"Summers!" "Superintendant Chalmers!"

"Skinner: Don't worry, I have a plan: Pretend I agree with them."

That's funny - If you read the accounts closely, you realize this was not the problem. Conflicts around Summers usually started when he said what he really thought and then back tracked.

For example, just to name a few fights: he came out against affirmative action, slammed diversity, made comments about women & science, slammed the entire social sciences (except econ, of course), said the Law School had weak tenuring standards and slammed his deans on numerous occasions. I am not even getting to his justified opinions on the curriculum and the financial structure of Harvard.

If he had just pretended to agree with folks a bit more, he probably would have never these problems (excecpt the Scheffler thing, which broke the camel's back - that was a real scandal). The obvious lesson I take from all of this is that you should not fight every single battle. If you're a leader, shut your mouth and save your energy for the fights that matter.

Fabio