Almost two decades ago the Institute created its highly regarded School of Management and Strategic Studies, the first program ever to employ online distance education, thereby launching this now burgeoning field. This program brought together senior executives from all sectors of the economy, and 26  countries, meeting for a week every six months in La Jolla to begin deliberations on the new requirements of leadership. These deliberations, led by outstanding faculty members drawn from major universities and research centers, were continued for the next six months via computer conferencing, with members participating from their homes and offices. The school demonstrated the power of this medium not only to serve educational goals, but to create a community, a network of leaders communicating in relevant, detailed, thoughtful, and personal ways.

The curriculum covered Globalism and Interdependence, the Corporation and Government, Technology and the Management of Change, Environment and Resources, Capital and Productivity, Organization and Human Resources, and Management Philosophy and Ethics.

Among the alumni of the program are outstanding leaders including Wayne Peterson, retired president of Sprint, General Barry McCaffrey, US Drug Czar, Gloria Feldt, President of Planned Parenthood Federation, General Wesley Clark, Supreme Commander of NATO, Michael Crichton, author and filmmaker, and many others.

The distinguished faculty included more than 100 senior academics drawn from such leading institutions as Yale, Harvard, Chicago, Berkeley, MIT, Cambridge, Haifa, NYU, Stanford, and UCLA. A representative sample of the faculty would include political economist and Labor Secretary Robert Reich, NATO Ambassador Harlan Cleveland, philosopher Abraham Kaplan, New Yorker editor Hendrik Hertzberg, futurist Herman Kahn, British anthropologist Mary Douglas, social psychologist Alex Bavelas, philosopher of technology Langdon Winner, economist Rachel McCulloch, Whole Earth Catalog founder Stewart Brand, management theorist Elliott Jaques, economics columnist Robet Kuttner, climatologist Walter Orr Roberts, environmental philosopher Kristin Schrader-Frechette, political scientist Charles Lindblom, poet laureate Howard Nemerov, Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Ambassador Herbert York, sociologist Arlie Hochschild, and FCC commissioner Nicholas Johnson.

Among the dozens of speakers at the gatherings in La Jolla were leadership authority Warren Bennis, columnist Molly Ivins, management consultant Anthony Athos, Army General Max Thurman, California governor Jerry Brown, writer Erica Jong, feminist Betty Friedan, psychologist Carl Rogers, labor leader William Wimpinsinger, Rockefeller Foundation head Peter Goldmark, computer pioneer Douglas Englebart, and Common Cause founder John Gardner.

Weeklong VIP interviews online included conversations with politician Geraldine Ferraro, Nobel physicist Glenn Seaborg, conservative author William F. Buckley, astronaut Rusty Schweikart, polio researcher Jonas Salk and others.

Many of the world's most important organizations sent their best executives. Those organizations included AT&T, Polaroid, IBM, Disney, Westinghouse, CIA, Chase Manhattan Bank, U. S. Army, TRW, Westinghouse, National Science Foundation, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Exxon, Computer Sciences Corp., Herman Miller, Digital Equipment Corp., Lockheed, and many others.

For a more complete introduction to the School of Management and Strategic Studies, its rationale, curriculum, faculty and speakers, participating organizations, and comments from participants, download the various elements of the 1991 Program Guide by linking to the following areas of interest, using the navigational menu at the top:

• Introduction
• Curriculum
• Faculty and Speakers
• Sample program
• Participating organizations
• Participants' comments