success) really meant then was promotions."

" "To rise in the hierarchy of any organization I went with."

They raised their families through the cultural revolution of the 1960s and 1970s when the nation's sexual mores and ideas about sacrifice, self expression, duty, pleasure, nature and success were subjected to such radical self doubt that more than 80% of the adult population changed their values.[1] They reached their positions of greatest power and influence in the 1980s.

The findings of the survey suggest that over the 45 year span of their business careers, most class members changed their success values in far-reaching ways. They did so not only in response to the aging process, but also in response to the shifts in the nation's cultural values. In the early parts of their careers they were most influenced by values associated with competitive success: "I am more successful than you because I have more money, or more fame, or more status and power than you." As they grew older they gradually fell under the influence of another set of success values that were gaining influence in the large society, the values associated with personal success. Success, here, has less to do with how much money you make or how many kudos you have won than with how you live your life. This form of success is not competitive or comparative: it is personal and unique, though more difficult to judge because it lacks clear cut objective criteria.

Both forms of success have their roots in the past, though the concept of personal success incorporates new values, and is, in today's America, rapidly gaining ground over competitive success. For average Americans today, personal success today revolves around such values as having good friends and family relationships, enjoying good health, looking and feeling well, living in a clean, safe environment, having some control over one's time, reducing stress in one's life, giving kids the education they need to cope in today's world and being reasonably secure financially.[2] The members of the class of '49 have absorbed many of the social values that influence the general public as well as the success values associated with a business career.

Each subculture in our society has its own definitions of success. Success in business is not the same as it is in science, or the arts, or academia, or government, or the general public. Competitive success in business revolves around money, position, and size: a ten billion dollar company is regarded as more successful that a ten million dollar one.

Competitive success has been around for a long time. The class of '49 acknowledges it, and is proud that a number of their class has achieved it. Yet, most do not think of themselves in these terms: the majority differentiate themselves quite explicitly from the handful of their classmates who have made loads of money and reached the pinnacle of corporate CEO-dom. And yet, virtually all class members consider themselves to be successful because they have achieved a high level of "personal success."

What, for them, constitutes personal success? It is not identical with the average American's idea of personal success, though it overlaps it. Most members of the class of '49 have integrated the traditional success values of their past with the newer values they have absorbed from social trends in the larger society. The conventional conceptions of success with which the class of '49 started their careers have been transmuted into a far different conception -- more subjective, less materialistic, more focused on being a whole person, and more concerned with inner qualities.

The class of '49 has resisted absorbing some values from the larger society. For one thing, they are better insulated by virtue of age and position from the harsh economic pressures that dominate the lives of younger, less well-established people. For another, their core values were formed in an earlier era, and so they pick and choose selectively among the newer values those that appeal to them most. Having wrestled with both the older and newer meanings of success that bubbled to the surface in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, the members of the Class of '49 have arrived at a striking synthesis.

For the vast majority of the class, success has come to mean the achievement of three goals. The first is finding work they enjoy that also provides them with enough money to live comfortably and to fulfill their family obligations. Typically, achieving this goal did not come quickly or automatically. And not all members of the class succeeded at it: a minority is bitter, or at least regretful, about the choices they made which satisfied their material needs but did not give them the challenge and "fun" they felt they might have had if their choices had been wiser.

The second goal was striking the right balance between their business and non-business lives -- how to keep their business commitments from consuming all of their time and energy, at the expense of their families and community involvement. Accomplishing this goal proved to be exceptionally difficult for many. In our study, we report some of the scars and the regrets they feel: half of them feel they might have done a better job at it. But, significantly, at this stage of their lives, most feel that they have met this goal: one of the greatest sources of satisfaction in their lives is their close and loving relationships with children and grandchildren and their work in their communities.

The third goal relates intimately to their day-to-day lives as business people. They assign the greatest importance to conducting their business life ethically, by which they mean being straight with people, not cutting corners, and giving full value. Many of them report corporate pressures and personal temptations to compromise these principles, and they also report the times when they have failed to live up to their ideals. But here again, what is striking is that so many have achieved the deepening of self-respect that comes from the conviction that they have lived up to the ethical ideals imparted to them by their parents. (At the end of this article, we will return to this issue of ethics, because it bears on our system of democratic capitalism.)

In short, while a handful of the class of '49 has seized the brass ring of worldly competitive success -- an accomplishment in which the class as a whole takes pride -- the deeper form of personal success is one that virtually all of the class share in common. It relates less to money and status than it does to having had a business career which they enjoyed, having waged a long and ultimately successful struggle to balance their business and non-business commitments, and having won enough of the day to day skirmishes with the world of commerce to reconfirm their own integrity and self respect. These, for the class of '49, are the true meanings of personal success.

A Reversal of Values

In discussing what success means to them today, at least two thirds of the class describe shifts in values that virtually stand their old conception of success on its head. The success values they pursue today are just about the opposite of what success meant to them 45 years ago. For the majority then, success meant making money and rising to the top of the business hierarchy. Today, these very same values are at the bottom of the list.

Chart I[3] presents in rank order the measures of success that are very important to these members of the class of '49 now, in their present stage of life. Note that the top ranked items emphasize values relating to enjoyment, family, peace of mind, and giving something back. We will examine the concrete meaning of these values later.

Chart 1 "MEASURES OF SUCCESS THAT ARE VERY IMPORTANT TO ME"
	%
"Enjoying What I am Doing"	96
"Having a Close Supportive Family"	92
"Having Children Who Love Me"	90
"Contentment and Peace of Mind"	88
"Balancing Business and Family Life"	83
"Making Enough Money to Live Comfortably"	83
"Having a Positive Impact on My Children"	79
"Being Able to Give Back to Society"	77
"Personal Growth"	77
"Contributing to my Community"	76
"Developing my Abilities to their Fullest Extent"	75
"Prestige and Respect from my Peers"	69
"Proving to Myself that I Had the Right Stuff,	60
"Having Children Who are Successful in their Careers"	60
"Being my Own Boss"	59
"Being a Leader"	52
"Having an Impact on the Larger Society"	36
"Recognition outside the Business Community"	36
"Having Power and Influence"	32
"Winning Competitively against my Peers"	30
"Getting to the top of the Business or Professional Hierarchy"	27
"Making a Great Deal of Money"	12
"Moving into a Higher Social Class"	2

 

The contrast between the class' earlier and later conceptions of success casts an interesting light on the maturation process in our society. These contrasts are so striking and suggestive that we have prepared a special comprehensive chart (See Chart 2) that quotes each class member's earlier youthful conception of success side by side with his current conception. Where in the earlier definitions the themes of money, ambition and status dominate, the emphasis now is on making a contribution, living comfortably, giving to others, enjoyment and satisfaction, ethical integrity and personal growth.

