Leadership →
- 02 Mar 2009
- Research & Ideas
When Goal Setting Goes Bad
If you ever wondered about the real value of goal setting in your organization, join the club. Despite the mantra that goals are good, the process of setting beneficial goals is harder than it looks. New research by HBS professor Max H. Bazerman and colleagues explores the hidden cost when stretch goals are misguided. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 09 Feb 2009
- Research & Ideas
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. Key concepts include: The CEOs in high commitment, high performance (HCHP) organizations are quite different in personality, background, and leadership style. But they are similar in what they see as the purpose of the firm. Among employees at large, there is a danger that commitment to an organization can undermine work-life balance. Successful CEOs are good role models. In addition to open and honest communication and continued investment in HCHP management practices, corporations need to develop an a priori set of policies in advance of the crisis that will minimize damage from restructuring and downsizing and maintain employee dignity and commitment. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 05 Feb 2009
- What Do You Think?
Why Can’t We Figure Out How to Select Leaders?
Managers discuss their own experience in organizations in response to February's column. All good leaders teach as well as learn, says Jim Heskett. Is it possible with any degree of confidence to select people for certain leadership jobs? (Forum now closed. Next forum begins March 5.) Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 17 Nov 2008
- Research & Ideas
Decoding the Artful Sidestep
Do you notice when someone changes the subject after you ask them a question? If you don't always notice or even mind such conversational transformations, you're not alone. New research by Todd Rogers and Harvard Business School professor Michael I. Norton explores the common occurrence of "conversational blindness." Q&A with Rogers. Key concepts include: In the study, speakers who dodged a question suffered no ill will from their listeners and paid no price. People prefer, trust, and like a question-dodger who is smooth and sounds confident over a question-answerer who is unsmooth and stammers. If you're a listener who wants to avoid conversational blindness on important matters, here's a tip: Remember your question. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 12 Nov 2008
- Research & Ideas
The Marketing of a President
Barack Obama's run for the White House was a model of marketing excellence, argues Professor John Quelch. Here's why it worked so well. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 20 Oct 2008
- Research & Ideas
The Seven Things That Surprise New CEOs
In the newly released book On Competition, Professor Michael E. Porter updates his classic articles on the competitive forces that shape strategy. We excerpt a portion on advice for new CEOs, written with HBS faculty Jay W. Lorsch and Nitin Nohria. Key concepts include: Most new chief executives are taken aback by unfamiliar new roles, time and information limitations, and altered professional relationships. The CEO must learn to manage organizational context rather than focus on daily operations. The CEO must not get totally absorbed in the role. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 08 Oct 2008
- Research & Ideas
Book Excerpt: A Sense of Urgency
Urgency can be a positive force in companies, says leadership expert and HBS professor emeritus John P. Kotter. His new book, A Sense of Urgency (Harvard Business Press), makes that conviction clear. Our excerpt describes how leaders might skillfully transform a crisis into an organizational motivator for the better. Key concepts include: Always think of crises as potential opportunities, and not only dreadful problems that automatically must be delegated to the damage control specialists. Plans and actions should always focus on others' hearts as much or more than their minds. If you are at a middle or low level in an organization and see how a crisis can be used as an opportunity, identify and then work with an open-minded and approachable person who can take the lead. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 01 Oct 2008
- Research & Ideas
How Much Time Should CEOs Devote to Customers?
Every corporate mission statement pays lip service to respecting customer needs, but actual customer expertise is typically a mile wide and an inch deep, says Harvard Business School professor John Quelch. Here's why every CEO should spend at least 10 percent of his or her time thinking about, talking to, and steering the organization to the customer. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 28 Aug 2008
- Sharpening Your Skills
Sharpening Your Skills: History Matters
Business history is a rich source of knowledge and inspiration for today's executives. Do we pay enough attention to the past? Here are four Working Knowledge articles that provide lessons from history about leaders, leadership, and business organization. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 27 Aug 2008
- Research & Ideas
Creating Leaders for Science-Based Businesses
The unique challenges of managing and leading science-based businesses—certain to be a driver of this century's new economy—demand new management paradigms. At Harvard Business School, the opportunities start just across the street. From HBS Alumni Bulletin. Key concepts include: Despite the hundreds of billions of dollars invested in biotech in recent decades, most biotech companies do not turn a profit. Science-based companies require a different kind of leadership, which HBS intends to develop through research, analysis and teaching. Harvard's new science complex being built across from Harvard Business School presents many opportunities for cross-fertilization. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 13 Aug 2008
- Research & Ideas
The Inner Life of Leaders
"Even when leaders try to hide and disguise their character, their traits are recognizable to others," says HBS professor emeritus Abraham Zaleznik. His new book, Hedgehogs and Foxes: Character, Leadership, and Command in Organizations, explores the internal complexities of people in control. Plus: Book excerpt. Key concepts include: Hedgehogs know one big thing while foxes know many things. Applied to leadership, hedgehogs reduce reality to one single principle, while foxes are prepared to adapt to a complex view of the world. An individual's character is outwardly represented while it is a product of development, starting with early childhood. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 11 Aug 2008
- Research & Ideas
Strategy Execution and the Balanced Scorecard
Companies often manage strategy in fits and starts, with strategy execution lost along the way. A new book by Balanced Scorecard creators Robert S. Kaplan and David P. Norton aims to make strategy a continual process. Key concepts include: An excellent strategy often fades from memory as the organization tackles day-to-day operations issues. The operational plan and budget should be driven from the revenue targets in the strategic plan. The senior management team needs to have regular, probably monthly, meetings that focus only on strategy. The Office of Strategy Management is a small cadre of professionals that orchestrate strategy management processes for the executive team. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 03 Jul 2008
- What Do You Think?
