HBR.org

Adrienne Bresnahan/Getty Images Feedback, as they say, is a gift. Research bears this out, suggesting that it’s a key driver of performance and leadership effectiveness. Negative feedback in particular can be valuable because it allows us to monitor our performance and alerts us to important changes we need to make. And indeed, leaders who ask […]

Adrienne Bresnahan/Getty Images Feedback, as they say, is a gift. Research bears this out, suggesting that it’s a key driver of performance and leadership effectiveness. Negative feedback in particular can be valuable because it allows us to monitor our performance and alerts us to important changes we need to make. And indeed, leaders who ask […]

Adrienne Bresnahan/Getty Images Feedback, as they say, is a gift. Research bears this out, suggesting that it’s a key driver of performance and leadership effectiveness. Negative feedback in particular can be valuable because it allows us to monitor our performance and alerts us to important changes we need to make. And indeed, leaders who ask […]

Adrienne Bresnahan/Getty Images Feedback, as they say, is a gift. Research bears this out, suggesting that it’s a key driver of performance and leadership effectiveness. Negative feedback in particular can be valuable because it allows us to monitor our performance and alerts us to important changes we need to make. And indeed, leaders who ask […]

afp/Getty Images Nearly one year after Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico, the official death toll for the disaster stands at 64. However, a new study, published Tuesday in The New England Journal of Medicine, estimates that at least 4,645 people have died as a consequence of the storm. That is more than 70 times the […]

Max Oppenheim/Getty Images Think about something you’re having a hard time getting started on, something important to you. Maybe it’s a particular kind of work — like writing a proposal or crafting a particularly delicate email. Maybe it’s an important conversation you know you need to have with someone that you haven’t had. Or, when […]

Quality Sport Images/Getty Images The game had ended. The applause had died down, and people had gone home. His work was done, now he could rest. So he took off his cleats and he sat down. Someone took a picture, and it went viral. Andrés Iniesta, one of the most gifted and successful soccer players […]

artpartner-images/Getty Images For innovation-hungry legacy firms, partnering with a startup can be appealing. Relatively small sums of time and money can quickly yield generous returns. With due diligence and decent design, these partnerships can go beyond good results and energize organizations that have become too comfortable or complacent with everyday routines. In return, the startups […]

MirageC/Getty Images We see a paradox in two important analytics trends. The most recent results from The CMO Survey conducted by Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business and sponsored by Deloitte LLP and the American Marketing Association reports that the percentage of marketing budgets companies plan to allocate to analytics over the next three years will […]

VANDAL Photography/Getty Images Shonda Rhimes, with four television shows simultaneously in production, is an entertainment industry titan. In a recent TED talk, she described her deep passion for her work: “When I’m hard at work, when I’m deep in it, there is no other feeling…It is hitting every high note. It is running a marathon. It is […]

Jonathan Kitchen/Getty Images Earlier this month, Google unveiled remarkable new capabilities for its automated assistant. They’re based on Google’s growing expertise in artificial intelligence (AI). Perhaps the most dramatic, and, to look at the deluge of commentary, troubling, demonstration was the ability of Google AI to make phone calls that imitate a human. If you […]

Jonathan Kitchen/Getty Images Earlier this month, Google unveiled remarkable new capabilities for its automated assistant. They’re based on Google’s growing expertise in artificial intelligence (AI). Perhaps the most dramatic, and, to look at the deluge of commentary, troubling, demonstration was the ability of Google AI to make phone calls that imitate a human. If you […]

Jonathan Kitchen/Getty Images Earlier this month, Google unveiled remarkable new capabilities for its automated assistant. They’re based on Google’s growing expertise in artificial intelligence (AI). Perhaps the most dramatic, and, to look at the deluge of commentary, troubling, demonstration was the ability of Google AI to make phone calls that imitate a human. If you […]

Don Farrall/Getty Images Open innovation processes promise to enhance creative output, yet we have heard little about successful launches of new technologies, products, or services arising from these approaches. Certainly, crowdsourcing platforms (among other open innovation methods) have yielded striking solutions to hard scientific and technological problems—prominent examples being the Netflix predictive recommendation algorithm and […]

Leslie K. John and Alison Wood Brooks, professors at Harvard Business School, say people in business can be more successful by asking more and better questions. They talk through what makes for a great question, whether you’re looking to get information or get someone to like you. They’re the coauthors of the article, “The Surprising […]