Chart 2 "WHAT SUCCESS MEANT IN 1949 AND WHAT IT MEANS NOW"
In 1949	Now
"I wanted to make big bucks	"To feel good about myself, to leave footprints."
"Make $25K a year; I'd be in hog heaven."	"I'm an achiever...(I want) to keep things going."
"Making a living."	"A life...that makes a contribution to society."
"Lots of money"	"Having enough money to live comfortably but with more time to do outside activities."
"Making money."	"I think success is being allowed to do the things think make you happy in a communal relationship with other people. Being of service."
"I probably measured (success) in dollars and cents...I've never been able to understand people's interest in having power."	"Being able to accomplish some things that I want to do. A successful retirement is more in enjoying every day...and having friends and social contacts...I still think that achieving financial independence is what working is all about...even (most) inventors or innovators will attach some value to the money their ideas generate."
"Success was money and making sales and recognition."	"The success of children and grandchildren by leaving them a legacy of values they can live by. Also having friends that think highly (of you) and believe you're an ethical person with values and faith."
"Getting a good job and moving up very quickly as demonstrated by titles, perks and compensations."	"Becoming more of the person that you potentially could be...it transcends any given activity. Learning to be more of who you are."
"Working for a big company and moving up the ranks. That was prestige and success."	"Success means looking back and feeling that you've not shortchanged any of your responsibilities: wife, children those who ....ask your advice."
"It meant getting a job with a forward-thinking company and participating with that company in learning the business."	"Success is your friends. It's less tied to business. The outside activities become an important part of your whole life."
"Getting a corporate officer's job and a good salary."	"Being satisfied that I have a totally ethical outlook."
"Having a good income."	"Building this orchestra."
"A job that paid $20-25,000 a year."	"My stores...we stress honesty and good service. That is success."
"Being able to pay for my kids education."	"Being satisfied with what is going on in my life today."
"Having a big salary and a big title."	"With all the down-sizing going on, you have think...about smaller and more exciting things to do."
"Business and the score-keeping of business -- the material rewards."	"Health and happiness is wealth...giving to individual people, family and community."
"Get established somewhere and lead my own life without having to depend on my family for finances."	"Live a comfortable life and give to others who are less fortunate."
"To have a job that gave me security, having lived through the depression."	"Using your ability to the fullest. Being respected, not feared. And financial security."
"Just to make a living...If I ever made $30K a year, I'd be doing very well."	"I've had financial success beyond my wildest dreams. (Success now) is having satisfaction, having done a good job in business."
"A sense of relief that I was ending my school work...I was looking for a scientifically interesting place and I chose IBM."	"Bringing up decent kids and having them educated in the true sense. Helping my wife do what she wants."
"Success meant getting to the next rung on the ladder and moving up from there. I looked at (success) in economic terms."	"A pleasant prosperous lifestyle and the satisfaction of achieving some level of personal success and status."
"It was more a question of making money.	"It certainly isn't money...It is the satisfaction of having a more stable business career."
"I didn't feel successful when I got out of HBS. I felt that I had a prescription to be successful and that I loved the business world."	"I enjoy hearing my classmates talk about...their yachts and jets and things that just don't interest me at all. (Success for me is) how did you lead your life? What are you here for? How did you accept your inherent responsibilities?"
"Getting a job with a strong reputable company. Getting a good salary."	"Having room to live a suitably balanced life, including time with my three married children and six grandchildren."
"Long-term success was probably to end up as the boss."	"A career that is fulfilling and makes you feel that you've done a good job. To feel that you've made a contribution and that you've reached...the peak of your ability."
"A steady job and a three bedroom home on a 100 foot lot...Maybe doing as well as your parents did."	"A feeling of pride having managed a business that somebody wanted to buy...I don't know that money or financial success has much to do with happiness."
"Getting a good paying job and having the opportunity to rise up to senior management."	"You've found your niche and you can say, 'On balance I enjoyed it 90 percent of the time. I got tremendous satisfaction and stimulation from it."'
"Success meant making a lot of money. To be admired by my peers for my success at making money."	"Success now is a feeling of being dependable and trustworthy. I really don't work for money anymore.
"Climbing the ladder and being recognized for doing a good job."	"Success, first of all is being happy with yourself and having a happy family."
"One of the things was financial...I wanted to move into management...I wanted growth...I wanted greater responsibility."	"Success means having made a difference...having built some things, having helped some people, having contributed to shareholder values...having improved the business climate through ethical conduct."
"I think that all (success) really meant then was promotions."	"I suppose (success) means self-satisfaction, the good life, etc...it's a real case of whether or not you're satisfied with what you've accomplished in life and can live with yourself."
"(Success) absolutely did not focus on money. I wanted to do something constructive...like go into the Naval Academy."	"...Being respected for my values and judgment by the people (I work with in business). A lot of it is how my five kids see me...how I'm able to help them."
"Achieving a good standard of living."	"Having a good standard of living is not nearly as important as it used to be. More important is putting something into the community, treating your employees and associates...better."
"To achieve something in the course of your career."	"There are some deeper feeling of success which have to do with the way you related to the people you worked with...an overall social or moral sense that what you did in the course of your career was worthwhile or meaningful."
"Good job, lots of money, not being President of GM but doing something of importance and some interest."	"By and large you've kept a reasonable balance in what you were doing and what you've done."
"...To run the business...to have something I could be responsible for and be in charge of...to be the boss and take the licks and the glory."	"Having a achieved a certain level of satisfaction and happiness...and having some fun in the process."
"Advancement, raises, more responsibility, etc."	"Achievement of your own goals, not money necessarily. Having...contentment with yourself and your world."
"Recognition in the business world."	"It is still recognition but perhaps more emphasis on the monetary side...from time to time my offspring seem to need some help."
"Financial security."	"Doing that which I have fun doing and I've got (this) luxury."
"To rise in the hierarchy of any I organization I went with."	"To help others"
The way you judged success was how well you pleased that boss and got that next promotion."	"Getting up in the morning and feeling pretty good. When you look at the actuarial tables pretty soon you decide you just have to be happy with each day."
"Being in a position of importance nationally."	"Having filled very responsible positions, having made a difference in a lot of things in the world, having influenced people, technically, morally, ethically."
"Success was getting into school and then graduating."	"At my age, getting up in the morning and looking at the trees and flowers...I'm business because it's like a game."
"It meant to hold my own in whatever environment I was working in and I could earn enough money so that I could achieve total freedom -- to do whatever I wanted and be myself"	"To me, success means somebody who lives a decent, good life, someone who is available for things that make real sense. To stand by your strengths and be someone who can be counted on."
"Success meant independence (as opposed to be in a part of a hierarchy in the military service). It also meant a good deal of financial success, having gone through the depression."	"Success now means many of the same things but I would add the feeling that personal relationships around you are satisfactory."
"We used money &as a measurement tool, but that didn't last very long."	"Living as useful and honest a life as I can. Success comes down to whether you've been able to live up to your own value system...I've been as successful as I have been in part due to that value system."
"If I ever made $10,000 a year, I'd be successful."	"The money is still important...(but not as important as)...the contributions. To have the time and your health to be able to contribute something to things you're involved in."
"I was concerned about establishing a family and providing for them and having a successful career."	"It's a matter of being of service. I'm certainly not now concerned about remuneration."
"I set out to build a big business. I thought that money was very, very important."	"In the business world and in government, success is too much related to money in the bank and to power -- you find people who have compromised principles to achieve money or power. Success means not compromising these."
"In the early days It was building a house and furnishing it and having kids.... pretty much staying ahead of the needs, financial and so forth.	"Personal satisfaction. A good reputation and to be financially secure enough to not be concerned about retirement...to be able to support my children and grandchildren to some degree.
"Success was getting a job and also graduating in the top part of the class."	"I have been reasonably successful as a human being and not much of a success as a businessman. I probably wasted (the HBS) education."
"Entering the family business and establishing my own capabilities within that business."	"Directing a successful company...in terms of its service to...stockholders, employees or guests. (Also,) to maintain a full and useful personal and family life.
"Getting a good job that provided satisfaction...The ability to provide for my family--to house, feed and educate them."	"To make a meaningful contribution, stretch your own abilities, test yourself and to deploy your own abilities and energies in the direction that brings about the greatest contribution."
"Success...meant (getting) a certain targeted income...plus and acknowledgment of being smart."	"The financial scorecard has changed but that is still a piece of it...being a smart guy is also important but also a sense of having done it my way, the ethical way. Acknowledgment that character, integrity and honesty have not been compromised."
"...Proving myself as a bread provider."	"To reach the goals one sets for oneself and solve problems as they arise."
"I thought success was achieving a position of respect in the business community, including running something and financial reward."	"Happiness, sense of fulfillment, leading a full life; sense of family, contribution to society."
"Success was each next move and what kind of fun I could have. (It) was seeing how you could improve."	"To look back at financial rewards (to live securely), to look at the people you've helped advance."
"Money and achieving a good position for a comfortable life."	"Being able to set goals and accomplish them -- your own private goals, not those imposed by others."
"The fact of passing was a success. Just getting the MBA was an achievement."	"Having had a job that you could put your heart into. Having made enough to provide a comfortable retirement."
"I wanted to get out there and be the #1 guy. I soon found out that wasn't going to happen. You have to cut corners ethically to get there. You have to be completely 100% business oriented."	"Being content and having a contented family."
"(Staying) afloat financially...figure out how to move ahead in a good way."	"Success today is just the enjoyment of being involved in business."
"Success was simple after the depression: Get a job and have some money ($25K/year was good). Be able to support a family. Do some things others were doing."	"How far you get up the scale in business. Being able to make a contribution; make jobs; benefit shareholders -- to have that much influence."
"Success was getting my MBA (because business school was very difficult and stressful."	"Getting things done. My success is selecting and helping people grow. My skills became better at selecting people."
"Getting an assignment and completing it. (Also) promotions and going to the top."	"Undertaking a task, meeting a challenge and fulfilling it. Setting out to do something and do it. Giving direction and/or money so that someone else may succeed."

