mission statement - Publications - Faculty & Research

14 Apr 2022
Op-Ed

Let’s Move Forward from COVID—Without Forgetting What We’ve Learned

generation. Assess the organization. The next step is for leaders to collect perspectives about how the organization fell short of its stated values or mission statement in the pre-COVID and current-COVID... View Details

Keywords: by Hise O. Gibson and MaShon Wilson

23 Jun 2008
Research & Ideas

Innovative Ways to Encourage Personal Savings

card statement or on a financial dashboard would change the way they manage their money. Such information as currently presented minimizes the appearance of debt burden that families are building. New types of credit card View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Financial Services

20 Mar 2013
Research & Ideas

How CEOs Sustain Higher-Ambition Goals

make it happen," said HBS's Bill George. Scott Griffith, former chairman and CEO of Zipcar, said that the company crafted its mission statement around responsible urban living in part with the hope of... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

06 Sep 2017
What Do You Think?

Summing Up: What Are the Limits of CEO Activism?

Are public actions by CEOs the best way to reflect or reinforce them? Presumably, such actions will be applauded primarily by employees; after all, they signed on to work for an organization with some awareness of its mission and values.... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

05 Oct 2009
Research & Ideas

The Vanguard Corporation

is serious about serving society. Q: How important are mission statements or guiding principles in helping a company focus on core values? A: Many companies have a mission... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

03 Jul 2018
What Do You Think?

Should CEO Satya Nadella Cancel Microsoft’s Contract with ICE?

The “case” appears not to be closed. It will not go away. Just last week, Nadella, at a meeting with new interns, was presented with a USB stick containing the names of 300,000 signatories, including 500 Microsoft employees, to a View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Computer; Technology

27 Oct 2008
Lessons from the Classroom

Achieving Excellence in Nonprofits

nonprofits should write mission statements that can be relied upon as a promise to deliver specified social value. Why is this important? A: It is important for nonprofits to be clear about what they are... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

20 Jun 2012
Lessons from the Classroom

Teaching Leadership: What We Know

grown, so has the demand for courses on the topic. Scan the mission statements of most major universities and professional schools and you'll find that "educating leaders" is the common thread.... View Details

Keywords: by Scott A. Snook, Rakesh Khurana & Nitin Nohria; Education

11 Feb 2019
Research & Ideas

The Business of Saving the Planet

"The fact that the benefits of addressing the problem of climate change almost certainly outweigh the costs ... does not make concerted global action to address the problem easy." —Climate Change in 2018: Implications for Business If there is one positive... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Energy; Green Technology

28 Oct 2013
Research & Ideas

Responsible Leadership in an Unforgiving World

values statements of vague promises to make the world a better place that most companies proffer. "You've got to get beyond the values laundry list, which for most companies comes down to them being committed to everyone for almost... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

27 Feb 2006
Research & Ideas

Corporate Values and Employee Cynicism

Positive values are a fixture on corporate mission statements these days. But when leaders fail to live up to the values they've articulated, it's a recipe for employee cynicism, according to Sandra Cha and... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

03 Mar 2010
What Do You Think?

To What Degree Does “Identity” Affect Economic Performance?

leadership changes ." Phil Clark comments that " you really cannot hide your identity. No brand, motto, or corporate mission statement written on a wall can cover the reality of what others... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett

22 Aug 2005
Research & Ideas

Balancing the Future Against Today’s Needs

who cared deeply about serving their customers. The notion of caring, with a proactive bias toward action, became the building block of Phanstiel's efforts to motivate people to embrace new growth opportunities while still respecting the importance of the core... View Details

Keywords: by Paul Michelman

14 Nov 2007
First Look

First Look: November 14, 2007

sufficiently broad to fulfill its mission or, on the contrary, whether it needed to be narrowed in order to eliminate organizational challenges and external perceptions of conflicts of interest. Purchase this case:... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

04 Oct 2016
First Look

October 4, 2016

in press Journal of Personality and Social Psychology Artful Paltering: The Risks and Rewards of Using Truthful Statements to Mislead Others By: Rogers, T., R. Zeckhauser, F. Gino, M.I. Norton, and M. Schweitzer Abstract—Paltering is the... View Details

30 Oct 2006
First Look

First Look: October 31, 2006

http://www.hbsp.harvard.edu/b01/en/common/item_detail.jhtml?id=807019 Governance of the Family Business Harvard Business School Note 807-022 Reviews the ways to achieve governance of the family business. Points out the importance of plans (e.g., strategic plans), View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

04 Mar 2002
Research & Ideas

Don’t Lose Money With Customers

series of articles and HBS Working Papers, he explores the process of how firms in business-to-business markets manage customer relationships. As a frame of reference, Narayandas explains that modern marketing occurs at three distinct levels. Companies craft their... View Details

Keywords: by Peter K. Jacobs

04 May 2016
What Do You Think?

What Does Boaty McBoatface Tell Us About Brand Control on the Internet?

Minister Johnson has a decision to make. He apparently has delayed it, perhaps waiting for interest to wane. But he did issue a statement saying that: “We want something that fits the mission and captures... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Advertising

18 May 2015
Research & Ideas

Advertisers Get Serious About Playing With Their Brands

the researchers recently wrote in a GfK Marketing Intelligence Review article called "Beyond Bedlam: How Consumers and Brands Alike Are Playing the Web." In the last decade, marketers have used digital media in different ways. First, many brands made it their View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Advertising

20 Mar 2018
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, March 20, 2018

versus making statements in conversation. While there are many reasons people don’t ask questions (such as egocentrism, anxiety, apathy, and ignorance), those who can become talented question askers stand to learn more information, to be... View Details