Molded after the popular Sloan experimental courses (e-Lab g-Lab) SLAM lab (System Leadership and Management) is a course offered only to SDMs. Students consult Cambridge technology firms with strategic decision making. The course, offered in fall, has a summer preparation course adequately called pre-SLAM lab. During the summer course, the class is presented with cases about MIT spinoffs: E Ink, A123 Systems, Ember. All the cases have been written by Harvard Business School. I think I have spotted a pattern: MIT incubates companies and HBS writes case studies about them. Professor Michael Davies, who teaches the class, is the most charismatic lecturer I have had so far at MIT. Pre-SLAM class is always entertaining but when class ends I am not always sure what I’ve learned. One lesson I did pick up is that even very smart people can make stupid decisions. People are ‘prisoners’ of their own history and tend to bias strategic decision with emotional ‘reasoning’. I have seen it in poli...