Money, it will be noted, remains important to most class members, but in a different sense than in the past. The majority want to have enough money to live comfortably, but they do not want money to be the measure of their social and self worth. Only two class members interviewed for this study said that money had become more important to them, now that they were no longer working and were more concerned with financial security.

The shift away from preoccupation with money to a concern with other values is consistent with A. Maslow's and O.G. Brim's theories. Maslow postulated a hierarchy of needs such that one is free to progress to higher order needs such as service to others only when more basic needs have been met. Brim suggests that people adjust their goals to reality, turning toward family and community values when career prospects top out. The shift of emphasis from achievement for the self to concern for others is also consistent with the theories of maturation advanced by Erik Erikson, Daniel Levinson and others, wherein shifts in one's balance of values reflect changes in the life cycle. In the Eriksonian vision of eight life stages, the seventh stage leads to a hard-won maturity gained in the struggle between the generative, creative side of one's life and the forces that slow growth and lead to stagnation. The successful resolution of this age-specific struggle is, according to Erickson, a strengthening of the structure of care, concern and responsibility for others.

One cannot help but be struck by the repeated references throughout these interviews to the explicit need to "nurture others," "to bring other people along", "get pleasure from helping other people", 'put something back", etc. It is possible of course that the men are exaggerating. (We do not know how their wives, children and other people see them.) But even allowing for the exaggeration in the presentation of self that often accompanies success in our culture, the interviews taken as a whole suggest that the men's' value claims are authentic, not hypocritical. The stability of their family lives, the deep concern with religious and ethical values, and the extent of their reported involvement in their communities helps to support the Ericksonian interpretation that the changes they report in their conceptions of success reflect a hard-won process of maturity.

Despite these sweeping changes in their success values, 65 percent of all class members feel that they haven't changed all that much and are essentially the same people they were back then as MBA students, only a bit older.

The moderate changes that class members do see in themselves suggest a certain softening of the hard edges. Like most successful businessmen, most believe that as they have grown older they have become more mellow and tolerant (80%). They also feel they have grown more considerate of others (73%), more self-reflective (66%), easier to live with (57%), less rigid (59%), less anxious (56%), more people oriented (50%), more open with their feelings (48%) and closer to their children (48%). About one out of four cite negative changes such as becoming less creative, less patient and more judgmental.

Even those who feel they have changed a great deal since their B-School days (33%) do not cite drastic changes. Typically, they cite enhanced self-confidence, broader interests and greater maturity. For example:

" "I've developed a great deal more self-confidence...I don't think I'm as brash. I must say that if later in my career I had to deal with someone as brash as I was (back then) I think I would have fired him."

" "I have more self respect and I'm proud of what I've done."

" "I hope my outlook and interests have broadened."

" "I have a better sense of values. I have matured as an individual."

" "I've learned to temper my ego."

" "When I look back on myself...and realize how little I knew about anything -- least of all myself -- I guess I'm a very different person."

" "Initially I was far more achievement oriented, with less emphasis on personal relationships. I've come to value personal relationships much more, and am far less competitive...I've become much more of a coach and delegator, as opposed to leading in a more autocratic way."

To learn in what respects class members felt they had remained the same people, we asked the question: "What aspects of your character and identity have persisted over these 45 years?" The answers largely fall into two categories -- personality traits and ethical concerns. Here are some of the typical personality traits that they believe have persisted throughout the decades:

" "...high energy, getting things done, getting things to work. Stamina."

" "Persistence -- I don't give up. Hangin' in there."

" "My general aggressiveness..."

" "My determination and ambition...Enjoying life."

" "I'm a hard worker...I like to keep learning new things, to be curious about things."

" "A refusal to give up...I don't engage in self pity too much. I always look for a new front to attack..."

" "...I've always had a pretty good sense of responsibility. If I undertake something I generally do it and get it finished...I feel a sense of obligation to carry through whatever I undertake, and I think that's always been true..."

" "Stubbornness...Most people would have given up a long time ago...Tenacity is a better word...I will stay with something until I get it."

The second category focuses on ethical principles:

" "I still have very strong principles...When I think something is right, I will fight for it, sticking up for my principles."

