Part of what I am enjoying about The Best and The Brightest are the profiles of the generals, presidents, and policy makers.  McGeorge Bundy was the Special Assistant for National Security Affairs under JFK and LBJ; prior to this he was a faculty member and president of Harvard.

 

p.58:  "Even the slight nastiness, which has from time to time been a Bundy trademark, was an advantage; he had the ability to be unfair, to go after special men and give them special privileges, people like Riesman and Erikson who did not teach as much as other members of the faculty."

 

When I read this passage I immediately thought to myself, "Jordan Rules".  The Jordan Rules is the name of Tribune writer Stan Smith's book on the Chicago Bulls' first championship season.  If I remember correctly, in the book the term refers not to how the Pistons would try to defend Jordan but instead the special accommodations made by teammates and coaches because of his star status.  Another theme is Jordan learning that he needs his teammates to win, but to me that's less interesting.  What interests me is that there are two sets of rules - one for Jordan and one for everyone else - and ultimately that's okay because MJ is MJ.  There's 12 (or maybe 15, I forget) guys on a team so the system can work.  It is clear why Jordan gets special privileges because everyone sees the results (and the means) for themselves.  If a guy is outworking you, whipping you in practice, and carrying your team in games it's hard to argue too much.  This kind of power can be damaging if taken too far (see: Kobe Bryant).  Back to the quote, I'm not so sure the Jordan Rules work as well in a larger organization like a university because "the stars" are less visible.  To be clear, I'm not necessarily advocating it, I just think it's an interesting concept.  Questions like these have been popping up every few pages as I work through the book.

 

Last note: David Halberstam has also written a book about Jordan, it's called "Playing for Keeps".  I haven't read it, though.