Publications

September 2016 (Revised May 2018)
Case

Zurich Insurance: Zurich Oxygen

By: Boris Groysberg and Katherine Connolly

Zurich Insurance was undergoing organizational change after implementing five new people practices focused on manager development, diversity and inclusion, job model and data analytics, recruitment, and talent pipeline. The case “Zurich Insurance: Fostering Key People... View Details

Keywords: Managing Change; Management Development; Leadership; Organization Behavior; Management Skills; Organizational Culture; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Leading Change; Leadership Development; Human Capital; Human Resources; Insurance; Insurance Industry

March 2014
Teaching Note

The Weather Company

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Ai-Ling Jamila Malone

New CEO David Kenny transformed The Weather Company in less than two years from a primary identity as a cable television channel to a multi-platform digital company innovating in the uses of weather data. He assesses progress and considers strategic choices and... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Strategic Change; Technology; Digital; Weather; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Digital Platforms; Change Management; Leading Change; Growth and Development Strategy; Information Industry; Service Industry; Media and Broadcasting Industry

Winter 2020
Article

A Noble Purpose Alone Won't Transform Your Company: Leadership Behaviors That Nurture Interpersonal Collaboration Are the True Drivers of Change

By: Robert Cross, Amy C. Edmondson and Wendy Murphy

10 Jul 2007
What Do You Think?

How Much of Leadership Is About Control, Delegation, or Theater?

theater and control is required to make people feel comfortable when fundamental operating systems change ." Narendar Singh Raj Purohit adds that " when things are getting out of control someone has to take initiative to give a... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett

October 2000
Case

Sumisho Metalex: Implementing Strategic Change

By: Srikant M. Datar and Ratna G. Sarkar

Keywords: Leading Change; Business Strategy; Change Management

December 15, 2003
Article

Women Leaders and Organizational Change

By: R. Ely and Debra E. Meyerson

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Leadership; Gender

October 2000
Case

GE's Two-Decade Transformation: Jack Welch's Leadership Multimedia Case

By: Christopher A. Bartlett and Meg Wozny

General Electric is faced with Welch's impending retirement, and the question on many minds is whether anyone can sustain the blistering pace of change and growth characteristic of the Welch era. After briefly describing GE's heritage and Welch's transformation of the... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Transformation; Organizational Change and Adaptation

March 2022 (Revised October 2022)
Case

John F. Kennedy: Changing the World

By: Robert Simons and Max Saffer

This case traces the rise of John F. Kennedy from a wealthy family in Boston to president of the United States. The case describes how Kennedy, as a young man, lived a privileged life in the shadow of his older brother, Joe. When Joe was killed in World War II, Jack... View Details

Keywords: Politics; Business And Government; Legacy; Leadership Development; Personal Characteristics; Business and Government Relations; Success; Power and Influence; Decision Making; Personal Development and Career; United States

24 Sep 2014
Op-Ed

Take a Trim Tab Approach to Climate Change

pick. Either way, it's time for business leaders to get off the sidelines and make a difference. Other Articles In This Series Tackling Climate Change Will Cost Less Than We Think We Need a Miracle. New Nuclear Might Provide it. Take a... View Details

Keywords: by Amy C. Edmondson; Energy; Utilities

April 2007
Case

ABN AMRO Bank N.V.: Global Change Agents

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter, Lance P. Pierce and Ryan Leo Raffaelli

ABN AMRO Global Banking Group developed its risk management function in response to expansion, and increasingly focused on environmental and social risks. The head of the function needed to influence policies and business decisions in a highly decentralized context in... View Details

Keywords: Risk Management; Banks and Banking; Expansion; Change; Governing and Advisory Boards; Social Enterprise; Leadership Development; History; Banking Industry; Service Industry; Brazil; India; United States

2022
Book

Leadership to Last: How Great Leaders Leave Legacies Behind

By: Geoffrey Jones and Tarun Khanna

Society tends to glorify the get-rich-quick entrepreneur who builds a company, takes it public and then (maybe) contributes to charity. In Leadership to Last, Geoffrey Jones and Tarun Khanna discuss the interviews they and other Harvard faculty have undertaken... View Details

Keywords: Innovation; Corruption; Gender; Innovation and Invention; Leadership; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Society; India; Pakistan; Bangladesh; Middle East; Africa; Latin America; Philippines

January 2025
Case

GE Appliances 2025: Energizing Change

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Jacob A. Small

At the turn of 2025, Kevin Nolan, CEO of GE Appliances following its acquisition by Chinese appliance giant Haier in 2016, is reviewing progress toward his net zero carbon vision for homes, which would otherwise exacerbate the global warming climate crisis. An... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Transformation; Climate Change; Environmental Sustainability; Technological Innovation; Leading Change; Product Development; Organizational Culture

29 Jun 2009
Sharpening Your Skills

Sharpening Your Skills: Leading Change

What Should Leaders Communicate? Uncompromising Leadership in Tough Times As companies batten down the hatches, we need leaders who do not compromise on standards and values that are essential in flush times. Fortunately, such leaders do... View Details

Keywords: by Staff

28 Oct 2013
Research & Ideas

Responsible Leadership in an Unforgiving World

the results of his inquiry in a new book The Good Struggle: Responsible Leadership in an Unforgiving World, which deals head on with the growing management complexities in the new economy. “What's going on now is a return to an earlier... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

28 Jan 2020
Book

Advanced Leadership Requires More Than Outside-The-Box Thinking

Change the World One Smart Innovation at a Time is to be published today. Kanter is the Ernest L. Arbuckle Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. In addition to her many years of teaching and research at HBS,... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

24 Sep 2014
Research & Ideas

The Business of Climate Change

members of the School's Business and Environment Initiative. The common theme: Why business leaders need to address the stubbornly touchy topic of climate change. Take A Trim Tab Approach To Climate Change Often depicted as greedy and... View Details

Keywords: Re: Multiple Faculty; Energy; Utilities

March 2016
Teaching Note

Advanced Leadership Pathways: Richard Fahey and Robert Saudek – Lighting Liberia

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Tessa Natanay Hamilton and Ai-Ling Jamila Malone

After successful careers as lawyers and Fellows in Harvard's Advanced Leadership Initiative, Richard Fahey and Robert Saudek set out to tackle a large-scale infrastructure challenge in a complex environment by ultimately using advanced leadership skills to increase... View Details

Keywords: Energy