67 Years of Thought Leadership, Reduced to a Communications Decision

The MIT Sloan Management Review deserved better than that.

The MIT Sloan Management Review is shutting down its publication (print and online) after 67 years. The loss of this important publication, and the way they announced it, are worth a moment of attention.

Read the relatively short letter from the administration. This organizational change is positioned almost entirely as a choice about communications. The word “communications” appears 10 times, and “business” only once, in reference to stakeholders that include business leaders. The word “strategic” appears only in reference to the branding strategy of MIT.

Of course, a university is different than a company, so “comms” may be broader, but it’s still weird to put the Sloan Management Review in the same general bucket as press releases. Yes, it’s part of how the MIT brand goes out into the world, but isn’t it much more than that? Doesn’t it get to the fundamental purpose of a university: improving our understanding of the world and educating?

It’s only in the last paragraph that the word “thought leadership” is even mentioned. There’s no discussion about the loss or the purpose of this publication in ultimately improving the strategy and performance of business.

Let me be clear: I’m not a neutral observer. I’ve been writing a quarterly column on sustainable business and have published online or in the magazine for well over a decade (and cited information from it countless times). I’ve also been on the MIT SMR Editorial Advisory Board, alongside many colleagues, friends, and inspirations.

So forgive a self-centered view for a moment, but my experience also makes a case for why this matters beyond MIT’s own brand. MIT SMR and its editors were brave. A small number of thought leadership organizations — including Harvard Business Review and the Stanford Social Innovation Review, among others — have published about sustainability, once considered anti-business, for many years. But I’ve found MIT to be particularly open to pushing the boundaries of late.

My most recent article for them argued businesses should not be sitting out the fight for democracy and the rule of law. Almost every business organization and media outlet has been very careful on these issues. I was surprised and inspired by the MIT leaders’ willingness to keep truthful but hard language in the piece — in fact, they suggested even more direct language calling out what was happening in our streets (in particular the killing of two citizens by government agents in Minneapolis).

The magazine has also been out front on technology for a long time. They nudged writers like me to publish a bit ahead of the curve. I wrote about blockchain there (remember that?) and, way back in 2018, about how AI could help with sustainability.

MIT SMR put thought leadership into the world (yes, the phrase “thought leader” has taken a drubbing, but this is what MIT SMR has done…led the thinking on business strategy and tactics). It helped business leaders build better companies that profit, grow, and serve their employees and the world. That’s a righteous mission—and it did more than improve the MIT brand.

Which brings me back to that announcement. Reducing a 67-year institution for business ideas to a line item in a brand strategy misses the point. And the loss here isn’t just mine.

I know the economics of “content” have been stressed for decades. The number of well-branded, curated outlets—where large numbers of people read or watch the same thing—has been shrinking for 30 years. Personal outlets are exploding. Attention is fracturing. I have two Gen Z kids who are smart and educated, but don’t read a lot of books; and I can't imagine them picking up a magazine.

All of us with ideas to share are going to have to think hard about how we actually reach people. I don't think many under 30 will notice the loss of MIT SMR, but I think it will affect the quality of business thinking more than they realize.

I will miss my colleagues at MIT SMR and wish them well. I say bravo to 67 years of helping business be better.