Publications

October 2018
Case

Shield AI

By: Mitchell Weiss and A.J. Steinlage

Shield AI’s quadcopter – with no pilot and no flight plan – could clear a building and outpace human warfighters by almost five minutes. This was not to say that it was better than the warfighters or would replace their jobs, but it was evidence that autonomous robots... View Details

Research Summary

Reinvention and "Technology Reemergence"

By: Ryan L. Raffaelli

The prevailing view of industry and technology evolution has emphasized displacement, on the assumption that old technologies and organizational forms will disappear when newer ones arrive. Professor Raffaelli's research challenges this view by illuminating how and... View Details

Keywords: Turnarounds; Innovation And Management; Technology Evolution; Change Management; Disruption; Transformation; Transition

30 Sep 2019
Book

6 Steps to Building a Better Workplace for Black Employees

asked his staff to gather for a series of conversations about race. Two years later, when one of PwC’s own black employees was shot to death by an off-duty police officer, Ryan emailed his employees with a... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

24 Sep 2018
Research & Ideas

How Cost Accounting is Improving Healthcare in Rural Haiti

Medical records at a healthcare clinic in Lascahobas, Haiti. Ryan McBain A few years ago, the Boston-based nonprofit health care organization Partners in Health (PIH) set out to quantify the cost of primary care for its... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Health

Research Summary

Leadership & Values in Times of Instability

By: Ryan L. Raffaelli

Professor Raffaelli investigates the role of leaders within organizations and across industries during periods of upheaval and ambiguity. His work indicates the key role leaders play in driving and infusing values. He also connects leadership to meaning-making,... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Values And Beliefs; Mission and Purpose

19 Dec 2023
Research & Ideas

15 Podcast Episodes That Grabbed Listeners in 2023

Call Ryan Serhant: How to Manage Your Time for Happiness Real estate entrepreneur, television star, husband, and father Ryan Serhant is incredibly busy and successful. He starts his days at 4 a.m. and often... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost

01 May 2024
What Do You Think?

Have You Had Enough?

(Illustration created using image generated by Midjourney, an artificial intelligence tool.) Last month, I posted a column in HBS Working Knowledge titled, “What’s Enough to Make Us Happy?” Over the last few months, I’ve been asking... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

November 2020
Case

Truebird—An AlleyCorp Venture

By: Shikhar Ghosh and Shweta Bagai

In December 2018, Kevin Ryan and Wendy Tsu faced an important decision – to finalize the CEO candidate for Truebird, an innovative, automated coffee café concept. Like many of AlleyCorp and Ryan’s companies, Truebird started with the observation of an unmet need – an... View Details

Keywords: Startup; Hiring; Staffing; Recruiting; Business Startups; Finance; Leadership; Management Skills; Management Teams; Jobs and Positions; Job Interviews; Human Resources; Recruitment; Selection and Staffing; Technology Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; United States

05 Dec 2018
Research & Ideas

Why Managers Should Reveal Their Failures

If you’re a business leader who oozes achievement, sprints up the corporate ladder, and earns big bucks, your co-workers probably resent you to some extent. New research says high-achievers can win over their colleagues with a simple approach: View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

02 May 2023
What Do You Think?

How Should Artificial Intelligence Be Regulated—if at All?

humanity. Clearly, AI is a big deal with large potential benefits and, at the moment, largely unknown risks for society. It will get more important fast. Why? Two tech giants, Microsoft and Google, are competing for first-mover advantage along with a third competitor,... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Information Technology; Technology

June 2023
Case

Barton Malow: Building From the Top-Down

By: Hise O. Gibson and Alicia Dadlani

In 2023, Detroit-based Barton Malow completed the first high-rise building in the U.S. built from the top-down using LIFTbuild, a patented methodology that aimed to make construction safer and more efficient. By completing building work at ground level and then... View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development Strategy; Innovation and Invention; Construction Industry

16 Mar 2020
Research & Ideas

How the Coronavirus Is Already Rewriting the Future of Business

honest conversation, to undermine their ability to develop a trust-based culture for years to come. Michael Beer is the Cahners-Rabb Professor of Business Administration, Emeritus, co-founder and director of TruePoint Partners, and the Center for Higher Ambition... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

31 May 2023
Research & Ideas

With Predictive Analytics, Companies Can Tap the Ultimate Opportunity: Customers’ Routines

pinpoint a customer’s motive more precisely than for people who use the service casually or merely as a preference. That may help companies carefully tailor both marketing and service for their most valuable customers, the authors find. Ascarza teamed with View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Transportation

01 Nov 2022
What Do You Think?

Why Aren’t Business Leaders More Vocal About Immigration Policy?

gets lost in this conversation is the extent to which the US needs immigrants. We need their youth, their willingness to work at any job, their productivity, their contributions to a social security system being weighted down by the... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

14 Aug 2018
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, August 14, 2018

relationships by making (even objectively generous) exchanges feel transactional. When exchanging resources, people should be wary of both how much they exchange and the manner in which they exchange. Publisher's link:... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

April 2020
Case

Promoting Land and Nature Jerky

By: John A. Quelch and Katherine B. Hartman

Kathy Ayers, Vice President of Marketing and Communications for Land and Nature (L&N) Jerky Company, needs to make a recommendation about L&N's 2020 promotional spending. L&N's CEO, Tim Ryan, wants her to calculate different scenarios using historical data to determine... View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Spending; Marketing Communications; Marketing Strategy; Product Positioning; Food and Beverage Industry