- 23 Jul 2014
- Lessons from the Classroom
Innovation Is Magic. Really
When Stefan Thomke teaches students how to manage innovation and creativity, he turns to an unexpected source: Magician Jason Randal. Open for comment; 12 Comment(s) posted.
- 30 Jun 2014
- Lessons from the Classroom
The Role of Emotions in Effective Negotiations
Andy Wasynczuk, a former negotiator for the New England Patriots, explores the sometimes intense role that emotions can play in negotiations. Closed for comment; 19 Comment(s) posted.
- 25 Jun 2014
- Lessons from the Classroom
FIELD Trip: Conquering the Gap Between Knowing and Doing
Forget what you remember about school field trips. Harvard Business School is in its fourth year of a bold innovation that ships all first-year students on global excursions. FIELD leaders Alan MacCormack and Tony Mayo describe lessons learned so far. Open for comment; 6 Comment(s) posted.
- 21 May 2014
- Lessons from the Classroom
CORe: HBS Powers Up Online Program on Business Fundamentals
Harvard Business School's new online primer on the fundamentals of business aims to translate some of the School's unique classroom teaching methods to the Web. Open for comment; 2 Comment(s) posted.
- 12 Mar 2014
- Lessons from the Classroom
Managing the Family Business: Firing the CEO
Firing a CEO is never easy—but the task gets even more difficult in a family business. John A. Davis discusses when to change out the chief executive. Open for comment; 13 Comment(s) posted.
- 09 Sep 2013
- Lessons from the Classroom
Teaching Climate Change to Skeptics
The Business and Environment Initiative at Harvard Business School aims to shift the debate about climate change from a political discussion to a practical conversation about risk and reward. Closed for comment; 36 Comment(s) posted.
- 26 Aug 2013
- Lessons from the Classroom
Built for Global Competition from the Start
Building a startup as a global business requires managers with skills and strategy much different from their predecessors of even a generation ago, says William R. Kerr. Closed for comment; 2 Comment(s) posted.
- 04 Mar 2013
- Lessons from the Classroom
Lessons from Running GM’s OnStar
Before teaching at Harvard Business School, Chet Huber ran the General Motors telematics subsidiary OnStar. Huber discusses how the lessons he learned in the field mesh with the lessons he teaches to students. Open for comment; 4 Comment(s) posted.
- 07 Jan 2013
- Lessons from the Classroom
Culture Changers: Managing High-Impact Entrepreneurs
In her new Harvard Business School course, Creative High-Impact Ventures: Entrepreneurs Who Changed the World, professor Mukti Khaire looks at ways managers can team with creative talent in six "culture industries": publishing, fashion, art-design, film, music, and food. Closed for comment; 13 Comment(s) posted.
- 20 Jun 2012
- Lessons from the Classroom
Teaching Leadership: What We Know
The field of leadership education has reached a critical stage. After several decades of experimentation, "The Handbook for Teaching Leadership," Scott A. Snook, Rakesh Khurana, and Nitin Nohria, is intended to be a foundational reference for educators facing this increasingly important challenge. Open for comment; 13 Comment(s) posted.
- 21 Nov 2011
- Lessons from the Classroom
The New Challenge of Leading Financial Firms
Running a financial organization, never easy to begin with, has quickly become one of the most difficult leadership challenges that an executive can undertake, requiring mastery of talent management, change management, and ethics. An interview with Professor Boris Groysberg, who teaches a new HBS Executive Education program on the subject with Professor Paul M. Healy. Key concepts include: Leading a financial firm is very different from leading any other kind of institution, requiring deep skills in a multitude of areas. Financial firms make expensive bets on top talent, but often make hiring decisions without enough deliberation. Risk management, strategy for growth, and competing in emerging markets are especially critical for financial firms to get right. Open for comment; 13 Comment(s) posted.
- 13 Oct 2011
- Lessons from the Classroom
Building a Business in the Context of a Life
Careers rarely run on a track from Point A to Point B—life experiences often change our goals. At Harvard Business School, Senior Lecturer Janet J. Kraus teaches students to take a life plan as seriously as they would a business plan. Key concepts include: Students and practitioners must evaluate what's important to them both personally and professionally and create a "life plan" for getting where they want to go. Students reflect on experiences and explore visions for where they see their lives going, taking into account not only career ideas but also family life, hobbies, community, spirituality, and other interests. The ideal is for students to find their "flow"—experiencing such enjoyment from an activity that they feel time, space and friction melt away. Open for comment; 13 Comment(s) posted.
