Publications

2018
Flash Talks

Minimizing Identity Threats While Increasing Safety: Attending to Diversity Ideologies

January 2006 (Revised June 2008)
Case

Lehman Brothers (A): Rise of the Equity Research Department

By: Ashish Nanda, Boris Groysberg and Lauren Prusiner

Under Jack Rivkin's leadership, Shearson Lehman's research department rose from relative obscurity to the highest ranking research department on Wall Street within three years. When Rivkin is promoted to head of equity, he wonders how to succeed in his new position. A... View Details

Keywords: Talent and Talent Management; Leadership; Service Operations; Organizational Culture; Research; Alignment

Forthcoming
Article

Human Capital and the Managerial Revolution in the United States: Evidence from General Electric

By: Tom Nicholas

This paper estimates the returns to human capital accumulation during the first era of mega-firms in the United States by linking employees at General Electric—a canonical enterprise associated with the “visible hand” of managerial hierarchies—to the 1940 census. I... View Details

Keywords: Returns To Education; Management Practices; Hierarchies; Management Practices and Processes; Rank and Position; Human Capital; Talent and Talent Management; Business History; United States

September 2022
Case

Blake Sports: Evolution of the CEO and the Executive Team

By: Boris Groysberg and Katherine Connolly Baden

Cameron (Cam) Barker, CEO and Founder of Blake Sports Apparel, sat in his office at his company’s headquarters in Birmingham, England, feeling stunned and disappointed. Only a few minutes prior, he had wrapped up a meeting with CFO James Ryan, a highly-respected star... View Details

Keywords: Leadership And Managing People; Leadership Skills; Team Dynamics; Team Effectiveness; Team Leadership; Team Management; Leadership Style; Leadership; Management; Management Skills; Management Style; Talent and Talent Management; Groups and Teams; United Kingdom

June 2023
Supplement

Social Media Background Screening at Fama Technologies (B)

By: Joseph Pacelli, Jillian Grennan and Alexis Lefort

Fama Technologies is an online screening company that uses AI to analyze job applicants' publicly available online content for signs of risk and culture fit. The case opens with Ben Mones, founder and CEO, looking to secure funding from venture firms. He is running... View Details

Keywords: Human Resources; Recruitment; Retention; Selection and Staffing; Organizational Culture; Talent and Talent Management; United States

September 2020
Teaching Note

Mary Guerrero and the Advancement of Latinx Talent: Developing an Employee Resource Group at a Top Tier Bank (A) and (B)

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Amy Hernandez Turcios

Teaching Note for HBS Case Nos. 321-017 and 321-018. View Details

Keywords: Latinx; Bank; Latin America; Representation; Scale; Inclusion; Coalition; Resources; Talent and Talent Management; Diversity; Ethnicity; Banks and Banking; Leadership

10 Jul 2018
Blog Post

Successful Internship Matchmaking: “With Citadel, I could be myself.”

She wasn’t just seeking potential companies, but promising visions and missions. “I was thinking of human capital in terms of people, talent and culture,” Sarah explains. “I needed to find organizations that already got it and saw people... View Details

28 Oct 2001
What Do You Think?

What Can We Expect in the Other War?

things that talented managers seek: exciting work, personal development, a balanced lifestyle, a great company, and recognition and rewards for individual contributions. It is a war led by top management, but carried out at all levels in... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

Article

Immigrant Entrepreneurs in U.S. Financial History, 1775-1914

Throughout its history, the U.S. has been the beneficiary of a worldwide in-migration of entrepreneurial talent. This article surveys finance, one of the many sectors in which immigrants made a conspicuous impact. Part I demonstrates the dominant role of immigrants in... View Details

Keywords: History; Talent and Talent Management; Groups and Teams; Entrepreneurship; Policy; Immigration; Banks and Banking; United States

Find at Harvard

November 2012 (Revised July 2014)
Case

Doing Deals and Leading Teams at XAF Partners

By: Boris Groysberg and Kerry Herman

Private equity firm XAF Partners, created out of the 2003 merger of Shanghai-based Xuan Partners and AF Group, a spin out of the Shanghai-based, emerging market-focused private equity arm of a large European bank, had grown steadily over the last decade, establishing... View Details

