lessons - Publications - Faculty & Research

July–August 2018
Article

When Technology Gets Ahead of Society

New technologies can be unsettling for industry incumbents, regulators, and consumers, because norms and institutions for dealing with them don’t yet exist. Interestingly, businesspeople in emerging economies face similar challenges: The rules are unclear and... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Society; Situation or Environment; Infrastructure; Entrepreneurship; Performance Effectiveness; Cooperation

Citation

Find at Harvard

Register to Read

July–September 2012
Article

The (Un)Hidden Turmoil of Language in Global Collaboration

By: Tsedal Neeley, Pamela J. Hinds and Catherine D. Cramton

Companies are increasingly relying on a lingua franca, or common language (usually English), to facilitate cross-border collaboration. Despite the numerous benefits of a lingua franca, our research reveals myriad challenges that disrupt collaboration and contribute to... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Loss; Spoken Communication; Performance Productivity; Research; Global Range; Problems and Challenges; Diversity; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues

Citation

Read Now

16 Jun 2020
Research & Ideas

Your Customers Have Changed. Here's How to Engage Them Again.

Lessons from Chinese Companies’ Response to Covid-19 (Harvard Business Review) What Quarantine Can Teach You About Spending and Happiness (Wall Street Journal) Read COVID-19 coverage from Working Knowledge What principles should your firm... View Details

Keywords: by Rohit Deshpandé, Ofer Mintz, and Imran S. Currim; Retail; Service

05 Dec 2016
Research & Ideas

How To Deceive Others With Truthful Statements (It's Called 'Paltering,' And It's Risky)

other in the future.” Gino says she hopes the research will provide a lesson that executives/managers will take to heart: During negotiations, beware of bending the truth. “We are too focused on our own side of the business during... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

30 Mar 2003
Research & Ideas

The Future of IT Consulting

key to its robust development. Q: What lessons can operations managers take away from your research? A: There are a number of lessons we think are important for operations managers: Many functional and... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Johnston; Consulting

10 Jan 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research: January 10, 2017

forthcoming HarperCollins Kissinger the Negotiator: Lessons from Dealmaking at the Highest Level By: Sebenius, James K., R. Nicholas Burns, and Robert H. Mnookin (with a forward by Henry A. Kissinger) Abstract—As professors and... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

19 Apr 2004
Research & Ideas

Birth of the American Salesman

Influence People, published originally in 1937, remains one of the most popular and draws in part on lessons the author learned working as a salesman for Armour. Q: You trace the world of selling in America and the salesman from the... View Details

Keywords: by Laura Linard

09 Mar 2003
Research & Ideas

Six Keys to Building New Markets by Unleashing Disruptive Innovation

wonderfully in the past no longer suffice. Drawing on the work of a number of thoughtful researchers as well as our own work, we are exploring a set of theories that can help managers respond to the ever-changing circumstances in which they find themselves.... View Details

Keywords: by Clayton M. Christensen, Michael E. Raynor & Scott D. Anthony

09 Jul 2020
Research & Ideas

It’s Time to Reset Decision-Making in Your Organization

Communication: Lessons from 9/11, Paul Argenti writes, “What I discovered is that, in a time of extreme crisis, internal communications take precedence. Before any other constructive action can take place—whether it's serving customers or... View Details

Keywords: by Boris Groysberg and Sarah Abbott

Research Summary

Learning Organizations

David A. Garvin is studying how companies pursue improvement and change through efforts to stimulate organizational learning. He has found the following activities to be common in learning organizations: intelligence gathering; experimentation; learning from... View Details

08 Apr 2014
First Look

First Look: April 8

intentional attempt to synthesize, abstract, and articulate the key lessons taught by experience. Drawing on dual-process theory, we focus on the reflective dimension of the learning process and propose that learning can be augmented by... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

23 Sep 2022
Research & Ideas

8 Strategies to Sustain Business Innovation

Safe: Innovation Lessons from a NASA Experiment IPO or M&A? How Venture Capital Shapes a Startup's Future Feedback or ideas to share? Email the Working Knowledge team at hbswk@hbs.edu. Image: iStockphoto/SimonSkafar View Details

Keywords: by Lane Lambert

19 Sep 2023
Research & Ideas

What Chandrayaan-3 Says About India's Entrepreneurial Approach to Space

appeared in the Harvard Gazette. Interview has been edited for clarity and length. You Might Also Like: 5 Qualities That Help Companies Thrive for Decades—Even Centuries When Experts Play It Too Safe: Innovation Lessons from a NASA... View Details

Keywords: by Clea Simon, Harvard Gazette; Aerospace

24 Apr 2018
Op-Ed

Op-Ed: What Mark Zuckerberg Can Learn About Crisis Leadership from Starbucks

Facebook’s current data privacy crisis, could learn a lot from Johnson. Let’s examine how Johnson and Zuckerberg measured up against what I have identified as 7 Lessons for Leading in Crisis. #1: Face reality, starting with yourself.... View Details

Keywords: by Bill George; Technology; Food & Beverage

12 May 2021
Book

The Hard Truth About Being a CEO

Fubini, a senior lecturer in the Organizational Behavior Unit at Harvard Business School, poured that knowledge, along with a list of lessons learned from researching leaders past and present into the book Hidden Truths: What Leaders Need... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

18 Aug 2022
Op-Ed

Your Best Employees Are Burning Out: A Framework for Retaining Talent

pleading with workers to return to offices by saying, "I'll get on my knees and do whatever you want.” While more than a few employees might love to see a CEO grovel on their knees, the critical lesson here is that Starbucks employees are... View Details

Keywords: by Hise Gibson and MaShon Wilson

16 Oct 2023
HBS Case

Advancing Black Talent: From the Flight Ramp to 'Family-Sustaining' Careers at Delta

that are working to create a more diverse workforce. One lesson Bastian has learned through his efforts: To create a sustainable strategy, business leaders can’t view diversity hiring as a one-time push to bring people on board, but... View Details

Keywords: by Lane Lambert; Air Transportation

27 Nov 2019
Sharpening Your Skills

Secrets for Creating a Long-Lasting Brand

maker Ferrari opens up about how it has bucked industry trends to achieve a world class brand. How Wayfair Built a Furniture Brand from ScratchWhat was once a collection of 240 home furnishing sites is now a single, successful brand, Wayfair.com. 'Likes' Lead to... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Retail

15 Nov 2022
Book

Stop Ignoring Bad Behavior: 6 Tips for Better Ethics at Work

which publishes in November, can provide important lessons for business people in an era where consumers expects companies to behave responsibly more than ever. Enabling unethical behavior In the case of Purdue Pharma, McKinsey advised... View Details

Keywords: by Pamela Reynolds

30 Sep 2002
Research & Ideas

Your Crisis Response Plan: The Ten Effective Elements

key lessons learned? What changes do we need to make to our organization, procedures, and support resources? Assessing Your Crisis Response Plans Use the following table to assess your organization's plans to respond to a crisis and to... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Watkins

Publications