Learning By Thinking - Publications - Faculty & Research

29 Sep 2021
Research & Ideas

For Entrepreneurs, Blown Deadlines Can Crush Big Ideas

your next product, you need to do more than just linearly add time to your original timeline,” Peterson advises. “It's going to vary project by project, and it's hard to say if that's 2x, or 3x, or 4x. But that is the right ballpark you... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

23 Feb 2009
Research & Ideas

Creative Entrepreneurship in a Downturn

33 percent in the fourth quarter of last year compared with that of the previous year. Only six venture-backed companies were able to go public last year in the United States. According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, 260 venture-backed businesses were acquired... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

05 Jul 2023
HBS Case

What Kind of Leader Are You? How Three Action Orientations Can Help You Meet the Moment

insights gleaned from teaching his MBA course, Leadership: Execution and Action Planning (LEAP), and from classroom observations of mid-career managers in executive education. Over the past decade, Raffaelli has asked hundreds of students and managers to View Details

Keywords: by Ben Rand

07 Apr 2003
What Do You Think?

Should Global Business Initiatives Be Devalued?

an interesting concept of the importance of a "national brand."—Jim Heskett Others, while agreeing with this thesis, were not so sanguine about whether this will happen without greater efforts to influence foreign policy by... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

07 Sep 2020
Working Paper Summaries

Entrepreneurs (Co-) Working in Close Proximity: Impacts on Technology Adoption and Startup Performance Outcomes

Keywords: by Maria P. Roche, Alexander Oettl, and Christian Catalini

07 Nov 2012
HBS Case

HBS Cases: Sir Alex Ferguson--Managing Manchester United

of the world of soccer—or, to my knowledge, in sports as a whole—who comes even close to such a lengthy tenure, let alone the number of titles and trophies he has accumulated," says Elberse, who recently authored a business case on Ferguson. “I View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Sports; Entertainment & Recreation

18 May 2016
Research & Ideas

Unethical Amnesia: Why We Tend to Forget Our Own Bad Behavior

actions gradually become less clear than other memories—a phenomenon the authors of the paper call “unethical amnesia.” Moreover, forgetting wrongdoings of the past makes us more likely to misbehave in the future. “We are social beings, and our basic need for... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

28 Mar 2016
Research & Ideas

What's a Boss Worth?

they are hired, Stanton recommends companies think carefully about the screening procedures they put in place, including longer trial periods to measure performance before officially hiring a new manager. “You need to have provisional... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Service

04 Apr 2023
Book

Two Centuries of Business Leaders Who Took a Stand on Social Issues

responsible businesses” will reach beyond the lens of current environmental, social, and governance (ESG) standards by putting the welfare of communities ahead of maximizing profits. “The last 10 years have seen a change in societal... View Details

Keywords: by Lane Lambert; Consumer Products; Fashion; Retail; Green Technology

29 Jun 2009
Sharpening Your Skills

Sharpening Your Skills: Leading Change

retrenchment; think growth. Key concepts include: Companies that survive the financial crisis by identifying and exploiting innovation will serve as economic growth engines in the future—and will be the... View Details

Keywords: by Staff

13 Nov 2019
Research & Ideas

Don't Turn Your Marketing Function Over to AI Just Yet

collect the data, and then expect machine learning methods to spit out insight for you.” “We tend to think that when we have all this rich data and this machine learning... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz

10 Feb 2021
Research & Ideas

Has #MeToo Changed How Hollywood Hires?

involved in spurring that change. "You’d think male producers ... would be the ones with the greatest incentive to work more with female talent." “You’d think male producers, especially those who had ties... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Media & Broadcasting

27 Jan 2014
Research & Ideas

Family CEOs Spend Less Time at Work

Two years ago, the World Management Survey on organizational leadership reported that firms led by family CEOs (managers related to the family owning the business) are often managed badly, particularly those where a first-born son has... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

04 Mar 2024
What Do You Think?

Do People Want to Work Anymore?

Cottringer said, “The two best questions I was ever asked were (a) Do you think people are born good, bad, or neutral and (b) What is the most important thing you learned from one of your worst failures?”... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

31 Jul 2006
Research & Ideas

When Not to Trust Your Gut

for significant psychological biases that lead to irrationality. By accepting this fact, you can learn to overcome bias and think more rationally during your most important... View Details

Keywords: by Max H. Bazerman & Deepak Malhotra

23 Jul 2001
Research & Ideas

Sam Walton: Great From the Start

learn that the store was a real dog." The rent for this "dog" was 5 percent of sales. This sounded fine to Walton; but after signing the lease, he discovered that this "was the highest rent anybody'd ever heard of in... View Details

Keywords: by Richard S. Tedlow; Retail

06 Jan 2020
Working Paper Summaries

From Know-It-Alls to Learn-It-Alls: Executive Development in the Era of Self-Refining Algorithms, Collaborative Filtering and Wearable Computing

Keywords: by Mihnea Moldoveanu and Das Narayandas; Education

02 Mar 2021
HBS Case

The Tulsa Massacre: Is Racial Justice Possible 100 Years Later?

Early on the morning of June 1, 1921, more than 5,000 white residents of Tulsa, Oklahoma, invaded the African-American neighborhood of Greenwood. They came armed with guns, sticks, and other weapons—some supplied by the city’s police... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

21 Nov 2015
HBS Case

HBS Cases: Stella McCartney Combines High Fashion with Environmental Values

leadership style is how humble she is and how she repeatedly says, “I’m not perfect.” This is a message that I want to convey to students. You don’t have to be perfect. When you think about sustainability, people are typically very... View Details

Keywords: by Brian Kenny; Fashion

12 Nov 2012
Research & Ideas

Pay Workers More So They Steal Less

wages and benefits are linked to a company's low turnover and to happier, more honest workers. What Businesses Can Learn The study has important practical implications for business. For example, the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations... View Details

Keywords: by Kim Girard; Retail

Publications