Don Farrall/Getty Images Open innovation processes promise to enhance creative output, yet we have heard little about successful launches of new technologies, products, or services arising from these approaches. Certainly, crowdsourcing platforms (among other open innovation methods) have yielded striking solutions to hard scientific and technological problems—prominent examples being the Netflix predictive recommendation algorithm and […]

Peter Dazeley/Getty Images How can hospitals and health systems generate a return on their investment in their physician enterprises? According to the most recent figures, from the American Medical Association, over 25% of U.S. physicians practiced in groups wholly or partly owned by hospitals in 2016 and another 7% were direct hospital employees. Yet, according […]

Rosemary Calvert/Getty Images Ashley Fina’s grandfather was a natural networker. As the founder of his own New York retail store, Michael C. Fina relied on his network to build his company into a beloved Manhattan institution, which counted Frank Sinatra among its customers. But when Ashley first entered the family business, she realized that while […]

Stephen Swintek/Getty Images According to Constellation Research, businesses across all sectors will spend more than $100 billion per year on Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies by 2025, up from a mere $2 billion in 2015. The marketing industry will be no exception. AI holds great promise for making marketing more intelligent, efficient, consumer-friendly, and, ultimately, more […]

Bloomberg/Contributor/Getty Images Everyone’s talking about a future in which vehicles are shared rather than owned, autonomous rather than driven, and where car companies make large shares of their profits on digital “mobility services.” But if you are the Ford Motor Company and face the prospect of investing billions in new technology while your century-old business […]

Bloomberg/Contributor/Getty Images Everyone’s talking about a future in which vehicles are shared rather than owned, autonomous rather than driven, and where car companies make large shares of their profits on digital “mobility services.” But if you are the Ford Motor Company and face the prospect of investing billions in new technology while your century-old business […]

Bloomberg/Contributor/Getty Images Everyone’s talking about a future in which vehicles are shared rather than owned, autonomous rather than driven, and where car companies make large shares of their profits on digital “mobility services.” But if you are the Ford Motor Company and face the prospect of investing billions in new technology while your century-old business […]

Jurgen Ziewe/Getty Images In April 2017, United Airlines encountered public outrage when an Asian passenger was dragged out of his seat and off of an overbooked United Airlines plane. Then, almost exactly one year later, two black patrons were arrested at a Starbucks store for sitting at a table without having made a purchase. Both […]

Yuichiro Chino/Getty Images When Naomi Simson founded RedBalloon, an online gift retailer that sells personal experiences, she was pioneering the category in Australia. With a $25,000 personal investment and a small office in her home, she began aggregating sales leads and aggressively acquiring customers through very traditional marketing means — like yellow page advertisements. It […]

Julian Watt/Getty Images Large companies in industries ranging from retail, to aerospace, to financial services are buying talent and technology to develop new digital capabilities and reinvent themselves quickly. But they will need to adopt the more hard-headed way that Silicon Valley companies evaluate acquisitions for their deals to pay off. Indeed, there are signs […]

Michael Blann/Getty Images Employees, investors, and partners don’t just follow anyone — they follow leaders who have command of the business and command of the stage. Whether you’re presenting on an analyst call or speaking to your entire organization in a town hall meeting, you’re being judged on your confidence and competence, not just your […]

Heini Wehrle/BIA/Minden Pictures/Getty Images Most companies see investor relations as a one-way street. When Bain & Company recently surveyed 51 top global executives about their investor relationship management practices, we learned that while most of them communicate at least monthly with investors and are segmenting their investor base for differentiated emphasis in communications, fewer than […]

Heini Wehrle/BIA/Minden Pictures/Getty Images Most companies see investor relations as a one-way street. When Bain & Company recently surveyed 51 top global executives about their investor relationship management practices, we learned that while most of them communicate at least monthly with investors and are segmenting their investor base for differentiated emphasis in communications, fewer than […]

akrp/Getty Images The idea of “vacation” often conjures up thoughts of trips to faraway lands. While it’s true that big trips can be fun and even refreshing, they can also take a lot of time, energy, and money. A lot of people feel exhausted just thinking about planning a vacation—not just navigating personal commitments and […]

James Brey/Getty Images From 1870 to 1911, John D. Rockefeller built what was arguably the single most impressive business organization in history: Standard Oil. Mr. Rockefeller’s business strategy was to vertically integrate every aspect of the oil business (exploration, development, logistics, marketing) to assure an ongoing competitive advantage. His vehicles were not just mergers and […]

Alex Maxim/Getty Images In recent years, marketers have lived through the Era of Big Data, and the Era of Personalization, and now we are living through the “Era of Consent.” With the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) going into effect on May 25th, businesses will be required to protect the personal data and privacy of […]

