Publications

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March 2016
Technical Note

Lighting the Fire: Crafting and Delivering Broadly Inspiring Messages

By: Tsedal Neeley and Tom Ryder

Communicating persuasively is a critical skill for leaders of any team or organization. Yet, connecting and resonating with an audience can nevertheless be a challenging task. We outline how to effectively mobilize groups through the power of communication. This note... View Details

Keywords: Messaging; Communication; Leading; Public Speaking; Persuasion; Rhetorical Devices; Communication Intention and Meaning; Forms of Communication; Communication Strategy

03 Nov 2022
Op-Ed

Feeling Separation Anxiety at Your Startup? 5 Tips to Soothe These Growing Pains

You’re the founder of a growing startup and it seems like just yesterday that you were a team of five, sharing a co-working space with one table and five chairs. There was an open flow of communication in the room and unless someone’s headphones were on to signal they... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Austin

January–February 2018
Article

The New CEO Activists

By: Aaron K Chatterji and Michael W. Toffel

Though corporations have been lobbying the government and making campaign donations for a long time now, in recent years a dramatic new trend has emerged in U.S. politics: CEOs are taking very public stands on thorny political issues that have nothing to do with their... View Details

Keywords: Government Policy; Rights; Leadership & Corporate Accountability; Sustainability; Leadership; Corporate Accountability; Policy; Social Issues; Communication Intention and Meaning; United States

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20 May 2019
Research & Ideas

Activist CEOs Are Rising Up—and Their Customers Are Listening

When former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz announced earlier this year he was thinking about running for president of the United States, it wasn’t a new idea. Past CEOs seeking the White House have included Carly Fiorina, Ross Perot, Herman Cain, Steve Forbes, Mitt... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

03 Aug 2016
Research & Ideas

Ominous Background Music Is Bad for Sharks

Sharks have been stigmatized on screen for decades, from the 1975 movie Jaws, in which a gigantic great white shark terrorizes a resort island off the coast of Massachusetts, to the 2013 movie Sharknado, in which the eponymous spout of shark-infested seawater... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Media & Broadcasting

29 Apr 2019
Research & Ideas

Is the Digital Age Making Us Petty?

attentiveness to trivial details,” as defined in a recent research study, can drag down relationships, result in recriminating behavior, and ruin the good intentions behind very generous donations. On the flip side, leaving room for error... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz

29 Aug 2017
Book

Using Language to Build a Global Company

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Technology

29 Jan 2013
Research & Ideas

Creating the Perfect Super Bowl Ad

tracking whether a person smiles, grins, or breaks out in laughter. Continuously measuring smile responses and facial cues allowed the team to determine a person's interest in viewing the ad and their intent to purchase the brand. The ad... View Details

Keywords: by Kim Girard; Advertising; Media & Broadcasting

Editorial

Elon Musk's Unusual Compensation Plan Isn't Really About Compensation at All

By: George Serafeim

Earlier this year, Tesla shareholders approved likely the largest compensation package ever awarded to a CEO—for a CEO who clearly doesn’t need the money. Elon Musk is already incredibly rich and also doesn’t seem particularly motivated by further wealth. So why do it?... View Details

Keywords: Tesla; Elon Musk; Innovation; Investor Communication; Investor Relations; Short-termism; Long-termism; Disruption; Executive Compensation; Business and Shareholder Relations; Communication Intention and Meaning; Mission and Purpose

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March 2004 (Revised April 2004)
Background Note

Seeing What's on Red Auerbach's Mind

By: Joseph B. Lassiter III and John T. Gourville

Analysis of an interview with Red Auerbach, HBR No. 87201. Alan M. Webber, who conducted the interview, probed for the lessons that Auerbach has learned from a long and productive career coaching and managing the Boston Celtics, a professional basketball team in the... View Details

Keywords: Markets; Research; Sports; Product Development; Communication Intention and Meaning; Sports Industry

2010
Chapter

Revisiting the Meaning of Leadership

By: Joel Podolny, Rakesh Khurana and Marya Hill-Popper

During the past 50 years, organizational scholarship on leadership has shifted from a focus on the significance of leadership for meaning-making to the significance of leadership for economic performance. This shift has been problematic for two reasons. First, it has... View Details

Keywords: Communication Intention and Meaning; Economics; Leadership; Performance Improvement; Behavior

30 Apr 2012
Research & Ideas

India’s Ambitious National Identification Program

comes close to this. They are far from the finish line, but it sure is an amazing start!" The UIDAI project provides an interesting lesson for companies that are intent on reaching an enormous, diverse population, says Khanna, who... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

19 Feb 2018
Sharpening Your Skills

Amazoned: Is Any Industry Safe?

announced earlier this month intention to join megapartners Warren Buffett and JPMorgan Chase on some still mysterious project in the fastest-growing market of them all, health care. These stories from our archive suggest the great impact... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Retail

August 2024
Article

Partisans neither Expect nor Receive Reputational Rewards for Sharing Falsehoods over Truth Online.

By: Isaias Ghezae, Jillian J. Jordan, Izzy Gainsburg, Mohsen Mosleh, Gordon Pennycook, Robb Willer and David Rand

A frequently invoked explanation for the sharing of false over true political information is that partisans are motivated by their reputations. In particular, it is often argued that by indiscriminately sharing news that is favorable to one’s political party,... View Details

Keywords: Political Ideology; Reputation; Communication Intention and Meaning; Social Media; News

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January 2015 (Revised May 2023)
Technical Note

FIELD Global Immersion: Orchestrating a Compelling Presentation

By: Jill Avery

This note was written to help you organize and orchestrate your FIELD Global Immersion final project presentation to your global partner. It is designed to illustrate ways to make your final presentation persuasive, inspiring, and powerful — a presentation with... View Details

Keywords: Presentation Skills; Communication; Communication Intention and Meaning; Communication Strategy; Interpersonal Communication; Management Skills

December 2000 (Revised March 2001)
Background Note

Strategic Use of Music in Marketing, The: A Selective Review

By: Gerald Zaltman and Nancy Puccinelli

Summarizes selected research on music and its impact on mood and shopping behavior, and its impact on the communication of ideas. View Details

Keywords: Communication Intention and Meaning; Music Entertainment; Marketing Strategy; Consumer Behavior; Behavior

2024
Working Paper

Priors, Experiments, Learning and Persuasion in (Bayesian) Entrepreneurial Finance

By: Ramana Nanda

At the heart of entrepreneurial finance lies a persuasion challenge: regardless of the strength of an entrepreneur’s belief in the potential of their idea, they typically need to convince investors to provide the financial capital required for its... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurial Finance; Business Startups; Communication Intention and Meaning; Prejudice and Bias