" "Integrity. My character hasn't changed at all. I feel I must always do my duty with self discipline."

" "Telling the truth. Being square. Caring about the people that work for you. Having a real loyalty down as well as expecting loyalty up."

" "...I was a great admirer of my father for his fine, fine reputation...I am thinking mainly of honestly, fairness and a lot of those ethical qualities that you hope people do have."

In other words, even though their conceptions of success have been transformed over the years, these men do not believe they themselves have changed all that much. They believe their essential identity and character has remained intact. What has happened is that as they have grown older and also as they have responded to changes in the larger society, they have gradually integrated society's newer conceptions of success into their own world view. In what follows we will examine how the majority of class members reshaped the conception of success they held when they were young men into a new, highly original constellation of success values that the larger society often misinterprets and misunderstands.

The Fun of Being A Player

In conversations with class members prior to the formal survey several of them had used the word 'fun' to describe their careers and the pleasure it gives them. They made such comments as, "I want to go on working as long as it is fun" and "I would advise young people to find a company they will enjoy, where it is fun to come every day."

Historically, the idea of equating a business career with fun would strike many as incongruous. Words like 'dedicated,' 'committed', 'satisfying' and 'rewarding' come readily to mind. Words such as these evoke no surprise. But 'fun'? It seems an odd way to describe the serious business of managing an enterprise and building a career, especially for men who came of age in World War II and the period following it.

In that era, men derived their greatest satisfaction in fulfilling their role as providers, but the satisfaction came mainly outside of work as an extrinsic benefit. It came from being treated as the head of household, the "man of the house" who was willing to sacrifice his own fulfillment for the sake of meeting the family's material needs. The satisfaction came from the conviction of moral worthiness in sacrificing for others at the expense of one 's own enjoyment. Work was decidedly not supposed to be fun; it was supposed to be frustrating, repressive of man's self-expressive urges, and even ulcer-producing. Have things changed so much that the men of this same generation now regard their work as 'fun'? If so, what in the world do they mean by fun?

In order to learn whether the word -- and the sentiment underlying it -was typical or atypical we asked all class members, "Have you enjoyed your business career in the sense of having had fun with it, or are these the wrong words to use?"

Significantly, only eight men (8%) rejected the word 'fun'. One said: "It was challenging and rewarding, but it wasn't fun." Another said, "I enjoyed being productive but I wouldn't use the word 'fun'." Another observed, "My working career gave me some satisfaction and accomplishment, but I wouldn't describe it as 'fun'."

Note, however, that these reservations come from a tiny minority. An impressive 92 percent majority wish to associate themselves with this ultramodern notion that a business career ought to be, and is, driven by intrinsic satisfaction and is exciting and fun producing.

Many parts of the interviews provide additional evidence that the value of enjoyment from one's work looms large in the priorities of the class of '49. The reader will recall from Chart 1 that when class members are asked, "...what measures of success are very important to you today?", the top rated value out of 18 possible choices is, "enjoying what I am doing." At an astonishing 96% level, this meaning of success weighs in ahead of "having enough money to live comfortably" (83%) and "contentment and peace of mind" (88%). The only success values close to it are "Having a close supportive family" (92%), and "Having children who love me" (90%). Furthermore, when the members of the class who are not yet fully retired (52%) are asked about the reasons they continue to work, the most typical responses are:

" "I enjoy my work."

" "...because I have fun doing it."

" "Because I love it."

" "Both for enjoyment and for the income"

Enjoying one's work emerges as one of the most, perhaps the most central success value in the lives of the class of '49. It didn't start out that way. The interviews suggest that the importance of enjoying one's work grew gradually as the class members matured and times changed. This is a very striking finding. We might expect this sharp focus on enjoying one's work from younger people -- the sons and daughters of this generation. But it is noteworthy that the very men whose lives exemplified the 'good provider' social role model of the 1950s have so changed with the times.

What the interviews also show, however, is that there is nothing simple about the meaning of 'fun' and 'enjoyment'. In some ways these words obscure more than they communicate. They hide a complex and multifaceted constellation of meanings. Since fun and enjoyment loom as such key values, it is worth the effort to unravel the skein of meanings associated with them. We identify a number of analytically distinct meanings hidden under the blanket terms 'enjoyment' and 'fun'. These overlap and cluster together, but in nuance they differ from each other.

The two principal meanings are being a player and developing one's skills and abilities in the act of achieving something meaningful to the individual.

Being a Player. In the interviews, we asked those who have retired fully or partly to discuss the down side of retirement and its principal drawbacks. The number one and two drawbacks they singled out were: "Diminished challenge and excitement" (42%) and "No longer feeling like a player in a great game" (36%). The two are related, since challenge and excitement are the dominant emotions of being a player.

What being a player means is taking action with others to accomplish significant deeds, especially when the action has the characteristics of a game. This aspect of enjoyment is dramatized in those quotes where individuals admit that at times the game itself became more important than the profit maximizing goals of the business.

Its importance is also highlighted in those instances where, in discussing what they might have done differently with their lives, several class members state that they would have chosen careers that gave them better opportunities to be players. (It should be noted that there are dangers associated with being a player. One man said that he would lie awake from three to four every workday morning thinking about how they are "going to get you and what you will do". He represents an extreme case, but there are many mentions throughout the interviews of the need to "watch your back" and "cover your ass").

Developing One's Skills in the Interest of Achievement. The interviews show the distinct quality of enjoyment that comes with developing, honing and applying one's skills. Many men cite concrete instances of skill development and the profound satisfaction it gave them to practice them. The greatest enjoyment of all comes when men feel they are performing at the very peak of their powers and abilities to achieve something important to themselves and others.

Social scientists have long recognized the potency of the achievement need. It is deeply rooted in our culture. People derive great enjoyment from the act of building and achieving. The interviews are replete with quotes from men who speak of the pleasure they derived from seeing things they worked on for long periods of time come to fruition. It is not necessary to feel that what one has built is monumental or enduring or outstanding. The satisfaction comes from the feeling that you have done your job and performed your role in a manner that meets your own standards and those of the people around you.

Other meanings of fun and enjoyment relate to the thrill of winning, of coming out on top, of being number one; the satisfaction of passing on what one has learned to others, particularly helping younger people to develop and grow; the glow that comes from receiving recognition from others; the quiet satisfaction of keeping busy, of keeping one's mind active and alert, and the simple pleasure in being with other people -- the joys of friendship and camaraderie.

Chart 3 presents a variety of quotations from the interviews to illustrate these various meanings of enjoyment. Taken compositely, these quotes elaborate just what class members mean by fun and enjoyment. Some of the meanings approximate the everyday usage of these terms; others vary greatly from common parlance. But together, they help to explain how and why a business career can hold the compelling interest to its participants that it does, apart from its extrinsic rewards of money, power and status. Indeed, these extrinsic rewards fade in importance with age -- at least for this group of men -- while the rewards associated with the various meanings of enjoyment grow in importance.

