HBS Faculty member Rohit Deshpande is approaching his 30th year anniversary teaching at Harvard. Originally recruited to teach international marketing because the school lacked anyone who specialized in that field, he began to write case studies that would be used in the classroom. He traveled internationally and looks back fondly on that time. He also recalls how he was “part of a team of faculty that developed the first required ethics course.” 

To this day, Rohit teaches ethics, now in executive programs. But he also more recently became involved in the intersection of the business world with the art world, to his surprise. “About ten years ago,” Rohit recalls, “Yo-Yo [Ma AB ’76] said to me, ‘Your MBA students are doing wonderful things for businesses. They should do something for the arts.’ And I said, ‘What do you mean?’ He said, ‘Well, they should do something for arts and culture. And you know what, I think you'd be the perfect person to teach a course.” Rohit protested, claiming not to know anything about the arts. He remembers telling Yo-Yo, “I have no talent. I'm a big fan of the arts, but I don’t even play an instrument.” But Yo-Yo held firm that Rohit should carve out a path  for his students to “help Boston-area arts organizations pro bono.” 

Rewind to 1993, when HBS had started the Social Enterprise Initiative for students who were interested in nonprofit careers and sought to apply business concepts to nonprofits. Rather than attending the Kennedy School, those students had enrolled at the Business School. So Rohit decided to pilot something similar, but for cultural entrepreneurship. It started with ideas being tested in an executive program. Rohit developed a one-week program for the C-suite of Sotheby's that went swimmingly. After speaking with Henry McGee (AB ’74 MBA ’79), they had the idea to co-design a program specifically for HBS MBA students. 

Business of the Arts, otherwise known as BOTA, is now in its eighth year. “It's a full semester, full graded course,” Rohit explains, “and what we do is source interesting problems that are all revenue-generating, from local Boston area arts organizations. Our clients, we call them 'partners'', have included the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Museum of Fine Arts, the Boston Ballet, the American Repertory Theater, the Harvard Art Museums, and so on. We recruit them, and we post the projects, and the students in the class rank order them based on their preference, and we form teams based on the ranks.” That way, students are able to engage with areas or organizations they feel particularly passionate about. “We have a few in-class sessions where we teach case studies.” Rohit says. “But mostly the students spend their time working on these projects. And it's a win-win for us, because these organizations don't have the budget or the bandwidth… and so [these students] put their considerable talent into these projects. It's free, for the organization, and for the students, they get a grade.” 

Examples of past projects include how to be more effective with food and beverages at the symphony, how to monetize streaming during the pandemic, how to rebrand the Handel and Haydn Society, and more. “Most recently, the students did an interesting project on programming for the BSO,” Rohit declares. “What's the best programming? Who should be the featured artist? And what should be the program? These students, you give them data, and they just love doing the analytics.”

As fun as it is for the students, being a professor is also fun for Rohit. “This is my next project… There's a parallel between arts and culture and luxury. And we need a course on luxury. So, I'm going to be developing a course on the business of luxury. I'm just finishing a case on Hermès,” he notes. “I got to go into a couple of the stores in Paris and just kind of observe how people were buying and what they were asking for. I'm having a ball, I have to admit.” Although he was hesitant at first, Rohit says, “It's the same thing with the arts course. I've told Yo-Yo that I'm very grateful to him for forcing me into this, because I didn't want to do it. And now I get to spend time with all of these artists.”

Although many of the students in Rohit’s course on Business of the Arts don’t pursue careers in the arts, there are still a good number of HBS alumni representatives in the art world. “The current CEO of The Shed is a Harvard MBA [Max Hodges, AB ’03 and MBA ’10], and the current CEO of the Boston Ballet is a Harvard MBA [Ming Min Hui MBA ’15].” And even for students who don’t go on to become the CEO of Lincoln Center, Rohit hopes they’re still in a position to do some good in the world. “I'd say 90% of the students who graduate go on to join nonprofit boards,” Rohit states. And then those students are prepared and understand potential governance issues or other problems they might encounter, from their experience in BOTA. The students are better equipped to make a positive influence and be able to give back. “The short-term contribution from the students is helping these arts organizations right away,” Rohit smiles. “We have 100% of our partners wanting to come back next year with new projects, because they're very happy. And the long-term impact is the students going on to join non-profit boards and help.”

As for how Rohit stays involved with the arts, he himself is on a few boards. “I'm on the board of the A.R.T. and on Silkroad (the organization founded by Yo-Yo 25 years ago at Tanglewood)… and I'm also on HUCA, the Harvard University Committee on the Arts,” Rohit says. He also engages with Harvard undergrads. “This January, I was asked if I would do one session for a few undergraduate students who are interested in entrepreneurial activities around the arts,” he explains. “So I taught this session, a case study on the marketing of jazz in America. And the case study is on Wynton Marsalis and Jazz at Lincoln Center. It was through the OFA [Harvard Office for the Arts].” Rohit says he tremendously enjoyed that experience of working with younger students—and, FYI, if there are any OFA staff members reading this, he says he’d love to do it again next J-Term!