Publications

June 2025
Supplement

Bob Iger and The Walt Disney Company: Back on the Ride (B)

By: Nitin Nohria, Kayti Stanley, Matthew Young and Erik Liu

June 2025
Case

Bob Iger and The Walt Disney Company: The Ride of a Lifetime (A)

By: Nitin Nohria, Kayti Stanley, Matthew Young and Erik Liu

March 2025
Case

Christophe Beck: Leading Ecolab into Its Next Century

By: Nitin Nohria, Kayti Stanley, Regina Gomez and Veshal Arul Prakash

December 10, 2024
Article

Is Your Company’s Problem Complicated? Or Complex?

By: Nitin Nohria, Bill George and Kayti Stanley

Complicated problems, which can be solved with systematic approaches, are different from complex problems, which require adaptive strategies and continuous learning. Many leaders conflate the two types, have more experience with complicated problems, and therefore may... View Details

Keywords: Complexity; Adaptation; Leadership; Problems and Challenges

September–October 2024
Article

The Art of Leading Teammates

By: Tom Brady and Nitin Nohria

When our society talks about leaders, we focus on formal roles, such as the CEO. This view undervalues the role of informal leaders—team members who influence outcomes by the tone they set, how they conduct themselves, and how they interact with their peers. Their job... View Details

Keywords: Groups and Teams; Power and Influence; Leadership; Status and Position

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July 2024
Supplement

Driving Transformation: Jeff Jones at H&R Block

By: Nitin Nohria, Das Narayandas and Kayti Stanley

June 2024
Case

Driving Transformation: Jeff Jones at H&R Block

By: Nitin Nohria, Das Narayandas and Kayti Stanley

January–February 2024
Article

Leaders Must React: A Framework for Responding to Unforeseen Events

By: Nitin Nohria

To be successful, CEOs must articulate a compelling vision, align people around it, and motivate them to execute it. But there’s one thing that can make or break them: how they respond in real time to unforeseen events.

On average, addressing unexpected... View Details

Keywords: Crisis Management; Management Skills; Leadership Style

July–August 2023
Article

Case Study: How Should a Start-Up Cut Its Burn Rate?

By: Nitin Nohria, Katie Josephson, Sophia Wronsky and Elizabeth Rha

Tyler Smith, the founder and CEO of the enterprise software firm Puck.io, is facing a hard decision. Just three months earlier the company laid off 20% of its employees to reduce its burn rate amid growing economic uncertainty and a suddenly unattractive funding... View Details

Keywords: Employees; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Governing and Advisory Boards; Business and Shareholder Relations; Business or Company Management; Business Startups

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Article

As the World Shifts, So Should Leaders

By: Nitin Nohria

Two decades ago, extensive research led Nohria, the former dean of Harvard Business School, to conclude that the hallmark of great leadership is the ability to adapt to the times. Today, he says, we're in a period of significant change, thanks to global events,... View Details

Keywords: Adaptability; Leadership; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Adaptation

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January 2018
Case

Mary Barra, CEO, General Motors

By: Nitin Nohria, Kerry Herman and Sarah Gulick

Library case detailing the career of Mary Barra, GM’s CEO from January 2014, and her handling of the GM ignitions scandal, GM’s move into electric and autonomous car development, and activist investors. View Details

Keywords: CEO; Female Ceo; Automobiles; Leadership; Crisis Management; Auto Industry; Michigan

January 2018
Case

Lloyd Blankfein and Goldman Sachs

By: Nitin Nohria, Aldo Sesia and Kerry Herman

The case provides a brief bio of Goldman Sachs’ Chairman and CEO Lloyd Blankfein and highlights several challenges Blankfein faced as CEO. Blankfein took over as the firm’s leader in 2006 and continued to be CEO/Chairman in early 2018. View Details

Keywords: CEO; Leadership; Asset Management; Problems and Challenges; Financial Services Industry; United States

May 2017 (Revised June 2017)
Teaching Note

Solvay Group: International Mobility and Managing Expatriates

By: Boris Groysberg, Nitin Nohria, Robin Abrahams and Kerry Herman

Teaching Note for HBS No. 409-079 View Details

September 2015 (Revised July 2025)
Background Note

Ethical Analysis: Situation versus Character

By: Nitin Nohria, Sandra J. Sucher, Joseph Badaracco, Edward H. Chang and Bridget Gurtler

When we think of human behavior, especially from a moral perspective, we often rely on explanations based on character. We think that good decisions and responsible behavior require people with integrity and strong character and that immoral behavior originates within... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Ethics; Behavior; Personal Characteristics; Power and Influence; Situation or Environment; Values and Beliefs; Social Psychology

Keywords: Information Technology; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Design; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Organizational Culture; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Performance Productivity; Problems and Challenges; Management Practices and Processes; Business Divisions; Information Management; Information Technology Industry; Telecommunications Industry; United States

September 2015
Case

Connective Mobility

By: Nitin Nohria, Christopher Payton and Ali Huberlie

May 20, 2010
Article

Leaders’ Blindspots Undermine Their Global Language Policies

By: Tsedal Neeley

Editor’s note: This post is part of a six-week blog series on how leadership might look in the future. The conversations generated by these posts will help shape the agenda of a symposium on the topic in June 2010, hosted by HBS’s Nitin Nohria, Rakesh Khurana, and... View Details

Keywords: Culture; Diversity