Chart 3 MEANINGS OF ENJOYMENT
"I suppose I am most proud of certain individual deals. To me, business has been a chess game and when you play the chess game well and you win, that's very exciting. I used to be accused of being more anxious of doing a difficult deal which was less remunerative than a simple deal which was more remunerative."
["What was satisfying] was seeing [the company] grow and prosper and being respected and recognized...feeling that I had contributed something to the industry as a whole...feeling like a significant player in an industry that grew to billions of dollars."
"My objective was to try to be the best in the world in a bunch of small areas...My objective was to have no competition and protect a little tiny piece of the top of the pyramid...That was kind of fun."
"For a small company which had been virtually in one location all of its years to move to a brand new facility, that's always exciting...To try to have a world-class facility. And that we did, and that was fun...For some members of the class, that's pretty small potatoes, but for me it was a lot of fun."
"Seeing things come to fruition that you were involved in and responsible for. Building a new plant in an area that -- for a stuffy old company that was never going to do anything--being able to get that through and seeing it succeed...That was fun and satisfying."
"Building a company from scratch and building it up to be considered the finest in the industry."
"When I became president in 1968 installing modern management methods and teaching more sophisticated management to the group of middle managers...I'd say the highlight of my CEO career was selling the company to a large corporation at double its net worth and the corporation that acquired us said they were paying 100% premium for the depth and quality of our management...which I started from scratch."
"I've enjoyed being an outstanding salesman, and when someone would refer someone to me, I knew I had helped the person who had made that referral. And that was a very definite gratification. I felt that I'd done my job; I'd met my goals of helping that person."
"Helping to formulate basic policies in a corporation that was the fundamental key to success. That was in large corporations. Later on when I sent into smaller corporations, the satisfaction came by taking the company and getting it turned around, getting profitability back and saving it."
"Developing a management team and people who can succeed me in the business. It's very much a family business and I'm very pleased to see family members developing so well ... a combination of family pride and business achievement."
"My career at Litton Industries -- that was the heyday of Litton -- a whirlwind of mergers and acquisitions in which I played a major role."
"Founding, developing and playing a key role in providing extremely meaningful services in the lives of thousands of people."
"Trying to leave this planet a little better than we found it, with trees and greenery, which are our renewable resources."
"I wish all of them would be as fortunate as I have been: To be able to do in business what I thought was very, very important and it connected with community service and my own interests."
"I'd say the entrepreneurial aspects of small business. That's been my charge, which I have thoroughly enjoyed."
"Try to analyze what it is that you're good at and that you really enjoy doing from an academic standpoint or a skills standpoint, then try the best you can to find an opportunity in business to use those skills and enjoy it. If you really like what you are doing and you've found your niche, you are going to be successful."
"My business career was as an engineering manager. The love of technology drove it. It was involved in developing side-looking radar. We did wonderful things over and over again, helping people do better measurements."

The Ethical Dimension of Success

Toward the end of the interview, we asked each class member, "What, in retrospect did you get out of your experience as a B-School student?" The two most frequently cited benefits were:

" Breadth of knowledge and problem solving, and

" Self-confidence and comfort with the corporate world.

Chart 4 presents a range of quotes from the interviews to illustrate how the class members describe these benefits in their own words.

Chart 4 "WHAT DID YOU GET OUT OF YOUR EXPERIENCE AT THE B-SCHOOL?"
Breadth of Knowledge Problem Solving
"They had one little course called Administrative Practices. It taught us to treat human beings as human beings. It was a breadth of knowledge I don't believe I could have achieved elsewhere. It was an exceptional experience."
"...It gave me the authority which I did not have before....using numerical analysis. It gave me an approach to problem solving."
"It gave me a broader outlook and much more good sense. It gave me the ability to avoid fads and to see through the popular delusions of the day that come and go."
"I gained certain analytical tools and it taught me I could cut it."
"The same sort of thing I got out of social anthropology as a Harvard undergraduate -- to see several sides of an issue and not be dogmatic and to have some knowledge of marketing problems and production -- a way of thinking and of not jumping at the obvious."
"It broadened me. It made a thinker out of me. It taught me there's no one answer to a business problem. I developed tremendous humility."
"There were an awful lot of aspects of business that I was not aware of -- something as mundane as accounting became clearer to me. Investment management, manufacturing courses -- I learned a lot of approaches to problems that I would never have had if I had gone directly into business."
"It gave me discipline in decision making: How to go about it, get the facts, weigh the facts and come up with alternative solutions and then decide which is better."
"A much more practical understanding of what business organization, structure, policy -- these kinds of things -- were about. The anatomy of a business."
"I developed a thought process that I wouldn't have otherwise. It gave me an analytical ability and confidence...Sharpening up writing skills and communication skills."
"As a pure liberal arts and classics major, it introduced me to a world I didn't even know existed. I had never seen a balance sheet, and income statement, cash flow -- I didn't know these things existed or what they were used for...It completely opened up a tremendous vista."
"It was enormously broadening and introduced me to a whole string of concepts. It opened us up. You just learned an awful lot of things -- none in great depth, but all in enough depth so they were with you and you could draw on them and use them to the extent you needed them."
"A very broad-based grasp of business. (I never had business courses before)...I enjoyed that education and the technical part of it. And what they didn't teach you, they taught you how to find out."
"It gave me a much better sense of human relations and a general appreciation of the things that go into business: the interrelationship between finance, production and sales that a lot of people really don't understand."
Comfort with the Corporate World and Self-Confidence
"I wanted to go into business, but was unsure about what business was. It taught me what business was all about."
"It gave me a broad understanding of what business was like."
"It gave you some prestige and self-confidence."
"It brought on a tremendous change of image and self-esteem. I went there as practically a zootsuiter and almost overnight I became more sophisticated. To this day, I've never been with a better peer group than with my classmates at the Harvard Business School."
"The first year gave me a grounding on what business would have been like. I could speak with some authority when I went in to see the president of the company or presented an idea. I was confident."
"I had enough confidence that I could do the job and hold my own in a corporation."
"It gave me the self-assurance that I could probably succeed reasonably well in the business environment -- to hold my own with people."
"A feeling of confidence, that okay, now, you're going to have to be good and face the business world. C'mon world, I'm ready!"
"Confidence and a feeling of self-worth."
"To figure out how the business world operated because I didn't have the faintest idea...Harvard was probably the best in the world."
"They built up my confidences, that I have always have been trying to build all my life as a very shy individual...It was the confidence that nobody out there in the business world knew a whole lot more or different subjects or things I couldn't understand. That there weren't any big secrets about how you do this or that..."
"You know, you learn what the business dictionary is all about -- the vocabulary. You also got a good whack at the thought process that goes into solving certain types of business problems."
"A lot of self confidence...an enormously expanded insight into what went into the administrative process whether in business or government...I did get some specific skills. I grew up an awful lot in those two years."
"A lot of confidence. That was the greatest thing I got."

