Publications

April 2021
Case

Glass-Shattering Leaders: Jack Rivkin

By: Boris Groysberg and Colleen Ammerman

Jack Rivkin’s innovative approach to hiring, developing, and retaining employees created opportunities for female analysts to thrive at the equity research department he led, and also made the entire department more effective. Rivkin fostered a culture of gender... View Details

Keywords: Gender Inclusivity; Leadership; Organizational Culture; Gender; Talent and Talent Management

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

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

May 2024 (Revised January 2025)
Technical Note

Education Technology: A Technical Note

By: Boris Groysberg

This note considers educational technology as it intersects with HR technology. View Details

Keywords: Edtech; HR; AI; Data Science; Competency and Skills; Talent and Talent Management; Human Resources; Personal Development and Career; Education Industry; Technology Industry; United States

December 23, 2022
Article

What the World Cup Can Teach Business Leaders About Top Performers

By: Boris Groysberg, Sascha L. Schmidt, Abhijit Naik and Harry Krueger

Our people are our greatest source of competitive advantage." This sentiment is often heralded in companies by everyone from middle managers to HR professionals to CEOs. It is a great sound bite. The problem: It is not true—at least, not entirely. View Details

Keywords: Soccer; Performance; Business; Leadership; Competitive Advantage; Selection and Staffing; Talent and Talent Management

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Read Now

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

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

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

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

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

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

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2017
Interviews

Peter Glick

June 2014
Teaching Note

Doing Deals and Leading Teams at XAF Partners

By: Boris Groysberg, Sarah L. Abbott and Robin Abrahams

Private equity firm XAF Partners had grown steadily over the last decade, establishing offices across Asia. At the end of their day-long partners' retreat, several firm partners discuss the challenges they face as "producing managers." These include collaboration and... View Details

Keywords: Management; Time Management; Development; Competency and Skills; Talent and Talent Management; Leadership; Growth and Development Strategy; Business or Company Management; Management Practices and Processes; Financial Services Industry; China

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

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

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