Keywords: Professional Service Firms; Leading Teams; Producing Managers; Delegation; Giving And Receiving Feedback; Managing Performance; Leadership; Work-Life Balance; Managerial Roles; Talent and Talent Management; Service Operations; Time Management; Performance; Financial Services Industry; Asia

01 Dec 2017
News

Case Study: The Doctor Deficit

seeking temporary staffing. Finding talent is an enormous source of expense and inefficiency in the industry, adds Nazem, who estimates that “nearly 100 percent” of health care institutions will need temporary staff this year. The idea... View Details

Keywords: April White

12 PM – 1 PM EST, 05 Feb 2019
Webinars: Career

Rebel Talent: Why It Pays to Break the Rules at Work and in Life

Rebels can often change the world for the better with their unconventional outlooks. Professor Francesca Gino has spent more than a decade studying rebels at organizations around the world. In this webinar, she explores the qualities that make rebels masters of... View Details

01 Jun 2019
News

Case Study: Mind the Gap

the shortage of skills isn’t going away quickly. Berendt cofounded Talent Alpha in 2018 to fill that gap. The Kraków-based startup is building a marketplace to link Central and Eastern Europe’s software houses with global enterprises in... View Details

Keywords: Architectural, Engineering, and Related Services; Professional Services

November 2006 (Revised March 2008)
Case

The Harvard Stem Cell Institute

By: William A. Sahlman

Describes a set of issues confronting the leaders of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute, an innovative cross-university effort to accelerate scientific discovery and translation in the domain of stem cells. Covers a wide range of topics, including understanding how... View Details

Keywords: Talent and Talent Management; Higher Education; Entrepreneurship; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Intellectual Property; Research and Development; Genetics; Biotechnology Industry; Health Industry; Massachusetts

January 2008
Article

Where Will We Find Tomorrow's Leaders?

By: Linda A. Hill

Unless we challenge long-held assumptions about how business leaders are supposed to act and where they're supposed to come from, many people who could become effective global leaders will remain invisible, warns Harvard Business School professor Hill. Instead of... View Details

Keywords: Talent and Talent Management; Globalization; Innovation Leadership; Leadership Development; Leadership Style; Situation or Environment; Personal Characteristics

Find at Harvard

October 2023
Supplement

Making Progress at Progress Software (B)

By: Katherine Coffman, Hannah Riley Bowles and Alexis Lefort

In this case, the Human Capital team at Progress Software has identified that some employees have a hard time understanding how to advance within Progress. This realization leads the team to develop several major people-process innovations: the introduction of... View Details

Keywords: Leading Change; Negotiation; Organizational Culture; Performance Evaluation; Prejudice and Bias; Talent and Talent Management; Employees; Technology Industry; United States; Bulgaria

Profile

Jack Perkowski

Against the advice of many, Jack Perkowski (MBA 1973) ditched his high-flying investment career and relocated to China in 1992 to build his own company. Through trial and error, Perkowski learned that the key to its success was in hiring young mainland Chinese with... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Manufacturing

July 2010 (Revised September 2011)
Background Note

Hiring Professionals in China: A Practitioner's Guide

By: Heidi K. Gardner

This note outlines how leading professional service firms operating in China revise their standard hiring practices to fit local challenges and customs. Based on interviews with professionals in a number of established accounting, strategy consulting, and executive... View Details

Keywords: Talent and Talent Management; Globalized Firms and Management; Employees; Selection and Staffing; Service Industry; China

November 2009 (Revised September 2010)
Case

Discovering Hidden Gems: The Story of Daryl Morey, Shane Battier, and the Houston Rockets (A)

By: Frances X. Frei and Matthew Todd Perlberg

As NBA Commissioner David Stern approached the podium, silent anticipation gripped the 4,000 Houston Rockets fans gathered at the Rockets Draft Party. "With the 8th pick in the 2006 NBA draft," Stern began, "the Houston Rockets select Rudy Gay from the University of... View Details

Keywords: Sports; Talent and Talent Management; Competitive Strategy; Operations; Groups and Teams; Sports Industry