Publications

October 2018 (Revised October 2019)
Case

Arlan Hamilton and Backstage Capital

By: Laura Huang and Sarah Mehta

Frustrated by an inability to convince existing venture capital firms to invest in companies led by women, people of color, and LGBT founders, Arlan Hamilton started her own firm, Backstage Capital, in 2015. Hamilton understood the untapped potential of companies run... View Details

Keywords: Black Leadership; LGBTQ; Women; People Of Color; Entrepreneurship; Mission and Purpose; Venture Capital; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Identity; Personal Characteristics; Prejudice and Bias; Social Issues; Diversity; Gender; Race

December 2023 (Revised February 2024)
Case

21Seeds: Taking Shots at Breakout Growth

By: Elie Ofek, Julian De Freitas, Michael Moynihan and Nicole Tempest Keller

21Seeds, a female-founded flavor-infused tequila startup launched in 2019, had made inroads into the alcoholic beverage industry by focusing on an underserved consumer segment in spirits—women, primarily in their 30s and 40s, many of whom were moms—and by following a... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Startups; Growth and Development Strategy; Brands and Branding; Product Positioning; Distribution Channels; Sales; Food and Beverage Industry

14 Oct 2021
Blog Post

Making the MBA Degree More Accessible

commitments aimed at reducing financial barriers that often prevent students from underrepresented minority groups from applying to and attending HBS: Launch a need-based waiver of the application fee for all prospective students in all... View Details

September 2009
Module Note

Leading Teams Note

By: Jeffrey T. Polzer

This note, which describes the architecture and processes that characterize effective teams, begins by detailing the steps involved in designing a team, from diagnosing the complexity, interdependence, and objectives of the task to harnessing the key resources teams... View Details

Keywords: Interpersonal Communication; Experience and Expertise; Decision Choices and Conditions; Knowledge Sharing; Leadership; Business Processes; Groups and Teams

September 2021
Case

Posse Foundation: Developing Strong Leaders from Diverse Backgrounds

By: John J-H Kim, Robin Mendelson and Julia Kelley

Founded in 1989, Posse Foundation was a nonprofit organization with a mission of developing future leaders who reflected the U.S.’s rich diversity. The organization ran a selective, localized admissions process in 10 U.S. cities to identify outstanding students with... View Details

27 Apr 2016
Research & Ideas

How the FBI Reinvented Itself After 9/11

on the United States, killing nearly 3,000 people with four hijacked airliners—and throwing the FBI’s structure and identity into question. Since its founding in 1908, the organization had focused primarily on solving domestic crimes and... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

2021
Working Paper

Racial Inequality in Organizations: A Systems Psychodynamic Perspective

By: Sanaz Mobasseri, William Kahn and Robin Ely

This paper uses systems psychodynamic concepts to develop a theory about the persistence of racial inequality in U.S. companies, treating White men as the dominant group and Black people as an illustrative subordinate group. We theorize that this persistence is rooted... View Details

Keywords: Systems Psychodynamics; Organizational Inequality; Masculinity; Equality and Inequality; Race; Gender; Identity; Power and Influence

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Web

Placement - Doctoral

Performance in Healthcare Delivery Advisors: Robert S. Huckman , Guy David , and Ariel D. Stern Close Management 2023 Laura Weimer Management, 2023 Placement: United States Military Academy at West Point (2024-) Dissertation: The dynamic nature of leader View Details

11 Sep 2017
Research & Ideas

Why Employers Favor Men

hard quiz. When told that men did slightly better on average than women on sports or math tasks, employers were much less likely to hire a female worker than a male worker, even when two individual workers had identical easy quiz grades.... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

20 Jun 2005
Research & Ideas

Creating a Positive Professional Image

identity groups may experience an additional form of identity threat known as "devaluation." Identity devaluation occurs when negative... View Details

Keywords: by Mallory Stark

2021
Working Paper

Diversity and Performance in Entrepreneurial Teams

By: Sophie Calder-Wang, Paul A. Gompers and Kevin Huang

We study the role of diversity and performance in the entrepreneurial teams. We exploit a unique dataset of MBA students who participated in a required course to propose and start a real micro-business that allows us to examine horizontal diversity (i.e., within the... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Groups and Teams; Diversity; Performance

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February 2023
Article

Homophily and Acrophily as Drivers of Political Segregation

By: Amit Goldenberg, Joseph M. Abruzzo, Zi Huang, Jonas Schone, David Bailey, Robb Willer, Eran Halperin and James J. Gross

Political segregation is an important social problem, increasing polarization and impeding effective governance. Previous work has viewed the central driver of segregation to be political homophily, the tendency to associate with others who have similar views. Here we... View Details

Keywords: Political Affiliation; Extremism; Values and Beliefs; Identity; Groups and Teams; Emotions; Civil Society or Community

Web

Help - Alumni

hbs@edusupportcenter.com . Alumni Identity Verification HBS IT and Alumni Records may request to schedule a Zoom call, where you will need to appear on camera and present a photo ID. This level of verification is required by the HBS... View Details

Web

Finance - Faculty & Research

Lietz, Nori Gerardo, and Ted Bigman. "BREIT - The Behemoth." Harvard Business School Case 225-050, February 2025. Blue Owl Financing of Ping Identity By: Victoria Ivashina and Srimayi Mylavarapu February 2025 | Case | Faculty Research In... View Details

05 Feb 2019
First Look

New Research and Ideas, February 5, 2019

male-typed task even when they have identical resumes. Using a novel control condition, we document that this discrimination is not specific to gender. Employers are simply less willing to hire a worker from a View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

September 2013
Article

Status Boundary Enforcement and the Categorization of Black-White Biracials

By: Arnold K. Ho, Jim Sidanius, Amy J.C. Cuddy and Mahzarin R. Banaji

Individuals who qualify equally for membership in more than one racial group are not judged as belonging equally to both of their parent groups, but instead are seen as belonging more to their lower status parent group. Why? The present paper begins to establish the... View Details

Keywords: Hypodescent; Social Dominance Orientation; Intergroup Threat; Hierarchy Maintenance; Equality and Inequality; Race; Rank and Position; Attitudes; Identity

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July 2019
Teaching Note

Arlan Hamilton and Backstage Capital

By: Laura Huang

Teaching Note for HBS No. 419-029. Frustrated by an inability to convince existing venture capital firms to invest in companies led by women, people of color, and LGBT founders, Arlan Hamilton started her own firm, Backstage Capital, in 2015. Hamilton understood the... View Details

Keywords: Black Leadership; LGBTQ; People Of Color; Entrepreneurship; Mission and Purpose; Venture Capital; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Identity; Personal Characteristics; Prejudice and Bias; Social Issues; Diversity; Gender; Race