How to do well by doing good

WHAT is better? When you have the power to influence one of the world's most concentrated populations of geniuses, that philosophical question takes on some very real consequences. Professor Rafael Reif is the president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where some of the most intelligent students in the world mingle with astronauts and Nobel Prize winners along infinite corridors. That wealth of talent compels Prof Reif to direct his charges toward doing better. And so, back to the original question: What is better?

For Prof Reif, doing better means fearlessly embracing oversized ambitions and attack…