Publications

Article

181 Top CEOs Have Realized Companies Need a Purpose Beyond Profit

By: Claudine Gartenberg and George Serafeim

On August 19, 2019, the Business Roundtable (BR) issued a memo entitled “Statement on the Purpose of a Corporation.” The Business Roundtable, one of the most preeminent business lobbies in the United States, includes 192 CEOs of leading U.S. companies from Apple to... View Details

Keywords: Purpose; Corporate Purpose; Stakeholder Management; CEO; Mission and Purpose; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Strategy

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May 2017 (Revised January 2018)
Teaching Note

CEO Succession at Cisco (A), (B), & (C), and Cisco Systems: In Search of the Next CEO

By: Boris Groysberg, J. Yo-Jud Cheng and Annelena Lobb

Teaching Note for HBS Nos. 417-031, 417-032 and 417-033. This note can also be used with "Cisco Systems: In Search of the Next CEO," HBS No. 416-027. View Details

Research Summary

Management of Succession

By: Joseph L. Bower

An outgrowth of the work on the corporate office has been a more focused study on the management of succession. This work identified the reasons why the management of CEO succession has proved so difficult for so many companies as well as the way the best companies are... View Details

Article

A Head Start on Succession

By: Joseph L. Bower

Our studies of CEO succession over the past several years have shown some improvements in the trends in CEO turnover, often resulting from outside pressures for improved oversight and better corporate governance. The next step in improving CEO succession—and ultimately... View Details

Keywords: Investment Return; Corporate Governance; Governing and Advisory Boards; Leadership Development; Management Practices and Processes; Management Succession; Management Teams; Business and Shareholder Relations

October 12, 2017
Other Article

A Survey of How 1,000 CEOs Spend Their Day Reveals What Makes Leaders Successful

By: Oriana Bandiera, Raffaella Sadun, Andrea Prat and Stephen Hansen

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14 Nov 2007
Research & Ideas

Growing CEOs from the Inside

the business but can't lead. That's why the best CEO should be both an insider and an outsider, says Harvard Business School professor Joseph L. Bower in his new book, The CEO Within: Why Inside Outsiders... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Employment

April – May 2008
Article

The Leader Within: The Best CEO Succession Plans Groom Independent-minded Insiders for the Top Job

By: Joseph L. Bower

Keywords: Leadership; Management Succession; Jobs and Positions

20 Mar 2005
Research & Ideas

Lessons of Successful Entrepreneurs

Successful businessmen told a roomful of students that ultimately, the world outside the classroom will be their best teacher in entrepreneurship. "If you are taking an entrepreneurship class, you want to be a venture... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

02 Jan 2024
What Do You Think?

Do Boomerang CEOs Get a Bad Rap?

(AdobeStock/Vincent) The return of Robert Iger as CEO of Walt Disney followed by a poorer-than-expected company performance has rekindled the debate about whether the decision to bring back formerly View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

2022
Working Paper

Passing the Mic: Career and Firm Outcomes of Executive Interactions

By: Wei Cai, Ethan Rouen and Yuan Zou

We exploit a unique feature of conference calls to study one type of interaction among executives—directly inviting colleagues to respond to analysts’ questions. We find that the frequency of initiating interaction is positively associated with an executive’s ability,... View Details

Keywords: Conference Calls; CEO Succession; Executive Interactions; Promotion; Interpersonal Communication; Personal Development and Career; Retention

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May–June 2015
Article

Higher-Ambition CEOs Need Higher-Ambition Boards

By: Edward Ludwig, Elise Walton and Michael Beer

The authors opine that ambitious chief executives (CEOs) of corporations need corporate boards which are also ambitious and accommodative of them. According to the authors good corporate governance and financial performance are the main requirements for good board-CEO... View Details

Keywords: Governing and Advisory Boards; Management Succession; Performance; Corporate Governance; Management Teams

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22 Nov 2006
Research & Ideas

CEO Succession: The Case at Ford

it's very much an owner saying, "I'm not doing this job well, I'm going to find someone who can do it right." Q: You've been doing a lot of work recently I know, Joe, on succession planning and the View Details

Keywords: by Jim Aisner; Auto; Employment

May 2005 (Revised October 2007)
Case

Founder-CEO Succession at Wily Technology

By: Noam T. Wasserman and Henry McCance

Before he accepts the new CEO position, Dick Williams wants founder Lew Cirne to step down as chairman. While considering Williams' incredible demand, Cirne reflects on everything he has already given up to get Wily Technology to this point. He agreed to step down as... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Growth and Development Strategy; Management Succession

Educators

30 May 2000
Research & Ideas

Market Makers Bid for Success

In late February, Harvard Business School professor Bill Sahlman spoke with two former MBA students, Scott Randall ('87) and Glen Meakem ('91), to discuss their perspectives on organizing markets in a new and evolving economy and what they have learned along the way.... View Details

Keywords: by Staff; Web Services; Technology

March 1991 (Revised October 1991)
Case

CEO Evaluation at Dayton Hudson

By: Jay W. Lorsch

Describes the Dayton Hudson CEO evaluation process, one of the most intensive in corporate America today. The board of directors' role in the evaluation is examined, as is the question of whether the Dayton Hudson CEO evaluation process should serve as a model for... View Details

Keywords: Performance Evaluation; Governing and Advisory Boards; Management Succession; Management Teams

Educators