- 18 Aug 2011
- Lessons from the Classroom
Business Plan Contest: 15 Years of Building Better Entrepreneurs
Since 1997, Hundreds of student-entrepreneurs have tested their ideas at Harvard Business School's annual Business Plan Contest. Here is what they have learned about success, failure, and themselves. From the HBS Alumni Bulletin. Open for comment; 2 Comment(s) posted.
- 11 Aug 2011
- Lessons from the Classroom
Perfecting the Project Pitch
Entrepreneurs may be great innovators, but not necessarily great presenters. Associate Professor Thomas Steenburgh teaches them the fine art of product pitching. Key concepts include: Crafting a compelling product pitch can be a difficult process for entrepreneurs who have a technical, engineering, or non-sales background, or another non-sales discipline. A pitch can go awry when the presenter gets too wrapped up in details rather than concentrating on the central idea, or has not thought through the idea enough to really understand it. An audience will give presenters 60 seconds to capture their attention—then they tune out. A key for entrepreneurs pitching their plans is to show passion for the idea and for the audience. Open for comment; 8 Comment(s) posted.
- 20 Jun 2011
- Lessons from the Classroom
Fame, Faith, and Social Activism: Business Lessons from Bono
Many executives struggle to balance work, family, and community, but for rock star Bono the effort is spread across the globe. In the HBS case "Bono and U2," professor Nancy F. Koehn discusses key business lessons to be learned from the famous band. Key concepts include: Take stock of how you are using your funds, your authority, and your people. A leader's mission and purpose isn't static; it evolves. The mission of the CEO should be related to the organization's performance. Who you are and what you stand for as an organization have great relevance to the people who buy your product. Closed for comment; 20 Comment(s) posted.
- 08 Jun 2011
- Lessons from the Classroom
Twenty-first Century Skill: Trading Carbon Credits
As cap and trade becomes an increasingly popular mechanism for governments to cut corporate pollution, students at Harvard Business School use a simulation to learn how it works. An interview with professor Peter Coles. Key concepts include: The simulation provides a classroom experience for students to see the impact of different design principles in the cap-and-trade mechanism. Open for comment; 7 Comment(s) posted.
- 11 Apr 2011
- Lessons from the Classroom
Teaching a ‘Lean Startup’ Strategy
Most startups fail because they waste too much time and money building the wrong product before realizing what the right product should have been, says HBS entrepreneurial management professor Thomas R. Eisenmann. Closed for comment; 56 Comment(s) posted.
- 07 Feb 2011
- Lessons from the Classroom
Creating the Founders’ Dilemmas Course
In HBS professor Noam Wasserman's second-year MBA course, Founders' Dilemmas, students study quandaries that virtually all entrepreneurs face when trying to realize the dream of launching a startup—from deciding when to start the company to learning how to make a graceful exit. Guest speakers discussing their experiences include All-Star pitcher-turned-entrepreneur Curt Schilling and Tom & Tom, the Nantucket Nectars guys. Closed for comment; 12 Comment(s) posted.
- 16 Nov 2010
- Lessons from the Classroom
Data.gov: Matching Government Data with Rapid Innovation
Data.gov is a young initiative of President Barack Obama for making raw data available on the Web. In an HBS executive education class for technology specialists, professor Karim Lakhani and the US Chief Information Officer, Vivek Kundra, sparked dialogue about new routes to innovation. Key concepts include: Data.gov makes government data--as long as it does not compromise national security or individual privacy--available on the Web in raw, machine-readable format. Data.gov is part of the Open Government initiative launched by President Barack Obama on his first day in office. As a lean organization with a mandate to move fast, Data.gov posted the first datasets five months later. Its goals are transparency, participation, collaboration, and management of systems and processes. The HBS case study of Data.gov, coauthored by professor Karim R. Lakhani, highlights a number of useful applications sparked by the Web site. One in particular creates benefits for taxpayers by sharing information between the Internal Revenue Service and the Department of Education. Closed for comment; 0 Comment(s) posted.
Teaching The Deal
In his Negotiation and Deals courses, Kevin Mohan uses his VC experience to teach students that showing emotion, asking questions, and understanding your own strengths and weaknesses can be key to a successful agreement. Open for comment; 2 Comment(s) posted.