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THE LEADERSHIP LESSON: IS NOT SO MUCH WHERE WE STAND, AS IN WHAT DIRECTION WE ARE MOVING. —OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES THE GREAT THING IN THE WORLD More Debate on the Effect of Rankings I read with interest "What Price Rankings?," Andrew J. Policano's article on business school rankings in the September/October issue. While I agree wholeheartedly that rankings have taken on increasing importance and that a ratings system should be an alternative, I wish to put forward one aspect of the debate that I feel may have been neglected. It can be argued that, in addition LEBOW COLLEGE OF BUSINESS ACHIEVED THE FOLLOWING BENCHMARKS IN 2005: DREXEL UNIVERSITY'S • NEW CENTERS OF EXCELLENCE: The Center for Corporate Governance and the Center for International Business and Economics • THREE CHAIRED PROFESSORSHIPS: Dr. Ralph Walkling, Stratakis Chair in Corporate Governance and Accountability, Dr. Constantinos Syropoulos, Trustee Professor in International Economics and Dr. John Schaubroeck, Trustee Professor in Leadership • 38 PERCENT INCREASE IN MBA RECRUITMENT: Outperforming prior years and the national average • NEW MBA PROGRAMS: LeBow Evening Accelerated Drexel (LEAD) MBA and MBA AnywhereTM and an entrepreneurial concentration and minor COLLEGE OF BUSINESS LeBow 8 BizEd JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2006 LEBOW COLLEGE OF BUSINESS 3141 CHESTNUT STREET PHILADELPHIA, PA 19104 WWW.LEBOW.DREXEL.EDU LEARN HERE, LEAD ANYWHERE® to the dramatic impact they create in the media, rankings affect short-term strategic policy among certain partic- ipating schools. As a result, the rank- ings reports are more likely to be snapshots of schools' current situa- tions and standings, which have been honed to meet the immediate needs of the ranking in question. Such stop-start development of a school and its programs, dictated predomi- nantly by the timing of rankings, means an accurate picture of an insti- tution's quality is difficult to obtain. A ratings system would limit greatly such stop-start strategies, allowing the solid, long-term quality of schools to come to the fore. It would also allow those who wished to enroll in a business education program to judge schools on their true merits. It appears that one of our chal- lenges is to help the media create an approach that centers less on rank- ings and more on becoming sources of accurate information. I fully sup- port the AACSB in this aim. Jean-Pierre Helfer Dean Audencia Nantes School of Management France Letters