As president of WorldWired, Inc., a global consulting practice, history graduate David E. Stone ’68 provides a wide rage of services related to ethics in business and performance improvement.
He also is founder and chair of the eLearning Crew, which meets the needs of leaders in global organizations who are responsible for learning and performance improvement. Members share best practices, hear presentations from industry-leading companies, and integrate the latest research on learning and performance improvement from leading universities. The group’s members include companies such as Microsoft, IBM, General Electric, and Bank of America.
In addition, Stone is a research fellow at Massachusetts Institute of Technology this school year, following a year in the same role at Harvard. When he applied for the position at Harvard, Stone admits, he had little expectation of being chosen. He not only was accepted, he was selected to create the position of industry liaison for the Harvard Industrial Partnership program, which is similar to the eLearning Crew.
Offered by the university’s division of engineering and applied sciences, the program provides participating companies with priority access to Harvard faculty and research in computer science and electrical engineering.
A licensed psychologist with decades of experience in software and high-tech companies, Stone was responsible for expanding the number of companies that connect with the university to form partnerships, have “preferred access,” and possibly even offer guidance in research.
Though he went on to earn a Ph.D. from Cornell, Stone admits his own Lafayette performance was lackluster.
“I felt bad about that for a long time,” he says.
One of his favorite courses was an engineering class with the late Charles Best, professor emeritus of engineering.
“It involved many things — the history of technology, the interaction of technology and society,” he recalls. “You’d work in teams to come up with projects that involved engineers and liberal arts students.”
The finished products were later presented to faculty members, who grilled the team.
“Boy, they were tough,” he says. “That was a terrific experience.”