Leadership Transitions - Publications - Faculty & Research

March 2023 (Revised September 2023)
Case

Patagonia: 'Earth Is Now Our Only Shareholder'

By: Brian Trelstad, Nien-hê Hsieh, Michael Norris and Susan Pinckney

In September 2022, Yvon Chouinard, the iconoclastic founder of outdoor apparel company Patagonia, announced a new ownership model for his company. Chouinard and his family had held complete control of the company's voting and non-voting stock since its founding 50... View Details

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31 Mar 2022
Op-Ed

Navigating the ‘Bermuda Triangle’ in Professional Services

congenial work atmosphere for doctors and nurses, and handsome economic returns for its owners. The hospital’s leadership has forsworn expansion to avoid diluting its unique offering. But then we also have Narayana Hrudalaya, a cardiac... View Details

Keywords: by Ashish Nanda

Research Summary

Career Histories and the Biotechnology Industry

Professor Higgins' other major project focuses on the consequences of individuals' career experiences for firms and industries. This second research stream centers on the careers of executives in the biotechnology industry.

Professor Higgins has written... View Details

21 Apr 2021
Research & Ideas

The Pandemic Conversations That Leaders Need to Have Now

book was published in 2012. When you add in the unprecedented communication requirements of the pandemic and the subsequent transition back to the workplace, conversational leadership becomes a necessity.... View Details

Keywords: by Boris Groysberg, Robin Abrahams, and Katherine Connolly Baden

02 May 2022
What Do You Think?

Can the Case Method Survive Another Hundred Years?

source of criticism from those preferring research based on large data bases of quantitative information and advanced analytic techniques. "It can be a living hell for some distinguished CEOs returning to the School thinking that they can begin the View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Education

01 Oct 2001
Research & Ideas

Organizing the Family-Run Business

seat on the board. But draw a line so that the siblings do not appoint their heirs to assume their board seats when the ownership transitions to the Cousin Consortium stage. The board—not the shareholders, the family or the family... View Details

10 Sep 2020
Research & Ideas

The COVID Two-Step for Leaders: Protect and Pivot

conditions and the paramount importance of doing the right thing—some leadership teams have committed themselves to two guiding principles: act now to protect and run the business today, and plan now to retool the business for the... View Details

Keywords: by Boris Groysberg and Katherine Connolly Baden

29 Oct 2006
Research & Ideas

The History and Influence of Andy Grove

so interested in strategy and the intricacies of running a business? A: Grove made the transition from technologist to technologist/manager because he had no choice. When Intel was founded in July of 1968, he was employee number three.... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Computer

03 Jun 2014
First Look

First Look: June 3

teaching hospitals, we find evidence of a gradual trend of decreasing performance that begins several months before the actual cohort turnover and may result from a transition of responsibilities at major teaching hospitals in... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

18 Aug 2003
Research & Ideas

How New Managers Become Great Managers

organizations. We can learn vicariously from their experiences. Consider the example of one manager who was about to undergo a critical transition in her career, only four years after first becoming a manager. When she was about to step... View Details

Keywords: by Linda Hill

16 Mar 2020
Research & Ideas

How the Coronavirus Is Already Rewriting the Future of Business

Edmondson: Leadership will engage people to work together creatively I hope we will come to learn that hiding bad news is never a good idea. That will mean recommitting ourselves to mastering the View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

13 Jan 2021
Research & Ideas

How 'Small C' Change Can Beat Large-Scale Rebuilding

In the corporate world, all leadership transitions create uncertainty, so leaders need to empower team members to help them sense they can make a difference. In the end, the team will do the work (on the... View Details

Keywords: by Boris Groysberg, Sascha L. Schmidt, and Sebastian Flegr; Sports

03 Jan 2011
Research & Ideas

Most Popular Articles of 2010

dispersed around the globe. But the one theme that has attracted the most HBS Working Knowledge readers over our 11-year history is how to improve personal leadership skills. A third of the articles on this page relate to improving work... View Details

Keywords: by Staff

10 Nov 2003
Research & Ideas

A Fast Start on Your New Job

transitions is surprising. In part, I think it's due to a "sink or swim" managerial culture that is present in most companies. Transitions are treated as testing experiences—what I have come to... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

16 Jul 2024
Op-Ed

Corporate Boards Are Failing in Their No. 1 Duty

appointments go wrong Let’s begin by taking a look at three examples of poor leadership at public companies and addressing what went wrong. Then, I will recommend five ways boards can ensure they appoint the right leader as CEO: General... View Details

Keywords: by Bill George

24 Sep 2014
Op-Ed

The ABCs of Addressing Climate Change (From a Business Perspective)

garbage and too much traffic (McKinsey). Continued urbanization only exacerbates these shortages. Society needs collectively to address the basics of water, energy, waste, and transit so that we can all do more with the resources we have.... View Details

Keywords: by John Macomber; Energy; Utilities

06 Dec 2013
Op-Ed

HBS Faculty Remember Nelson Mandela

transition are ones in which a single person at the place at the right time can have enormous impact. As David Ben-Gurion made Israel, and Abraham Lincoln remade the United States, Nelson Mandela reforged South Africa. He was not the only... View Details

Keywords: by Nitin Nohria, Linda Hill, Rosabeth Moss Kanter & Gautam Mukunda

September 2021
Case

Publicis Groupe 2021: Changing Nearly Everything

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Tonia Labruyere and Vincent Dessain

After succeeding long-time CEO Maurice Levy as top leader of the world’s third largest advertising, marketing, and communications company, headquartered in France, Arthur Sadoun accelerates digital transformation through a new platform drawing on talent from any of the... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19 Pandemic; Change Management; Transition; Transformation; Leadership; Digital Transformation; Advertising Industry; France; United States

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October 1998
Case

CRA Managed Care, Inc. (A)

By: Myra M. Hart and Jennifer Starr

Silverman and her co-founder, Don Larson, own the largest privately held injury-management and cost-containment services firm in the United States. When their $80+ million company attracts substantial interest of investment bankers and venture capitalists, the two must... View Details

Keywords: Transition; Leadership Development; Venture Capital; Business Exit or Shutdown; Investment; Business or Company Management; Nonprofit Organizations; Personal Development and Career; Entrepreneurship; Service Industry; United States

Citation

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November 12, 2020
Article

What We Can Learn About Unity from Hostile Takeovers

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter

In the wake of the recent election, the United States faces a fraught, difficult transfer of power. What we know about hostile takeovers in business can provide help in finding a path forward. Leaders on the winning side of the more successful acquisitions emphasized... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Transition; Government and Politics; Mergers and Acquisitions

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