Hard Skills - Publications - Faculty & Research

08 Apr 2014
First Look

First Look: April 8

Matthew, and Michael Ewens Abstract—This paper investigates whether individual venture capitalists have repeatable investment skill and to what extent their skill is impacted by the VC firm where they work.... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

07 Jul 2022
HBS Case

How a Multimillion-Dollar Ice Cream Startup Melted Down (and Bounced Back)

people who were not well-matched to their roles. “Particularly after they raised their second round of funding, they really struggled to find the right financial folks to come in, the right operational folks, and even at the level of the stores as they continued to... View Details

Keywords: by Pamela Reynolds

26 Aug 2002
Research & Ideas

High-Stakes Decision Making: The Lessons of Mount Everest

What went wrong on Mount Everest on May 10, 1996? That day, twenty-three climbers reached the summit. Five climbers, however, did not survive the descent. Two of these, Rob Hall and Scott Fischer, were extremely skilled team leaders with... View Details

Keywords: by Michael A. Roberto

06 Jul 2016
Research & Ideas

The Truth About Authentic Leaders

authentic, research and leadership development programs should focus on how leaders develop their authenticity. Being authentic as a leader is hard work and takes years of experience in leadership roles. No one can be authentic without... View Details

Keywords: by Bill George

18 Aug 2022
Op-Ed

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

benefit from leveraging what I call the TRIAL framework: Trust: Leaders must recognize that trust is hard to gain and easy to lose. So, they must communicate realistic expectations and frequently ensure that their business goals align... View Details

Keywords: by Hise Gibson and MaShon Wilson

01 Jun 2023
HBS Case

A Nike Executive Hid His Criminal Past to Turn His Life Around. What If He Didn't Have To?

friends were still incarcerated or couldn’t get ahead. I carried a lot of guilt for my success. I always wondered, ‘Why me? Why not someone else?’” Miller says. “And then there was the guilt of the homicide. That has been really hard to... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Apparel & Accessories

13 May 2014
First Look

First Look: May 13

http://hbr.org/2014/05/making-freemium-work/ar/1 August 2013 Directors & Boards Dynamics of the Board Interview By: McGarvie, Blythe Abstract—You want candidates who meet the requirements of cultural fit, the right skill set, and... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

09 Dec 2002
Research & Ideas

Unilever—A Case Study

lower financial returns than their domestic equivalents in the United States. 9 One explanation for this phenomenon might be transfer pricing, but this has proved hard to verify empirically. The industry mix is another possibility, but... View Details

Keywords: by Geoffrey Jones; Consumer Products; Entertainment & Recreation; Food & Beverage; Manufacturing; Retail

24 Oct 2018
Sharpening Your Skills

Startup or Established Company? Which Is Best for You?

corporation behind me when things weren’t working out. The impact of a bad decision or process was much greater with no safety net.” – Karen Young, CEO and founder, Oui Shave Startup with limited leadership experience. Working with a View Details

Keywords: by Julia B. Austin

07 Jul 2008
Research & Ideas

Innovation Corrupted: How Managers Can Avoid Another Enron

facilitated by Enron's bankers and advisors and largely missed by its board of directors and other watchdogs. Here are some "high level" details: Jeffrey Skilling had begun working with Enron in 1986 as a consultant with... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Energy; Utilities

17 Mar 2008
Research & Ideas

The Lessons of Business History: A Handbook

rigor, it is hard to understand the significance of this empirical literature, and quite easy to dismiss it as anecdotal and unscientific. Third, many business historians still work within national frameworks. As a result, much literature... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

19 Dec 2023
Research & Ideas

15 Podcast Episodes That Grabbed Listeners in 2023

an Impact Great business leaders are problem solvers. That’s what sparked Susan Tynan to found Framebridge, a custom framing company. When Tynan couldn’t find a reasonably priced place to frame her beloved posters, she launched a business, which took off after years of... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost

08 Mar 2021
In Practice

COVID Killed the Traditional Workplace. What Should Companies Do Now?

A year ago, COVID-19 forced many companies to send employees home—often with a laptop and a prayer. Now, with COVID cases subsiding and vaccinations rising, the prospect of returning to old office routines appears more possible. But will employees want to flock back to... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

January 2025
Case

Netflix: Takedown Troubles

By: Clayton S. Rose, Tom Quinn and Maxim Pike Harrell

In October 2021, Netflix Co-CEO Ted Sarandos sent an all-staff email addressing backlash to comedian Dave Chappelle’s new stand-up special, The Closer. Released on October 5, the comedian’s depiction of the transgender community and other LGBTQ+ groups prompted... View Details

Citation

Educators

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06 Jun 2018
Research & Ideas

Cut Salaries or Cut People? The Best Way to Survive a Downturn

finding: Sales reps who remained in their jobs didn’t slack off. In fact, some even worked harder. “What surprised me the most was that the people who stayed didn’t work any less hard,” Stanton says. Still, those workers never regained their original compensation... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

01 Nov 2020
Research & Ideas

Good Leadership Is an Act of Kindness

of the simplest words and gestures often gets lost when CEOs and managers are in perpetual crisis management mode, struggling with layoffs, remote work technology, market woes, and a range of other frustrating disruptions. While confronting these challenges requires... View Details

Keywords: by Boris Groysberg and Susan Seligson

27 Jul 2021
Op-Ed

What Pirates Can Teach Us About Leadership

mattered. What matters is skills and commitment, not background. As they sailed the high seas, pirates picked up mariners from different races, religions, and ethnicities, which made for a cosmopolitan lot. Though slavery was common on... View Details

Keywords: by Francesca Gino

07 Jul 2019
HBS Case

Walmart's Workforce of the Future

initiative. “That requires a lot of reskilling of employees and hard choices, in an uncertain environment, in terms of how to deploy capital.” “This digital transformation creates new jobs, but, more important, it changes the nature of... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Retail

19 Oct 2022
Op-Ed

Cofounder Courtship: How to Find the Right Mate—for Your Startup

Partners in Short & Long Term Relationships. “The conviction to have a cofounder is often based solely on complementary skills and experience versus the softer, and often more important, relationship criteria.” In the podcast, Dr.... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Austin

11 Feb 2002
Research & Ideas

The Quiet Leader—and How to Be One

men. He pushes so hard he ends up committing suicide, is very disappointed in his kids—there are other characters, I noticed, who were what I came to call quiet leaders. You also end up defining quiet leaders almost through a series of... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

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