by James Sebenius - Publications - Faculty & Research

05 Jun 2023
What Do You Think?

Is the Anxious Achiever a Post-Pandemic Relic?

appreciated Jenny Odell’s thesis that “doing nothing” offers us several useful “tools,” including those of repair (personal reflection and recovery), “a sharpened ability to listen”—a critical resource in a world dominated by telling and... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

01 Nov 2022
What Do You Think?

Why Aren’t Business Leaders More Vocal About Immigration Policy?

gets lost in this conversation is the extent to which the US needs immigrants. We need their youth, their willingness to work at any job, their productivity, their contributions to a social security system being weighted down by the... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

03 Feb 2016
What Do You Think?

How Do You Hire an 'Impostor'?

the employment of “imposters,” a term, by the way, that was regarded as objectionable by many, most respondents implicitly rejected the notion. They pointed to the desirable qualities of imposters, people... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

02 Dec 2019
What Do You Think?

How Does a Company like Boeing Respond to Intense Competitive Pressure?

that started a fuel burn 11 hours too early into the mission, using up so much fuel that the capsule could not reach the proper altitude. According to a reported comment by Jim Chilton, senior vice president of the space and launch... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Air Transportation

05 Feb 2018
What Do You Think?

Should Companies Disclose Employee Compensation?

would avoid a "one size fits all" approach to the practice of making compensation known. These are the views put forth by participants in this month's discussion of transparency in compensation. Disclosing pay ranges vs.... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Financial Services

01 May 2020
What Do You Think?

Does Remote Work Mix with Organizational Culture?

SUMMING UP Is Management the Missing Ingredient in Melding Organization Culture and Remote Work? Those who have experienced remote work are largely vocal supporters of the notion. Its success is dependent, on the one hand, on an effective culture fostered View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

14 Sep 2017
Op-Ed

Op-Ed: Google Engineer Deserved to be Fired by the CEO

Google CEO Sundar Pichai. Credit: Steven Zimmerman/Wikipedia Commons Google software engineer James Damore’s ten-page manifesto excoriating his employer for its diversity initiatives incited a major controversy in August about... View Details

Keywords: by Bill George

01 Nov 2019
What Do You Think?

Should Non-Compete Clauses Be Abolished?

violation of a non-compete? That’s the question raised by GYurieff, who said: “The difference in knowledge an individual brings into an organization and the knowledge this individual may take out of the organization—how is it measured?... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

01 Jun 2022
What Do You Think?

Is Stakeholder Management Facing New Headwinds?

debate between economists such as the Chicago school’s Milton Friedman, who argued that the sole purpose of business is to generate profit for (and presumably transfer wealth to) shareholders by any legal and ethical means, and Yale’s... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

02 Aug 2017
What Do You Think?

Summing Up: Why Can’t Organizations Engage Their Employees?

and sometimes outside of work.” He added, “Everybody needs to be touched by someone who cares.” Of course, this takes time that many managers don’t feel they can spare. As Guy put it, “Improving employee engagement is not done through... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

08 May 2020
Research & Ideas

We’ve Now Been Asking “What Do You Think?” for 20 Years

This month marks the twentieth anniversary of the beginning of my “What do you think?” column. The Working Knowledge website was the brainchild of a faculty and staff committee organized in 2000 by then Dean Kim Clark to communicate the... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

01 Dec 2020
What Do You Think?

How Can We Get Companies to Invest More in Low-Wage Workers?

the lower ranks. One of the causes may well be inequities in the ability of executives and frontline labor to negotiate compensation for their skills. In particular, the declining power of unions and the stickiness of minimum wage laws are often cited as factors. A... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

02 Jan 2024
What Do You Think?

Do Boomerang CEOs Get a Bad Rap?

(AdobeStock/Vincent) The return of Robert Iger as CEO of Walt Disney followed by a poorer-than-expected company performance has rekindled the debate about whether the decision to bring back formerly successful CEOs to revitalize an... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

February 2016 (Revised April 2017)
Case

James Madison, the 'Federal Negative,' and the Making of the U.S. Constitution

By: David Moss and Marc Campasano

On June 8th, 1787, at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, delegates from across the United States began discussing a curious proposal to expand federal power over the states. James Madison of Virginia had suggested that the new constitution include a... View Details

Keywords: Governance; Law; Government and Politics; Power and Influence; History; South Carolina; Philadelphia; United States

Citation

Educators

Purchase

05 Jul 2017
What Do You Think?

Can Innovation Save Us From Ourselves?

Summing Up Do We Need to Give More Attention to the Dark Side of Innovation? Innovation may be able to help us deal with problems such as famine, pollution, and even global warming. But unless it can prove to be just as effective in combating destructive human traits... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Technology

01 Mar 2023
What Do You Think?

How Much Does 'Deep Purpose' Matter to the Bottom Line?

(iStockphoto/PeopleImages) An organization’s mission is widely recognized as its reason for being. Enlightened leaders have long known and believed that the heart of an organization’s culture is described not just by “how we do things... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

01 Mar 2018
What Do You Think?

Two Decades Later, is the 'New Economy' Finally Here?

in September, 2000. It described the enthusiasm at that time for a "New Economy," one driven by information technology and characterized by “greater growth and lower unemployment than ever before... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

07 Oct 2015
What Do You Think?

What is the Best Immigration Model for the US?

with many workers crossing from Mexico, every day. Given the relatively low rate of unemployment in the US and the paucity of jobs in Mexico at the time, it seemed certain that the issue of immigration would be pursued by the leaders of... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

05 Dec 2022
What Do You Think?

How Would Jack Welch’s Leadership Style Fare in Today’s World?

doubt about what they think of Welch as a leader, although Cohan's is a more careful, balanced appraisal. For the Gen Zers and Millennials among us who don’t even recognize the name, this is a guy who, when he retired, was called “the CEO of the 20th century” View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Industrial Products; Media & Broadcasting; Medical Devices & Supplies; Manufacturing