Publications

14 Feb 2022
Research & Ideas

Curiosity, Not Coding: 6 Skills Leaders Need in the Digital Age

executive we interviewed said: "Leaders must go from trying to have all the answers to being comfortable with being uncomfortable." 5. Be present The leaders we talked to acknowledged just how complex and demanding work has become for... View Details

Keywords: by Linda A. Hill, Ann Le Cam, Sunand Menon, and Emily Tedards; Technology

Research Summary

Reinventing Yourself: Identity and Transformation in Professional Careers

Professor Herminia Ibarra is working on a book about people who change careers. The book explains why, when, and how people find themselves at a crossroads in their career and how they develp the skills they need to make their way successfully to a new professional... View Details

March–April 2023
Article

The New-Collar Workforce

By: Colleen Ammerman, Boris Groysberg and Ginni Rometty

Many workers today are stuck in low-paying jobs, unable to advance simply because they don’t have a bachelor’s degree. At the same time, many companies are desperate for workers and not meeting the diversity goals that could help them perform better while also reducing... View Details

Keywords: Diversity; Recruitment; Social Issues; Higher Education; Competency and Skills

Register to Read

May–June 2020
Article

The New-Market Conundrum

By: Rory McDonald and Kathleen M. Eisenhardt

Brand-new markets are like the wormholes of science fiction, where the usual rules of time and space do not apply. When a market has just been born, the forces of competition there are constantly in flux, it’s unclear who your customers really are, and conventional... View Details

Keywords: New Markets; Markets; Business Model; Strategy; Framework; Innovation and Invention; Value Creation

2015
Working Paper

The Challenges and Enhancing Opportunities of Global Project Management: Evidence from Chinese and Dutch Cross-Cultural Project Management

By: Ying Zhang, Christopher Marquis, Sergey Filippov, Henk-Jan Haasnoot and Martijn van der Steen

This study investigates the role of national and organisational culture in day-to-day activities of multinational project teams, specifically focusing on differences between Chinese and Dutch project managers. We rely on fieldwork observation and interviews with... View Details

Keywords: Management; Organizational Culture; Projects; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; China; Netherlands

SSRN

Social capital theorists have shown that some people do better than others in part because they enjoy larger, more supportive, or otherwise more useful networks. But why do some people have better networks than others?

Unanticipated Gains argues... View Details

When the Thought Doesn’t Count: The Dynamics of Unhelpful Help in Creative Organizations

We’ve all been there. You ask a colleague for help with something, maybe a tricky research design or a difficult student. They agree to help, but their assistance misses its mark. You wonder what happened and, if you turn to existing research and theory, you... View Details

Web

The Hawthorne Plant – The Human Relations Movement – Baker Library | Bloomberg Center, Historical Collections

and Harvard Business School Women in the Relay Assembly Test Room The Interview Process Spreading the Word The "Hawthorne Effect" Research Links Baker Library | Historical Collections | Site Credits | Digital Accessibility Contact Email:... View Details

06 Jul 2016
Research & Ideas

The Truth About Authentic Leaders

called authentic leaders. In contrast to IQ, which basically does not change in one’s adult lifetime, EQ can be developed. The first and most important step on this journey is gaining self-awareness. In preparing to write Discover Your True North, my research team and... View Details

Keywords: by Bill George

Web

All Industries

the future of tech in Silicon Valley 04 Mar 2025 Michelle Cao 11 Dec 2023 Becca Carnahan Building Iconic Brands and Brighter Futures: Interview with Glossier CEO, Kyle Leahy Building Iconic Brands and Brighter Futures: View Details

11 Dec 2023
Research & Ideas

Doing Well by Doing Good? One Industry’s Struggle to Balance Values and Profits

social media. “In any organization, you want to make the moral and material coexist.” In a recent paper, Lakshmi Ramarajan, associate professor of business administration at Harvard Business School, and Erin Reid, a professor at McMaster University, View Details

Keywords: by Scott Van Voorhis

19 May 2010
Working Paper Summaries

The Job Market for New Economists: A Market Design Perspective

Keywords: by Peter A. Coles, John Cawley, Phillip B. Levine, Muriel Niederle, Alvin E. Roth & John J. Siegfried

Article

Business Investment in Education in Emerging Markets Since the 1960s

By: Valeria Giacomin, Geoffrey Jones and Erica Salvaj

This article examines non-profit investments by business in education in emerging markets between the 1960s and the present day. Using a sample of 110 interviews with business leaders from an oral history database, the study shows that more than three-quarters of such... View Details

Keywords: Economic History; Oral History; Education; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Business History; Emerging Markets; Reputation; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Education Industry; Africa; Asia; Latin America; Middle East; India; Chile; Colombia; Sri Lanka; Kenya

2020
Working Paper

Social Attachment to Place and Psychic Costs of Geographic Mobility: How Distance from Hometown and Vacation Flexibility Affect Job Performance

By: Prithwiraj Choudhury and Ohchan Kwon

Using a natural experiment and field interviews, this paper studies how social attachment to place imposes psychic costs on workers who experience geographic mobility. This is especially salient when workers are assigned to locations far from their hometown, which may... View Details

Keywords: Distance From Hometown; Social Attachment To Place; Psychic Costs; Worker Performance; Natural Experiment; Geographic Location; Familiarity; Employees; Performance; India

SSRN

February 2011
Case

oDesk: Changing How the World Works

By: Boris Groysberg, David A. Thomas and Jennifer M. Tydlaska

It is 2010, and Gary Swart, CEO of oDesk, is contemplating the next steps for his organization. Founded in 2004 in California, oDesk operates an online marketplace which matches Employers with Contractors. oDesk provides fact-based information on Contractors, including... View Details

Keywords: Recruitment; Leadership; Growth and Development Strategy; Digital Platforms; Marketplace Matching; Corporate Strategy; Internet and the Web; Consulting Industry

Educators

Purchase

With rising CEO turnover, companies are increasingly looking outside for qualified candidates. Sure, externally recruited CEOs bring fresh perspectives and connections. But they lack the in-depth knowledge of the company s culture and history that they need to succeed.... View Details

Web

Leadership Fellows | Social Enterprise | Harvard Business School

organization to utilize a Fellow's leadership and management skills. Fellows are chosen by the hiring organizations through a standard interview process. Organizations pay Fellows a $65,000 salary and HBS awards Fellows a one-year grant... View Details

15 Feb 2008
Working Paper Summaries

Embracing Commitment and Performance: CEOs and Practices Used to Manage Paradox

Keywords: by Tobias Fredberg, Michael Beer, Russell Eisenstat, Nathaniel Foote & Flemming Norrgren

2022
Article

A Human-Centric Take on Model Monitoring

By: Murtuza Shergadwala, Himabindu Lakkaraju and Krishnaram Kenthapadi

Predictive models are increasingly used to make various consequential decisions in high-stakes domains such as healthcare, finance, and policy. It becomes critical to ensure that these models make accurate predictions, are robust to shifts in the data, do not rely on... View Details

Keywords: AI and Machine Learning; Research and Development; Demand and Consumers