Motivating People - Publications - Faculty & Research

15 Oct 2001
Op-Ed

Lessons from the Rubble

It will take weeks for rescuers to comb through the gruesome wreckage of Manhattan, months to piece together the madness behind the attack. We can only speculate right now about the motives that drove men into the air, into the buildings.... View Details

Keywords: by Debora L. Spar

11 Oct 2021
Blog Post

Crafting a Nontraditional Path to Venture Capital and Private Equity with Morgan Sheil (MBA 2021)

have to be making climate pivots and will need operations people and novel, strategic, investment to make it happen.” It would not be easy to break into the competitive investing field without prior experience in finance. Yet, Sheil saw a... View Details

05 Nov 2014
What Do You Think?

Are We Entering an Era of Neuromanagement?

don't know enough about the human brain to make hiring judgments based on monitoring activity within certain parts of the brain, or about the people who plan to use neuromanagement or about their motives I... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

16 Nov 2010
Lessons from the Classroom

Data.gov: Matching Government Data with Rapid Innovation

Transparency: Its official motive of transparency allows citizens more control of information that affects them. Giving "power to the people" puts a new set of eyes and ears on government and holds officials more accountable.... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Technology

01 Mar 2017
News

Ask the Expert: Capital Architect

Skydeck podcast BRUNELL: Human motivation for supporting or catalyzing change only comes from within. We can’t “make” people’s behavior or “mandate” mindset. Citizens must have reason to care, want, and believe in the change agenda—and to... View Details

28 Jun 2010
HBS Case

Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center

well, because the senior team is tackling important problems and engaging people throughout the organization in solving them." One of the key players is Dr. Uma Kotagal, a neonatologist with a deep-seated passion for improving the... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Health

Profile

Elsa Sze

“But I also see that the business community has so much potential to do good while achieving business objectives.” With a will to reconcile business and government, and profit motives with social ones, Elsa is pursuing the joint MBA/MPP... View Details

01 Oct 2002
News

John Batcha: Sowing the Seeds to Fight Hunger

transition process of passing responsibilities for SPI's primary operations to vice president and general manager Dean Urmston, a veteran of the seed industry who is based in Bakersfield, California. What motivates this compassionate man?... View Details

02 Oct 2019
What Do You Think?

What Grade Would You Give Walmart CEO Doug McMillon?

meeting needs of multiple stakeholders will be met with controversy. Those giving McMillon the lowest grades appeared to be gun owners or supporters. As BobG put it, “Anyone who makes a decision to not support a Constitutional right of the View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Retail

Profile

Blake Landro

Motivated to make a difference in the world, Blake Landro seriously considered law school. But while working at a law firm after college, Blake found that he “liked the business side of the firm more than the law itself.” He felt a career... View Details

01 Dec 1996
News

Intellectual Debate: The Business of Business

should be the firm's only motivation if social welfare is to be maximized - provoked a round of spirited discussion centered on the social role and responsibilities of corporations. The next session, on "Ethics, Economics, and... View Details

Profile

Clarissa Quintanilla

opportunities for people like the women lining the highway will require joint action from the public and private sectors,” says Clarissa. Not surprisingly, Clarissa’s college and postgraduate experiences reflect her dual interests. She... View Details

18 Jan 2012
News

Charter Supporter

Burke: A need to close the income gap. After her graduation from HBS, few people could accuse Mary Burke (MBA 1985) of having led a dull life. As reported in the Madison, Wisconsin Capital Times (October 5, 2011), Burke first worked for... View Details

Keywords: Arts, Sports, Language, Driving, and Other Schools; Educational Services

21 Apr 2008
Research & Ideas

The New Math of Customer Relationships

Loveman, has led a remarkable period of growth by installing service profit chain concepts throughout the organization. These organizations have been able to achieve what we might call SPC.2 by creating "owners" out of both customers and employees. By owners,... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

06 May 2002
Research & Ideas

Profits for Nonprofits: Earning Your Own Way

managers: "Can we teach [the people we serve] the importance of being self-sufficient while not being self-sufficient ourselves?" Bread Means Business The bakery at Boston's Haley House is a case study in how one group has... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

01 Dec 1999
News

Q & A: Herb Kohl

implement strategy. In a retail business, no matter what you decide in the office, if the people out in the stores don't execute it, your business isn't going to be worth a darn, because they're the ones who deal with your customers. So... View Details

Keywords: Susan Young

13 Nov 2000
Research & Ideas

Corporate Venturing: Entrepreneurship on the Inside

incentivize and motivate internal people, because they have access to a talent pool that doesn't always exist outside." At the same time, developing new businesses can provide large companies with a potent retention mechanism.... View Details

Keywords: by Kenneth Liss

10 Dec 2007
HBS Case

One Laptop per Child

should surely be pleased when the commercial sector is motivated to bring its resources to bear on the problem at hand, and prospectively accelerate the distribution of low-cost personal computers to more View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Computer

20 Sep 2016
First Look

September 20, 2016

possibility of erasing some of these civil rights gains. Publisher's link: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=51647 Summer 2016 Journal of Economic Perspectives Motivated Bayesians: Feeling Moral While Acting Egoistically By:... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

16 Sep 2015
Research & Ideas

Can Applied Economics Save Homeless Puppies?

has more information on that dog than you do as a potential buyer or pet guardian, and that can lead to adverse situations,” Exley says. “The information asymmetry and search costs were what really motivated Wagaroo.” In his research on... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Retail

Publications