career - Publications - Faculty & Research

December 2002 (Revised February 2015)
Case

Jim Sharpe: Extrusion Technology, Inc. (Abridged)

By: H. Kent Bowen and Barbara Feinberg

Jim Sharpe, 10 years after receiving his MBA from Harvard and working for others, has finally become his own boss and 100% owner of manufacturer of aluminum extrusions. After 10 months of an unfunded search, he acquires the business in an LBO and prepares to face his... View Details

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05 Dec 2022
Research & Ideas

5 Companies Where Employees Move Up the Ladder Fast

of.” The index ranks the 50 best companies along several dimensions, including promoting from within, career stability, and providing early experiences that allow employees to get better jobs with future employers. The top three firms... View Details

Keywords: by Pamela Reynolds

April 2012
Case

Pret A Manger

By: Frances X. Frei, Rick Goldberg and Stephanie van Sice

Pret A Manger, a London-based chain of sandwich shops, was known for its fast, genuine service and pre-packaged sandwiches prepared on-site daily. Instructed by its board to grow at 15 percent per year, Pret considered opening "twin" shops in locations too small to... View Details

Keywords: Customer Service Excellence; Growth Planning And Management; Employee Performance Management; Information Management; Production Planning; Employee Attitude Development And Empowerment; Employee Retention; Leadership Development And Career Planning; Service Delivery; Growth and Development Strategy; Business Model; Innovation and Invention; Employees; Performance; London

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30 Oct 2017
Research & Ideas

Asking Questions Can Get You a Better Job or a Second Date

Source: FangXiaNuo New research suggests that people who ask questions, particularly follow-up questions, may become better managers, land better jobs, and even win second dates. “Compared to those who do not ask many questions, people who do are better liked and learn... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

February 2018 (Revised April 2018)
Case

Omar Simmons: Franchising and Private Equity

By: Steven Rogers and Alyssa Haywoode

Omar Simmons, managing director of a private equity fund that owns 53 Planet Fitness Health Clubs, has to choose: continue in private equity or shift his career to managing and growing the health clubs. An African-American graduate of Princeton University and Harvard... View Details

Keywords: Diversity Characteristics; Ethnicity Characteristics; Health Club Franchises; African-american Entrepreneurs; Finance; Private Equity; Decisions; Entrepreneurship; Motivation and Incentives; Personal Development and Career; Franchise Ownership; Consulting Industry; Boston

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February 2011
Case

Rebecca S. Halstead: Steadfast Leadership

By: Boris Groysberg and Deborah Bell

Reviews Rebecca Halstead's career history, detailing how, through her personal attributes, skills, experiences, challenges, and organizational practices she developed into a successful leader and commander in the U.S. Army. The case profiles her leadership style and... View Details

Keywords: Working Conditions; Groups and Teams; Competitive Strategy; Personal Development and Career; Organizational Culture; Personal Characteristics; Leadership Style; Gender; Power and Influence

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06 Aug 2021
Book

Steve Jobs and the Rise of the Celebrity CEO

careers of Oprah Winfrey, Elon Musk, and Jobs, who used their charisma to champion their ambitious vision, create revolutionary new products and services, and attain power and influence. In this excerpt from the book, Tedlow discusses how... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

07 Feb 2005
Research & Ideas

How “Career Imprinting” Shapes Leaders

We all know the importance of mentors and other early career experiences in shaping the kind of leaders we ultimately become. But how important to that development are the particular companies we work for? For Harvard Business School... View Details

Keywords: by Mallory Stark

April 1998
Case

Katie Burke (A)

By: Myra M. Hart, Marco Iansiti and Barbara Feinberg

Follows the career of Katie Burke, HBS MBA 1995. Offers the opportunity to discuss a variety of issues, including innovation, software development, entrepreneurship, new venture design, and career choices. View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Entrepreneurship; Personal Development and Career; Business Startups; Innovation and Invention

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17 Feb 2003
Research & Ideas

Tales of the Newly-minted MBA

How do real-world conditions and shifting personal priorities influence a young MBA's early career path—those first five to ten years that executives remember as being of such critical importance? To find out, Harvard Business School... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna

23 Jul 2001
Research & Ideas

Sam Walton: Great From the Start

learn from everybody," he said, and one of the key characteristics of his career was that he kept learning until the day he died. He learned from Butler Brothers, from retail publications, and from his competitor, John Dunham, with... View Details

Keywords: by Richard S. Tedlow; Retail

December 2014 (Revised March 2018)
Case

John D. Rockefeller: The Richest Man in the World

By: Tom Nicholas and Vasiliki Fouka

By the late nineteenth century scale and managerial hierarchies had extended to several major industrial sectors of the U.S. economy. Although the precise mechanisms often varied, this process mainly involved horizontal integration, some form of legal or administrative... View Details

Keywords: Horizontal Integration; Wealth; Business History; Vertical Integration; Consolidation; Personal Development and Career; Energy Industry; United States

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20 Feb 2020
Op-Ed

Love in the Office Is Wonderful. Except for CEOs.

XiXinXing A few days ago we celebrated Valentine’s day, a good time to reflect that love springs everywhere, even at work. After all, love in the workplace is inevitable; but be forewarned. It does not always turn out well. Is it surprising that when two people work at... View Details

Keywords: by Regina Herzlinger

September 2019
Case

Sonia Millar: Negotiating for the C-Suite

By: Joshua D. Margolis and Anne Donnellon

This case addresses the nuances of gender dynamics and career progression at the top of the organization, where even women who have strong leadership expertise, experience, and alliances with powerful male colleagues still get stuck. Told from the point of view of... View Details

Keywords: Executives; CEO; Promotion; Gender Bias; Personal Development and Career; Gender; Diversity; Power and Influence

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March 2000
Case

Magdalena Yesil

By: Myra M. Hart and Mary Rotelli

Magdalena Yesil, investor and former entrepreneur, must decide whether to become a venture partner at US Venture Partners. This case discusses career progression, entrepreneurship, and deciding among career alternatives. Yesil's entrepreneurial experiences include... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Entrepreneurship; Personal Development and Career; Partners and Partnerships

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May 1993
Case

Alan Stein

By: Carl S. Sloane, Shoshana Zuboff and R.Keith Giarman

Deals with issues of adult and career development at mid-life. Describes the career and personal history of an adult male, choice points in his life, and how he made critical career and personal choices. Focuses in on his decision to "retire" from Goldman, Sachs at an... View Details

Keywords: Transition; Decision Choices and Conditions; Personal Development and Career; Retirement; Satisfaction

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04 Jul 2005
What Do You Think?

How Can Business Schools Be Made More Relevant?

general lost their relevance? Are they preparing graduates in useful ways for careers in management? If there is room for improvement, can it be achieved within the "academy," where business schools seem to be caught in a... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

December 2011
Exercise

What We Carry: Success, Failure, and Happiness in Family Systems

By: Timothy Butler

The purpose of this exercise is to enable participants to identify essential career and life themes. The core task of the exercise is to extract themes, images, metaphors and "dynamic tensions" from a list of exciting careers that have been selected from a larger... View Details

Keywords: Family and Family Relationships; Success; Failure; Happiness

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October 2004
Background Note

Developing Life Theme Labels

Instructs students in developing their life themes, a vital component of the Self-Assessment and Career Development final paper. Teaching Purpose: To give students instruction while preparing their final paper for the Self-Assessment and Career Development course. A... View Details

Keywords: Personal Development and Career

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