Publications

May 2022
Case

What's Next

By: Richard S. Ruback and Royce Yudkoff

Is there a typical long-term career path for people who become entrepreneurs through acquisition? What choices do searchers and investors make subsequent to their first search? The former searchers profiled here identified five common longer-term career paths and... View Details

Keywords: Personal Development and Career; Entrepreneurship; Investment Portfolio; Decision Making; Financial Services Industry

February 1998 (Revised July 1998)
Case

Rob Parson at Morgan Stanley (A)

Rob Parson was a star producer in Morgan Stanley's Capital Markets division. He had been recruited from a competitor the prior year and had generated substantial revenues since joining the firm. Unfortunately, Parson's reviews from the 360-degree performance evaluation... View Details

Keywords: Management; Personal Development and Career; Performance Evaluation; Financial Services Industry

26 Sep 2011
HBS Case

HBS Cases: Lady Gaga

Elberse. "That was just three years ago, and now she is, by many measures, the biggest celebrity on the planet. Gaga is a marketing phenomenon." This fall, Elberse will teach a case on Lady Gaga's meteoric career in her popular... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Entertainment & Recreation; Music

March 1998
Teaching Note

The Job Search Workshop TN

By: David A. Thomas and Emily Heaphy

An effective catalyst for the job search, this note is an opportunity for students to focus on the "next steps" of their job search. Students are introduced to a model of career decision-making, which frames their discussion and sophisticates their understanding of the... View Details

Keywords: Decision Making; Job Search; Personal Development and Career

August 2005 (Revised December 2005)
Case

Coach K: A Matter of the Heart

By: Scott A. Snook, Leslie A. Perlow and Brian DeLacey

Successful college basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski faces the decision whether to accept a lucrative offer to coach a professional basketball team or continue to coach at Duke University. Provides a context for discussing various styles of power, influence, and... View Details

Keywords: Power and Influence; Strategic Planning; Decisions; Personal Development and Career; Interpersonal Communication; Management Teams; Goals and Objectives; Decision Choices and Conditions; Sports Industry; North Carolina

May 1990 (Revised October 1993)
Case

Cooper Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

By: Frank V. Cespedes

Traces the 12-year career of a pharmaceutical salesperson, Bob Marsh, from recruitment to termination. Mr. Marsh has had an uneven career with Cooper Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (CPI) and, after a probationary period, is asked to resign. Following his termination, a number... View Details

Keywords: Decision Making; Resignation and Termination; Personal Development and Career; Problems and Challenges; Core Relationships

23 Jul 2001
Research & Ideas

How Relationships are Building Biotech

career relationships help to build up organizations. The study of careers seems to act as a powerful lens for examining the birth of biotech. Higgins, who specializes in research, teaching, and course... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace & Mallory Stark

Teaching Interest

Overview

Business, Government, and the International Economy (BGIE) is a course about the broad economic and political context in which business operates. Throughout their careers business leaders are asked to formulate and lead their firm's responses to the external... View Details

Keywords: International Economy; Macroeconomics; Political Economy

Teaching Interest

Business, Government, and the International Economy

Business, Government, and the International Economy (BGIE) is a course about the broad economic and political context in which business operates. Throughout their careers business leaders are asked to formulate and lead their firm's responses to the external... View Details

Keywords: International Economy; Macroeconomics

03 Dec 2015
Cold Call Podcast

Planning Change: Lessons from the World of Retail

Keywords: Re: Das Narayandas

13 Mar 2019
Research & Ideas

Ignore This Advice at Your Own Peril

School researchers: Disregarding advice from colleagues could invite harsh backlash that just might damage valued workplace relationships, according to the recent paper Seeker Beware: The Interpersonal Costs of Ignoring Advice, published in Organizational Behavior and... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

November 2003 (Revised May 2005)
Case

Beverly Stern: Retail Executive

By: H. Kent Bowen and Alison Berkley Wagonfeld

Beverly Stern has been a successful operating manager in three prominent retail chains: GAP, Pottery Barn, and Williams-Sonoma. Stern's last job at a start-up did not meet her expectations, and she must now decide what to do next. She has an offer to start a new retail... View Details

Keywords: Personal Development and Career; Experience and Expertise; Personal Characteristics; Jobs and Positions; Decisions; Retail Industry

Find at Harvard

March 2016 (Revised January 2023)
Teaching Note

Carla Ann Harris at Morgan Stanley

By: Lakshmi Ramarajan

This case follows Carla Ann Harris, an African-American executive on Wall Street, from her childhood to the eve of her 20th year at Morgan Stanley. In addition to her professional identity as an investment banker, Harris is also an accomplished gospel singer, an... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Identity; Personal Development and Career; Success; Values and Beliefs; Social Entrepreneurship; Financial Services Industry

September 2024 (Revised May 2025)
Case

Carrie Wang: Choosing Between the Family Firm and the Family Spirit

By: Lauren Cohen, Fei Wu and Sophia Pan

Carrie Wang, Investment Head of the Wang’s single-family office, contemplated her next career steps. As one of the first businessmen who had risen from China’s industrial rise, her father had grown his wealth to a considerable level, eventually requesting that his... View Details

Keywords: Family Office; Interests Of Consumers; Family Business; Business Growth and Maturation; Financial Management; Financial Strategy; Financial Markets; Investment Portfolio; Investment Return; Private Equity; Customer Relationship Management; Interests; Reputation; Work-Life Balance; Real Estate Industry; China

01 Oct 2007
Research & Ideas

Encouraging Dissent in Decision-Making

explained, is that such issues are deemed too threatening to organizational harmony or to individuals' career advancement. As a result, the validity of a principal U.S. rationale for the Vietnam War, the "domino theory," was... View Details

Keywords: by Garry Emmons

November 1999 (Revised April 2002)
Case

Tim Hertach at GL Consulting (A)

By: Ashish Nanda, Thomas J. DeLong and Scot H. Landry

Ten years into his career after graduating from HBS, Tim Hertach discovers billing irregularities at his consulting firm. He must decide whether (and how) to challenge senior management or to stay quiet and protect his career. View Details

Keywords: Decisions; Ethics; Accounting; Consulting Industry

August 2015 (Revised January 2022)
Case

George Washington and the Foundations of American Democracy

By: Tom Nicholas and Matthew G. Preble

George Washington is perhaps the most well-known of the U.S.'s founding fathers because of his political and military achievements. However, Washington also operated a number of successful business ventures out of his Mount Vernon estate, and he became a landowner on... View Details

Keywords: Government; History; George Washington; Democracy; Decision Making; Entrepreneurship; Government and Politics; Business History; Leadership; United States

29 May 2001
Research & Ideas

Race Does Matter in Mentoring

subsequently plateaued in middle management tended to make their decisions based on perceived fast-track career opportunities, not on the actual work. They were more prone to take salary and title promotions... View Details

Keywords: by David A. Thomas

January 2023 (Revised June 2024)
Case

Elon Musk at Tesla

By: George Serafeim and Amram Migdal

This case gives an overview of Elon Musk’s career arc through the lens of the 2003 founding of Tesla and its growth through 2022. Background information is included on Tesla’s unique strategic decisions, its operational and reputational struggles and successes, and the... View Details