Image Source/Getty Images The term “frictionless commerce” is widely used to describe how digital technologies are blending product purchases seamlessly into consumers’ daily lives. In the ultimate manifestation of frictionless commerce, purchases will be automatically initiated on behalf of consumers (with their advance consent) using real-time, integrated data from known preferences, past behaviors, sensors, and […]

Phil Ashley/Getty Images We like to think of ourselves as unbiased and objective in our employment decisions, but with two equal candidates, who are you going to promote? Someone who is described in their performance evaluations as analytical or someone who is described as compassionate? On the other end of the employment spectrum, if you’re […]

Phil Ashley/Getty Images We like to think of ourselves as unbiased and objective in our employment decisions, but with two equal candidates, who are you going to promote? Someone who is described in their performance evaluations as analytical or someone who is described as compassionate? On the other end of the employment spectrum, if you’re […]

Phil Ashley/Getty Images We like to think of ourselves as unbiased and objective in our employment decisions, but with two equal candidates, who are you going to promote? Someone who is described in their performance evaluations as analytical or someone who is described as compassionate? On the other end of the employment spectrum, if you’re […]

bloomberg/Getty Images President Emmanuel Macron together with many Silicon Valley CEOs will kick off the VivaTech conference in Paris this week with the aim of showcasing the “good” side of technology. Our research highlights some of those benefits, especially the productivity growth and performance gains that automation and artificial intelligence can bring to the economy […]

Lance Grandahl/Unsplash The term “acqui-hire” is a nifty neologism that enjoys the virtue of being well-defined in M&A circles while suffering the vice of being misunderstood. Ostensibly, young companies are “acqui-hired” more for their best people than for any real interest in their products, services, or ongoing operations. Talent acquisition is acqui-hiring’s main purpose, say […]

Dorling Kindersley/Getty Images Diversity means different things to different people. In a study of 180 Spanish corporate managers, we explored perceptions of diversity and found that depending on who is answering, diversity usually means one of three things: demographic diversity (our gender, race, sexual orientation, and so on), experiential diversity (our affinities, hobbies, and abilities), […]

Dorling Kindersley/Getty Images Diversity means different things to different people. In a study of 180 Spanish corporate managers, we explored perceptions of diversity and found that depending on who is answering, diversity usually means one of three things: demographic diversity (our gender, race, sexual orientation, and so on), experiential diversity (our affinities, hobbies, and abilities), […]

Dorling Kindersley/Getty Images Diversity means different things to different people. In a study of 180 Spanish corporate managers, we explored perceptions of diversity and found that depending on who is answering, diversity usually means one of three things: demographic diversity (our gender, race, sexual orientation, and so on), experiential diversity (our affinities, hobbies, and abilities), […]

Kittiyut Phornphibul/EyeEm/Getty Images It’s possible to fake emotional intelligence. Similar to knockoffs of luxury watches or handbags, there are emotions and actions that look like the real thing but really aren’t. With the best of intentions, I’ve seen smart leaders charge into sensitive interactions armed with what they believed was a combination of deep empathy, […]

ANTTI AIMO-KOIVISTO/Stringer /Getty Images How do emotions shape strategy making? We investigated this topic when we studied how Nokia executives dealt with the company’s severe strategic challenges between 2007 and 2013. As part of this research, we conducted 120 interviews, including nine with board members and 19 with top managers. Recall that Nokia dominated the […]

Loic Djim/Unsplash Networks matter for career success. They help you find people who can assist you with projects, refer you to new employers, and make connections to new and bigger opportunities. In a famous study by Ronald Burt, people who made efforts to improve their networks were 42%–74% more likely to be promoted than those […]

Jonathan Knowles/Getty Images After the stock market’s rocky ride in recent months, some analysts are wondering whether a new economic crisis might be around the corner. Judging by the economy’s overall performance, there is no need for immediate concern. But for entrepreneurs who prefer to be safe than sorry, the question remains: what should you do when the […]

Juj Winn/Getty Images Many companies are aiming to be more transparent and authentic about their products, services, and costs. For example, McDonald’s has an online FAQ about how the company’s food products are made, while Southwest’s Transfarency initiative aims to give customers a clearer picture of the total fare they will pay, with no unexpected fees. But when […]

Fanatic Studio/Getty Images By the end of 2017, Yelp had amassed more than 140 million reviews of local businesses. While the company’s mission focuses on helping people find local businesses more easily, this wealth of data has the potential to serve other purposes. For instance, Yelp data might help restaurants understand which markets they should […]

