<p><a href="http://www.slate.com/id/2136778/?nav=ais%5B/url%5D">http://www.slate.com/id/2136778/?nav=ais</a></p>
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But Summers never came to grips with, or perhaps recognized, the special problem of the supremely self-regarding culture.
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Besides being brilliant even by the Harvard standard of brilliance, he was willing to make tough decisions, and he was fundamentally forward-looking.
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Despite the fact that he had established his intellectual reputation at Harvard, loved the place, and was as devoted as anyone there to the life of the mind, Summers nevertheless managed to persuade much of his constituency that he was an alien in their midst. And this had less to do with his views, or his position in the kulturkampf, than his manner, which was almost comically maladroit.
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If anything, Summers was forced out of Harvard because he behaved so boorishly that he provided a bottomless supply of ammunition to his enemies, both the ideologues and the doctrine-free.
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<p>He is a tragic figure. He should have heeded the advice that colleagues like John Kotter lecture on the resistance to change great leaders face. He seems to have lacked that bit of political aptitude that distinguishes long term excellent leaders form great minds...</p>