Publications

November 2005 (Revised March 2007)
Case

Leadership Development at Goldman Sachs

By: Boris Groysberg, Scott A. Snook and David Lane

In November 1999, 11 of Goldman Sachs' finest gathered to put the final touches on a revolutionary leadership development plan. Following Goldman's explosive growth during the 1990s and its eventual IPO in 1999, a diverse group of leaders from across the firm were... View Details

Keywords: Initial Public Offering; Leadership Development; Growth and Development Strategy; Management Skills; Organizational Design; Planning

Corporate CEOs are headline news. Stock prices rise and fall at word of their hiring and firing. Business media debate their merits and defects as if individual leaders determined the health of the economy. Yet we know surprisingly little about how CEOs are selected... View Details

02 Jan 2024
Research & Ideas

10 Trends to Watch in 2024

The lightning-fast ascent of generative AI isn’t the only sea change on the horizon for businesses in the new year. The global economy is in flux as war, climate change, trade issues, and infrastructure problems demand attention. Many companies continue to struggle to... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

January–February 2018
Article

The Leader's Guide to Corporate Culture: How to Manage the Eight Critical Elements of Organizational Life

By: Boris Groysberg, Jeremiah Lee, Jesse Price and J. Yo-Jud Cheng

Executives are often confounded by culture, because much of it is anchored in unspoken behaviors, mindsets, and social patterns. But when properly managed, culture can help them achieve change and build organizations that will thrive in even the most trying times. In... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Culture; Performance Effectiveness; Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation

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01 Sep 2023
Blog Post

Harvard Business School Announces 2023 Goldsmith Fellows

from the nonprofit and public sector to attend HBS, these fellowships enable the School to award $10,000 to a select number of incoming MBA students. Beginning with the Class of 1990, 257 incoming students have received the fellowship.... View Details

14 Nov 2023
What Do You Think?

Do We Underestimate the Importance of Generosity in Leadership?

based on such things as the nature of the gift and the relationship of the giver and receiver.) “Having worked with leaders of every stripe, it has always seemed to me that leaders of organizations... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

December 2006 (Revised January 2007)
Case

Chief Timothy Adeola Odutola and Nigeria's Manufacturing Sector

By: Nitin Nohria, Anthony Mayo, Foluke Otudeko and Mark Benson

Chief Timothy Adeola Odutola was an important contributor to Nigeria's manufacturing sector, creating a multimillion-dollar conglomerate including three factories, a retail franchise, a cattle ranch, a 5,000-acre plantation, a sawmill, and an exporting business before... View Details

Keywords: History; Business Conglomerates; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Success; Leadership Style; Business History; Market Entry and Exit; Personal Development and Career; Business Startups; Manufacturing Industry; Nigeria

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12 Aug 2019
Research & Ideas

How Scale Changes a Manager's Responsibilities

recognize and try to stay ahead of these changes brought by scale. Here is advice for the CEO/founders of early-stage companies, but it also applies to leaders of any scaling organization, even inside a large corporate entity. Leadership... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Austin

30 Sep 2019
Book

6 Steps to Building a Better Workplace for Black Employees

companies, and, more often than not, business leaders remain silent on the issue. That cloak of silence from the top tends to enfold all employees. Ellis Cose, an author of several books about race and public policy, writes that young... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

23 Aug 2022
Cold Call Podcast

Management Lessons from the Sinking of the SS El Faro

Keywords: Re: Joseph B. Fuller; Shipping

17 Jan 2023
In Practice

8 Trends to Watch in 2023

As 2023 begins, businesses and employees face an uncertain economy and labor market, as the twin dilemmas of inflation and interest rates weigh on forecasts. Harvard Business School faculty share the top trends that they believe will shape the workplace and markets... View Details

Keywords: by Avery Forman

07 Dec 2021
Op-Ed

Want to Build Better Leaders? Focus on Mindset, Skills, Knowledge

should invite leaders to identify no more than two areas in the emotional intelligence domain on which they would like to focus. The areas selected will offer greater insight into the question: Who are you... View Details

Keywords: by Hise Gibson and Shawnette Rochelle

September 2009 (Revised November 2010)
Case

Endeavor: Creating a Global Movement for High-Impact Entrepreneurship

By: William A. Sahlman

This case describes a critical inflection point in the growth of an international development "mentor capitalist" nonprofit, Endeavor. As Endeavor aims to scale its high-impact entrepreneurship model globally, founder Linda Rottenberg must determine what success looks... View Details

Keywords: Developing Countries and Economies; Social Entrepreneurship; Global Strategy; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Nonprofit Organizations; Jordan

July 2011
Article

Institutions and Inequality in Single Party Regimes: A Comparative Analysis of Vietnam and China

Despite the fact that China and Vietnam have been the world's two fastest growing economies over the past two decades, their income inequality patterns are very different. In this paper, we take a deep look at political institutions in the two countries, demonstrating... View Details

Keywords: Equality and Inequality; Developing Countries and Economies; Motivation and Incentives; Government and Politics; Policy; Power and Influence; Decision Making; Income; China; Viet Nam

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04 Jan 2022
What Do You Think?

Firing McDonald’s Easterbrook: What Could the Board Have Done Differently?

(iStockphoto/tofumax) A corporate board’s most important decision is selecting the organization’s CEO. By the same token, one could argue that a board’s most distasteful decision concerns firing a CEO. Once directors agree to release the... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

04 Mar 2024
Research & Ideas

Want to Make Diversity Stick? Break the Cycle of Sameness

that he was replacing a woman as opposed to a man affect his decision?” Most likely, yes. In studying the appointments of more than 2,000 federal judges and more than 5,000 corporate board members, Chang found that leaders have a strong... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

January 2015 (Revised March 2017)
Case

New Urban Mechanics

By: Mitchell Weiss

Funding to scale Citizens Connect, Boston's 311 app, is both a blessing and a burden and tests two public entrepreneurs. In 2012, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts provides Boston's Mayor's Office of New Urban Mechanics with a grant to scale Citizens Connect across the... View Details

Funding to scale Citizens Connect, Boston's 311 app, is both a blessing and a burden and tests two public entrepreneurs. In 2012, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts provides Boston's Mayor's Office of New Urban Mechanics with a grant to scale Citizens Connect... View Details

January 2020
Teaching Note

How to Encourage Others to Give and When to Pass the Torch? Insights from The Philanthropy Connection

By: Christine Exley and Kathleen McGinn

This case follows the co-founder and president, Marla Felcher, of The Philanthropy Connection (TPC). TPC is a nonprofit organization that centers around collective giving: members of TPC make an annual contribution that is then distributed to select nonprofit... View Details

Keywords: Giving And Philanthropy; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Motivation and Incentives; Nonprofit Organizations