Developing the next generation of case teachers

The most consistent of all the takeaways from my conversations with deans and senior faculty during the 2018 Case Centre Awards presentations is how essential it is to induct new, junior faculty into the skills and techniques of case teaching.

Schools everywhere, of every variety and resource, are finding it hard to recruit experienced case teachers.

In fact, there is a clear message that teachers across all subject fields are finding it increasingly challenging to develop their careers, while balancing their commitments to teaching, research and scholarships, and managerial progression.

So, I am delighted that The Case Centre will extend the reach of our support for the case method by being present at the next presentation of the International Teachers Programme (ITP) (6-11 January 2019), a faculty-development programme designed to enhance the skills, capabilities and mindsets of teachers developing academic careers. The event will be hosted by London Business School, on behalf of the International Schools of Business Management (ISBM), working together with EFMD.

The programme uses a stimulating mix of coaching, case study techniques, and body, voice and presence techniques, to help faculty develop their teaching skills.

The case method can sometimes be seen as an enthusiast’s acquired taste and not in the mainstream. Therefore, it’s good to see case teaching taking its place in a programme aiming to develop confidence and virtuosity across a whole range of approaches to teaching.

I’d be very pleased to hear from any case teaching alumni from past presentations of ITP, with views on how it may have enhanced your skills or career.

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Remembering David Garvin

David Garvin

The Case Centre’s 2018 award for Outstanding Contribution to the Case Method is dedicated to the memory of David Garvin, in recognition of his long and deep commitment to case writing and teaching not only in his home classrooms at Harvard Business School but, through his cases and tutoring, in other classrooms throughout the world.

I was privileged earlier this month to present the award posthumously to David’s widow Lynn and daughter Cindy at a ceremony with HBS Dean Nitin Nohria, former colleagues Jan Rivkin and Willis Emmons, Jim Aisner (Director of Media and Public Relations), Cullen Schmitt (Senior Communications Coordinator) and Eric Aldrich (The Case Centre General Manager).

Academia has many ways of recognising the intellect of its most prominent members and David rightly held many of those bright trophies and ribbons.

But in making this award, we sought to recognise David’s many other strengths.

Strength of heart, spirit and generosity in advancing the skills and knowledge of others, and by that, advancing the development of what we believe to be the most magical way of nurturing the essential skill of any student of management, that which David himself described as The courage to act under uncertainty.

So, in this citation, I pay tribute to David’s generosity in using his own strengths as a case educator and theorist to develop those of others. He was an amazing case teacher, and author of over 70 case studies that continue to be selected by his peers to stimulate discussion-led learning in classrooms around the world. As faculty chair at the HBS Christensen Center for Teaching and Learning, David had an immense impact on the theory and practice of the case method and influenced thousands of case teachers and authors around the world.

Cindy, Lynn and Richard

David was held in special regard by all of us at The Case Centre. He was a constant friend and always quick to respond when asked for an incisive quote or contribute to an article or interview.

Archimedes said: “Give me a lever and a place to stand and I will move the world.”

David Garvin found his place to stand in Harvard Business School and his lever in the case method. He moved the world.