Jones Journal -- Alumni Magazine of the Jones Graduate School of Management, Rice University

Please send comments to:
Deanna Sheaffer, Editor
Director of Alumni Affairs
Jones School of Management - MS 531 Rice University
P.O. Box 1892
Houston TX 77251-1892
e-mail:JGSalum@rice.edu

Astros Owner Opens the Fall Season of Dean’s Lectures
– By Saul Keeton, Class of 2002

The lineup for fall’s Dean’s Lecture Series was Drayton McLane, President and CEO of McLane Company and owner of the Houston Astros; Keith Bailey, President and CEO of Williams Co.; and Jim Turley, Chairman-Elect of Ernst & Young International.

Drayton McLane

McLane visited on September 6. He focused on the events of his life that have shaped the development of his career. The most significant lesson he recalled learning as a young man was one taught by his mother – the importance of associating with high-quality people. In fact, he remembered being humorously quizzed by his mom during breaks from college on the quality of the friends he was making.

McLane recollected loading trucks on the graveyard shift to learn the ins and outs of his father’s business. That prospect didn’t excite him, McLane stated, but it provided another valuable lesson: that even if he eventually took over his father’s company, the employees wouldn’t give him the respect and support he needed if they didn’t feel that he understood their issues.

Keith Bailey

On October 3 Keith Bailey, President and CEO of Williams Co., visited the Jones School to speak about leadership in the energy and communications industry. Bailey discussed the details of his career and how he rose to the position of CEO at Williams. He also recounted the emotions that accompany the position of CEO, recalling times when he suffered through difficult, unpopular decisions and felt challenged to meet the needs of his employees.

Bailey also presented an award to a group of second-year students who were part of an Action Learning Project team that worked at Williams in the spring of 2000. The team, which included Winny So, Greg Broussard, Mark Morehouse, Ron Keas, Rob Gaudette and Craig Harwerth, completed an influential study on the pattern of convergence in the energy industry.

Jim Turley

Jim Turley, Chairman-elect of Ernst & Young International, visited the Jones School on December 11. Turley, who received both his bachelor and master’s degrees in accounting from Rice, spoke about the demands of the new economy on his company. His discussion also focused on the increased flexibility and control employees seek today in charting the course of their careers. Turley will assume the position of Chairman of Ernst & Young International and Ernst & Young United States in July 2001.

Jeff Bezos

The Jones School and the Brown School of Engineering hosted a lecture by Jeff Bezos, Founder and CEO of Amazon.com. “I firmly believe that this is the Kitty Hawk era of e-commerce. We’re going to see some amazing stuff over the next 10 years,” said Bezos, Time Magazine’s 1999 “Man of the Year.” “The biggest myth about the Internet is that there are only going to be a few winners. There are going to be thousands of winners, thousands of failures, because we are in an era of maximum experimentation.” Bezos joined the audience for a reception after his talk.