What is striking here is the omission of any reference to ethics. Several men did recall some teaching of ethics at the Business School. For example, one executive said (in response to a question on his community activities), "I always get angry when people talk about HBS and all the emphasis on making money. It simply isn't so. It wasn't when I was there and I'm sure it isn't today." Yet, when the vast majority of class members identify the main benefits they derived from the Business School in the late 1940s, the ethical dimension is missing.

What makes this finding provocative is that when class members are asked what values the Business School should be conveying to today's students, their answer is unequivocal. "Ethics" is by far and away the most important value cited (54%), with other values such as imparting technical skills (14%) and the spirit of entrepreneurship (14%) trailing far behind.

In stressing the importance of ethics, the men are in no way minimizing the other benefits the B-School imparted to them. Quite the contrary. For most of the class, their B-School education was one of the peak experiences in their lives, and they place the highest possible value on what they got out of it. But yet, they feel that the emphasis today should shift from what it was when they were at the school and should focus first and foremost on ethics.

A similar focus on ethics crops up in response to a related question in the interview. We asked all class members what advice they would give to the young people who are just starting their business careers today, in the light of their own 45 years of experience. Among the top rated forms of advice "strongly urged" by more than 70% of all class members, three relate to the ethical dimension:

Chart 5 gives the rank order of forms of advice the class urges on those about to launch their business career. Readers will note the very high ranking given to such practical matters as learning to write and speak effectively and learning a foreign language, and the very low ranking -- #18 out of a list of 18 -- given to working for a big company.

Chart 5 "ADVICE I WOULD GIVE TO YOUNG PEOPLE WHO ARE STARTING THEIR BUSINESS CAREER TODAY "
"I Would Strongly Urge Them To..." %
"Learn to write and speak effectively."	96
"Depend on yourself, not your employer for security.	85
"Learn a foreign language."	85
"...Put the ethical side ahead of everything else; character is more important than skills."	83
"Always remember your family is more important than your career."	72
"Make time for community service."	71
"Get an MBA if you possibly can."	62
"...Avoid narrow technical skills and develop a broad liberal arts background."	52
"Acquire a technical specialty to fall back on."	51
"Give everything you've got to your career until it is well established."	45
"Do a good job but remember it's only a job,	44
"Work for a global company."	38
"Work for a small company, not a big one."	35
"Work for yourself, not for somebody else."	33
"...Don't worry about academic degrees, get as much practical experience as you can."	26
"...Take the toughest job you can find to test yourself."	22
"...Work for a big company."	16

The principal reason so many class members stress ethics is that as they themselves have matured they have increasingly come to realize the key role ethics plays in their own pursuit of success -- in relation to their business lives, their families and their involvement in the community. Tracing their own ethical values back to their parents, 85 percent state that their parents were an important influence in shaping their values.

There are many ways in which their parents influenced them. Some of the men say that their parents taught them the importance of love, marriage and family, others attribute a lasting interest in books, music and education to their parents, others mention religious beliefs and values. But the two largest categories of parental-inspired values, by far, were honesty and integrity and the importance of making a contribution to the society by being a doer and doing the very best that one can. (Chart 6 presents verbatim quotes on these two sets of values).

Chart 6 "HOW DID YOUR PARENTS INFLUENCE YOUR VALUES"
Honesty and Integrity
"They had high aspirations. They had high ethical standards that they imposed on us. My mother was early in women's rights and very active in community affairs, so her example influenced me...She preached the importance of helping others instead of just yourself."
"My father was very successful and was offered the vice-presidency of one of the NY companies. He turned it down because he thought it would be better to bring up his family in a small town. He had good morals. He was very community and service oriented."
"Both of my parents had a keen interest in helping people and that obviously rubbed off on me."
"My father was a Presbyterian minister and from the first, I wanted to clone him -- I wanted to be him -- just who he was. I saw in him what I wanted to be, which is the ultimate praise."
"My mother and father played different roles...In terms of ethical issues, of knowing what you believe in terms of what's right and wrong...My father was more the man of principle and my mom was the person of practice. He influenced me in the sense of values...as I was growing up, those things were very important to me, and they carried throughout my life."
"There are many values that a child learns very quickly. Honesty which leads to integrity. And these are instilled in a child one way or another very quickly and very early."
"My father was very patriotic, loved his country and was a very honest and straightforward person."
"They influenced me very strongly toward my religion. I think my values come partially from that...a sense of integrity and a sense of playing by the rules."
"I always respected both my parents for very high ethical standards, and I think they imparted that to myself and my brother."
"My dad was very successful...maybe not monetarily, but from respect of his peers and fellow workers, he was a great example. He started without any money and he never made a lot, but I think he was very much respected by everyone."
"My father always knew the difference between right and wrong and he expected the same from us."
"My father encouraged me to go to the business school. He influenced my values from the standpoint of integrity, honest, and the importance of family."
"They emphasized the importance of honesty...commitment, hard work and family values. By example, they certainly established the important of family and the importance of being well-rounded -- having an interest in a whole variety of things."
"Integrity and honesty by example. A harder worker there never was than my foster father. He as a grocer -- honest and reliable. If he made a mistake on a bill, he'd give the money back."
"My father and I were partners for 35 years. [He stressed] doing things right; don't try to knock anyone down; and money is not the most important thing."

Chart 6 "HOW DID YOUR PARENTS INFLUENCE YOUR VALUES "
The Importance of Making a Contribution to Society by Being a Doer and Doing the Very Best One Can
"Trying to give one a sense of importance of family and trying to make a contribution to whatever you're doing, whether in business or non-business...My parents were very active in the local community and my father was a leading businessman in town for many years."
"My father was a self-made business executive...a very positively motivated person...He was a real doer. He was a positive influence in the sense of 'hey, you can do anything you want to do."
"I thing they urged me to achieve all I was able to achieve; to do the best I could do."
"I think it started when I started out as a choirboy in Manhattan. I didn't like it and my parents said, 'You joined. You have a job to do and you're going to that church every Sunday and sing in that choir.' This was when I was about 11. They said, 'You've got a responsibility.' I came to like it very much. But they laid down the law: 'When you make a promise to do something, you do it.' That was the influence."
"My father was an outstanding business and community leader and I tried to emulate him."
"Number one, was by example. I saw what I considered to be...a wonderful marriage...a sense of understanding I tried to carry with me -- in the sense of excitement. They had a sense of inquiry. They were both interested in everything. It was a very stimulating family atmosphere."
"My father died when I was 5. He was an extremely successful man and that always stuck in my mind. My mother ran the family business after that and she had a law degree in 1927. So I think we were very much a family where people had been extremely achievement oriented."
"My mother was a school teacher. From the bottom of her toes to the top of her head, she believed that education was good and vital and necessary. All of us were inculcated. She instilled in us the need and the desire and the necessity to get an education, and we all did."
"My mother taught us a sense of noblesse oblige -- that we had to give something back. She wanted us to be successful, but she also wanted us to be successful in the sense that we would be serving society."
"They were important in shaping some of the positive values and some of the negative ones. My father was an achiever and I guess, I got my urge to achieve from him. But my mother was a loving, kind person and I've come to value that more as I get older."
"He was a successful man and kindled a sense of accomplishment in me."
"Both my parents were highly motivated, highly concerned, caring people. They were concerned about their children and society. They were committed citizens. They knew how to have fun, though they didn't have a lot of time for it. They were always fair and loving. They imparted most of this by example."

