Firing - Publications - Faculty & Research

20 Apr 2011
Research & Ideas

Blind Spots: We’re Not as Ethical as We Think

practices of their clients, who have the power to fire them if they do notice. Q: The book is full of examples of people making decisions that they thought were ethical but clearly violated their own standards for ethical behavior—for... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

16 Feb 2023
HBS Case

ESG Activists Met the Moment at ExxonMobil, But Did They Succeed?

The impact-investment hedge fund Engine No. 1 made a big splash in May 2021 when it managed to get three nominees elected to the ExxonMobil board of directors. It was an open effort to prod the oil giant toward renewable energy and test whether activist investing could... View Details

Keywords: by Lane Lambert; Financial Services

27 Apr 2016
Research & Ideas

How the FBI Reinvented Itself After 9/11

It is hard to imagine a more difficult and tragic trial by fire for a new leader. On September 4, 2001, Robert Mueller started his new job as the sixth director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. A mere week later, on September 11,... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

Teaching Interest

Overview

By: Jill J. Avery

Creating Brand Value (MBA elective course)

Overview:

In the consumer/retail space, brands are often companies’ most valuable assets and sources of their sustainable competitive advantage. But, managing brands to achieve their full value potential... View Details

08 Sep 2022
Book

Gen Xers and Millennials, It’s Time To Lead. Are You Ready?

will lead to an integrated life. In 2008, as the financial crash worsened, Sally Krawcheck was fired at Citibank for urging the firm to repay customers for defective investments. She stuck to her values and now leads her own online... View Details

Keywords: by Lane Lambert

10 Feb 2021
Research & Ideas

Has #MeToo Changed How Hollywood Hires?

by September 2018, #MeToo had been tweeted more than 19 million times. The #MeToo movement, which led to the firing of hundreds of other powerful men accused of sexual harassment in several job sectors, was seen as a call to action for... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Media & Broadcasting

16 Apr 2001
Research & Ideas

Breaking the Code of Change

returns in excess of the cost of capital. When Dunlap took over the leadership of the company, he immediately announced and implemented a reduction of 11,000 people at both the management and working levels. He fired many members of the... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Beer & Nitin Nohria

14 Aug 2006
HBS Case

On Managing with Bobby Knight and “Coach K”

discipline and intimidation, which some critics say goes too far. Knight was fired from a long career at Indiana University for grabbing a student, and prior to that he was filmed clutching one of his own players by the neck. And then... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Sports

09 Nov 2022
In Practice

COP27: What Can Business Leaders Do to Fight Climate Change Now?

The US government’s newly passed Inflation Reduction Act will direct $370 billion toward advancing renewal energy and reducing greenhouse gas emissions—the country's largest investment in fighting climate change so far. As business and government leaders around the... View Details

Keywords: by Lynn Schenk and Danielle Kost

13 Feb 2014
Research & Ideas

Managing the Family Business: Leadership Roles

appropriate amount of all three. In this way and others, leadership of a business, family, and ownership is similar. In my next article, we'll take a look at what capable leadership actually entails for each of the three circles. Other Articles In This Series Managing... View Details

Keywords: by John A. Davis

25 Nov 2019
Research & Ideas

When Your Passion Works Against You

poison in the workplace,” Jachimowicz says. “If two employees are competing for something, one may try to undermine the other.” Pretending doesn't work Expressing fire in the belly in a job interview can work in a candidate’s favor, but... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

03 Jan 2023
Book

Confront Workplace Inequity in 2023: Dig Deep, Build Bridges, Take Collective Action

intelligence that the company relied on, which led to friction with Google executives. Ultimately, they were both fired from Google, but brought visibility to these issues in the field. Similarly, actresses Jessica Chastain and Octavia... View Details

Keywords: by Pamela Reynolds

12 Dec 2005
Research & Ideas

Using the Law to Strategic Advantage

encourage general managers to bring counsel in early in the decision-making cycle; they should not wait until the last minute to fight a fire that has already started or to bless a deal that has already been struck. The available options... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Legal Services

22 Dec 2008
Research & Ideas

10 Reasons to Design a Better Corporate Culture

Those who aren't living up to BHC's values soon get the point. Employees at all levels in an organization notice and validate the elements of culture. As owners, they judge every management decision to hire, reward, promote, and fire... View Details

Keywords: by James L. Heskett, W. Earl Sasser & Joe Wheeler

19 Apr 2004
Research & Ideas

Birth of the American Salesman

and war. The play revealed the cruelty of a system of capitalism based entirely on salesmanship, in which bosses hired and fired people when they were no longer effective. "You can't eat the orange and throw the peel away. A man is... View Details

Keywords: by Laura Linard

06 Aug 2021
Book

Steve Jobs and the Rise of the Celebrity CEO

successively by John Sculley, who was kicked out in 1993, Michael Spindler, fired in 1996, and Gil Amelio, a member of the board who took over from Spindler and was fired five hundred days later, the company... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

20 Dec 2010
Research & Ideas

Panama Canal: Troubled History, Astounding Turnaround

authority over the entire canal project, including the right to fire commission members. Secretary of War William Howard Taft had doubts about the legality of granting the chief engineer control over the commission, which was technically... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert; Transportation

12 Aug 2020
Research & Ideas

Why Investors Often Lose When They Sue Their Financial Adviser

will make more money if I look industry-friendly,’” Egan says. To be sure, some arbitrators are more likely to support consumers, including the 11 percent of arbitrators who were previously fired as advisers by their firms. But these... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost; Financial Services

30 Apr 2020
Book

Fighting Climate Change Requires a New Capitalism

Rebecca Henderson spent her young adult years living two lives. At work, she preached the risks of resisting change to MBA students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, drawing on lessons she learned while watching factories close as a management consultant.... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost; Energy

04 Aug 2003
Research & Ideas

Shackleton: An Entrepreneur of Survival

the form of the First World War. In a strange, sad twist of fate, two of the Endurance crew would be killed in the war. Imagine the extraordinary irony of having survived all that, only to be slaughtered by machine gun fire in the first... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

Publications