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- News (11)
- Research (144)
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- 02 Jul 2010
- What Do You Think?
Is Profit as a “Direct Goal” Overrated?
Summing Up Why do managers choose to pursue profit so directly? The word "profit" in this month's column provoked a wide range of issues and emotions among respondents. It set off several debates. They ranged from definitions of "acceptable" profit... View Details
Keywords: by Jim Heskett
- 02 Oct 2008
- What Do You Think?
Workout vs. Bailout: Should Government Take Advantage of the Buffett Effect?
Summing Up The depth of the global financial crisis is becoming clearer day by day. In the United States, it is being used as a reason to set aside ideology regarding government ownership of important financial institutions, possibly including those that also... View Details
Keywords: by Jim Heskett
- 02 Feb 2007
- What Do You Think?
Is There Too Little “Know Why” In Business?
Summing Up The central debate among respondents to this month's column was joined early when the first respondent, Aaron Tice, commented, "Without the execution of business objectives in the pursuit of that purpose, the purpose will never be reached." Elvira... View Details
Keywords: by Jim Heskett
- 02 Dec 2009
- What Do You Think?
Should Immigration Policies Be More Welcoming to Low-Skilled Workers?
Summing Up Low-skilled immigrants: burden or opportunity? Immigration is apparently a topic that stirs passions globally, judging from the responses to this month's column. As Nauman Lodhi pointed out, "Tough times give rise more than ever to tough thoughts... View Details
Keywords: by Jim Heskett
- 02 Jun 2010
- What Do You Think?
How Do You Weigh Strategy, Execution, and Culture in an Organization’s Success?
Summing Up Strategy, execution, and culture: Do we have our priorities right? First, my thanks to all of you who weighed in on the issues of the month regarding ways of thinking and asking questions about the relative importance of strategy, execution, and culture in... View Details
Keywords: by Jim Heskett
- 04 Nov 2010
- What Do You Think?
Why Do We Chase Stars?
Summing Up Three themes appear to characterize many of the responses to this month's column: (1) leadership talent is portable, (2) the reasons that we chase stars are traceable to human nature, and (3) women have qualities that explain why they have greater success in... View Details
Keywords: by Jim Heskett
- 03 Jul 2008
- What Do You Think?
Are Followers About to Get Their Due?
Summing Up Are leadership and followership joined at the hip? It seems impossible to separate the two. They are reflective of one another. These are two of the predominant opinions expressed in one way or another by respondents to this month's column. Phil Clark... View Details
Keywords: by Jim Heskett
- 27 Nov 2006
- What Do You Think?
What’s to Be Done About Performance Reviews?
Summing Up The topic of performance reviews triggers a wide range of complex responses. The fact that most of their strongest critics elected to reply anonymously to this month's column suggests that there are also political overtones to the subject. This month's... View Details
Keywords: by Jim Heskett
- 08 Oct 2010
- What Do You Think?
Will Transparency in CEO Compensation Have Unintended Consequences?
Summing Up The Dodd-Frank legislation provision requiring the publication of the ratio of CEO compensation to that of the average compensation level of all employees in public companies will have little or no impact on CEO compensation levels. That's the conclusion of... View Details
Keywords: by Jim Heskett
- 02 Apr 2010
- What Do You Think?
Why Are Fewer and Fewer U.S. Employees Satisfied With Their Jobs?
Summing Up Are there too many "hostages" in the work force? Before turning to responses to this month's column, let me note that this marks the tenth anniversary of "What Do You Think?" I want to thank all of you for sharing your views on the 120... View Details
Keywords: by Jim Heskett
- 03 Jan 2008
- What Do You Think?
Does Judgment Trump Experience?
Summing Up How is good judgment developed? Whether judgment trumps experience quickly gave way in this month's rich exchange of views to other questions about how (and the extent to which) judgment is developed. Most of those addressing the question agreed with the... View Details
Keywords: by Jim Heskett
- 01 Oct 2009
- What Do You Think?
Can the “Masks of Command” Coexist with Authentic Leadership?
Summing Up Do authentic leaders need "masks of command"? Instructors seek case studies posing issues that provoke discussion on both sides of an issue and raise many questions. We seem to have found such an issue this month: Can the "masks of... View Details
Keywords: by Jim Heskett
- 03 Apr 2009
- What Do You Think?
How Much Obsolescence Can Business and Society Absorb?
Summing Up To remain sane and relevant, must we smell the flowers as well as the ozone? This month's question of how much obsolescence business and society (and by implication, we as managers) can absorb brought out both the poets and the engineers among respondents.... View Details
- 05 Mar 2008
- What Do You Think?
Where Will Management Innovation Take Us?
Summing Up Will management innovation be "pushed" or "pulled"? Competitive organizations in the future will be managed differently. This will require new roles for managers. But according to respondents to this month's column, just how this will... View Details
Keywords: by Jim Heskett
- 06 Jun 2008
- What Do You Think?
Why Don’t Managers Think Deeply?
Summing Up A since deceased, highly-regarded fellow faculty member, Anthony (Tony) Athos, occasionally sat on a bench on a nice day at the Harvard Business School, apparently staring off into space. When asked what he was doing, ever the iconoclast, he would say,... View Details
Keywords: by Jim Heskett
- 11 Oct 2006
- What Do You Think?
How Do We Respond to the “Dependency Ratio” Dilemma?
Summing Up Dependency ratios are useful as general indicators of future economic and social health. But they must be managed downward on both a micro and macro basis, in the opinion of the majority of respondents to this month's column. And it will take time. There was... View Details
Keywords: by Jim Heskett
- 02 Oct 2013
- What Do You Think?
Is Leadership an Increasingly Difficult Balancing Act?
determination demanded of Jim Collins' Level V leaders in his Good to Great study? No matter how important these qualities may be to future success, are employees and investors still going to look for authority figures? Are they going to... View Details
Keywords: by James Heskett
- 01 Dec 2006
- What Do You Think?
How Important Is Quality of Labor? And How Is It Achieved?
Summing Up Among responses to this month's column, there was little disagreement with the premise that attitude trumps skills in the selection of new employees. C. J. Cullinane commented: "Attitude is all! I have worked with a group of Cuban refugees in Newark who... View Details
Keywords: by by Jim Heskett
- 06 Nov 2013
- What Do You Think?
Is Top-Down Resource Allocation on the Rise?
Summing Up Is Business Agility a Product of Top-Down or Bottom-Up Resource Allocation? Respondents to this month's column provided possible explanations for greater reliance on top-down resource allocation processes (RAPs) while reminding us that a blend of influences... View Details
Keywords: by James Heskett
- 03 Feb 2016
- Research & Ideas
The State of Customer Service Leadership
Harvard Business School professors Jim Heskett (now emeritus), Earl Sasser, and Len Schlesinger have been studying the service sector—the good and the great as well as the bad and the ugly—for more than... View Details