How do these ethical values manifest themselves in the pursuit of business success? Throughout the interviews, class members make repeated references to the absolute importance of integrity in the conduct of one's business life. There is almost a one hundred percent consensus that it is essential in business "to be straight with people" (97%), to "avoid the quick buck if it means cutting corners" (97%) and "to give your customers or clients full value for their money (96%)."

These values are ideals which many class members admit are difficult and often costly to live up to. Meeting these high ideals involved sacrifice:

" "I used to have falling outs...because I would not bend my ethics to fit the situation and I find that in business it is inevitable to find people for whom results come first and ethics come second, instead of the other way around...I did not always endear myself to my boss."

" "The people I worked for didn't really want to hear what the truth was or if they heard the truth they didn't want to do anything about it...Eventually I left the company."

" "There comes a time when the organization demands that you do something and there's no way you can do this and still live with yourself..I was the vice president of the organization and it demanded that I do certain things which I considered not appropriate and I walked out. I walked away."

" "When a corporation want to take deceptive, in some cases even illegal steps, you have a lot of problems with it...I resolved the one I'm thinking about my not sending the letter (the company wanted me to send). I wouldn't do it."

Some class members report making compromises with their ethical ideals. One, a government employee, speaks of his experience in banking where he would turn down non creditworthy applications only to have "Congressman Zilch's office go to the Secretary of Commerce and before you knew it our loan negative was reversed and the company got its money." Asked how he resolved this dilemma, he answered: "We'd flow with it.

We'd cover ourselves with notes to the file saying this loan was made over our protest...We'd play paper games like that."

Another executive states: "...you have endless occasions when you have an opportunity to make money by cutting a corner and sometimes I have and sometimes I haven't." Asked how he resolved these various opportunities to cut corners, he answered: "Most of the time I resolved it in a way that I would be willing to discuss, but in a few instances I don't think I want to talk about it." Asked how he might resolve such ethical dilemmas today, he responded: "I'd be less inclined to cut a corner. One of the advantages of being my own boss is that I've made my own choices and the way I want to live with them."

Stepping back from the specific findings, one is left with several general impressions about the role of ethics in the business lives of class of '49. First, that business ethics is not an academic abstraction for these men: it is something they have lived with intimately and concretely: not necessarily every day, but frequently enough and with enough intensity so that it has become a subject of central importance to them. Second, that they are men who brought a firmly formed ethical code to their careers, rooted in the nurturance they received from their parents. And third, that perhaps they were not as well prepared by their MBA education as they might have been for all of the subtleties and conflicts they encountered between their conviction that the best way to make profits is by serving people and giving full value for the money, and the pressure to make profits and advance one's career by cutting corners. We will discuss the significance of this ethical struggle at the end of this article.

Career versus Family

The most frequently cited conflict by a wide margin is that between business success and family. The conflict is omni-present: a business career is so demanding that it would be all too easy to devote one's total time and energy to it. Raising a family and maintaining a close and loving relationship with one' s wife and children is also demanding of time and energy. Inevitably, the two collide. How well have the members of the class of '49 managed this conflict (at least in their own eyes), and what advice do they have for younger people facing this same conflict, in the light of their hard won experience?

On this issue, the class is split down the middle: 46% feel they "did a good job of" managing the conflicting demands of career and family life, 44 admit "they could have done it a bit better," and 6% say that in retrospect, they would have done it very differently. The other 4% were either never married or didn't answer the question. In other words, exactly half the men interviewed feel they did not manage this conflict in a wholly satisfactory way.

Asked what, in retrospect, knowing what they now know, they might have done differently, the most frequent response was that they should have worked less and spent more time with their family and children. Some men mention the corrosive effects of excessive travel and blind loyalty to the company. Most experienced the conflict as an almost irreconcilable struggle between two all-important values. So difficult is it resolve satisfactorily that almost half of those who confessed that they had not managed the conflict with complete success admitted that they would probably repeat the same mistakes if they had it to do all over again. One man summed it up this way:

" "I tended to favor career, because I rationalized as many men do that my job was to create...security and provide various benefits and therefore the family could do without me at the time."

Asked if he would do it differently, knowing what he knows today, he answered, "Uh, probably not."

All members of the class were asked what advice they had for new Business School graduates on "how they should go about balancing their business and non-business lives." Answers ranged from one extreme to the other, with most men favoring a balance in which the family is given its just due even at the expense of the business side of life. Only 6% give clear priority to business over family and other non-business involvements. An additional 18% takes the position that at the outset of one's business career it may be necessary to give priority to business, but thereafter a better balance ought to be achieved. At the other end of the spectrum, 25% urge that priority be given to family and other non-business interests and activities. In the middle, 37% insist that a viable balance can and should be found between the business and non-business spheres of life. The remaining 14% were stymied and gave not answer.

Chart 7 presents a series of verbatim quotes on the advice members of the class have for young people on how to resolve the difficult tension between the demands of business and a stable and happy family life.

Chart 7 ADVICE ON HOW TO RESOLVE THE FAMILY/CAREER DILEMMA
Priority to the Job (At Least at First)
"You've got to give priority to your job, because it's the basis of your family's security and your own feeling of satisfaction."
"Keep business first."
"Work very hard. The family is important -- one of my sons thinks it's more important than business. That's his choice not mine. You have to spend a lot of time on business initially -- a lot of time."
"Find a job or a company where you enjoy what you do everyday. Then find time for your family, then for outside interests."
"First of all, you have to be committed to your business. Number one. If your business is not successful, you certainly are not doing a service to the community, yourself, or your family. So I think you have to make sure that takes priority."
"My advice changes over the decades. The first decade, if they're going to start their own business, I think they've got to spend more time with their own business."
"There's no question that it depends upon the job they take, certainly they must make a commitment to the job initially, recognizing the importance of their family."
"If they make a fair amount of successes in life, then they'll be happy also in their home life...If you can become a success in your business and don't sacrifice the family too much, it will come back in spades because you'll be happy and you'll be able to treat them properly."

Chart 7 ADVICE ON HOW TO RESOLVE THE FAMILY/CAREER DILEMMA
Priority to the Family
"They should never sacrifice their family for the business. There's not enough money to pay for messing up a child."
"The greatest satisfaction I've had...has come from my family. I had to put business on a certain high pedestal...but the family aspect as you look back on it is the only thing that lasts. What did you get out the business world? Oh, you got some money and maybe somebody gave you a gold watch. But your family -- if you're fortunate and you're still around and you've nurtured it from the beginning and they still pay attention to you -- I don't think there's anything more important as you grow older than having a good relationship with your family."
"The family is really the bulwark of anybody's life in society and you simply have to put that first, in my opinion. Most of the people that have been successful have done just that."
"I still think your own personal happiness comes first, no matter how much money you make. Make sure your family is all right."
"Having success in business isn't worth a damn unless you have someone to share it with. If you destroy your family along the way, it's not worth it."
"Jobs are temporary, family is permanent. You have to carve out time for your family. You have to have an interest you can share with them."
"What it all comes down to is friends and family and love. Companies will take everything you give them and more."
"Stay relaxed or it will mess up your marriage. Some people get too worked up about careers and lose track of other important things."

