Bush's MBA

Twenty-six of 42presidents,including Bill Clinton,were lawyers.Seven were generals.George W.Bush becomes the first with an MBA.

Those who have had Bush for a boss since the mid-1980s —in the businesses of oil,baseball and Texas state government —describe his management style as straight from the pages of the organizational-behavior textbooks he studied while getting his masters of business administration degree at Harvard University in 1975.

He manages by what is known as "walking around,"having learned that sitting behind a desk and passing out memos does little to energize anyone.

He has a reputation for fueling "creative tension"among his subordinates,encouraging them to take and defend opposing positions.That sacrifices harmony,but puts ideas to the test and lets Bush stay above the fray,where he can offer guidance instead of barking orders.Imagine the creative tension that may erupt from the likes of Secretary of State-designate Colin Powell and Defense Secretary-designate Donald Rumsfeld.

Above all,former employees say that he is a master at delegating and installing measures of accountability —ways of knowing whether subordinates are getting the job done without looking over any shoulders.That frees Bush for strategic thinking —perhaps the two words hammered into MBA students most —which means thinking ahead to seize opportunities and to derail threats to the best of plans.

"George was my boss,"says Tom Schieffer,who served as president of the Texas Rangers under Bush between 1991and 1995."But he never made me feel that way.He went out of his way to treat me as a partner,not a subordinate."

That's one trait that might be of concern,says Michael Useem,director of the Wharton Center for Leadership and Change at the University of Pennsylvania.It's important for subordinates to feel part of the team,but not just because the boss craves popularity.Just as in the military,it must be understood who is in charge when the final order is given.

Bush's critics say his success has more to do with his family name than his business expertise,that his oil company was bailed out by a timely acquisition and that he leveraged his influence to get a new baseball stadium compliments of taxpayers.

His defenders say his leadership skill is real."I've been in business with a lot of Harvard MBAs,"says Texas billionaire Richard Rainwater,a key investor among the 70who put up $86million in the 1989acquisition of the Texas Rangers baseball team.One of the 70was Bush,who borrowed $600,000for a stake that he sold nine years later for $14.9million.

"George has a better human touch.He can read balance sheets as well as body language,"says Rainwater in his first interview about Bush since the governor launched his campaign for president.

MBA-speak from the bully pulpit

Bush calls his MBA a training exercise in capitalism that gave him the confidence to walk into a room of financiers.To the world,it could mean at least four years of MBA-speak from the bully pulpit.liuxuepaper.com