Essential Workers - Publications - Faculty & Research

01 Feb 2001
News

What Makes a Good Leader

Is it the ability to navigate in the choppy waters of change? Do leaders see the hidden opportunity in every setback? Is there really any such thing as a "born leader"? Five HBS faculty and some prominent alumni offer their perspectives on an increasingly View Details

Keywords: Management

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Japan - Global

end of the assembly line inoperable and had to be towed away for repairs. Toyota hired mostly former GM workers, including well-known plant militants and activists. It taught workers TPS, but more importantly it installed a culture that... View Details

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Building From the Bottom Up - Managing the Future of Work

Research Research Building From the Bottom Up (pdf) Building From the Bottom Up (pdf) What business can do to strengthen the bottom line by investing in front-line workers By: Joseph B. Fuller & Manjari Raman America’s lowest earners are... View Details

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My One Case: MBA Class of 2023 Looks Back - MBA

Buell . How do you see yourself applying the lessons from this case in your future endeavors? My post-graduation focus is on growing and selling a high-growth business with broader equity ownership (approximately 50 percent worker owned).... View Details

01 Nov 2020
Research & Ideas

Good Leadership Is an Act of Kindness

Decision-Making in Your Organization What the Stockdale Paradox Tells Us About Crisis Leadership The COVID Two-Step for Leaders: Protect and Pivot Keep Your Weary Workers Engaged and Motivated According to a recent Gallup survey, less... View Details

Keywords: by Boris Groysberg and Susan Seligson

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2023 Reunion Presentations - Alumni

Less Info It is generally held that America suffers from a shortage of workers with the requisite skills to fill the many good-paying jobs that are available. HBS's ongoing research into the future of work has revealed that there is, in... View Details

03 Apr 2012
First Look

First Look: April 3

goal of residency training. The Confederacy of Heterogeneous Software Organizations and Heterogeneous Developers: Field Experimental Evidence on Sorting and Worker Effort Authors:Kevin J. Boudreau and Karim R. Lakhani Publication:In The... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

07 Apr 2021
Research & Ideas

How Teams Work: Lessons from the Pandemic

interpersonal interactions essential to knowledge workers and looks at how teams tried to facilitate them. They include: Task interactions, when team members collaborate on activities that directly... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz

21 Aug 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, August 21, 2018

it is no longer enough for firms to be better or cheaper to gain competitive advantage. These new rules make it essential for companies to reexamine four fundamental aspects of their business to thrive in the digital era—their strategy,... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

19 Apr 2004
Research & Ideas

Birth of the American Salesman

and Internet age? A: Today there are more sales workers than ever before, though I would not call them "Willy Lomans." They are a vital and essential part of the economy. The number of people in... View Details

Keywords: by Laura Linard

31 Aug 2015
Research & Ideas

How Ben Franklin’s ‘Way to Wealth’ Introduced American Capitalism to the World

Many readers picked up on this and used the text for their own purposes. While we know from individual workers’ autobiographies that Franklin inspired many to lead more economic lives, statesmen could embrace the text because more industrious View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna

01 Jun 2023
News

Curb Appeal

Jessica Tisch (JD/MBA 2008) has a problem. And she couldn’t be happier about it. It’s a chilly February morning in Lower Manhattan, and Tisch, who was appointed commissioner of the Department of Sanitation (DSNY) last April, has only hours to pivot the world’s largest... View Details

Keywords: Alexander Gelfand; photography by Vance Jacobs; Justice, Public Order, and Safety Activities; Government

28 Jun 2021
Research & Ideas

Keep or Cut Workers? How Companies Reacted to the COVID-19 Crisis

conduct an analysis to determine how companies were responding to the crisis. Were they retaining their staff and providing essential workers with extra pay, or were they cutting expenses through layoffs and... View Details

Keywords: by Lane Lambert

01 Jun 2023
HBS Case

A Nike Executive Hid His Criminal Past to Turn His Life Around. What If He Didn't Have To?

call for greater equity by revamping their hiring practices, research shows that a blemished past continues to impede many workers as they attempt to launch and advance their careers. A record of incarceration can be an especially huge... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Apparel & Accessories

09 Nov 2023
News

From the Brink

Antonio Weiss (MBA 1994), Adam Chepenik (MBA 2010), Sebastián Negrón-Reichard (JD/MBA 2024) As the senior top official in the US Treasury Department on domestic finance issues, Antonio Weiss (MBA 1994) could see Puerto Rico’s financial meltdown coming, like watching a... View Details

Keywords: Ralph Ranalli

09 Apr 2019
First Look

New Research and Ideas, April 9, 2019

proposals, and quality evaluations for more than 12,000 evaluator-proposal pairs. The analysis shows that solicitations offering a personal reward for top submissions boost participation rates without affecting submission quality. We show that this is due to View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

10 Dec 2021
Research & Ideas

Truth Be Told: Unpacking the Risks of Whistleblowing

do more to encourage employees to report misdeeds internally? Heese: Companies have to understand that their employees can be a big source of information for them, too. Whistleblower is a loaded term, but essentially what we’re talking... View Details

Keywords: by April White

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Skydeck - Alumni

with essential speed The Musts of 2023 Alumni recommendations from the year in media So You Want to Join a Startup Investor and entrepreneur Gus Bessalel (MBA 1988) on how to look before you leap Love and Money Insights from the dating... View Details

25 Aug 2014
HBS Case

Starbucks Reinvented

comfort, connection, and respect for its product and the communities Starbucks serves. CEO Howard Schultz has reignited Starbucks with innovative new offerings and by refocusing workers on the company's core values.Photo: iStockPhoto So... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Food & Beverage

01 Dec 2006
What Do You Think?

How Important Is Quality of Labor? And How Is It Achieved?

mind in the face of the debate over immigration and outsourcing, essentially trade in labor. And it is prompted by a new book, A Farewell to Alms: A Brief Economic History of the World, by Gregory Clark that identifies what he calls... View Details

Keywords: by by Jim Heskett

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