Publications

April 2006 (Revised February 2007)
Case

Rebuilding the New Orleans Public Schools: Turning the Tide?

After Hurricane Katrina, the New Orleans Public School System is faced with rebuilding from the ground up. The challenge is enormous, as is the opportunity to remake the lowest performing public school system in Louisiana and one of the lowest performing in the nation.... View Details

Keywords: Programs; Natural Disasters; Urban Development; Education; Infrastructure; Public Administration Industry; Education Industry; New Orleans

August 2007 (Revised May 2008)
Case

Rebuilding the New Orleans Public Schools: Turning the Tide? (Abridged)

After Hurricane Katrina, the New Orleans Public School System is faced with rebuilding from the ground up. The challenge is enormous, as is the opportunity to remake the lowest-performing public school system in Louisiana and one of the lowest-performing in the nation.... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Transformation; Entrepreneurship; Business and Community Relations; Business and Government Relations; Natural Disasters; Conflict and Resolution; Education Industry; New Orleans

Find at Harvard

2014
Case

Advanced Leadership Pathways: Raymond Jetson's MetroMorphosis and the Effort to Transform Baton Rouge

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter, Rakesh Khurana and Daniel Penrice

Raymond Jetson, an inner-city pastor, former Louisiana state legislator, and 2010 Harvard University Advanced Leadership Fellow, has embarked on a new career as a social entrepreneur. The case charts Jetson's career in public life and the ministry, his experience as an... View Details

Keywords: Social Entrepreneurship; Nonprofit Organizations; Business and Community Relations; Problems and Challenges; Leadership; Louisiana; Baton Rouge

February 2021 (Revised July 2022)
Case

Sarah Breedlove: Changing the World

By: Robert Simons and Max Saffer

This case describes the rise of Sarah Breedlove, who later called herself Madam C.J. Walker, from the cotton fields of Louisiana to the head of a successful, nationwide beauty company providing opportunity and hair care products to Black women. The case describes how... View Details

Keywords: Brands; African-american Entrepreneurs; Entrepreneurship; Values and Beliefs; Personal Characteristics; Success; Work-Life Balance; Business Startups; Brands and Branding; Marketing; Personal Development and Career; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; United States

2016
Teaching Note

Advanced Leadership Pathways: Raymond Jetson's MetroMorphosis and the Effort to Transform Baton Rouge

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

Teaching Note for Case 315-057. Building on his successes as a politician and preacher in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Rev. Raymond Jetson sought to empower Baton Rouge citizens to innovate solutions for their community challenges. After stepping down as the head of the... View Details

Keywords: Social Entrepreneurship; Nonprofit Organizations; Business and Community Relations; Problems and Challenges; Leadership; Louisiana; Baton Rouge

February 2016
Teaching Note

Advanced Leadership Pathways: Raymond Jetson's MetroMorphosis and the Effort to Transform Baton Rouge

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

Building on his successes as a politician and preacher in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Rev. Raymond Jetson sought to empower Baton Rouge citizens to innovate solutions for their community challenges. After stepping down as the head of the Louisiana Family Recovery Corps,... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Health ＆ Wellness; Communities; Community Impact; Farm; Agriculture; Leading Change; Change Management; Social Entrepreneurship; Business and Community Relations; Louisiana

2012
Book

The Founders and Finance: How Hamilton, Gallatin, and Other Immigrants Forged a New Economy

In 1776 the United States government started out on a shoestring and quickly went bankrupt fighting its War of Independence against Britain. At the war's end, the national government owed tremendous sums to foreign creditors and its own citizens. But lacking the power... View Details

Keywords: History; Sovereign Finance; Ethnicity Characteristics; Economics; Great Britain; United States

24 Oct 2023
HBS Case

From P.T. Barnum to Mary Kay: Lessons From 5 Leaders Who Changed the World

formerly enslaved people born in Louisiana in 1867, Sarah Breedlove was an orphan by seven and a widowed single mother by 19. She was determined to escape the poverty and violence of her childhood, and moved to St. Louis with her young... View Details

Keywords: by Avery Forman

25 Jun 2007
Research & Ideas

HBS Cases: Beauty Entrepreneur Madam Walker

As the daughter of newly freed slaves on a Louisiana plantation, Sarah Breedlove's prospects at birth in 1867 foretold grinding poverty and toil. Over time, she graduated from the cotton fields to the washtub, marrying at the age of 14... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Beauty & Cosmetics

16 Oct 2023
HBS Case

Advancing Black Talent: From the Flight Ramp to 'Family-Sustaining' Careers at Delta

Delta will decide two years from now, ‘That was an initiative and now we’re done.’ They understand that it will take substantial investment in time and resources.” Atlanta is more than 50 percent Black Delta started as a Louisiana... View Details

Keywords: by Lane Lambert; Air Transportation

29 Jan 2021
Op-Ed

How Influencers, Celebrities, and FOMO Can Win Over Vaccine Skeptics

publicized vaccination, generating buzz about the shot. To encourage influenza vaccinations in 2010, BlueCross BlueShield of Louisiana highlighted both mega- and micro-influencers on billboards, TV ads, and social media, increasing... View Details

Keywords: by Rohit Deshpandé, Ofer Mintz, and Imran S. Currim

19 Apr 2010
Research & Ideas

The History of Beauty

respect. The cast of influential and colorful characters includes Madam C.J. Walker, the daughter of former slaves in Louisiana who developed a system for straightening African-American hair, which was so successful that she ranks as... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Beauty & Cosmetics

October 2016 (Revised November 2016)
Case

Innovating Beyond Ochsner

By: Richard G. Hamermesh and Olivia Hull

The Ochsner Health System has developed a proprietary software tool designed to treat hypertension. Built into the system’s electronic medical records, the Hypertension Digital Medicine program allows patients to record their blood pressure at home and share readings... View Details

November 2012 (Revised April 2013)
Supplement

The Levees Repaired, a System Still Broken: Post Katrina Turnaround at the Orleans Public Defenders (B)

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and Olivia Leskinen

Keywords: Innovation; New Orleans