AleksandarNakic/Getty Images The demands of both work and parenting are rising. While working hours globally are falling (partially due to aging populations), those employed full-time are often working more. In the U.S., for example, full-time employees are working 47 hours per week, and four in 10 people work more than 50. And the bifurcation of […]

AleksandarNakic/Getty Images The demands of both work and parenting are rising. While working hours globally are falling (partially due to aging populations), those employed full-time are often working more. In the U.S., for example, full-time employees are working 47 hours per week, and four in 10 people work more than 50. And the bifurcation of […]

anbileru adaleru/noun project Compassion has become increasingly recognized as a foundational aspect of leadership. One study from 2012 found that compassionate leaders appear stronger and have more-engaged followers. Other studies have found that organizations with more-compassionate leaders have better collaboration, lower turnover, and employees who are more trusting, more connected to each other, and more […]

Victoria Jones – PA Images / Contributor/Getty Images The UK will exit the European Union on March 29, 2019, and many companies are struggling to prepare for how it will change doing business there. Only a minority of firms is well ahead in planning and preparing a UK market strategy. At the recent Brexit Workshop we held for […]

Marina Nasr / EyeEm/Getty Images Increasing volatility, uncertainty, growing complexity, and ambiguous information (VUCA) has created a business environment in which agile collaboration is more critical than ever. Organizations need to be continually on the lookout for new market developments and competitive threats, identifying essential experts and nimbly forming and disbanding teams to help tackle […]

Microprocessor (CPU) with human brain   By Paul Clarke, Chief Technology Officer, Ocado Artificial Intelligence (AI) offers the prospect of a frictionless existence, making us more efficient, helping us prevent mistakes, spotting the onset of potential problems before they become problems, and enabling us to spend more time on the things that really matter to […]

Jennifer Petriglieri, an assistant professor of organizational behavior at INSEAD, asks company leaders to consider whether they really need to relocate their high-potential employees or make them travel so much. She says moving around is particularly hard on dual-career couples. And if workers can’t set boundaries around mobility and flexibility, she argues, firms lose out […]

Ilka & Franz/Getty Images Here’s a truth: many in the marketing industry today don’t really understand brands. They may think that “brand” and “customer experience” are different. But that kind of brand is a layer of communications. That is the stuff of blowhard manifestos — too high-minded to sell anything, and too lofty to be […]

Marie LaFauci/Getty Images The employment rate gap between black Americans and white Americans has remained persistently high over the past 30 years. Looking at 2014 data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, white Americans were 10% more likely to be employed than African-Americans were. A great deal of research — using methodologies such as resume studies […]

Marie LaFauci/Getty Images The employment rate gap between black Americans and white Americans has remained persistently high over the past 30 years. Looking at 2014 data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, white Americans were 10% more likely to be employed than African-Americans were. A great deal of research — using methodologies such as resume studies […]

Marie LaFauci/Getty Images The employment rate gap between black Americans and white Americans has remained persistently high over the past 30 years. Looking at 2014 data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, white Americans were 10% more likely to be employed than African-Americans were. A great deal of research — using methodologies such as resume studies […]

Marie LaFauci/Getty Images The employment rate gap between black Americans and white Americans has remained persistently high over the past 30 years. Looking at 2014 data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, white Americans were 10% more likely to be employed than African-Americans were. A great deal of research — using methodologies such as resume studies […]

Marie LaFauci/Getty Images The employment rate gap between black Americans and white Americans has remained persistently high over the past 30 years. Looking at 2014 data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, white Americans were 10% more likely to be employed than African-Americans were. A great deal of research — using methodologies such as resume studies […]

Christopher Stevenson/Getty Images We’ve probably all been to at least one networking event, those initially promising but inevitably awkward meet-ups where most people arrive hoping to meet new contacts that can further their career — but end up stirring their drink in the corner of the room chatting with someone they already knew. To an […]

David Ryder/Stringer/Getty Images Amazon came under fire last week after its board opposed a shareholder proposal to increase the diversity of the board. CtW Investment Group, an activist shareholder group, requested that Amazon implement something much like the “Rooney Rule,” a requirement instituted by the NFL in 2003 that every team must interview at least one minority […]

Catherine MacBride/Getty Images Global teams have the potential to help organizations reach new markets and provide a seamless brand experience for customers across the world. But for global teams to work, team leaders need to make sure all members feel connected and engaged, regardless of their location or culture. From what I’ve seen when advising global teams, […]

