Life Planning - Publications - Faculty & Research

August 2021
Supplement

Dirk Nowitzki: Changing the Game

NBA Superstar Dirk Nowitzki was unsure whether the 2018–2019 season would be his last as an NBA player. He had not faced such uncertainty since 1998, when he had navigated a difficult decision regarding the timing of his move to the NBA. He also did not know what he... View Details

Keywords: Career Decisions; Career Journey; ＂Sports Organizations,; Mentoring; Retirement; Sports; Performance; Training; Personal Development and Career; Decision Making; Talent and Talent Management; Sports Industry; United States

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August 2019 (Revised September 2019)
Case

Dirk Nowitzki: Changing the Game

By: Boris Groysberg, Sascha L. Schmidt and Evan M.S. Hecht

NBA Superstar Dirk Nowitzki was unsure whether the 2018–2019 season would be his last as an NBA player. He had not faced such uncertainty since 1998, when he had navigated a difficult decision regarding the timing of his move to the NBA. He also did not know what he... View Details

Keywords: Career Decisions; Career Journey; ＂Sports Organizations,; Mentoring; Retirement; Sports; Performance; Training; Personal Development and Career; Sports Industry; United States

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June 2024
Teaching Note

Dirk Nowitzki: Changing the Game

By: Boris Groysberg, Katherine Connolly Baden and Robin Abrahams

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 420-031. NBA Superstar Dirk Nowitzki was unsure whether the 2018-19 season would be his last as an NBA player. He had not faced such uncertainty since 1998, when he had navigated a difficult decision regarding the timing of his move to... View Details

Keywords: Problems and Challenges; Practice; Retirement; Work-Life Balance; Success; Knowledge Acquisition; Knowledge Sharing; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Growth and Development; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Performance; Sports Industry; United States

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12 Aug 2002
Op-Ed

Using Big Business to Fight Poverty

combat these scourges is for rich countries to double their foreign aid budgets, and Gordon Brown, the United Kingdom's chancellor of the exchequer, has called for a new Marshall Plan to fight poverty. Both initiatives are misguided,... View Details

Keywords: by George C. Lodge

25 Apr 2007
Research & Ideas

Feeling Stuck? Getting Past Impasse

at an impasse. The impasse experience has features that are common to all of us, and in time each of us has a unique experience of impasse. For most people the recognition that we're at an impasse, whether it's a career situation or a broader View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

Research Summary

The Transition to Retirement

By: Teresa M. Amabile

My current major research program is the Retirement Transitions Study: a broad study of retiring professionals' everyday experiences, including identification with work; identity stability, change, and development; meaningfulness of work; changes in life structure,... View Details

Keywords: Careers; Psychology; Creativity; Identity; Retirement; Meaning

24 Jul 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, July 24, 2018

mining and exporting raw phosphate rock—its traditional focus, which it performed at a relatively low cost—towards greater production of phosphoric acid and finished fertilizer products. In the next phase of the program, OCP planned to... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

19 Dec 2023
Research & Ideas

$15 Billion in Five Years: What Data Tells Us About MacKenzie Scott’s Philanthropy

born in San Francisco and has spent much of her adult life in Seattle, gave to nonprofits across America; remarkably, all 50 US states included at least one recipient organization. However, she gave a little more heavily to organizations... View Details

Keywords: by Matthew Lee, Brian Trelstad, and Ethan Tran

05 Sep 2023
Book

Failing Well: How Your ‘Intelligent Failure’ Unlocks Your Full Potential

together, experiencing them all as negative experiences in life or in business, Edmondson contends that some failures are smarter than others because they help us identify a path toward eventual success. In the workplace, an employee may... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

18 Nov 2008
First Look

First Look: November 18, 2008

using a unique dataset of corporate 401(k) retirement plans and their mutual fund family trustees. Families secure substantial inflows by being named the trustee of a 401(k) plan. We find that family trustees significantly overweight... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

09 May 2000
Research & Ideas

Stock Options Are Not All Created Equal

plans provide very different incentives and entail different risks. Fixed Value Plans. With fixed value plans, executives receive options of a predetermined value every year over the life of the plan. A... View Details

Keywords: by Brian Hall

04 Apr 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research, April 4

sustainable businesses whereby DSM could create value with differentiated offerings. Sijbesma emphasized innovation and moving into “sunrise” businesses that would fuel future growth by playing a positive role in the broader society. Sijbesma asked himself, did DSM’s... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

26 Apr 2024
HBS Case

Deion Sanders' Prime Lessons for Leading a Team to Victory

his inner circle. Trusting a team to execute the plan is just as important in business, Gibson says. “Allowing others to operate is a skill [Sanders] has that is normal inside military organizations that’s not normal for most people,”... View Details

Keywords: by Avery Forman; Sports

05 Jul 2011
First Look

First Look: July 5

HawkinsHarvard Business School Supplement 111-088 IASB proposes new defined benefit plan accounting standard. Purchase this supplement:http://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cb/product/111088-PDF-ENG Aluar: Aluminio Argentino S.A. (A) David F.... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

05 Feb 2024
Research & Ideas

The Middle Manager of the Future: More Coaching, Less Commanding

empowerment. But for hardware companies also in the tech sector, it is possible that there’s going to be a lot less of that,” Zhang suggests. Climbing the career ladder The trend toward collaboration may make work more enjoyable and productive for front-line employees,... View Details

Keywords: by Ben Rand

Research Summary

Growing as a Purposeful Leader

By: Leonard A. Schlesinger

Leaders today have to lead in the context of extraordinary changes and challenges. The demands of today's stakeholders have risen significantly, and what is expected of senior leaders is quickly evolving in terms of their mission (more than profit),... View Details

07 Jul 2022
HBS Case

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

way. We’ve got to do this.’” They invested their entire life savings—$225,000—into opening the store. The store sold all of its products within four days of opening, forcing it to temporarily close. Earning $1 million in total sales, the... View Details

Keywords: by Pamela Reynolds

14 Feb 2011
Research & Ideas

Clay Christensen’s Milkshake Marketing

Updated to clarify a failure rate figure included in an earlier version. When planning new products, companies often start by segmenting their markets and positioning their merchandise accordingly. This segmentation involves either... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Retail; Service; Consumer Products; Food & Beverage

02 Apr 2024
What Do You Think?

What's Enough to Make Us Happy?

your life will be judged”—one might add, both by others and by yourself. “Don’t worry about the level of individual prominence you have achieved; worry about the individuals you have helped become better people.” Career View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

September 2011 (Revised October 2011)
Case

Scotty Smiley

By: Scott A. Snook and Doug Crandall

U.S. Army Lieutenant Scotty Smiley faces the biggest challenge of his young life. What will he do after learning that the wounds he received from a car bomb in Iraq have left him permanently blinded? On April 6, 2005, Lieutenant Scotty Smiley was grievously wounded by... View Details