Publications

12 May 2011
Research & Ideas

The Difficult Transition from For-Profit to Nonprofit Boards

mission. For the new trustee, understanding these issues is the place to begin her trusteeship. The second theme is financial solvency. Chapter Four deals with the board's fiduciary responsibility and financial sustainability. Our life... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

Article

Technology, Identity, and Inertia: Through the Lens of 'The Digital Photography Company'

By: Mary Tripsas

Organizations often experience difficulty when pursuing new technology. Large bodies of research have examined the behavioral, social, and cognitive forces that underlie this phenomenon; however, the role of an organization's identity remains relatively unexplored.... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Disruptive Innovation; Organizational Culture; Behavior; Cognition and Thinking; Identity; Perception; Technology Adoption

Research Summary

The Exercise and Development of Leadership

My research in this stream contributes to three recent trends in leadership scholarship. The first is the resurgence of a perspective less preoccupied with leaders' impact on organizational performance and more with their function as sources and symbols of the... View Details

June 2025
Article

Riding the Passion Wave or Fighting to Stay Afloat? A Theory of Differentiated Passion Contagion

By: Emma Frank, Kai Krautter, Wen Wu and Jon M. Jachimowicz

Prior research suggests that employees benefit from highly passionate teammates because passion spreads easily from one employee to the next. We develop theory to propose that life in high-passion teams may not be as uniformly advantageous as previously assumed. We... View Details

Keywords: Passion; Emotional Contagion; Emotions; Groups and Teams; Employees; Power and Influence; Performance Improvement

Purchase

02 Jan 2024
Research & Ideas

10 Trends to Watch in 2024

The lightning-fast ascent of generative AI isn’t the only sea change on the horizon for businesses in the new year. The global economy is in flux as war, climate change, trade issues, and infrastructure problems demand attention. Many companies continue to struggle to... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

26 Mar 2007
Research & Ideas

Learning from Failed Political Leadership

even interest in life beyond our country's borders, a limitation of growing importance as the global economy expands. This is evident everywhere; our boards of directors have, on average, very few executives from other countries. Our... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

2012
Article

The Excess Burden of Government Indecision

By: Francisco J. Gomes, Laurence J. Kotlikoff and Luis M. Viceira

Governments are known for procrastinating when it comes to resolving painful policy problems. Whatever the political motives for waiting to decide, procrastination distorts economic decisions relative to what would arise with early policy resolution. In so doing, it... View Details

Keywords: Saving; Risk and Uncertainty; Investment Portfolio; Decision Choices and Conditions; Retirement; Policy; Government and Politics

05 Sep 2023
Book

Failing Well: How Your ‘Intelligent Failure’ Unlocks Your Full Potential

together, experiencing them all as negative experiences in life or in business, Edmondson contends that some failures are smarter than others because they help us identify a path toward eventual success. In... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

18 Nov 2008
First Look

First Look: November 18, 2008

religious norms. We report on a field experiment that examines when auction participants will respond to an appeal to continue bidding for secular charitable causes. The results reveal that religious individuals are more likely than... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

26 Apr 2024
HBS Case

Deion Sanders' Prime Lessons for Leading a Team to Victory

people being honest with them. They get their feelings hurt easily. But the harsh reality of life is that you will be replaced if you do not do your job well. You need people to be honest with you to help you grow in the right ways.” In... View Details

Keywords: by Avery Forman; Sports

30 Jul 2014
Lessons from the Classroom

Teaching The Deal

resolve internal conflicts. In the Negotiations course, students not only analyze a number of case studies, but also participate in a series of negotiation exercises that give them hands-on practice with a variety of deal-making scenarios, allowing them to View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Education

17 Jul 2007
First Look

First Look: July 17, 2007

U.S. frontier. To address reverse-causality concerns, reduced-form specifications exploit exogenous changes in U.S. immigration quotas. Consistent with a model of sector reallocation, output growth in less developed economies is facilitated by employment gains, while... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

14 Jan 2015
Research & Ideas

Thriving in the Turbulence of Emerging Markets

hard, we did well." Navigating Uncertainty In Turkey Güler Sabancı If the life experiences of Bajaj provide dramatic insights into the business environment in India, those of Güler Sabancı, the first woman... View Details

Keywords: by Geoffrey Jones; Manufacturing; Auto

October 6, 2015
Article

Compared to Men, Women View Professional Advancement as Equally Attainable, but Less Desirable

By: Francesca Gino, Caroline Ashley Wilmuth and Alison Wood Brooks

Women are underrepresented in most high-level positions in organizations. While a great deal of research has provided evidence that bias and discrimination give rise to and perpetuate this gender disparity, in the current research, we explore another explanation: men... View Details

Keywords: Personal Development and Career; Gender

10 Jul 2023
In Practice

The Harvard Business School Faculty Summer Reader 2023

Souls, Healthy Minds by philosopher John Kaag. This book is a fantastic summary of the life and work of William James, the father of modern psychology, and a professor right here at Harvard. James endured intense personal struggles and is... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

05 Jul 2011
First Look

First Look: July 5

prepay for participating merchants' goods and services. Within a model of repeat experience good purchase, we examine two mechanisms by which a discount voucher service can benefit affiliated merchants: price discrimination and... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

28 Apr 2009
First Look

First Look: April 28, 2009

Surgical to develop some, but not all, of Incept's IP. The specifics of which IP Confluent would develop were described by a licensing agreement between Incept and Confluent. Venture capitalist Charles Warden of Schroder Ventures Life... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

07 Jul 2022
HBS Case

How a Multimillion-Dollar Ice Cream Startup Melted Down (and Bounced Back)

experience life changes that also change the direction of their interests. Learn from mistakes. It’s not enough to grieve and reflect. Pivoting entrepreneurs need to apply the lessons they learned to their... View Details

Keywords: by Pamela Reynolds

May 2007
Article

Inner Work Life: Understanding the Subtext of Business Performance

By: Teresa M. Amabile and Steven J. Kramer

Anyone in management knows that employees have their good days and their bad days and that, for the most part, the reasons for their ups and downs are unknown. Most managers simply shrug their shoulders at this fact of work life. But does it matter, in terms of... View Details

Keywords: Employees; Performance; Motivation and Incentives; Perception; Practice