Executive Ability - Publications - Faculty & Research

13 Mar 2007
First Look

First Look: March 13, 2007

Describes the challenges of using the Balanced Scorecard to implement a triple-bottom-line strategy for delivering excellent economic, environmental, and social performance. The owners and senior executive team of Amanco, a producer of... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

26 Aug 2002
Research & Ideas

High-Stakes Decision Making: The Lessons of Mount Everest

learning from past failures. Balancing Competing Forces The Everest case suggests that leaders need to engage in a delicate balancing act with regard to nurturing confidence, dissent, and commitment within their organizations. First, View Details

Keywords: by Michael A. Roberto

March 2012
Article

The Incentive Bubble

By: Mihir Desai

The past three decades have seen American capitalism quietly transformed by a single, powerful idea—that financial markets are a suitable tool for measuring performance and structuring compensation. Stock instruments for managers, high-powered incentive contracts for... View Details

Keywords: Economic Systems; Financial Markets; Executive Compensation; Motivation and Incentives; Corporate Governance; Equality and Inequality; Human Capital; United States

Citation

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22 May 2019
Blog Post

What is FIELD Global Immersion?

where they are discussing cases, and actually step into the shoes of a protagonist; 2. Enhance students’ cultural intelligence and ability to adapt to doing business in foreign contexts; and 3. Practice the human-centered design... View Details

06 Jun 2016
Research & Ideas

Skills and Behaviors that Make Entrepreneurs Successful

What makes a successful entrepreneurial leader? Is it the technical brilliance of Bill Gates? The obsessive focus on user experience of Steve Jobs? The vision, passion, and strong execution of Care.com’s Sheila Lirio Marcelo? Or maybe... View Details

Keywords: by HBS Working Knowledge

Web

Leadership Fellows

participants Leadership Fellows positions are selected based on the program goals of access, impact, and leadership. All positions: Report to the CEO or another senior executive and have regular meaningful access to the CEO Focus on a... View Details

01 Feb 2001
News

What Makes a Good Leader

Is it the ability to navigate in the choppy waters of change? Do leaders see the hidden opportunity in every setback? Is there really any such thing as a "born leader"? Five HBS faculty and some prominent alumni offer their perspectives... View Details

Keywords: Management

Research Summary

Understanding Customers

In conventional business case studies, protagonists almost never have the option of stepping back to seek a new understanding of the customer. But to be effective in practice, managers need both the self-assurance and ability to initiate and pursue, with rigor and... View Details

Person Page

Recent articles

By: Richard S. Tedlow

Don't Deny the Facts

Investor's Business Daily, April 27, 2010

The ability to see facts objectively is paramount to business success. An interview with Richard S.... View Details

23 Nov 2021
Book

What It Takes to Build an Organizational Culture That Wins

culture as one that provides a platform, in the high-tech sense of that word, one that is designed to foster the ability to learn, adapt, innovate, and change anything, including strategy. It is this kind of platform from which strategies... View Details

Keywords: by Avery Forman

01 Nov 2017
What Do You Think?

What Are the Real Lessons of the Wells Fargo Case?

a decision to assess all board members and the top 200 executives regarding their historical and future ability to effectively perform their jobs while truly acting in accordance with our values. Being true... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Banking

Web

Behavioral Finance & Financial Stability

variation in value across banks. Variation in productivity is driven by differences across banks in technology, customer demographics, and market power. Their findings suggest that there is significant heterogeneity in banks’ ability to... View Details

Web

2023 Reunion Presentations - Alumni

Info As businesses grow, founders lose their ability to set direction through informal interactions. They increasingly rely on formal structures and systems to implement their strategies and hold employees accountable. Yet many View Details

17 Jan 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research: January 17

curiosity and passable trust that enables them to connect and share knowledge. Paradoxically, the very non-work related content that attracts users to social media and shapes passable trust can become a source of tension, thwarting a firm’s View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

07 Dec 2021
Op-Ed

Want to Build Better Leaders? Focus on Mindset, Skills, Knowledge

of their projects, their performance reflects their development in the knowledge tier. Questions that then explore their executing abilities through the lens of mindset and skills invites them to recognize... View Details

Keywords: by Hise Gibson and Shawnette Rochelle

08 Dec 2022
HBS Case

The War in Ukraine and Nestlé’s Moral Dilemma: Stay or Leave Russia?

time you don’t know if you will be making things worse or not.” As the war grinds on, and Ukraine’s key military gains are offset by Russia’s surprising ability to buffer its citizens from sweeping international, political, and corporate... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Consumer Products

07 Mar 2011
Research & Ideas

Why Companies Fail—and How Their Founders Can Bounce Back

Most companies fail. It's an unsettling fact for bright-eyed entrepreneurs, but old news to start-up veterans. But here's the good news: Experienced entrepreneurs know that running a company that eventually fails can actually help a career, but only if the View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

Research Summary

Research Thrust

By: Rakesh Khurana

I am trained in organizational sociology and my main areas of interest lie in macro-organizational theory and the dynamics of executive labor markets. To date, my research has focused on two themes. The first revolves around understanding the forces that govern the... View Details

01 Dec 2023
News

The Exchange: Help Wanted

decades—between globalized workforces and the rise of technology—that the traditional pedigree is out of date. They studied almost 5,000 executive job descriptions compiled by the executive recruiting firm... View Details

Keywords: Business Schools & Computer & Management Training; Educational Services

Web

Community College Report - Managing the Future of Work

disruptive automation, the nature of middle skills jobs is evolving much faster than educators’ abilities to change curriculum. Surveys of educators and employers reveal the disconnect behind this partnership’s underperformance and... View Details

Publications