Why History Matters to Managers

Participants in a recent roundtable discussion concurred that understanding history is an important part of managing. According to Richard S. Tedlow, an assistant professor at Harvard Business School (HBS), history gives order to experience and helps get events into shared memory. Participants agreed that history also helps managers determine their organization's current position using comparisons with the past. In addition, managers can determine whether current events are part of a continuous trend or are discontinuities. However, it is important that managers realize that history identifies important influences, not pat formulas for action. Richard H. K. Vietor, an HBS professor, added that history is even more important in choosing strategies in today's rapidly changing business environment. Alonzo L. McDonald noted that managers who consider historical perspectives will be able to develop strategies flexible enough to accommodate change.