It’s summertime and the living is easy—or at least it’s supposed to be. For faculty at Emory University and its Goizueta Business School, however, the pursuit of knowledge knows no seasons and takes no vacation. Even when they relax by reading a book, for example, they’re still expanding their mental horizons, and learning something new. As some off-the-cuff conversations demonstrate, a good reader can pick up valuable tidbits from just about any kind of book, including fiction, history and politics.

"I recently read two books written by Ken Follett," says Stephen Stuk, associate professor in the practice of information systems and operations management at Goizueta. "The first, The Pillars of the Earth [HarperCollins Publishers, 2007] focused on a small town in 12th century England, where people who lived in squalor nonetheless strove to build a grand cathedral. The second book, World Without End [Penguin Group (U.S.A.), 2007], was a sequel and takes the reader through the 14th century."

On one level the novels are about life, death and romance, notes Stuk. But on another plane they illustrate the evolution of the flow of knowledge.

"In the beginning people tried to create by a pure trial-and-error method," he says. "They were isolated and had little ability to tap into knowledge that people in other parts of England or the Continent may have possessed. Despite the frustrations and despite knowing that they were starting a project they would never live to complete, people went ahead and built long-term multigenerational projects like cathedrals anyway. They were working to help future generations."

Stuk says he sees a sharp contrast between the long-term view of the past and the instant gratification demanded by today's generation of men and women.

Through the Internet we may be awash in knowledge today, he says, but in some ways we may also be intellectually poorer.

"Global knowledge is now at our fingertips, but today's generation tends to fast-forward through it," Stuk observes. "They often utilize the tools of knowledge, like using a software program to perform regression analysis without understanding the principles behind the task."

In contrast, the builders and others in Follett's novels may have started out by simply mimicking what they saw, but they eventually developed principles to guide their efforts.

"The first cathedral builders saw a design they admired and tried to recreate the shape without understanding what supported the structure, or how it could withstand weather and other harsh conditions," says Stuk. "So their first attempts either fell apart during the construction phase or collapsed soon after the structure was completed.”

But that did not stop them from making progress.

“Gradually, as they began to meet people from other areas, the builders exchanged knowledge and gained an understanding of the principles of architecture and of building materials,” he says. “Over time they improved their skills and built up a base of knowledge.”

Similarly, the two novels show how commerce and knowledge-building are intertwined.

"Back in the 12th century, kings would create villages and populate them with peasants who would grow sheep and generate a steady supply of wool,” observes Stuk. “But the British were not skillful weavers, so they would send the raw material to the Dutch and Italians, who would send back fine finished garments and other products. In other words there was specialization. Eventually, though, trade grew and so did an exchange of knowledge."

Today, however, too much knowledge is pre-packaged, says Stuk.

"Last summer I was in Italy and saw a beautiful dome in Florence, made entirely of stone, that could not be built today because we lost that particular bit of knowledge," he says. "We have supercomputers, we can place people into space, but we cannot create an architectural masterpiece that was built 2,000 years ago."

To understand the future, says Stuk, one must understand the past.

"On a daily basis I read a variety of business and academic material that enables me to increase my store of knowledge," he says. "But reading historical novels and other fiction helps me to gain a perspective on events I might otherwise lack."

Life, death, romance and national philosophy have dominated Deborah Valentine’s reading this summer.

“I usually select a good mix of fiction and nonfiction with the aim of furthering my knowledge about cross-cultural communication issues,” says Valentine, a senior lecturer in management communication and the founding manager of the Goizueta Business Writing Center. “It's also always good to find fresh illustrations for the classroom.”

One book, Last Rights: Rescuing the End of Life from the Medical System, by Stephen P. Kiernan (St. Martin's Griffin, 2007), points out “the absurdity of Western attitudes toward death,” says Valentine. “It shows how our legal structures perpetuate outdated ideals of acute care.”

It is a valid question for Valentine, who challenges her students by asking them to consider questions like whether or not death is the end of life or if it is a part of life.

“So this book will provide good illustrations of Western attitudes,” she adds.

Valentine characterizes a second book, Veil of Roses by Laura Fitzgerald (Random House Inc., 2006) as a cross-cultural romance that examines a young woman's transition from strict Iranian society to wide-open American freedom.

“I especially enjoyed reading about her adventures in English as a second language class,” says Valentine, “since I teach business communication to our ESL students at Goizueta.”

