Leadership and managing people

Just because someone is firmly in your corner doesn't mean they know what's best.

Hitting the hiring bull’s-eye is one of an executive’s most important—and most difficult—responsibilities. Ten common mistakes can get in the way, but a pointed and systematic approach can virtually guarantee success.

Giving feedback, particularly constructive feedback, is often a stressful task. As counterintuitive as it may seem, giving feedback to a top performer can be even tougher. Top performers may not have obvious development needs and in identifying those needs, you can sometimes feel like you’re being nitpicky or over-demanding. In addition, top performers may not […]

Bonuses and other forms of incentive compensation are an effective motivator of executives to achieve ever higher earnings per share. The drive to produce short-term results, however, often influences management to forgo investment in capital equipment and R&D that would benefit the corporation several years hence even more than improved earnings next year would. The […]

David Whyte talks about how poetry begets courageous conversation and, in turn, better leadership.

The best change agents almost never realize when it’s time to stop. That’s what makes them so good.

A matrix to help guide your decision-making.

Network groups for black and Hispanic employees had been an unqualified success. Now a Christian group was forming—and Bill Thompson didn’t know what to think about it.

Apparently, my post on the “lunch lesson” rubbed some people the wrong way. When I opined that I found that leadership = responsibility = not always getting to eat lunch, this was, for some, the most heinous concept short of universal healthcare for illegal aliens. The comments that disagreed with me fell into a few […]

You don’t have to go to every keynote.

Joe Ryan turned a small-town cosmetics company into a national powerhouse, making employees happy and shareholders rich in the process. Does it really matter that he cheats on his wife?

To be successful, senior executives need to cultivate five skills. First, they need to develop a network of information sources in order to keep informed...

Companies that boast of their authenticity confront challenges that more faceless firms don’t even have to consider.

When companies cause emotional pain through nasty bosses, layoffs, and change, a certain breed of “healing” manager steps in to keep the gears moving. They are toxic handlers—unsung corporate heroes who save the day, but often pay a high price.

It can help you be more productive - and uncover the work you really love doing.

Modern capitalism can be broken down into two major eras. The first, managerial capitalism, began in 1932 and was defined by the then radical notion that...

The latest wave of Covid-19 is pushing us to new depths of personal resilience.

We all know why leap years exist, right? Our calendars get out of synch with the solar system so we must periodically get our human calendars back on track with the celestial ones. In other words, February 29th is all about correcting drift. Without those corrections, things become more and more out of synch. Not […]

The trade-offs can be complex.

The cases are used to introduce the concept of collective responsibility and leadership in team situations by applying the concept of Crew Resource Management...

This note is designed to introduce students to the fundamental concepts of leading innovation in established organizations. Reinvention is a process whereby...

Alaska Airlines has recently recovered from a period of operational instability, yet its executives worry the airline is draining its reserves of customer...

Alltech was a Lexington, Kentucky-based producer of supplements for animal feed, with revenues of over $2 billion (projected to reach $3 billion in 2018),...

Supplement for IES241

This is a teaching case designed to illustrate the challenges facing a senior executive, in this case a CEO (Director-General), as he/she takes over a...

A law firm must decide how to split partnership profits among the partners. Issues of seniority versus performance, performance evaluation, and lack of...

Your stomach's churning; you're hyperventilating -- you're in a badly deteriorating conversation at work. Such exchanges, which run the gamut from firing...

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. David Ansell, Darlene Hightower, and Ayesho Jaco, leaders of West Side United (WSU), a coalition of Chicago hospitals,...

The case ONE2ID B.V., Growth Challenge explores the challenges a small company faces when the founder controls every aspect of the firm. Over the past...

A new political appointee with years of volunteer experience takes over a highly responsible job in the state government and is met with bureaucratic...

B Case to case UV7765 This case represents an amalgam of commonly reported experiences people have when interacting with others from different social...

Encourages managers to think critically about how to prepare for and give a performance appraisal interview. Presents frameworks for evaluating subordinates'...

A year's worth of management wisdom, all in one place. We've reviewed the ideas, insights, and best practices from the past year of Harvard Business Review...

Examines the three factors critical to this company's remarkable success in the high tech field. The first factor is the founder, Dr. Inamori's powerful...

You are married with two teenage children and living in a two-bedroom apartment. You have lived in the north of Horsley all your life, but following the...

This case describes the deterioration of the relationship between three people in an organization. Ramesh, Learning and Development Head, Chrysalis Pharmaceuticals,...

Geoff Smart, founder and CEO of ghSMART & Co., wanted to build ghSMART into the #1 management-assessment firm for CEOs and investors. However, he had...

Harvard Business Review Special Issues are timely, single-theme collections of HBR articles written by some of the world's leading management scholars...

Just because someone is firmly in your corner doesn't mean they know what's best.

Hitting the hiring bull’s-eye is one of an executive’s most important—and most difficult—responsibilities. Ten common mistakes can get in the way, but a pointed and systematic approach can virtually guarantee success.

Giving feedback, particularly constructive feedback, is often a stressful task. As counterintuitive as it may seem, giving feedback to a top performer can be even tougher. Top performers may not have obvious development needs and in identifying those needs, you can sometimes feel like you’re being nitpicky or over-demanding. In addition, top performers may not […]

Bonuses and other forms of incentive compensation are an effective motivator of executives to achieve ever higher earnings per share. The drive to produce short-term results, however, often influences management to forgo investment in capital equipment and R&D that would benefit the corporation several years hence even more than improved earnings next year would. The […]

David Whyte talks about how poetry begets courageous conversation and, in turn, better leadership.

The best change agents almost never realize when it’s time to stop. That’s what makes them so good.

A matrix to help guide your decision-making.

Network groups for black and Hispanic employees had been an unqualified success. Now a Christian group was forming—and Bill Thompson didn’t know what to think about it.

Apparently, my post on the “lunch lesson” rubbed some people the wrong way. When I opined that I found that leadership = responsibility = not always getting to eat lunch, this was, for some, the most heinous concept short of universal healthcare for illegal aliens. The comments that disagreed with me fell into a few […]