High Ambition Leadership

Higher-ambition business leaders skillfully integrate both economic and social value. Professor Emeritus Michael Beer explains what makes them special, and how you can learn what they know, in his new book, Higher Ambition: How Great Leaders Create Economic and Social Value. Q&A plus book excerpt.

High Commitment, High Performance Management

High commitment, high performance organizations such as Southwest Airlines, Johnson & Johnson, McKinsey, and Toyota effectively manage three paradoxical goals, says HBS professor Michael Beer. His new book explains what all companies can learn. Q&A

Sharpening Your Skills: Leading Change

Nothing like a global recession to test your change-management skills. We dig deep into the Working Knowledge vault to learn about building a business in a down economy, motivating the troops, and other current topics.

Uncompromising Leadership in Tough Times

As companies batten down the hatches, we need leaders who do not compromise on standards and values that are essential in flush times. Fortunately, such leaders do exist. Their insights can help other organizations weather the current crisis, says HBS professor Michael Beer. Q&A.

Embracing Commitment and Performance: CEOs and Practices Used to Manage Paradox

How do chief executives establish strategic practices around their visions and intents? How do such practices make it possible to create both high commitment and high performance? The central puzzle for HBS professor emeritus Michael Beer and colleagues is not the creation of high commitment per se, but the kind of commitment that is useful for the implementation of strategy and sustainable performance. Beer et al. sought out major companies in North America and Europe that had a history of sustainable, above-average financial performance, and where there were indications of the companies being high-commitment organizations. They then conducted in-depth interviews with 26 CEOs of such companies, asking about activities and practices that help create commitment and performance.

Why Innovations Sit on the Shelf

Why can't your organization capitalize on great ideas? Surprise! The answer may have more to do with communication than inventiveness. From Strategy and Innovation.

Got a New Strategy? Now Make it Happen

Many strategies never take off for lack of honest discussion, say Harvard Business School's Michael Beer and co-author Russell A. Eisenstat. A Harvard Business Review excerpt.

Pay-for-Performance Doesn’t Always Pay Off

Paying your employees more for hitting specific targets may backfire, according to HBS professor Michael Beer. As he learned in his study of thirteen pay-for-performance plans at Hewlett-Packard, the unspoken contract may make or break these programs.

Breaking the Code of Change

How can firms maximize economic value while developing their organizational capabilities? In a corporate environment where change is constant, business leaders are continually challenged by this dilemma. In this excerpt from "Resolving the Tension between Theories E and O of Change," from Michael Beer and Nitin Nohria's Breaking the Code of Change, the authors present a framework toward "an integrative theory of change."

Spirit at Work: The Search for Deeper Meaning in the Workplace

A Perfect Fit: Aligning Organization & Strategy

Is your company organizationally fit? HBS Professor Michael Beer believes business success is a function of the fit between key organizational variables such as strategy, values, culture, employees, systems, organizational design, and the behavior of the senior management team. Beer and colleague Russell A. Eisenstat have developed a process,termed Organizational Fitness Profiling, by which corporations can cultivate organizational capabilities that enhance their competitiveness.