Marcia Straub/Getty Images Companies are collecting more data than ever before, and are making significant business decisions based on it. Of the 4 Vs of Big Data (Volume, Velocity, Variety, and Veracity), we have now seen ample evidence of the impact and importance of the first three. A higher “Volume” of data has led to […]

Danae Diaz/Getty Images There is no single leadership trait that guarantees success in any profession, but there is, based on my experience, one that many of the best leaders share: a fierce commitment to objectivity. And yet I realize it’s often not easy for leaders to remain objective. In my nearly three-decade career in the […]

Pm Images/Getty Images Platform business models are booming—becoming bigger and more powerful than ever. Just consider that a few tweets from the president caused Amazon’s market capitalization to fall by about $40 billion, or that Russian influencers were able to reach 126 million people through Facebook. At OpenMatters, we spend a lot of time studying […]

Danae Diaz/Getty Images There is no single leadership trait that guarantees success in any profession, but there is, based on my experience, one that many of the best leaders share: a fierce commitment to objectivity. And yet I realize it’s often not easy for leaders to remain objective. In my nearly three-decade career in the […]

Danae Diaz/Getty Images There is no single leadership trait that guarantees success in any profession, but there is, based on my experience, one that many of the best leaders share: a fierce commitment to objectivity. And yet I realize it’s often not easy for leaders to remain objective. In my nearly three-decade career in the […]

Danae Diaz/Getty Images There is no single leadership trait that guarantees success in any profession, but there is, based on my experience, one that many of the best leaders share: a fierce commitment to objectivity. And yet I realize it’s often not easy for leaders to remain objective. In my nearly three-decade career in the […]

Danae Diaz/Getty Images There is no single leadership trait that guarantees success in any profession, but there is, based on my experience, one that many of the best leaders share: a fierce commitment to objectivity. And yet I realize it’s often not easy for leaders to remain objective. In my nearly three-decade career in the […]

Dragan Todorovic/Getty Images “We have a great culture.” We have all heard it. We have all said it. But what does that mean? Ping-Pong tables, free meals, and beer on tap? No. Yoga, CrossFit classes, and massage chairs? I so need that, but no. The promise of being part of a hip, equity-incentivized, fast growing […]

CSA Images/Mod Art Collection/Getty Images When people think of the automotive Factory of the Future, the first word that comes to mind is automation. They think of the “lights-out” factory that General Motors Chief Executive Roger Smith fantasized about in 1982 and Elon Musk talks about building today—plants so dominated by robots and machines that […]

Richard Drury/Getty Images It can be draining to work with a perfectionist. While it’s great to work with colleagues who care about the quality of their work, perfectionists take it a step further. Their unrelenting standards can result in unnecessary stress, conflict, and missed deadlines due to a failure to prioritize the big picture over […]

chuttersnap/unsplash On March 3, 2015, hyperlocal social network Nextdoor announced that it had raised $110 million in venture capital. The deal valued the company at more than $1 billion—revered, unicorn status. It had to be a giddy moment for CEO Nirav Tolia and co-founders David Wiesen, Prakash Janakiraman, and Sarah Leary. But just three weeks […]

Westend61/Getty Images In Denmark, we are well known for our welfare system — a system that is supposed to give women and men equal access to the job market and equal possibilities of making a career. We have daycare, schools, and other public institutions at the top of global rankings. Both men and women have great […]

Westend61/Getty Images In Denmark, we are well known for our welfare system — a system that is supposed to give women and men equal access to the job market and equal possibilities of making a career. We have daycare, schools, and other public institutions at the top of global rankings. Both men and women have great […]

Westend61/Getty Images In Denmark, we are well known for our welfare system — a system that is supposed to give women and men equal access to the job market and equal possibilities of making a career. We have daycare, schools, and other public institutions at the top of global rankings. Both men and women have great […]

Westend61/Getty Images In Denmark, we are well known for our welfare system — a system that is supposed to give women and men equal access to the job market and equal possibilities of making a career. We have daycare, schools, and other public institutions at the top of global rankings. Both men and women have great […]

beastfromeast/Getty Images In every conversation at work, there’s the explicit discussion happening — the words being spoken out loud — and the tacit one. To be successful in most organizations, it’s important to understand the underlying conversations and reactions that people in the room are having. But if you aren’t picking up on those subtle […]

Peter Dazeley/Getty Images There’s a lot of excitement right now about how artificial intelligence (AI) is going to change health care. And many AI technologies are cropping up to help people streamline administrative and clinical health care processes. According to venture capital firm Rock Health, 121 health AI and machine learning companies raised $2.7 billion in […]

