Hasbro Chairman shares ideas on business, leadership, and corporate social responsibility
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - September 15, 2005
CONTACT: Kim Keating - 603-646-2733
HANOVER, N.H. - Alan Hassenfeld, chairman of Hasbro, Inc., visited the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth this week. During his talk, "Mr. Potato Head—Past, Present, and Future," Hassenfeld spoke to students, faculty, and staff about his experience running one of the world's leading companies in children's and family leisure time entertainment products and services, and shared his beliefs on leadership and corporate social responsibility.
Hassenfeld noted that Hasbro's mission has been to "bring smiles to the faces of children the world over." With passion, creativity, and gut instinct, "there is no limit to what a person can achieve in the industry," he said.
A family-run business since 1923, Hasbro has been a leader among organizations by proactively seeking to address corporate social responsibility issues and support philanthropic efforts. Giving Enron and Tyco as examples, Hassenfeld articulated the difference between corporate social responsibility and philanthropy, emphasizing that being philanthropic does not equal being socially responsible.
"Corporate social responsibility is encompassed by a plethora of factors, including, but not limited to philanthropy," he said. Human rights, morality, and environmental factors were among additional factors he mentioned.
Hassenfeld characterized CEOs and chairmen as guardians of corporate culture, commenting that people in these positions must be prepared to set corporate culture, ethics, and morals, and be ready to listen and communicate. "It starts with you," he said. "Don't only set the culture—live by it."
Concluding the conversation, Hassenfeld shared a set of his own personal business rules: never ask people to do something you would not do; do not send people places you are unwilling to go to; lead by example, not by words alone; and do not impose your American values on other societies, unless you understand the history, culture, and religion of that society. "Too often we preach to others when we have problems that are just as great," he remarked.
Betsy Winslow, director of Tuck's Cohen Leadership Development Program, was pleased with Hassenfeld's visit. "Having our students learn from successful business leaders is a critical element of Tuck's leadership program, and a perfect complement to our core curriculum," she noted.
Hassenfeld's visit was sponsored by Tuck's Beacon Capital Partners Leadership Speaker Series, with support from the Jonathan L. Cohen D'60, T'61 Leadership Development Program and the Alan Smith T'53 Visiting Executive Program.
Tuck's Cohen Leadership Development Program provides Tuck students with avenues to explore and expand their potential as leaders. For more information on leadership development at Tuck, visit www.tuck.dartmouth.edu/mba/leadership.
For more information on Tuck's visiting executives, visit www.tuck.dartmouth.edu/mba/visiting_executives.html.
Founded in 1900, Tuck is the first graduate school of management and consistently ranks among the top business schools worldwide. Information about the Tuck School is available at www.tuck.dartmouth.edu.
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