Publications

August 2016 (Revised November 2016)
Case

C.W. Dixey & Son

By: Anat Keinan and Michael B. Beverland

C.W. Dixey & Son is about to be relaunched as a luxury eyewear brand after a fifty-year absence from the marketplace. This case focuses on reviving a dormant brand with a 200-year plus heritage of innovation, craft excellence, and luxury. Drawing on extensive... View Details

Keywords: Luxury Branding; Authenticity; Inconspicuous Consumption; Brand Positioning; Brand Revitalization; Eyeyewear; Market Entry and Exit; Luxury; Market Participation; Brands and Branding; Consumer Products Industry

April 6, 2022
Article

5 Principles of Purposeful Leadership

By: Hubert Joly

The traditional model of the leader-hero who saves the day, knows it all, is the smartest person in the room, and is too often driven by power, fame, glory, or money is not appropriate in today’s environment. People today expect a different kind of leader. While each... View Details

Keywords: Leadership, Personal Strategy ＆ Style; Purpose; Roles; Authenticity; Leadership; Values and Beliefs; Leadership Style

2017
Article

The Energizing Nature of Work Engagement: Toward a New Need-Based Theory of Work Motivation

By: Paul Green, Eli Finkel, Grainne Fitzsimons and Francesca Gino

We present theory suggesting that experiences at work that meet employees’ expectations of need fulfillment drive work engagement. Employees have needs (e.g., a desire to be authentic) and they also have expectations for how their job or their organization will fulfill... View Details

Keywords: Needs; Motivation; Work Engagement; Disengagement; Authenticity; Self-Expression; Employees; Motivation and Incentives; Behavior; Human Needs

January 2018
Teaching Note

C.W. Dixey & Son

By: Anat Keinan and Michael B. Beverland

Teaching Note for HBS No. 517-019. View Details

Keywords: Luxury Branding; Authenticity; Inconspicuous Consumption; Brand Positioning; Brand Revitalization; Eyeyewear; Market Entry and Exit; Luxury; Market Participation; Brands and Branding; Consumer Products Industry

August 2019
Case

Simón Cohen at Henco: Sustaining 'High Performance, Happy People'

By: Francesca Gino, Jeff Steiner, Arianna Camacho and Paul Green

Simón Cohen—Founder of Henco Logistics—transformed a small Mexican logistics company into a major player within the industry. Cohen credits the firm’s focus on employee happiness as the key ingredient to its success, an approach he developed following a personal... View Details

Keywords: Work/life Balance; Growth Strategy; Corporate Culture; Motivation; Values; Authentic Leadership Development; Leadership; Personal Development and Career; Motivation and Incentives; Values and Beliefs; Service Operations; Organizational Culture; Growth and Development Strategy; Service Industry

January 2015
Case

The Blonde Salad

By: Anat Keinan, Kristina Maslauskaite, Sandrine Crener and Vincent Dessain

In 2014, Chiara Ferragni, a globe-trotting founder of the world's most popular fashion blog The Blonde Salad, and Riccardo Pozzoli, her co-founder and business partner, had to decide how to best monetize her blog as well as her shoe line called the "Chiara Ferragni... View Details

10 Mar 2021
Research & Ideas

Key to Doing Your Best at Work? Be Yourself

they are “a good fit.” But that approach does a disservice to both the employee and the business, Frei and Gino say. The pair recently taught a short, intensive course for MBA students, “Anatomy of a Badass,” about learning to be unapologetically bold and View Details

Keywords: by Christina Pazzanese, Harvard Gazette

08 Aug 2022
HBS Case

Building an 'ARMY' of Fans: Marketing Lessons from K-Pop Sensation BTS

from the band’s effort to draw a large crowd of die-hards. “They’re authentic and genuine,” Chung says. “They would directly communicate with the fan base. The effective use of social media was how they created an ecosystem.” The band’s... View Details