Are Followers About to Get Their Due?
Online forum now closed. Leadership may be much-discussed, but followership merits equal attention, suggests HBS professor Jim Heskett. As a follower, what advice would you give other followers who want to have an impact on their jobs and organizations? As a leader, what do you do to foster good followership? Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 11 Jun 2008
- Working Paper Summaries
Gender in Job Negotiations: A Two-Level Game
The traditional division of labor between the sexes—women managing the private realm and men the public—continues to have an indirect influence on job negotiation outcomes through links between private realm and public realm negotiations. Women's negotiations at work are often constrained by agreements in negotiations at home. There still remains a significant "unexplained" difference in male and female compensation that, according to research in the past several years, cannot be accounted for by gender differences in work commitment, education, and experience, or other considerations such as unionization. The literature on gender in negotiation may offer insights with regard to how negotiation contributes to or could help diminish gender differences in compensation. Bowles and McGinn review two bodies of literature on gender in negotiation—one from psychology and organizational behavior on candidate-employer negotiations, and another from economics and sociology on household bargaining over chores and child care. Key concepts include: The traditional division of labor between the sexes—in which women managed the private realm and men the public—continues to have an indirect influence on job negotiation outcomes through gendered stereotypes feeding into gendered pay expectations. The effects of gender on job negotiations are best understood if negotiations at work are viewed as a two-level phenomenon in which candidates' job outcomes are the product of negotiations with domestic partners as well as prospective employers. Separate bodies of research on gender in candidate-employer negotiations and on gender in intra-household bargaining offer complementary insights into these two levels of negotiation. Taking stock of the practical implications of this literature may help candidates overcome disadvantageous effects of gender on job negotiations and facilitate the creation of greater value for their employers, their domestic partners, and themselves. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 28 Apr 2008
- HBS Case
Negotiating with Wal-Mart
What happens when you encounter a company with a great deal of power, like Wal-Mart, that is also the ultimate non-negotiable partner? A series of Harvard Business School cases by James Sebenius and Ellen Knebel explore successful deal-making strategies. From the HBS Alumni Bulletin. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 17 Apr 2008
- Working Paper Summaries
Diffusing Management Practices within the Firm: The Role of Information Provision
Managers face a range of options to diffuse innovative practices within their organizations. This paper focuses on one such technique: providing practice-specific information through mechanisms such as internal seminars, demonstrations, knowledge management systems, and promotional brochures. In contrast to corporate mandates, this "information provision" approach empowers facility managers to decide which practices to actually implement. The authors examine how corporate managers diffused advanced environmental management practices within technology manufacturing firms in the United States. The study identifies several factors that encourage corporate managers to employ information provision, including subsidiaries' related expertise, the extent to which the subsidiaries were diversified or concentrated in similar businesses, and the geographic dispersion of their employees. Key concepts include: This research can help managers better understand when to employ an "information provision" approach to facilitate knowledge transfer within their organizations. Corporate managers in the information and communication technology sector were more likely to use information provision to diffuse advanced environmental management practices when their subsidiaries on average possessed modest levels of related expertise, and when the levels of expertise varied greatly between subsidiaries. An information provision diffusion strategy was used more heavily by corporate managers of firms that were more diversified and where employees dispersed across more facilities. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 31 Mar 2008
- HBS Case
JetBlue’s Valentine’s Day Crisis
It was the Valentine's Day from hell for JetBlue employees and more than 130,000 customers. Under bad weather, JetBlue fliers were trapped on the runway at JFK for hours, many ultimately delayed by days. How did the airline make it right with customers and learn from its mistakes? A discussion with Harvard Business School professor Robert S. Huckman. Key concepts include: JetBlue's dependence on a reservations system that relied on a dispersed workforce and the Web broke down when thousands of passengers needed to rebook at once. A crisis forces an organization to evaluate its operating processes rapidly and decide where it needs to create greater formalization or structure. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 26 Mar 2008
- Sharpening Your Skills
- 13 Feb 2008
- Working Paper Summaries
Unconventional Insights for Managing Stakeholder Trust
Most organizations understand the need to manage stakeholder trust. The bad news: Most organizations don't really understand how to manage the difficult job effectively. However, for those companies wishing to reap the benefits of improved cooperation with suppliers, increased motivation and productivity among employees, enhanced loyalty among customers, and higher levels of support from investors, managing stakeholder trust is a prudent, if not critical investment. Trust management may require an appreciation for some unconventional insights regarding the appropriate investment of resources. Stakeholders differ in regard to the kinds and degrees of vulnerability they face; what they need to believe before they will trust also differs. Would-be trust managers will be wise to consider these varying needs and to anticipate the tradeoffs that exist in strengthening relationships with specific stakeholders. Key concepts include: Trust is multidimensional, and it is not obvious which dimension you need to focus on when dealing with any particular stakeholder group. Stakeholder groups have different needs and vulnerabilities. Efforts aimed at solving one trust problem can exacerbate others. Stakeholders of all types are interested in associating with organizations with whom they can identify, and with whom they perceive a match in values. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
How Frank or Deceptive Should Leaders Be?
HBS professor Jim Heskett sums up comments to this month's column. Given the possibility that a naturally pessimistic (or perhaps more realistic) CEO might adversely affect everything from market reactions to employee morale, HBS Working Knowledge readers' comments are full of advice for honesty, candor, and an optimistic bias. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.