Community Involvement

Despite all of the pressures on their time from the demands of their business careers and family lives, virtually all class members did community service. Their involvement covered an immense range -- from symphony orchestras, museum directorships and church choirs to running soup kitchens, managing the local zoo, running the police boys' club, organizing sailboat races, running for political office, starting a school for emotionally disturbed young people, and fund raising for countless non-profit public service organizations.

Chart 8 gives a sampling of their community activities.

The single largest categories of community activities are religious in character, followed by service on non-profit boards and organizations established to assist young people.

Public service has given most class members a different form of gratification than that offered by their business careers, much of it responsive to a deeply felt need to give something back to the community, to help those who need help, to heed a religious call to do service and to adhere to strong ethical standards.

Chart 8 COMMUNITY SERVICE ACTIVITIES
Korean Veterans Memorial Milwaukee Art Museum Metropolitan Planning Board of Toronto Board of Selectman Democratic National Finance Committee City Commissioner Job Corps National Alliance of Businessmen Soup Kitchen Church Board Chairman Trustee of Synagogue National Council of Churches Society of Friends (Quakers) Eucharistic Minister The Cancer Society Robert Crown Center for Health Education YMCA Salvation Army Berry College Advancement Committee Endowment for the Arts Windsor County Partners Wildlife Safari Foundations Ethics Programs	Botanical Gardens Planned Parenthood Trustee/President of a Hospital Polio Plus Nursing Home Partnership for Drug Free America Advisory Committee on Substance Abuse CASA (Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse Carnegie Substance Abuse Advisory Committee Trustee of St. John's Hospital, LA Masters Swimming Program Umpire for Little League Started a local Soccer League Settlement House for Children Trustee of Catholic Girls' College Chairman United Negro College Fund in Wisconsin Founder of Milton School for Emotionally Disturbed Children Police Boys Club President PTA President Securities and Exchange Commission	Johnson Foundation Cleveland Foundation University of Texas Law School Foundation West Georgia College Foundation Better Business Bureau Boy Scouts Vista del Mar Orphan's/Children's Home Santa Barbara Humane Society United Way Urban Institute Trustee at Case Western Reserve University Goodwill Industries Public TV Station Repertory Theater Regent of Holy Cross University San Francisco Conservatory of Music Shakespearean Festival, Asheland Greenwich Academy Memphis Health Foundation Madison Square Boys and Girls Club

The Not So Invisible Hand

There are some broader implications concerning the nature of business success that deserve comment. The preoccupation of the class of '49 with the ethical dimension of success collides head on with the stereotypes of business dominant in the society.

For more than a century, a negative stereotype of the business executive has pervaded the culture. Countless books and films have drummed into our sensibilities the picture of the successful businessman (it is a predominantly male image) as a rapacious, wealth-obsessed person who puts money and profit ahead of all other values. Sometimes he is portrayed as a lonely and pitiable figure unable for all of his money to find happiness, having sacrificed to his false god of wealth his spouse, children, friends, community and the other values that give life meaning. At other times, he is presented as a powerfi~1 villain, exploiting his employees, tossing them on the scrap heap of the unemployed when they no longer serve his convenience, bilking the public, creating hazards to public health and safety, all this destruction in the name of a sterile and pitiless "bottom line."

The members of the class of '49 do not fit this stereotype. The interviews suggest that they are neither larger-than-life predators nor lonely, pitiable figures who have sacrificed family and friends for wealth. On the contrary, the survey shows a group of men deeply committed to their families and communities who mellow out as they grow older, who put the enjoyment of work ahead of money and power and for whom the ethical dimension of business life is all-important opportunity to reaffirm the merits of profit making. They do so because they assume that a truly successful business makes its profits by serving the public's health, safety, convenience and material needs, and that the quickest road to failure and disaster is to put the bottom line ahead of these values. They also assume that of course everyone understands and accepts this fundamental verity, so that in praising profit-making they are saluting a commonly shared value of democratic capitalism. Whereas, in actuality, more often than not, they are inadvertently reconfirming the public's worst fears that business is more interested in profits than in contributing to the public's well-being.

Classical economic theory, and the ideology that accompanies it, also contributes to the stereotype. Hardly a day passes without some variant of the 'invisible hand' thesis offered in defense of market economics and the capitalist system: the idea that a market economy works best when individuals and businesses are free to pursue their own economic interests, and that some automatic mechanism reconciles this pursuit with the general interest. It is a short and logical step from this argument to the "greed-is good" sermon of Ivan Boesky.

When we examine the lives of the class of '49, however, we clearly see the inseparability of ethics and the vocation of business in democratic capitalism. Most members of the class of '49 have served on the front lines of our economic-political system. There is no better way to learn how - capitalism works in practice than to listen carefully to what men such as these tell us about how they have made their day to day decisions over a period of years and decades. Being straight with people, avoiding corner cutting for the sake of profits, and giving people full value for their money -- these are the most universally endorsed business ethics they hold. The importance they attribute to them does not come from any lack of challenge. These older men are insistent on imparting this code of ethics to young people starting their business careers precisely because the temptation to compromise the code is omnipresent. The older men have come to see the necessity of resisting this temptation as essential to their success.

What they say undercuts the invisible hand theory. There is nothing automatic about reconciling their pursuit of a successful business career with ethical service to public health, safety and well being. As we have seen, they freely discuss the many opportunities they had to "cut corners". Some admit, with regret, that they sometimes did so. All of them urge that the number one priority of the B-School should be to teach ethics, above all else. They have learned from their own experience how necessary an ethical consciousness is to the pursuit of profitability without cutting corners.

We have seen how constant juggling was needed to reconcile a successful family life with a successful career. Obviously, there is no invisible hand balancing these two success goals. Nor is there any automatic mechanism reconciling profits based on serving the public rather than exploiting it.

Nothing would enhance society's understanding of business better than a genuine grasp of this point. Democratic capitalism, as it has evolved in the United States, is more than the freedom of markets to function without interference. It also takes a high order of ethical integrity to make it work successfully as a political institution. As long as our society recognizes this truth and insists that its business people assign to it the highest order of importance, our system -- and the people who manage it -- will be successful in the fullest meaning of the term.

This is the message the class of '49 is sending to the rest of us. It is a message that is essential not only to our own people at home, it is also important for other nations who are just beginning to experiment with market economies to know that technical economics without ethical commitment is a formula for political disaster.

This way of reconciling their personal success with the well-being of the larger society lies at the very heart of the self-identity and outstanding success of the class of '49.