President Emeritus L. Rafael Reif holds fireside chat about his leadership experiences on April 29
Reif discusses lessons learned as Director of the Microsystems Technology Lab, MIT provost and president
Vivian Hir–The Tech
On April 29, over 150 people attended a fireside chat with MIT President Emeritus L. Rafael Reif. The chat’s host was Anantha P. Chandrakasan, Chief Innovation and Strategy Officer and Dean of the School of Engineering. Titled “Maximize your impact for a better world,” the event was part of the Technical Leadership and Communication Program (TLC) Distinguished Speaker Series, under the Riccio-MIT Graduate Engineering Leadership Program (GradEL). According to its website, the mission of GradEL is to help graduate students become “exceptional engineering leaders.”
Reif grew up in Venezuela and attended Stanford University for graduate school, earning an MS in 1975 and PhD in electrical engineering in 1979. In 1980, he joined MIT as an assistant professor in electrical engineering. Reif served as the director of MIT’s Microsystems Technology Lab (MTL) and the head for the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS). From 2005 to 2012, Reif was MIT’s provost and later served as MIT’s president from 2012 to 2022.
Reif began the fireside chat by sharing important lessons he learned about leadership and communication from his time at Stanford, such as his experience overcoming the language barrier. While learning English, Reif realized how critical it was to speak “with conviction” and “be persuasive.”
Reif continued by sharing a formative experience from his childhood, in which he witnessed his parents shamed for their menial jobs — a painful recollection for him. As a result of this, Reif developed “tremendous respect for every individual,” acknowledging that not every person has access to the same opportunities.
Reif also discussed the challenges he faced early in his career as MTL director, such as guiding the direction of the lab’s strategy and visibility, as well as overseeing its funding and operations. From this leadership role, Reif learned to “compartmentalize” his work and personal life, allowing him to focus more fully on his students and colleagues.
Reif proceeded to share how his technical background influenced his leadership style, in particular as president of MIT. Reif emphasized the importance of starting with “first principles” in order to “solve any problem” and using a “systems level” of thinking. For example, Reif noted that even if an electronic device is designed to work at high frequencies, a system won’t benefit unless it “take[s] advantage” of the device’s full capabilities. He also underscored the importance of inner connections within a system.
One skill that Reif found helpful in his various leadership experiences was the prevention of “blind spots” when making decisions. To achieve this, Reif prioritized working with people who had knowledge across different disciplines, reiterating the need to listen to all points of view during decision-making, even when it might be difficult. Even so, Reif warned against integrating every perspective in order to satisfy everyone. “You have to make the call, but make the call knowing all the options that people think about in the university,” Reif said. “That’s very hard, but I think that’s a critical fact at MIT.”
Reif later discussed some of his major contributions as provost and president at MIT, specifically the development of MITx and edX — major online learning platforms — and the creation of the Schwarzman College of Computing. When Reif became provost in 2005, he anticipated a rise of online learning; MIT OpenCourseware (OCW) was founded just four years earlier in 2001.
To encourage MIT’s participation in online learning, Reif discussed his ideas with faculty members across many departments to garner a “critical mass of support.” Although some did not favor the idea, Reif continued because he believed that “it was the right thing to do.”
Reif became interested in founding a new college focused on computing due to the potential of AI and deep learning to make insightful predictions for various kinds of data. He initially experienced pushback from some senior MIT leaders, as they thought a new college would be too costly and complicated.
Despite the pushback, Reif shared his idea with leaders of the data science industry who supported the idea. From these discussions, he felt “the sense to hurry up” because of the technology’s rapid development in industry, which prompted Chandrakasan and him to establish the Schwarzman College of Computing in 2018.
After reflecting upon the lessons he learned as a leader, Reif concluded the fireside chat by sharing his thoughts on the future of the U.S.’s global competitiveness. Reif shared a story about his visit to Beijing about 10 years ago, where he met with CEOs of China’s leading tech companies. One said, addressing the United States: “When it comes to scale, don’t compete with us. We will always beat you. But when it comes to creativity, we’ll never beat you.”
These comments made Reif realize that the U.S’s primary asset was its innovative R&D “ecosystem” that comes from attracting global talent. Reif criticized the federal government’s recent actions that have targeted international students and research funding. In particular, he cited potential damages to universities’ ability to aid national innovation. “It is a fact that universities are critical,” Reif emphasized. “It’s a fact that is being jeopardized right now.”