Public Good - Publications - Faculty & Research

06 Jun 2011
Research & Ideas

Why Leaders Lose Their Way

politicians, and the general public frequently characterize these leaders as bad people, even calling them evil. Simplistic notions of good and bad only cloud our understanding of why View Details

Keywords: by Bill George

01 Mar 2024
News

in the world. I really thought I’d won the lottery.” Early in his career, however, Kim realized something: He wasn’t certain of the finance industry’s inherent value to society—and he wasn’t sure being a great banker was his destiny. “But I sensed I could be View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna; photographs by Jun Michael Park; private equity; fiction; financial crisis; leadership; Korea

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2023 Reunion Presentations - Alumni

movement. Join alumni experts to discuss impact investing innovations across asset classes, hot button topics like the anti-ESG movement, and critical public policy intersections. Alumni will leave this session with a better understanding... View Details

02 Mar 2007
What Do You Think?

What Is the Government’s Role in US Health Care?

the problem. He has put his finger on the two main obstacles to major change in the current system, insurance company opposition and higher taxes. He suggests that insurance companies, who have acted in good faith to respond to incentives... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett; Health

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... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

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Profiles - MBA

not only enhance military operations and improve the lives of service members but also transform various industries and improve society as a whole. Professional goals: My goal is to leverage my experience to bridge the gap between the private and View Details

02 Jun 2022
Research & Ideas

Blissful Thinking: When It Comes to Finding Happiness, 'Your Dreams Are Liars'

graduated. “Here’s the good news: They got everything they wanted,” Brooks said. “Here’s the bad news: They wanted the wrong thing. The result is that they’re not as happy as they could be. We need to teach a class on happiness,” Brooks... View Details

Keywords: by Dan Morrell

Research Summary

Profitable Souls: Foreign Investment and the Fate of Human Rights

By: Debora L. Spar

This is a project about foreign investment, about what happens when big multinational firms invest in small, poor, and often nasty places. Typically, most observers assume that this is a largely negative relationship: that multinationals exploit the local population,... View Details

29 Nov 2010
HBS Case

United Breaks Guitars

Tweets are in the air we breathe. Most of us know that "friend" can also be a verb. Social media are part of the public discourse now, whether or not we're active users of them. A new case coauthored by HBS marketing professor... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna

29 Nov 2022
Research & Ideas

Is There a Method to Musk’s Madness on Twitter?

that Musk and his co-investors like Peter Thiel and others really wanted to build and protect a vision of Twitter as a public forum or a town square for free speech. Their preconception of free speech is politically and ideologically... View Details

Keywords: by Christina Pazzanese, Harvard Gazette; Technology

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Topics - HBS Working Knowledge

Industries (8) Goals and Objectives (18) Going Public (36) Goods and Commodities (7) Governance Compliance (4) Governance Controls (76) Governance (268) Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms (72)... View Details

01 Sep 2023
News

That Was Then, This Is Now

and everyone knows it? But not doing so means turning away from what one cares about and who one is in that moment, says Deifell. “Life happens. Things change. And that’s good storytelling.” Here, five of Deifell’s former subjects revisit... View Details

Keywords: Photographed by Tony Deifell (MBA 2002); edited by Julia Hanna. Above: Heidi Brooks, photographed in 2003 and 2023.; life experience; family; leadership

12 Sep 2023
What Do You Think?

Who Gets the Loudest Voice in DEI Decisions?

social, and governance issues at the heart of so-called “stakeholder capitalism.” Corporations that become too visible in support of stakeholder capitalism run the risk of losing public investors, such as pension funds in states in which... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

21 Oct 2022
Research & Ideas

People Trust Business, But Expect CEOs to Drive Social Change

Public trust in business remains relatively unshaken amid economic turbulence and a lingering pandemic, even as faith in the media and government falters, but leaders could do more to address social issues, a new global opinion survey shows. However, not everyone... View Details

Keywords: by Scott Van Voorhis

17 Jan 2023
In Practice

8 Trends to Watch in 2023

As 2023 begins, businesses and employees face an uncertain economy and labor market, as the twin dilemmas of inflation and interest rates weigh on forecasts. Harvard Business School faculty share the top trends that they believe will shape the workplace and markets... View Details

Keywords: by Avery Forman

31 Jul 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, July 31, 2018

Shankar MD, Suptendra N. Sarbadhikari PhD, Barbara Bierer, Kenneth D. Mandl MD, Sanjay Mehendale MD, MPH, and Tarun Khanna Abstract—In February 2018, the Government of India announced a massive public health insurance scheme extending... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

04 Sep 2001
Research & Ideas

Is Government Just Stupid? How Bad Decisions Are Made

wealthier. The American government currently subsidizes timber and paper companies for chopping down national forests. A business that operated as the government does would quickly go out of business. The government provides welfare to the timber industry because the... View Details

Keywords: by Max H. Bazerman, Jonathan Baron & Katherine Shonk

12 Oct 2011
First Look

First Look: October 12

(September-October 2011) Abstract For many decades the cornerstone of corporate reporting has been financial information that is presented in a company's annual, semi-annual, and quarterly reports. These comprehensive financial reports-required by law for View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

04 Oct 2010
Research & Ideas

Introverts: The Best Leaders for Proactive Employees

named interim White House chief of staff, replacing the extraverted Rahm Emanuel. Barely known outside of Washington circles, Rouse is a quiet politician who seems to eschew the public eye, preferring instead to hunker down and deal with... View Details