Marcus Winther/Getty Images From targeted online advertising to more precise recommendation engines, consumer markets are bursting with innovation around machine learning and advanced analytics. While there’s less buzz around business-to-business markets, these innovations are changing the game in B2B as well, even in old-line industries selling what might be considered commodity products. A growing number […]

By Sean Downey, Vice President, Media Platforms, Google A few years ago, it was clear that mobile technology was changing the way people searched when they wanted to know, go, do or buy. With advancing technology, people are again changing how they search — and time is of the essence. Google data shows that in […]

HBR Staff Black women continue to be sorely underrepresented in leadership roles in corporate America. Currently, they make up 12.7% of the U.S. population, yet they represent only 1.3% of senior management and executive roles of S&P 500 firms, 2.2% of Fortune 500 boards of directors, and in a post-Ursula Burns world, there is not […]

VCG/Getty Images Counterfeit luxury goods are big business in China. Together, China and Hong Kong are estimated to be the source of 86% of the world’s counterfeit goods—an amount that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce estimates is worth about $397 billion. Fake merchandise accounted for 12.5% of China’s exports in 2016, according to the same report. But China also has a huge […]

VCG/Getty Images Counterfeit luxury goods are big business in China. Together, China and Hong Kong are estimated to be the source of 86% of the world’s counterfeit goods—an amount that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce estimates is worth about $397 billion. Fake merchandise accounted for 12.5% of China’s exports in 2016, according to the same report. But China also has a huge […]

VCG/Getty Images Counterfeit luxury goods are big business in China. Together, China and Hong Kong are estimated to be the source of 86% of the world’s counterfeit goods—an amount that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce estimates is worth about $397 billion. Fake merchandise accounted for 12.5% of China’s exports in 2016, according to the same report. But China also has a huge […]

VCG/Getty Images Counterfeit luxury goods are big business in China. Together, China and Hong Kong are estimated to be the source of 86% of the world’s counterfeit goods—an amount that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce estimates is worth about $397 billion. Fake merchandise accounted for 12.5% of China’s exports in 2016, according to the same report. But China also has a huge […]

hh5800/Getty Images The problems we’re facing often seem as complex as they do intractable. And as Albert Einstein is often quoted as saying, “We cannot solve our problems with the same level of thinking that created them.” So what does it take to increase the complexity of our thinking? Too many leaders default to looking at decisions as either-or: […]

Neasden Control Centre for hbr When Tesla CEO Elon Musk said that “moats are lame” during the company’s earnings call last week, he was calling out Warren Buffett, the chair of Berkshire Hathaway, who uses “moat” to describe barriers to imitation that stave off competition. “If your only defense against invading armies is a moat, you […]

Jeffrey Coolidge/Getty Images Entrepreneurs are known for their creativity and risk tolerance; engineers, mathematicians, and health care workers typically aren’t. Consider, for example, the ideal attributes of a civil engineer building an interstate bridge near your home. Do you picture a risk-tolerant engineer who is highly comfortable with uncertainty, or one who tends to prefer […]

Monzino/Getty Images One evening in February 2016, writer and filmmaker Ava DuVernay met with two top Disney executives about the possibility of directing an adaptation of Madeleine L’Engle’s classic novel A Wrinkle in Time. DuVernay, 44 at the time, had overcome many challenges to reach that moment. She had launched her career 12 years earlier […]

miragec/Getty Images The myth that 75% of all mergers fail has long been dispelled. It was based on a statistic related to announcement day effect that failed to capture the reality of corporate value creation. M&A does boost companies’ growth and value, our new research shows, but the bet-the-company deal isn’t the route to success. […]

beastfromeast/Getty Images Whether it’s attending startup events, social gatherings, or happy hours, networking is a necessary part of every entrepreneur’s life. Seventy-eight percent of entrepreneurs agree that networking is crucial to startup success, which is why there are a myriad of articles online about how to master and love the art of networking. But networking can […]

cintascotch/Getty Images If you watched the Super Bowl a few months ago, you probably saw the coaches talking to each other over headsets during the game. What you didn’t know is that during the 2016 season, the NFL made major league-wide improvements to its radio frequency technology, both to prevent interference from media using the same […]

yangleephoto/Multi-bits/Getty Images The shadow sector, or informal economy, includes everything from illicit sidewalk sales of counterfeit handbags to large corporations that evade taxes and ignore regulations. It makes up a substantial portion of the global economy. The OECD estimated in 2009 that 1.8 billion workers participated in this sector, generating over $10 trillion in goods […]

