Hard Skills - Publications - Faculty & Research

19 Dec 2023
Research & Ideas

15 Podcast Episodes That Grabbed Listeners in 2023

an Impact Great business leaders are problem solvers. That’s what sparked Susan Tynan to found Framebridge, a custom framing company. When Tynan couldn’t find a reasonably priced place to frame her beloved posters, she launched a business, which took off after years of... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost

Web

Questioning, Listening & Responding - Christensen Center for Teaching & Learning

Material Providing Assessment & Feedback Sample Class “It would be hard to name a more valuable pedagogical accomplishment than the mastery of questioning, listening, and response: three teaching skills as... View Details

07 Jul 2008
Research & Ideas

Innovation Corrupted: How Managers Can Avoid Another Enron

facilitated by Enron's bankers and advisors and largely missed by its board of directors and other watchdogs. Here are some "high level" details: Jeffrey Skilling had begun working with Enron in 1986 as a consultant with... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Energy; Utilities

26 Aug 2002
Research & Ideas

High-Stakes Decision Making: The Lessons of Mount Everest

What went wrong on Mount Everest on May 10, 1996? That day, twenty-three climbers reached the summit. Five climbers, however, did not survive the descent. Two of these, Rob Hall and Scott Fischer, were extremely skilled team leaders with... View Details

Keywords: by Michael A. Roberto

01 Nov 2020
Research & Ideas

Good Leadership Is an Act of Kindness

of the simplest words and gestures often gets lost when CEOs and managers are in perpetual crisis management mode, struggling with layoffs, remote work technology, market woes, and a range of other frustrating disruptions. While confronting these challenges requires... View Details

Keywords: by Boris Groysberg and Susan Seligson

01 Jun 2023
HBS Case

A Nike Executive Hid His Criminal Past to Turn His Life Around. What If He Didn't Have To?

friends were still incarcerated or couldn’t get ahead. I carried a lot of guilt for my success. I always wondered, ‘Why me? Why not someone else?’” Miller says. “And then there was the guilt of the homicide. That has been really hard to... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Apparel & Accessories

17 Mar 2008
Research & Ideas

The Lessons of Business History: A Handbook

rigor, it is hard to understand the significance of this empirical literature, and quite easy to dismiss it as anecdotal and unscientific. Third, many business historians still work within national frameworks. As a result, much literature... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

20 Aug 2021
Blog Post

Is the MBA Worth It? Hear What Recent HBS Grads Have to Say

leverage my understanding of tech roles from my HBS classmates. I also leaned on them for interview prep and industry background. What advice do you have for prospective HBS students? Think long and hard about what are you looking to get... View Details

19 Oct 2022
Op-Ed

Cofounder Courtship: How to Find the Right Mate—for Your Startup

Partners in Short & Long Term Relationships. “The conviction to have a cofounder is often based solely on complementary skills and experience versus the softer, and often more important, relationship criteria.” In the podcast, Dr.... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Austin

08 Mar 2021
In Practice

COVID Killed the Traditional Workplace. What Should Companies Do Now?

A year ago, COVID-19 forced many companies to send employees home—often with a laptop and a prayer. Now, with COVID cases subsiding and vaccinations rising, the prospect of returning to old office routines appears more possible. But will employees want to flock back to... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

27 Jul 2021
Op-Ed

What Pirates Can Teach Us About Leadership

In the deep heat of an 18th-century summer, a crew of pirates was sailing off the Virginia coast when a lookout spotted a merchant ship to the south. Springing into action, the pirates launched an attack, rocking the merchant ship with a cascade of musket balls and... View Details

Keywords: by Francesca Gino

11 Feb 2002
Research & Ideas

The Quiet Leader—and How to Be One

men. He pushes so hard he ends up committing suicide, is very disappointed in his kids—there are other characters, I noticed, who were what I came to call quiet leaders. You also end up defining quiet leaders almost through a series of... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

Profile

Merve Ciplak

people. Because of that continuity, it’s more than just learning hard skills – it’s about learning from many types of experiences and perspectives. Being in this kind of classroom allows you to get to core... View Details

Profile

Thomaz Galvao

Brazilians that would reflect well on me as an effective professional,” but mostly for its resources “ HBS resources and excellence would empower me with the hard and soft skills I will need to succeed.”... View Details

January 2025
Case

Netflix: Takedown Troubles

By: Clayton S. Rose, Tom Quinn and Maxim Pike Harrell

In October 2021, Netflix Co-CEO Ted Sarandos sent an all-staff email addressing backlash to comedian Dave Chappelle’s new stand-up special, The Closer. Released on October 5, the comedian’s depiction of the transgender community and other LGBTQ+ groups prompted... View Details

Citation

Educators

Purchase

16 Mar 2015
Research & Ideas

Advice on Advice

realize that it involves skills that can be learned and refined, according to Harvard Business School professors David A. Garvin and Joshua D. Margolis. Highly skilled advisers pay close attention to how... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

Web

Leadership - Faculty & Research

voluntary reskilling and retraining, but the workers will need to take responsibility for their own futures. Those who opt in will gain valuable skills and have a future with the company; those who don't may face demotions and pay cuts.... View Details

07 Jun 2023
Blog Post

My One Case: MBA Class of 2023 Looks Back

motivations? How do you incentivize your employees? How do you work with others to create change? I came to HBS thinking that I would learn all the hard skills such as accounting and finance—which I did—but... View Details

Web

2023 Reunion Presentations - Alumni

expertise. The Disruptive Journey from Detroit to Boston Senior Lecturer Chet Huber (MBA 1979) + More Info – Less Info Why is it so hard for successful, established organizations to sustain their success? How do they miss the threats and... View Details

01 Mar 2024
News

In Harmony

its infancy was lucky, he will tell you, although hard work also played a part. Taking care of his family and returning the financial rewards of that success to the greater good makes cosmic sense to Kim: “We live in a society that... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna; photographs by Jun Michael Park; private equity; fiction; financial crisis; leadership; Korea

Publications