International activity and differing perspectives are also at the center of two books read by Richard Metters, anassociate professor of information systems and operations management at Goizueta:  The China Price: The Trust Cost of Chinese Competitive Advantage  by Alexandra Harney (Penguin Group [USA], 2008) and Operation China: From Strategy to Execution by Jimmy Hexter and Jonathan Woetzel, (Harvard Business School Press, 2007).

“Having been on two trips to see business in China with groups of MBA students, I have a natural interest in what goes on there,” says Metters, explaining what drew him to books about China. “Certainly with the amount of business being done between the West and China, knowing something about China is worthwhile.”

Metters says that taken alone, the books remind him of the parable about blind men who run their hands over an elephant and based on each one’s tactile experience, they come up with wildly divergent descriptions of the pachyderm.

“Each book has a particular perspective,” he explains. “Reading them both provides a more complete picture.”

Operation China traces business in China through the perspective of strategic capabilities.

“The authors state that multinational firms manufacturing in China started with low quality, inefficient processes that would not be tolerated in their Western factories,” relates Metters. “However, the capabilities of the Chinese firms are increasing at the same time that the wage differential is decreasing, leading to their main proposition that multinational firms have to have world-class execution in China, just as they do in higher wage countries.”

The China Price completes the picture by focusing on the human side of the issue.

“The history of the way China was opened to the West in the 1980s is instructive regarding what can be done in China today,” Metters adds. “A few hundred million Chinese are migrant workers, working, eating, and sleeping at the factories that make our clothing, watches, and a hundred other items. These workers are drawn to what we consider very low wage, boring, and repetitive jobs for the money.”

The migrant workers often travel a thousand or so miles from their homes to get a factory job, working long hours, and evading inspection from Western firms, to make enough money to quit in a few years and go back to their villages, he says.

“Taken together, these two books point out what must be done—excellence in execution,” explains Metters. “They also show how difficult it is going to be to do so.”

Perhaps it is part of their inquisitive nature, but controversy and change seem to be common threads that unite much the reading favored by Emory’s faculty. For Stuk, it was way the old order slowly yielded to a newer way of doing things; and for Metters, it was the balance between opportunity and exploitation in China.

The book that Susan P. Gilbert selected focused on the contrasts between the old guard composed of baby boomers, and the incoming legion known as the millennials, typically encompassing about 70 million Americans born between 1977 and 1994.

Millennials Go to College: Strategies for A New Generation on Campus by Neil Howe and William Strauss (Lifecourse Associates, 2007), examines the differences between the millennials and the Gen Xs and the baby boomers,” says Gilbert, an associate professor in the practice of finance and associate dean and director of the Evening MBA Program at Emory.

“The book lists seven core traits that seem to be common among the millennials,” she says. “They tend to be special, sheltered, confident, team-oriented, conventional, pressured, and achieving.”

The characteristics of the millennials should not be ignored, notes Gilbert.

“The issues addressed in the book are relevant to educators, to businesses who hire these individuals, and to managers who will train these individuals,” she says. “They will also be important to companies who sell to these individuals.”

Global affairs are also on the minds of Emory faculty, as exemplified by Jeffrey A. Rosensweig, an associate professor of finance and director of the Global Perspectives Program at Goizueta Business School.

“I recently read Day of Empire: How Hyperpowers Rise to Global Dominance—and Why They Fall, by Amy Chua (Doubleday 2007),” says Rosensweig.

In the book Chua points out that in just over two centuries, America has grown from a regional power to a superpower, and to what is today called a hyperpower. But the author also asks if America can retain its position as the world’s dominant power, or if it has already begun to decline.

“Chua argues that historically the key factor in turning a powerful nation into a hyperpower has been relative tolerance,” says Rosensweig. “She analyzes many large empires throughout history, including the Persian, Mongol, Roman, Dutch, and British regimes. By being more tolerant than neighboring nations of other cultures and religions, these empires attracted the best and brightest into their lands, spurring economic, social, and political prosperity.”

These empires collapsed, however, after they adopted an intolerant stand when it came to different groups of people.

“Chua uses these examples from history to analyze where America stands today and where it is headed,” says Rosensweig. “She discusses, through this lens of relative tolerance, the possibility of China and India becoming the next hyperpowers in the global economy. I find this book is extremely relevant today as America struggles with topics like immigration and the rise of China and India.”

In addition to being informative, a good book can challenge the perceptions of the reader, as two Emory faculty members relate.