Jennifer Maravillas for HBR Imagine that the next time you see your doctor, she says you have a life-threatening disease. The catch? A computer has performed your diagnosis, which is too complex for humans to understand entirely. What your doctor can explain, however, is that the computer is almost always right. If this sounds like […]

Joshua Gans, a professor at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management, advises against trying to commercialize a new technology or product before considering all the strategic options. He talks through some questions entrepreneurs should ask themselves — like, collaborate or compete? — and outlines a framework he and his fellow researchers have found […]

Jennifer Maravillas for HBR Imagine that the next time you see your doctor, she says you have a life-threatening disease. The catch? A computer has performed your diagnosis, which is too complex for humans to understand entirely. What your doctor can explain, however, is that the computer is almost always right. If this sounds like […]

Picture Post/Getty Images The board of directors of a public company has a long list of oversight responsibilities, but it is not always the case that directors receive the information they need to make fully informed decisions on key matters, such as strategy, succession, and performance monitoring. We recently studied a novel approach to information […]

Lee Powers/Getty Images One of the most important and challenging decisions faced by corporate directors is whether to promote a new CEO from within or to hire new talent when a CEO leaves the company. Both have advantages. Inside candidates, often groomed by their predecessors, bring firm-, market-, and industry-specific knowledge that outsiders might take […]

paul garbett for hbr A lean startup approach, we are told, can empower big companies to innovate rapidly and effectively in the face of continual disruption, potentially even transforming enterprises into centers of continual new growth. Responding to this promise, many companies have started putting these ideas to use: A recent study of 170 organizations […]

molotovcoketail/Getty Images The implicit promise of work-life flexibility is that it can address workers’ needs to reconcile work demands with personal and family needs, all while benefiting firms in the form of a greater ability to attract and retain employees and in potential performance gains. The idea of flexibility-driven mutual gains is especially appealing now, […]

filo/Getty Images Do you value bitcoin in dollars or dollars in bitcoin? Few serious economists imagine that the new cryptocurrencies, for all the hype, will make national currencies redundant. By and large they are right, because conventional money actually does a pretty good job. The U.S. dollar and other reserve currencies have historically performed well as […]

filo/Getty Images Do you value bitcoin in dollars or dollars in bitcoin? Few serious economists imagine that the new cryptocurrencies, for all the hype, will make national currencies redundant. By and large they are right, because conventional money actually does a pretty good job. The U.S. dollar and other reserve currencies have historically performed well as […]

bubaone/Getty Images Lyndon B. Johnson General Hospital, a county-funded, safety net institution in economically disadvantaged northeast Houston, is the sole hospital to provide inpatient, obstetric, and emergency care for nearly 25% of the city’s land area. Although it remained open for operations during Hurricane Harvey in late August 2017, the storm caused significant moisture damage […]

MINCHU/Getty Images In a work culture with too many meetings, we often look for tactics to get out of meetings. But sometimes you need to get into a meeting, perhaps because the decisions made there will have implications for you or your team, or maybe because you feel you’ve been left out of important discussions. Whether you […]

Laura Schneider for HBR Many of us hold principles that keep us from pursuing a more productive lifestyle. For example, one of the most common ones is the belief that increasing productivity, or getting the most out of your time, will decrease the quality of your work, or your ability to do tasks perfectly. In […]

HBR Staff/Steve Jennings / Stringer/Getty Images Since joining Kleiner Perkins in 1980, venture capitalist John Doerr has helped fund Intuit, Amazon, Google, Twitter, and a host of other well-known tech companies. Many of them utilize a goal-setting system Doerr calls “OKR,” for “objectives” and “key results.” His new book, Measure What Matters, contains his explanation […]

aleksandarvelasevic/Getty Images In 2001, a new approach to technology development was created by a daring group of developers. Called Agile, the process put customers at the center of product development, encouraged rapid prototyping, and dramatically increased corporate speed and agility. While Agile began as a product development innovation, it sparked a corporate strategy and process […]

Leigh Wells/Getty Images People hear biased comments all too often in their everyday workplace interactions. For example, a woman might be told that women generally lack aptitude for leadership or technical fields. Racial minorities might hear statements embodying negative stereotypes of their race. Right after hearing biased comments, people face a choice: do they confront […]

David Arky/Getty Images Do you have a work twin? Is there a colleague whose name is constantly mentioned in the same breath as yours? This colleague’s responsibilities may differ from yours; he or she may even work in an entirely different department. Yet because his or her position in the organizational hierarchy is roughly equivalent […]

