Learning By Doing - Publications - Faculty & Research

08 Nov 2024
HBS Case

What Wartime Service Taught These Historic Leaders

“[These leaders] learned a tremendous amount from the mission focus and discipline that came from the military,” says Simons, a Baker Foundation Professor and Charles M. Williams Professor of Business Administration, Emeritus. “There is a... View Details

Keywords: by Avery Forman; Entertainment & Recreation

07 Apr 2020
Research & Ideas

What Customers Need to Hear from You During the COVID Crisis

going dark, fearful of offending or of being accused of taking advantage of an unfortunate situation for corporate gain. According to estimates from a March 2020 survey of marketers conducted by the Interactive Advertising Bureau, nearly... View Details

Keywords: by Jill Avery and Richard Edelman

14 Apr 2003
Research & Ideas

Pay-for-Performance Doesn’t Always Pay Off

Ideal Laboratory In the early 90s, Hewlett-Packard seemed a perfect setting for innovations in pay. A so-called "built-to-last" company, it was highly decentralized and enjoyed a sense of mutual trust, high commitment, and wide use of management View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

21 Aug 2023
Book

You’re More Than Your Job: 3 Tips for a Healthier Work-Life Balance

Future-Proof Your Career, Avoid Burnout, and Build a Life Bigger than Your Business Card, which explains how to treat work-life calibration as you would a financial portfolio, through concepts like diversification. “There’s a calculus of: If I’m never going to get that... View Details

Keywords: by Kara Baskin

28 Jun 2004
Research & Ideas

How to Avoid a Price Increase

quantity. As a result, one manufacturer was able to reduce its package sizing by 10 percent to 20 percent over the course of three years with little to no negative consumer response. Q: Can you share some product-downsizing success... View Details

Keywords: by Manda Salls

01 Feb 2022
What Do You Think?

Is Concierge Management an Answer to the “Big Quit”?

the same true for employees today, many of whom are performing their work remotely, outside the traditional office setting? We’ve previously discussed here the need for greater “voice” among “officed” employees as part of the effort to foster inclusion. The problem is... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

05 Dec 2023
Research & Ideas

Lessons in Decision-Making: Confident People Aren't Always Correct (Except When They Are)

the right people are confident, suggests recent research by Thomas Graeber, assistant professor at Harvard Business School. His work tested the effects of meta-cognition—essentially, whether more skilled people are also more confident... View Details

Keywords: by Kara Baskin

27 Nov 2006
What Do You Think?

What’s to Be Done About Performance Reviews?

discussion, one that is often hard to summarize. But in an attempt to do it, here is my "take" on what you have said collectively. Everyone sensed the imperfections in performance reviews and the difficulty of discussing them... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett

11 May 2009
Research & Ideas

The IT Leader’s Hero Quest

and ultimately an excellent journey to learning effective leadership skills in The Adventures of an IT Leader (Harvard Business Press). According to the novel's creators, a fictional approach allowed them to blend real-life incidents they... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

12 Jan 2004
What Do You Think?

How Should We Think About the Exportation of Jobs?

the jobs exported are those involving relatively little "ownership" potential and they are replaced by those created by the entrepreneurial, small-business engine that has fueled the U.S. economy... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

04 Nov 2002
Research & Ideas

From Lone Star to Team Player

When does a star performer become a corporate nightmare? And what can you do about it? HBS Working Knowledge's Mallory Stark conducted this e-mail interview with Morten Hansen.Stark: Can you describe what you mean View Details

Keywords: by Mallory Stark

21 Jul 2021
Research & Ideas

What Does an ESG Score Really Say About a Company?

Receiving more information can clarify the complex, but not when it comes to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) scores. A recent study shows that the more information a company discloses about its ESG practices, the more rating agencies disagree on how well... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz

17 Oct 2019
Research & Ideas

‘Chick Beer’ for Women? Why Gender Marketing Repels More Than Sells

considered if the company hadn’t hyped their gender, according to a study by Harvard Business School. Why do these gender appeals alienate the very audience they aim to attract? People resist being... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Consumer Products

05 Feb 2024
Research & Ideas

The Middle Manager of the Future: More Coaching, Less Commanding

between 2007 and 2021. He also gathered and analyzed 1 million newspaper job postings, 6 million manager resumes and job reviews, and 430,000 Indeed.com job reviews. The data shows: Managerial job postings that required collaborative skills and experience increased... View Details

Keywords: by Ben Rand

18 Nov 2009
HBS Case

Customer Feedback Not on elBulli’s Menu

six months that elBulli, his restaurant, is open. The world is beating a path to Chef Ferran Adrià's door, but why? "Creativity comes first; then comes the customer," he has said. So what can HBS students learn about marketing... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Food & Beverage

14 Mar 2018
Research & Ideas

Feeling Stressed? Try Sniffing Your Romantic Partner's Shirt

they were smelling, but were asked whether they believed the shirt had been worn by their partner. Per instruction, the women repeatedly took one-minute whiffs of the sweaty clothing before, during, and after undergoing a psychological... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

14 Jan 2013
Research & Ideas

Few Women on Boards: Is There a Fix?

they do like the United States—and leave the issue alone? The answer may lie in determining when, why, and how businesses can thrive by balancing their boards, says Harvard Business School Professor Boris... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

03 Oct 2023
HBS Case

Layoffs Can Be Bad Business: 5 Strategies to Consider Before Cutting Staff

have to be this way. “If companies I know and admire are doing this, it can’t be that bad, or else they wouldn’t do it.” Layoffs are an example of “hope triumphing over science,” says Sandra Sucher, the MBA... View Details

Keywords: by Ben Rand; Telecommunications; Technology; Financial Services; Manufacturing

08 Aug 2023
Research & Ideas

Black Employees Not Only Earn Less, But Deal with Bad Bosses and Poor Conditions

rankings for these environmental factors with the racial makeup of various firms. When he did, Zhang found that Asian employees scored highest on work environment, followed by White and Hispanic employees, who ranked about the same,... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

30 Jan 2024
Research & Ideas

‘Intrinsic Joy’ Sparks Ideas Better than Cash

says. But as one developer told Roche, adding cash to the mix can sour the task at hand. “He said, ‘As soon as your sponsor pays for it, even if it's just five bucks, they're holding you accountable to fix their problems.’ And he thought that was absolutely ridiculous... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Technology

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