Take a minute to count how many famous people you know from Spokane.


Five seconds into it, and youre probably stumped.


Trying to come up with names of nationally recognized business leaders from the area might take even less time, unless you know about a pair of Spokane high-school graduates who lead two of the nations top business schools.


Kim Clark, a Ferris High School graduate, and Robert Joss, a Lewis & Clark High School graduate, currently serve as the deans of the Harvard Business School, in Boston, Mass., and the Stanford Graduate School of Business, in Stanford, Calif., respectively. Though neither has lived in Spokane for many years, both still speak highly of the Spokane area and of their experiences here.


Spokane is like a hidden gem, Clark says. I dont think its on the national radar screen as a great place to do business, but its a great place to live.


After Clark received a bachelors degree at Harvard University and Joss received one at the University of Washington, they both earned doctorates in economics in the 1970s from the universities where they now work and assumed their roles as deans in 1999. The paths that they took in between that period, however, varied.


Joss, who recently spoke at a Rotary Club luncheon here, worked at the U.S. Department of the Treasury as deputy to the assistant secretary for economic policy soon after earning his doctorate. He later joined the administrative staff of San Francisco-based Wells Fargo Bank and rose through the ranks, eventually becoming vice chairman there.


Joss subsequently served as chief executive officer and managing director of Sydney, Australia-based Westpac Banking Corp. for more than six years. During that time, he says he helped improve the banks financial, strategic, and cultural health, and revamped its corporate structure to promote teamwork and community involvement.


Accomplishing that work required a grasp of Australians business mindset and management style, Joss says.


In talking with the staff and trying to understand their way of thinking, I had to use different words and ways to get across what strategies I knew would work there, he says.


Joss says that working at Westpac and Wells Fargo helped him achieve what he encourages in educational programs at the Stanford Graduate School of Businessa balance of academic training and business experience.


In his talk at the luncheon here, Joss described the schools educational model, which includes thinking like a business owner, fostering a social awareness, maintaining a global perspective, and developing high-quality leadership skills. Joss says people who admit mistakes and listen to and motivate others can lead and help their groups cope with change successfully.


People are thrown into leadership roles; its not something theyre born with, he says. You have to learn by practicing, then go beyond and change the organization.


Clark joined the Harvard Business Schools faculty as an assistant professor in 1978 after working as an economist for the U.S. Department of Labors office of the secretary. He became the junior professor of business administration at the school in 1989, and shortly thereafter, the professor of administration and dean of faculty.


Evolution of industry


Clark says he has spent about 17 years studying how the development of new technologies influences the evolution of an industry and vice versa. Clark focuses his research on the computer industry, examining how a trade once dominated by IBM Corp. now includes thousands of firms.


To understand what propelled that industrial evolution, Clark says he has studied the concept of modularity in design, which explains how a complex, interdependent system can be broken down into independent units that function effectively in the system, but are designed apart from it. Modular design simplifies product development and allows more companies to contribute their products to a system, he says.


Clarks computer-industry research has carried over into his work as a dean, and he has supported a number of programs to incorporate technology in education at Harvard Business School. Those programs include efforts to use video, simulations, and Internet resources inside and outside of the classroom, and depicting case studies in multimedia formats, he says.


Other initiatives that Clark has advocated at the school emphasize entrepreneurship in education and research, ethical principles, and social enterprise. Clark says that an initiative he has promoted recently, called the work-life project, stems from recognition that business leaders should learn how to integrate work with their home lives and community.


We decided we needed to teach students about a broader way of thinking about their professional work, he says. There are many paths people can take to leadership, and many ways in which our alumni can find fulfillment in their professional work and in their families.


Spokane impressions


These days, the two deans have few connections to Spokane, aside from family members. Clarks sister lives here, as do Josss two brothers and his mother.


Joss says he appreciates the education he received in Spokane, and adds his teachers here prepared him for his future academic and business work. He says he especially enjoyed playing basketball at Lewis & Clark High School.


Clark also says hes thankful for his high-school education and for the golf courses here that he plays with his brother-in-law when he visits. He recalls enjoying the people, mild weather, and outdoor recreational opportunities during his childhood.


From what Clark can remember, Spokane seemed out of touch with the rest of the world back then, which helped spare him from gloomy news, but left him feeling somewhat disconnected from important events.


Though neither Clark nor Joss plans to return here permanently, both visit once in a while and consider Spokane a wonderful place to raise a family and to pursue outdoor adventures. Both deans characterize those aspects as being two of Spokanes greatest advantages, which they say economic-development leaders here should emphasize to boost the economy.


Clark says that business and government leaders here should invest in efforts to promote Spokanes strengths, just as job seekers should emphasize to potential employers their talents and skills. Leaders here should showcase the Inland Northwests highlights and remove impediments to economic growth to attract the types of new companies and industries that are growing in other areas of the country, he says.


Also, Clark says, Spokane should consider how to strengthen its educational institutions, since the creation of knowledge and the ability to apply it will be one of the major economic drivers in the next 50 years.


You need to ask, What kind of university connections do we have? and then, How do we build those connections to stimulate the development of new technologies and new ideas that likely will come? he says.


Joss also says that reinforcing educational institutions will be vital to Spokanes economic growth, and that leaders should promote the area as a transportation hub and as a low-cost environment for startup businesses. Leaders here could benefit from evaluating their management styles to see if they demonstrate unselfishness, honesty, and flexibility, he says.


And, as Joss said at the Rotary Club luncheon, a little humor helps, too.


Take your cause seriously, but not yourself, he says.