It's better to look good than to feel good. That was the observation of Billy Crystal's SNL character Fernando, and it seems to be born out in two articles from this year's most popular list. In The Manager in the Red Shoes, we learn that dressing to stand out rather than fit in can increase your work prestige. And in Venture Investors Prefer Funding Handsome Men, we discover, with regret, that VC prefers to give money to men—and good looking men at that. But sometimes business glory goes to those who succeed the old-fashioned way: they earn it. The lesson from our most popular article in 2014 is simple but powerful—maybe the best way to improve your work performance is to devote time to reflecting on your actions.
Now is also your chance to tell Working Knowledge readers in more than 200 countries around the world what you thought were the most significant trends, ideas, or management lessons from 2014. What will 2015 bring?
Most Popular Articles 2014
Reflecting on Work Improves Job Performance
New research by Francesca Gino, Gary Pisano, and colleagues shows that taking time to reflect on our work improves job performance in the long run.
Starbucks ReinventedNancy Koehn's new case on the rebirth of Starbucks under Howard Schultz "distills 20 years of my thinking about the most important lessons of strategy, leadership, and managing in turbulence."
The Manager in Red SneakersWearing the corporate uniform may not be the best way to dress for success. Research by Silvia Bellezza, Francesca Gino, and Anat Keinan shows there may be prestige advantages when you stand out rather than fit in.
The Role of Emotions in Effective NegotiationsSenior Lecturer Andy Wasynczuk, a former negotiator for the New England Patriots, explores the sometimes intense role that emotions can play in negotiations.
Managing the Family Business: Leadership RolesPoorly designed leadership roles set up a family business for failure. John A. Davis offers a system that produces the decisiveness and unity needed for long-term performance.
Has Listening Become a Lost Art?Managers may have ears, but do they use them? Jim Heskett's readers offer opinions on why listening might be a lost art.
The Surprising Link Between Language and Corporate ResponsibilityResearch by Christopher Marquis shows that a company's degree of social responsibility is affected by a surprising factor-the language it uses to communicate.
Why Do Outlet Stores Exist?Created in the 1930s, outlet stores allowed retailers to dispose of unpopular items at fire sale prices. Today, outlets seem outmoded and unnecessary—stores have bargain racks, after all. Donald K. Ngwe explains why outlets still exist.
How Grocery Bags Manipulate Your MindPeople who bring personal shopping bags to the grocery store to help the environment are more likely to buy organic items—but also to treat themselves to ice cream and cookies, according to new research by Uma R. Karmarkar and Bryan Bollinger. What's the Quinoa-Häagen-Dazs connection?
Venture Investors Prefer Funding Handsome MenStudies by Alison Wood Brooks and colleagues reveal that investors prefer pitches from male entrepreneurs over those from female entrepreneurs, even when the content of the pitches is identical. And handsome men fare best of all.
Most Popular Faculty Working Papers 2014
Learning By Thinking: How Reflection Improves PerformanceResearchers Giada Di Stefano, Francesca Gino, Gary Pisano, and Bradley Staats focus on the reflective dimension of the learning process and propose that learning can be augmented by deliberately focusing on thinking about what one has been doing.
Management Practices, Relational Contracts and the Decline of General MotorsConventional explanations for General Motors' decline are seriously incomplete, according to Susan Helper and Rebecca Henderson.
Learning from the Kursk Submarine Rescue Failure: the Case for Pluralistic Risk ManagementThe failure to rescue survivors from the sunk Russian submarine Kursk is explored by Anette Mikes and Amram Migdalpaper.
Better Deals Through Level II Strategies: Advance Your Interests by Helping to Solve Their Internal ProblemsWhile most of us focus on our own interests in negotiation, our counterparts are more likely to say "yes" to a proposal if it meets their interests. Research by James Sebenius.
Facts and Figuring: An Experimental Investigation of Network Structure and Performance in Information and Solution SpacesHow can managers create organizations that bring people together to successfully solve problems? Research on the potential downsides of "connectedness" by Jesse Shore, Ethan Bernstein, and David Laze.