If your workplace is toxic, can you change it? In this episode of HBR’s advice podcast, Dear HBR:, cohosts Alison Beard and Dan McGinn answer your questions with the help of Nicholas Pearce, an associate professor at Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. They talk through how to transform a toxic culture, whether you’re […]

Stella/Getty Images Have you ever left a meeting feeling that you dominated the whole thing — and not in a good way? You talked a lot, and in the end, you felt that nobody else had enough time to speak. This is a bad dynamic for several reasons. People don’t want to attend meetings that are […]

PM Images/Getty Images In a recent speech, Alex Azar, the U.S. secretary of health and human services, said, “There is no more powerful force than an informed consumer.” What about an informed provider? If health systems are truly going to improve the value of the care they deliver, they need to enlist doctors in the […]

CliqueImages/Getty Images Today’s digital world is organized around two centers of gravity: the U.S. West Coast and the east coast of China. These gold coasts are home to nine of the top 10, and 18 of the top 20, internet companies, as measured by market capitalization. The leading companies in online search, social media, and e-commerce […]

piyush ghedia/Getty Images Many professionals would love to do more speaking at conferences and conventions. But when the invitation comes, they’re often paralyzed by money: Is it appropriate to ask for some? And if so, how much? I’m a paid keynote speaker who delivers 30–50 talks per year. I’ve also interviewed folks about how to […]

twomeows/Getty Images One of our clients, let us call it AgriCo, recently came to us with a problem: It had created an online platform for sourcing farming supplies to remote farms. The platform meant that it was easier, more convenient, and faster for farmers to get what they needed, whether it was a part for […]

Kwanchai Lerttanapunyaporn / EyeEm/Getty Images Mindfulness is now seen as a crucial skill in business. Meditation practices have the capacity to calm the mind, relax the body, boost resilience, and even increase situational awareness. The study of mindfulness — often defined as paying attention, nonjudgmentally and on purpose — is a regular part of the […]

cintascotch/Getty Images Many people mistakenly believe that the ability to learn is a matter of intelligence. For them, learning is an immutable trait like eye color, simply luck of the genetic draw. People are born learners, or they’re not, the thinking goes. So why bother getting better at it? And that’s why many people tend […]

Gunther Kleinert / EyeEm/Getty Images Communicators and marketers can now adopt a personalized approach to their work, ideally one based on behavioral science. But the execution lags behind the science while the claims of some marketers as to what personality marketing can do far exceed it. Moreover, public controversies like the Facebook and Cambridge Analytica story […]

Cathy Scola/Getty Images It’s smart to have strong relationships with both your boss and your boss’s boss, but when there’s conflict between the two of them, you’re often in a tough spot. What’s the best way to navigate this situation? Should you align yourself with the person who has the most influence over your job […]

Benjamin Harte/Getty Images We were shareholder activists once. For two years, we conducted an activist campaign at Tejon Ranch, the largest private landowner in California and a publicly traded company. We earned a 13% return — not bad by industry standards — but we failed to change the company much. We wrote about our adventure nearly a […]

Whitney Johnson, an executive coach, argues that on-the-job learning is the key to keeping people motivated. When managers understand that, and understand where the people they manage are on their individual learning curve — the low end, the sweet spot, or the high end — employees are engaged, productive, and innovative. Johnson is the author […]

If you ever waited for dial-up to connect you to the vast wonderland we called the World Wide Web, you probably also had an alarm clock on your nightstand, next to your land line, which might have had a cord connecting the handset to the receiver. If you were really progressive, you may have even […]

Songning Yang / EyeEm/Getty Images Whether presiding over the entire company, a function, region, or business unit, the team at the top of an organization has disproportionate levels of influence over those it leads. People further down in the organization look to their leaders for cues on what’s acceptable (and what isn’t) and the team’s […]

CSA-Archive/Getty Images Earlier this year, Tesla shareholders approved what is likely the largest compensation package ever awarded to a CEO — for a CEO who clearly doesn’t need the money. Elon Musk is already incredibly rich, and also doesn’t seem particularly motivated by further wealth. The psychologist Daniel Pink describes the primary sources of human motivation […]

Janis Christie/Getty Images Roughly 80% of serious medical errors (now the third leading cause of death in the United States behind heart disease and cancer) can be traced to poor communication between care providers during patient handoffs, according to a 2012 Joint Commission report. This makes patient handoffs the most frequent and riskiest procedure in […]