First Impressions - Publications - Faculty & Research

05 Apr 2004
Research & Ideas

Six Ways to Build Trust in Negotiations

in the heat of conflict this became a secondary concern. Just two weeks after the first flare-up, Impress announced that it would be taking its business elsewhere. Kristen worked in a division of RLX that... View Details

Keywords: by Deepak Malhotra

31 Mar 2008
HBS Case

JetBlue’s Valentine’s Day Crisis

February 20, normal operations resumed. "It's hard not to think there's more than just an accident happening here." "When Gary and I teach this case we have several pedagogical objectives," says Huckman. "The View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Air Transportation

01 Nov 1999
Research & Ideas

John H. Patterson and the Sales Strategy of the National Cash Register Company, 1884 to 1922

all the benefits of the register, Patterson gave them scripts to memorize. The practice of writing out sales arguments was rare, but not as new as some of Patterson's biographers claim. Booksellers and other canvassers had used scripts prior to the View Details

Keywords: by Walter A. Friedman

02 May 2005
Research & Ideas

Four VCs on Evaluating Opportunities

the technologist are issues we try to avoid. Robert Simon Director, Alta Partners There are two schools of thought in evaluating new opportunities. In the first, the venture capitalist says, "I invest in people first and foremost.... View Details

Keywords: by Lauren Barley

09 Nov 2021
Research & Ideas

The Simple Secret of Effective Mentoring Programs

for more than 600 new call center employees in 2019. They tested two different versions of the program. "Some people just won’t admit they need help." The first version created a “broad-mentoring” program in which some new employees were... View Details

Keywords: by Jay Fitzgerald

09 Nov 2016
Op-Ed

6 Lessons from Donald Trump's Winning Marketing Manual

promising to recreate it as the better tomorrow. The word "Again" is no accidental addition to the Make America Great slogan. Remember the famous Kellogg's Corn Flakes campaign to recover lost consumers: “Try Us Again for the View Details

Keywords: by John A. Quelch

01 Oct 2001
Research & Ideas

Organizing the Family-Run Business

As described in the first article in this series, the "Three-circle" family business system is composed of three overlapping subsystems: those employed in the business, the shareholders, and members of the family that has a... View Details

18 Nov 2022
HBS Case

What Does It Take to Safeguard a Legacy in Asset Management?

in a business environment awakening to equity and inclusion. One of the first Black portfolio managers, Eddie Brown, founded the eponymous firm in 1983. It was only the second Black-founded investment firm in the US. Its performance in... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Financial Services

08 Feb 2022
Research & Ideas

Silos That Work: How the Pandemic Changed the Way We Collaborate

Employers were so impressed with how smoothly their employees handled remote work during the dramatic lockdowns in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic that many are going permanently remote, ditching... View Details

Keywords: by Jay Fitzgerald

04 Oct 2021
What Do You Think?

How Do We Make Sure the Right People End Up with Power in Organizations?

including one I prepared about the New York Police Department. At NYPD, in his first stint as Police Commissioner, Bill Bratton led massive changes in nearly every aspect of the department, including the focus of the city’s policing, the... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

20 Apr 2021
Book

A Simple Question That Can Guide Companies to Epic Success

but it's not going to create the kind of value that ultimately gets translated into financial success. Kost: In the first line of your book, you say that strategy is simple. Why is that such a provocative statement? Oberholzer-Gee:... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost

20 Dec 2010
Research & Ideas

Panama Canal: Troubled History, Astounding Turnaround

professor Noel Maurer and economic historian Carlos Yu discuss the canal's complicated economic and political history—including the first proposals dating back to 1529, the massive cost overruns associated with digging the canal in the... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert; Transportation

28 Sep 2020
Research & Ideas

How Leaders Can Navigate Politicized Conversations and Inspire Collaboration

to structure a series of studies to figure out first what politically correct and incorrect language is, and then how it affects people’s perspectives of speakers in conversation. The results were shared in the study, Tell It Like It Is:... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz

07 Nov 2012
HBS Case

HBS Cases: Sir Alex Ferguson--Managing Manchester United

the heart of his long-run success” Ferguson's career indeed is an impressive feat. Look around for leading executives in any industry who have managed to succeed with the same firm at the highest levels for nearly three decades.... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Sports; Entertainment & Recreation

23 Jun 2003
Research & Ideas

Building a Better Buyer-Seller Relationship

qualities, he said: Modularity. There has to be a natural progression from one part to another—some connection. Healing power. It has to solve an important, visible customer pain. High quality. The supplier must be confident of its performance; there can be no problem.... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

10 Mar 2021
Research & Ideas

Key to Doing Your Best at Work? Be Yourself

reflection. “Let’s identify where you think your greatness is before we actually bring that out.” But then also redefining your expectations. Are you first impacting your own way of thinking by telling yourself, “I don’t see any gay women... View Details

Keywords: by Christina Pazzanese, Harvard Gazette

18 Apr 2000
Research & Ideas

Learning in Action

impressions second- or third-hand, L.L. Bean goes to those in the know — experienced users who have lived with the product, often under demanding conditions, who then act as field testers. Testers are sent several samples, one from L.L.... View Details

Keywords: by David A. Garvin

16 Jan 2006
Research & Ideas

Adam Smith, Behavioral Economist?

Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations, first published in 1776, helped create the discipline of economics with its conjuring of the invisible hand, self-interest, and other explanations of market forces that have influenced academics,... View Details

Keywords: by Ann Cullen

27 Nov 2006
What Do You Think?

What’s to Be Done About Performance Reviews?

received mixed reviews. Tery Tennant's opinion is that "forced ranking is injecting fear into the workplace." But as Nauman Faridi put it, "Ranking must be handled delicately . Organizations must first improve their... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett

26 Sep 2011
HBS Case

HBS Cases: Lady Gaga

Industries, which focuses entirely on the media and entertainment sector, and which includes sessions on basketball star LeBron James, online video aggregator Hulu, the NFL, and the Metropolitan Opera, among other cases. The first part of... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Entertainment & Recreation; Music

Publications