Publications

05 Sep 2023
Book

Failing Well: How Your ‘Intelligent Failure’ Unlocks Your Full Potential

acid deficiency. When the drug was reformulated with folic acid, it passed its efficacy trials, eventually becoming a multibillion-dollar pharmaceutical that helped thousands of lung cancer patients. How to fail intelligently Edmondson, who has studied the View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

July 2004 (Revised October 2018)
Case

Opium and Entrepreneurship in the Nineteenth Century

By: Geoffrey Jones, Elisabeth Koll and Alexis Gendron

This case examines the role of Jardine Matheson, a trading company founded by two Scottish merchants, in the opium trade between India and China during the nineteenth century. The two Opium Wars fought between Western powers and China, which sought to stop opium... View Details

Keywords: History; Globalized Economies and Regions; Ethnicity; Multinational Firms and Management; Groups and Teams; Trade; Social and Collaborative Networks; China; United Kingdom

01 Sep 2023
News

Bless this Stress

National Geographic for Disney+/Craig Parry In the first episode of the National Geographic docuseries Limitless with Chris Hemsworth, Modupe Akinola (MBA 2001/PhDOB 2009) and the Australian actor gaze across downtown Sydney to a skyscraper in the distance, teetering... View Details

Keywords: Jen McFarland Flint; Business Schools & Computer & Management Training; Educational Services

03 Oct 2023
What Do You Think?

Do Leaders Learn More From Success or Failure?

leaders most effectively to enter the real world. I can add a personal experience to those that Edmondson cites. In 1990, a colleague, HBS Professor John Kotter, and I began a study of the impact of an organization’s culture on its... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

September 2020
Case

Uber at a Crossroads (2017)

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Karen Elterman

This case describes the history of Uber, its business model—including the ways it differed from that of the traditional taxi industry—and its competition with Lyft. The case is set in 2017, a year in which Uber was plagued by even more scandals than usual, though its... View Details

25 Feb 2019
Research & Ideas

How Gender Stereotypes Kill a Woman’s Self-Confidence

Women make up more than half of the labor force in the United States and earn almost 60 percent of advanced degrees, yet they bring home less pay and fill fewer seats in the C-suite than men, particularly in male-dominated professions like finance and technology. This... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

April 2005 (Revised May 2005)
Case

New England Patriots, The: Making the Team

Examines the organizational strategy of a professional football team that contributed to the team's sustained success. Considers several aspects of the team's "blueprint" with respect to players: recruitment, retention, task structure, training, culture, and... View Details

Keywords: Motivation and Incentives; Groups and Teams; Sports; Compensation and Benefits; Sports Industry; New England

09 Apr 2024
Book

Why Work Rituals Bring Teams Together and Create More Meaning

scientists have traditionally approached rituals from a cultural or religious perspective, but we all have our own idiosyncratic rituals we conduct throughout our days,” says Norton, author of the new book The Ritual Effect: From Habit to... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

21 Apr 2008
Research & Ideas

The New Math of Customer Relationships

customers. And they take time. So it's not surprising that not all of the organizations that have implemented parts of the concept have utilized it as a driving force for an entire business. Hardest of all is the cultural change that you... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

11 Jun 2012
Research & Ideas

When Business Competition Harms Society

aware that fostering a culture of intense competition, in an honest attempt to motivate employees, may instead induce unethical behavior. At the same time, they need to consider the possibility that their rivals are misbehaving in the... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Auto

July 2005 (Revised January 2011)
Case

Understanding Customer Profitability at Charles Schwab

By: Francisco de Asis Martinez-Jerez

Charles Schwab is transforming into a customer-centric organization. Central to this cultural and organizational change is the utilization of customer profitability at different decision-making levels. Examines several technical aspects of the ABC cost system, as well... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Motivation and Incentives; Customer Relationship Management; Customer Value and Value Chain; Activity Based Costing and Management; Decision Making; Organizational Culture; Profit; Performance Evaluation; Budgets and Budgeting

05 Sep 2023
Book

Thriving After Failing: How to Turn Your Setbacks Into Triumphs

suspected that to be true, and the study led her to develop the concept of psychological safety, which launched her career. “It’s hard to remember that this work was born of failure because it’s been such a successful research idea... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

2013
Book

Flourishing: A Frank Conversation About Sustainability

By: John Ehrenfeld and Andrew J. Hoffman

Flourishing: A Frank Conversation about Sustainability invites you into a conversation between a teacher, John R. Ehrenfeld, and his former student now professor, Andrew J. Hoffman, as they discuss how to create a sustainable world. Unlike virtually all other... View Details

Keywords: Environmental Sustainability; Culture; Behavior; Society

Find at Harvard

April 2012 (Revised February 2017)
Case

Dovernet

By: Robert Simons and Natalie Kindred

This case illustrates the implications of using stringent performance measurement systems to create performance pressure, motivate employee achievement, and sharpen a firm's competitiveness. It opens by describing the downsides of the ruthlessly competitive culture at... View Details

Keywords: Motivation and Incentives; Information Technology; Competitive Advantage; Decision Choices and Conditions; Organizational Culture; Performance Evaluation; Compensation and Benefits; Web Services Industry; Information Technology Industry; Vancouver

08 Mar 2016
First Look

March 8, 2016

https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=50718 March 2016 Harvard Business Review Start-Ups That Last: How to Scale Your Business By: Gulati, Ranjay, and Alicia DeSantola Abstract—No abstract available. Publisher's link:... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

October 2023
Case

Kevin O'Leary: Building a Brand in Shark-infested Waters

By: Reza Satchu and Patrick Sanguineti

For more than fifteen years, successful Canadian entrepreneur and investor Kevin O’Leary had developed his brand into a global powerhouse. Since his first appearance on the Canadian television program Dragons’ Den in 2006 and his meteoric rise to stardom through the... View Details

Keywords: Personal Brand; Crisis; Brands and Branding; Entrepreneurship; Crisis Management; Social Media; Public Opinion; Power and Influence; Financial Services Industry

Web

Live from Klarman Hall - Alumni

the self-serving and ego-preserving, as the pressure to look successful has never been greater. In organizations without psychological safety, these dynamics are exacerbated. This session will focus on ideas and practices for thinking... View Details

March 2016 (Revised January 2023)
Teaching Note

Carla Ann Harris at Morgan Stanley

By: Lakshmi Ramarajan

This case follows Carla Ann Harris, an African-American executive on Wall Street, from her childhood to the eve of her 20th year at Morgan Stanley. In addition to her professional identity as an investment banker, Harris is also an accomplished gospel singer, an... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Identity; Personal Development and Career; Success; Values and Beliefs; Social Entrepreneurship; Financial Services Industry