“I was surprised after reading Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left, From Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning, by Jonah Goldberg (Doubleday Publishing, 2008),” explains Paul Rubin, a professor of law and economics at Emory. “The main thrust was to show that much of modern liberal political thought is quite statist, and in that sense is consistent with fascist thought of the 20th century.”

The thesis is controversial, but the author makes a good case, says Rubin.

“An important point is that those on the political left who accuse conservatives of being ‘fascists’ should be careful about pointing fingers,” he says. “It is a relevant book that shows the dangers of excessive reliance on the state for economic and other decisions. The argument that liberalism and fascism are closely related was not an obvious argument, but it was made very well.”

Anandhi Bharadwaj was also initially skeptical about Our Underachieving Colleges: A Candid Look at How Much Students Learn and Why They Should Be Learning More, by Derek Bok [Princeton University Press, 2006], a former Harvard University president and current faculty member at the institution.

“At first I was concerned that it might be an agenda-driven indictment of colleges,” says Bharadwaj, an associate professor of information systems and operations management at Goizueta. “But I was pleased to find that it is a thoughtful, insightful work. Having said that, I would add that while I agree with some of the points made in the book, there are other points that I question.”

As Bharadwaj sees it, Bok’s central thesis is that American universities are not quite living up to their potential.

“The problem Dr. Bok points out is that many institutions of higher education tend to be locked into a certain structure and are subject to the influence of certain pressure groups,” she explains. “These forces all influence the curriculum and teaching style. Eventually, the PhD candidates that graduate are themselves influenced and continue the style when they start to teach.”

Bok suggests placing greater emphasis on enhancing student’s written communication, quantitative reasoning, and critical thinking skills, says Bharadwaj. Bok’s program would also have students undergo broader training to gain a wider perspective that would enable the students to view themselves as global citizens.

“That is an admirable goal,” says Bharadwaj, “but there may be unanticipated consequences. Some solutions may create other unintended problems that are worse than what we have now.”

For example, Bok’s proposal for including more training in teaching methods in PhD programs could take away from the research focus of doctoral students. The fact is, she says, that PhD programs are not—or at least should not—be designed to mass-produce educators who share a common outlook, even if it is one that is admirable.

“Instead, a well-designed PhD program will not simply train students—it will encourage candidates to engage in research and reach their own conclusions,” she says. “It will also encourage them to develop their own style.”

Bharadwaj points to the Goizueta PhD program, and says that while it encompasses some training-type of aspects, “our candidates also learn by doing and experimenting. Eventually they will develop their own teaching style. Too much training on teaching in a PhD program, will ultimately serve no one’s best interests.”

Some of Bok’s points however, struck home.

“I agree that a university should enhance students’ communication and critical thinking skills, and perhaps work harder to give them a sense of global citizenship,” she says. “I can also see the point that universities are, in some ways, slow to change course in some instances.”

Bharadwaj points out, for example, that many curriculum-related issues at universities are decided—or are at least heavily influenced—by faculty committees, and “since the committee work is often voluntary and are subject to change, they often do not have much continuity,” potentially reducing the likelihood that a mandate calling for change will be carried out within a short period of time.

The university model itself may work against significant change, adds Bharadwaj.

“Unlike a corporation that is modeled on top-down authority, a university is generally modeled on consensus,” she says. “Consequently, change is likely to occur slowly, even if it is well intentioned.”

On a more personal level, Bharadwaj says some of Bok’s observations drove her to question some aspects of her own approach to education.

“Dr. Bok argues that universities should take more steps to enhance students’ moral reasoning abilities,” she says. “He suggests approaching it from a broad perspective, encompassing ethics, community service, and social causes. Perhaps I have not explicitly brought these issues to the forefront in my own classes.”

But the issue, she adds, may not be so clearly delineated.

“At Goizueta Business School we embrace the concept of participatory learning, where students are encouraged to discuss issues using the case-study concept,” she says. “So in a sense we are already at least part way to Dr. Bok’s goals.”

Additionally, moral reasoning and a business education do not have to be mutually exclusive, she says.

“By emphasizing business ethics as a central part of doing business, rather than as an incidental, universities can help to shape the next generation of business leaders in a positive way,” she says. “Even if they address complex issues that may not always lend themselves to a ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ answer, they are prompting students to consider values. Approaching the coursework this way can help students to see that they can do well while doing good.”