Keywords: by Shalene Gupta; Media & Broadcasting; Music

26 Oct 2022
Research & Ideas

How Paid Promos Take the Shine Off YouTube Stars (and Tips for Better Influencer Marketing)

authentic than those who were direct. “We think the reason might be that viewers think: ‘OK, I know you’re not reading a script,’” she explains. Marketers shouldn’t overvalue influencers with large audience bases. Believe it or not, a... View Details

Keywords: by Kara Baskin; Technology; Media & Broadcasting

September 2023
Case

David Beckham (A)

By: Anita Elberse and David Moreno Vicente

In January 2022, superstar-athlete-turned-entrepreneur David Beckham is deciding on a proposal that has the potential to significantly change the trajectory of his business career: Authentic Brands Group (‘Authentic’) has offered to engage in a strategic partnership... View Details

Keywords: Joint Ventures; Decisions; Brands and Branding; Negotiation Offer; Partners and Partnerships; Sports

Article

The Counterfeit Self: The Deceptive Costs of Faking It

By: Francesca Gino, Michael I. Norton and Dan Ariely

Although people buy counterfeit products to signal positive traits, we show that wearing counterfeit products makes individuals feel less authentic and increases their likelihood of both behaving dishonestly and judging others as unethical. In four experiments,... View Details

Keywords: Judgments; Ethics; Brands and Branding; Product; Behavior; Personal Characteristics

08 Dec 2015
Research & Ideas

You Won't Make It If You Fake It

The cover of last January's Harvard Business Review featured the subhead, "When it's OK to fake it till you make it." “Faking it” is the antithesis of authentic leadership. Following this advice is the most likely path to... View Details

Keywords: by Bill George

24 Mar 2020
Research & Ideas

These Coronavirus Heroes Show Us How Crisis Leadership Works

We are in the greatest crisis of our lifetimes—even worse than 9/11 and the 2008-09 financial meltdown that triggered the Great Recession. This crisis is directly affecting every person, even those who don’t recognize it yet. Now is a time for leaders, particularly... View Details

Keywords: by Bill George; Health

12 Apr 2004
Research & Ideas

Waking Up a Sleeping Company

One of the greatest challenges for the values-centered culture is to produce top performance and succeed in the market against "win at any cost" competitors. Values are only one part of an organization's culture; the other half is its operating norms—the way... View Details

Keywords: by Bill George

July 2015
Article

The Moral Virtue of Authenticity: How Inauthenticity Produces Feelings of Immorality and Impurity

By: F. Gino, Maryam Kouchaki and Adam D. Galinsky

The current research demonstrates that authenticity is directly linked to morality. Across five experiments, we found that experiencing inauthenticity consistently led participants to feel more immoral and impure. This inauthenticity→feeling immoral link produced an... View Details

Keywords: Moral Sensibility; Emotions

Research Summary

Rethinking Brand Contamination: How Consumers Maintain Distinction When Symbolic Boundaries Are Breached"

If consumers view their brands as extensions of themselves, what happens when undesirable consumers adopt these same brands? I address this question by examining an issue that is of great concern to managers of high-status brands: the rampant spread... View Details

28 Jul 2011
Working Paper Summaries

The Three Foundations of a Great Life, Great Leadership, and a Great Organization

Keywords: by Michael C. Jensen

September 2013 (Revised April 2014)
Case

Trader Joe's

By: David L. Ager and Michael A. Roberto

Based on a variety of metrics, Trader Joe's ranked as one of the most successful grocers in the United States in 2013. Experts estimated that the company had the highest sales per square foot of any major grocery chain, even significantly higher than top performer... View Details

Keywords: Core Competencies; Growth Strategy; Strategic Positioning; Industry Analysis; Competitive Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Organizational Culture; Growth and Development Strategy; Retail Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; United States

2008
Book

Finding Your True North: A Personal Guide

By: Bill George, Andrew McLean and Nick Craig

Based on Bill George's bestselling book True North, this personal guide offers leaders a comprehensive method for identifying their unique “True North.” The book offers methods for personal reflection and includes targeted exercises that help leaders hone in on the... View Details

Keywords: Values and Beliefs; Leadership; Personal Development and Career; Motivation and Incentives; Personal Characteristics