Publications

Article

The Business Case for Curiosity

By: Francesca Gino

Although leaders might say they value inquisitive minds, in reality most stifle curiosity, fearing it will increase risk and inefficiency. Harvard Business School’s Francesca Gino elaborates on the benefits of and common barriers to curiosity in the workplace and... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Culture; Employees; Creativity; Cognition and Thinking; Learning; Decision Making; Performance Effectiveness

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2012
Book

The Culture Cycle: How to Shape the Unseen Force That Transforms Performance

By: James Heskett

The contribution of culture to organizational performance is both substantial and quantifiable. This book presents the results of field research that demonstrates how an effective culture can account for up to half of the differential in performance between... View Details

Keywords: Customer Focus and Relationships; Learning; Framework; Policy; Retention; Books; Analytics and Data Science; Innovation and Invention; Management Practices and Processes; Organizational Culture; Performance Expectations; Research

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March 2018 (Revised August 2020)
Case

Alaska Airlines: Empowering Frontline Workers to Make It Right

By: Ranjay Gulati, Andrew O'Connell and Caroline de Lacvivier

This case documents the ongoing efforts by Alaska Airlines to enhance its efforts to become more customer centric by empowering its employees using a service framework. It explores how the airline starts with a completely hands-off approach to empowerment in which... View Details

Keywords: Employee Empowerment; Customer Focus and Relationships; Employees; Service Delivery; Organizational Culture; Integration; Air Transportation Industry

Article

Managing a Polarized Workforce: How to Foster Debate and Promote Trust

By: Julia A. Minson and Francesca Gino

One of the toughest challenges leaders face is managing diverse perspectives—and given heightened tensions over politics and movements such as #MeToo and Black Lives Matter, that’s more difficult today than ever before. At the same time, productive disagreement and... View Details

Keywords: Polarization; Employees; Perspective; Interpersonal Communication; Organizational Culture; Trust

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24 Jun 2021
Blog Post

Celebrating the Past, Crafting the Future Part 2: The First HBS/HKS Class

“professional people person,” his work involves leadership development; talent management; diversity, inclusion, and equity; and more in creating sustainable competitive advantage through human capital. “The relevance of View Details

30 Nov 2016
Working Paper Summaries

The Stock Market and Bank Risk-Taking

Keywords: by Antonio Falato and David Scharfstein; Financial Services; Banking

01 Feb 2009
News

Creating Corporate Value

June 2020
Case

RBC: Transforming Transformation (A)

By: Ethan Bernstein, Francesca Gino and Aldo Sesia

In 2017, the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), a Canadian financial icon, mandated a swat team of “enablers of collaboration” (their job description) to support the personal and commercial bank in the enterprise-wide RBC Cultural Transformation initiative. Historically,... View Details

Keywords: Service Delivery; Information Technology; Transformation; Change Management; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Innovation and Management; Decision Making; Human Resources; Management Systems; Organizational Design; Organizational Structure; Groups and Teams; Management Teams; Banking Industry; Financial Services Industry; Canada

21 Aug 2019
Research & Ideas

What Machine Learning Teaches Us about CEO Leadership Style

different resources to accomplish something productive,” says Khanna. “That means you are motivating people to do things, and the only way to motivate people is to communicate with them.” As crucial as communication is to running an... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

April 2022 (Revised August 2022)
Case

Restaurant Brands International: Version 2.0

By: Boris Groysberg and Sarah L. Abbott

In 2010, 3G Capital acquired Burger King, the second largest burger chain globally. 3G expanded Burger King’s operations via acquisitions into a multi-brand business, renamed Restaurant Brands International. The acquisition had been a financial success story for 3G.... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Growth and Development; Performance Evaluation; Private Equity; Franchise Ownership; Culture; Change Management; Strategy; Human Resources; Information Technology; Competition; Retail Industry; United States

December 2017 (Revised January 2018)
Case

NatureSweet

By: Jose Alvarez, Forest Reinhardt and Natalie Kindred

This case describes the business model and workplace philosophy of NatureSweet, a privately owned, vertically integrated greenhouse grower and marketer of fresh tomatoes with sales across the United States and $329 million in 2016 revenues. CEO Bryant Ambelang treated... View Details

Web

The Intersection of Public Relations and Photography | Baker Library | Bloomberg Center | Harvard Business School

the Corporate Image Gary Works Photograph Album Resources Research Links Films & TV Bibliography From the Director Site Credits Special Collections Search Exhibition Introduction The Founding of U.S. Steel and the Power of Public Opinion... View Details

September 2008 (Revised December 2011)
Case

Frank Addante, Serial Entrepreneur

By: Noam T. Wasserman and Antony Uy

Frank Addante is a 28-year-old serial entrepreneur who is in the process of building his fifth venture. Of his first four ventures, two were sold, one went public, and in the last he decided to close the venture and return unused capital to his investors. With the... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Equity; Selection and Staffing; Groups and Teams

Web

Recruiting Partners - Health Care

Decibel Therapeutics Decision Resources Group Deloitte Denali Therapeutics Depuy Synthes (USA) Design Institute for Health at Dell Medical School University of Texas Austin Diagnostika Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Inc E EARNEST Partners LLC... View Details

06 Sep 2004
Research & Ideas

The Innovator’s Battle Plan

A good way to visualize what incumbents can do when faced with a disruptive attack is to consider how humans respond to a perceived threat. Our body immediately reacts. We produce adrenaline. Our heart rate goes up. Our respiration rate... View Details

Keywords: by Clayton M. Christensen, Scott D. Anthony & Erik A. Roth

March 2010 (Revised June 2010)
Case

Malden Mills (A) (Abridged)

By: Nitin Nohria and Thomas R. Piper

CEO Aaron Feuerstein of Malden Mills decided to pay idled workers after a massive fire at his mill in 1995. Focuses on the decisions made post-fire and the rebuilding process and eventual bankruptcy of the company. Also outlines creditors' struggle to decide whether to... View Details

Keywords: Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Financing and Loans; Employees; Leadership; Crisis Management; Social Issues; Manufacturing Industry; Massachusetts

24 Feb 2022
Op-Ed

Want to Prevent the Next Hospital Bed Crisis? Enlist the SEC

billing rule that hospitals had ignored, it imposed a tangle of new requirements and directed the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to help prevent excess out-of-network charges. And consider the HHS’s multimillion dollar... View Details

Keywords: by Regina Herzlinger and Richard Boxer; Health

December 2019 (Revised December 2021)
Case

Negotiating for Equal Pay: The U.S. Women's National Soccer Team (A)

By: Christine Exley, John Beshears, Manuela Collis and Davis Heniford

In 2019, members of the U.S. Women's National Soccer Team (WNT) filed a gender discrimination lawsuit against the U.S. Soccer Federation. The case describes the history of the WNT's quest for equal pay leading up to this event. View Details

Keywords: Equal Pay; Negotiation; Compensation and Benefits; Equality and Inequality; Gender; Prejudice and Bias; Negotiation Tactics; Corporate Governance; Lawsuits and Litigation; Sports; Sports Industry; United States

November 2005
Case

Michael Ovitz and The Walt Disney Company (A)

By: Jay W. Lorsch and Alexis Chernak

Faced with the need to hire a new president, The Walt Disney Co. pursued Michael Ovitz, a founder of the Creative Artist Agency. Although initially disinterested, Ovitz engaged in negotiations with Michael Eisner, CEO of The Walt Disney Co., in the summer of 1995... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Governance; Management Teams; Selection and Staffing; Negotiation; Organizational Culture