Learning By Thinking - Publications - Faculty & Research

01 Oct 2008
Research & Ideas

How Much Time Should CEOs Devote to Customers?

strategy, it's not necessary for the CEO to spend time learning how different clients would prefer customized solutions. The CEO should spearhead the identification of three or four customer health metrics. Even in companies that see... View Details

Keywords: by John Quelch

02 Mar 2007
What Do You Think?

What Is the Government’s Role in US Health Care?

thinks it could come in the form of a "Two Percent Solution" in which everyone would pay 2 percent of their income to be held by the Government for their healthcare, with "competition maintained through... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett; Health

18 Mar 2024
Research & Ideas

When It Comes to Climate Regulation, Energy Companies Take a More Nuanced View

Common wisdom holds that oil and gas companies, electric utilities, and other industries known for their large carbon emissions generally oppose clean energy policies. Now, a study of corporate advocacy spanning 30 years reveals that many companies are more flexible... View Details

Keywords: by Desmond Dodd; Energy; Utilities

21 Apr 2023
Research & Ideas

The $15 Billion Question: Have Loot Boxes Turned Video Gaming into Gambling?

players use to compete. "People are thinking about ways to design policies and products so you can actually engage with the product in more responsible ways without getting people too overinvolved in playing and spending." A new paper... View Details

Keywords: by Scott Van Voorhis; Video Game; Media & Broadcasting

02 Apr 2019
Working Paper Summaries

Managerial Quality and Productivity Dynamics

Keywords: by Achyuta Adhvaryu, Anant Nyshadham, and Jorge Tamayo; Fashion

11 Jan 2022
Research & Ideas

Feeling Seen: What to Say When Your Employees Are Not OK

go into work, will I somehow miss a promotion or really important information at work.’ I think leaders would really benefit from acknowledging those emotions directly.” Zlatev suggests that managers encourage a sense of openness View Details

Keywords: by Pamela Reynolds

15 May 2015
Research & Ideas

Kids Benefit From Having a Working Mom

stayed home full time, according to a new study. Men raised by working mothers are more likely to contribute to household chores and spend more time caring for family members. “There are very few things that have such a clear effect on... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

20 Oct 2008
Research & Ideas

The Seven Things That Surprise New CEOs

management may have won the CEO his job, these tools alone will not keep him there. Finally, the CEO must not get totally absorbed in the role. Even if others think he is omnipotent, he is still only human. Failing to recognize this will... View Details

Keywords: by Michael E. Porter, Jay W. Lorsch & Nitin Nohria

18 Apr 2023
Research & Ideas

What Happens When Banks Ditch Coal: The Impact Is 'More Than Anyone Thought'

Consumers who are eager to mitigate climate change can take many actions, such as reducing the number of airline flights they take or installing solar panels on their homes. But the planet is in a race against time, and individual action alone won’t help most countries... View Details

Keywords: by Barbara DeLollis; Financial Services; Mining

10 Jan 2023
Research & Ideas

How to Live Happier in 2023: Diversify Your Social Circle

strangers,” he says, “but you could reallocate an hour here and there from one person to another person and see how that goes.” He advises people to take stock of their own portfolio of social interactions, and, if it seems out of balance, take the extra time to reach... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

21 Nov 2019
Research & Ideas

Do TV Debates Sway Voters?

pinpoint exactly when a voter decided on a candidate—before or after a debate—without having to rely on voters’ memories. They found: A large fraction of voters change their minds during the campaign. The percentage of voters who had settled on a candidate rose View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost

18 Jun 2007
Op-Ed

Leveling the Executive Options Playing Field

this setting. There are a number of nontrivial complications associated with such a change. Implementing such a change will require thinking through if the timing of taxable events for individuals and corporations can be separated and if... View Details

Keywords: by Mihir Desai

09 Nov 2021
Research & Ideas

The Simple Secret of Effective Mentoring Programs

outperformed non-mentored workers by 18 percent, and they also tended to stay with the company longer, according to a recent study by Harvard Business School professor Christopher T. Stanton and three other... View Details

Keywords: by Jay Fitzgerald

07 Feb 2007
Research & Ideas

Dividends from Schumpeter’s Noble Failure

Business Cycles was Joseph Schumpeter's least successful book when measured by its professed aims and several other yardsticks. Yet the book contains two vital aspects that have largely been overlooked. First, the prodigious research that... View Details

Keywords: by Thomas K. McCraw

18 Jan 2016
Research & Ideas

Hazard Warning: The Unacceptable Cost of Toxic Workers

is the morally correct path. “To say the rules should never be broken isn’t completely forthright and honest, so this is basically a sophisticated way to capture that,” Minor says. Another factor could be more Machiavellian applicants trying to “game the system” View Details

Keywords: by Roberta Holland

24 Feb 2016
Research & Ideas

Why It's Best to Take Tests Early in the Day

students’ performance on standardized tests.” Published in the February 15 edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the study was authored by Hans Henrik Sievertsen, a postdoctoral researcher at the Danish National... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Education

16 Feb 2023
HBS Case

ESG Activists Met the Moment at ExxonMobil, But Did They Succeed?

The impact-investment hedge fund Engine No. 1 made a big splash in May 2021 when it managed to get three nominees elected to the ExxonMobil board of directors. It was an open effort to prod the oil giant toward renewable energy and test whether activist investing could... View Details

Keywords: by Lane Lambert; Financial Services

18 Oct 2010
Lessons from the Classroom

Venture Capital’s Disconnect with Clean Tech

green businesses. "They tend to think clean-tech investing is like Internet investing," he says. "They think, 'It's gonna happen fast, and it's just gonna happen.' And the answer is no, it's not gonna be fast, and it might... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Energy; Utilities; Financial Services

18 Apr 2016
Research & Ideas

The Cost of Leaning In

Last summer, Christine Exley polled 200 American adults with a simple yes/no question: Do you think women should negotiate their salaries more often? Seventy percent of respondents answered in the affirmative. She wasn’t surprised View Details