Publications

29 Feb 2024
HBS Case

Beyond Goals: David Beckham's Playbook for Mobilizing Star Talent

eyewear, Maseratis, and EA Sports video games. Soon, opportunities to film documentaries for Netflix and Disney+ followed. “Beckham has managed to keep his brand at a very steady level,” Elberse says.... View Details

Keywords: by Avery Forman; Sports

Rosabeth M. Kanter

Rosabeth Moss Kanter holds the Ernest L. Arbuckle Professorship at Harvard Business School, specializing in strategy, innovation, and leadership for change. Her strategic and practical insights guide leaders worldwide through teaching, writing, and direct... View Details

Ashish Nanda

Ashish Nanda is Senior Lecturer and C. Roland Christensen Distinguished Management Educator at Harvard Business School. From 2018 to 2021, he was course head for the MBA Required Curriculum course in Strategy. Beginning in 2022, he is teaching an MBA Elective... View Details

03 Oct 2017
Sharpening Your Skills

7 Effective Ways to Lead Teams

following articles from our archive address several topics: why "teaming" is so important; the types of managers who make the best team leaders; temporary teams versus standing teams; what we can learn from View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

September 2013 (Revised August 2015)
Background Note

Leadership and Teaming

By: Ethan Bernstein

Small differences in the leadership of teams can have large consequences for the success of their efforts. Many initiatives fail not because of a fatal error in judgment or insufficient ideas, knowledge, motivation, or capabilities to deliver a solution. They fail... View Details

26 Apr 2024
HBS Case

Deion Sanders' Prime Lessons for Leading a Team to Victory

subordinates feels micromanaged, which is bizarre.” It’s a leadership approach focused on self-discipline and personal accountability, one that might be considered refreshing in a business world often bogged down by managers who... View Details

Keywords: by Avery Forman; Sports

April 2004 (Revised May 2017)
Case

Real Madrid Club de Futbol

By: John Quelch, Jose Luis Nueno and Carin-Isabel Knoop

In June 2004, Florentino Perez, a well-known Spanish businessman, was elected president of Real Madrid, one of the world's top soccer clubs. In his campaign, Perez had promised to turn around the club's finances, bring in world-class talent, and expand the club's brand... View Details

Keywords: Risk Management; Change Management; Expansion; Marketing Channels; Sports; Management Teams; Trends; Brands and Branding; Sports Industry; Spain

30 Jun 2003
Research & Ideas

Are You Supporting Your B Players?

labeled. "If you want to threaten a really smart person who is task driven, question his or her competency. That's the very soul of who they are," he said. These managers also keep busy schedules and are reluctant to slow down... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

July – August 2010
Article

Are You Ignoring Trends That Could Shake Up Your Business?

By: Elie Ofek and Luc Wathieu

Virtually all managers in consumer businesses recognize major social, economic, and technological trends. But many do not consider the profound ways in which trends--especially those that seem unrelated to their core markets--influence consumers' aspirations,... View Details

Keywords: Trends; Innovation and Invention; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Marketing Strategy; Consumer Behavior; Product Development

Find at Harvard

11 Dec 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, December 11, 2018

Sports Betting By: Casadesus-Masanell, Ramon, and Neil Campbell Abstract—We examine two episodes of strategic interaction in the U.K. betting industry: (i) Betfair (an entrant multi-sided platform or MSP) vs. Flutter (also an MSP), and... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

28 Apr 2023
Blog Post

From Harvard Business School to Spotify: Four Lessons in My Journey to Land My Dream Job

Rodolfo A. Diaz Cabello (MBA 2021) reflects on how his experiences at Harvard Business School supported his path to building new products at Spotify. In October 2022 I joined Spotify as a Senior Product Manager leading a team that... View Details

W. Earl Sasser

Earl Sasser is a Baker Foundation Professor at Harvard Business School and has been a member of the faculty there since 1969. He received a B.A. in Mathematics from Duke University in 1965, an MBA from the University of North Carolina in 1967, and a Ph.D. in... View Details

Keywords: sports; sports; sports; sports; sports; sports; sports; sports; sports; sports; sports; sports; sports; sports; sports; sports; sports; sports; sports; sports

04 Feb 2002
Research & Ideas

How a Juicy Brand Came Back to Life

by asserting that a brand might fit better in one company's portfolio than in another's. But a marketing professional would probably explain the improved fit in terms of distribution economies or manufacturing synergies. I would explain it differently: First, as every... View Details

Keywords: by John Deighton; Food & Beverage

February 2019 (Revised August 2019)
Case

KangaTech

By: Karim R. Lakhani, Patrick J. Ferguson, Sarah Fleischer, Jin Hyun Paik and Steven Randazzo

On a warm January afternoon in 2019, Steve Saunders, Dave Scerri, Carl Dilena, and Nick Haslam (see Exhibit 1 for biographies), co-founders of KangaTech, wrapped up the latest round of discussions about the future direction of their sports-technology start-up. Focused... View Details

Keywords: Startup; Technology Commercialization; Prototype; Business Startups; Technological Innovation; Sports; Health; Commercialization; Research and Development; Decision Making; Growth and Development Strategy; Sports Industry; Sports Industry; Sports Industry; Australia

04 Mar 2020
Research & Ideas

How Schmoozing with the Boss Helps Men Get Promoted

to studying job assignments, the researchers also surveyed employees to get a feel for how much time they spent together and how well they knew each other. They asked how often employees and managers took breaks together and whether... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

05 May 2011
What Do You Think?

How Ethical Can We Be?

further one's career, or desire to protect one's livelihood (or, one might add, one's loved ones)." In an organization, doing what's right starts at the top. Ashraf Khan commented that "Individual managers (tone at the top) play... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett

Brian J. Hall

Brian J. Hall is the Albert H. Gordon Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. He served as the Unit Head for the Negotiation, Organizations and Markets (NOM) Unit for 14 years. Previously, he was an assistant professor of economics in the... View Details

Keywords: management consulting; management consulting; management consulting; management consulting; management consulting; management consulting; management consulting; management consulting; management consulting; management consulting; management consulting; management consulting

Web

Alumni

Jun 01 01–06 JUN 2025 Authentic Leader Development Increase your effectiveness as a leader and earn the trust of colleagues by leading from your own core vision and most deeply held values. Jun 04 04–07 JUN 2025 The Business of Entertainment, Media, and View Details

January 2014 (Revised August 2017)
Case

StepSmart Fitness

By: Robert J. Dolan, Benson P. Shapiro and Alisa Zalosh

StepSmart Fitness, a manufacturer of exercise equipment, is undergoing a sweeping reorganization. The new CEO has terminated the District Sales Director and Regional VP and promoted 30-year-old Benjamin Cooper to manage the underperforming New England district. A... View Details

Keywords: Analysis; Restructuring; Salesforce Management; Management Succession; Performance Improvement; Sports Industry; Sports Industry; New England