Publications

January 2025 (Revised February 2025)
Technical Note

Skills-First Talent Management Onboarding, Development, and Performance Management

By: Boris Groysberg, James Barnett, Robin Abrahams and Katherine Connolly Baden

The second in a series of notes on how organizations manage skills-first talent-management chains, covering onboarding, development, and performance management. Onboarding included the practices, programs, and policies used by an organization to facilitate new employee... View Details

January 2025
Technical Note

Skills-First Talent Management: Hiring

By: Boris Groysberg, Tom Quinn, Robin Abrahams and Katherine Connolly Baden

The first in a series of notes on how organizations manage skills-first talent-management chains, covering recruiting: the process of creating a job description, publicizing the job and attracting applicants, and assessing candidates. Other notes in this series include... View Details

Keywords: Talent and Talent Management; Recruitment; Selection and Staffing; Jobs and Positions

June 2024
Teaching Note

Dirk Nowitzki: Changing the Game

By: Boris Groysberg, Katherine Connolly Baden and Robin Abrahams

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 420-031. NBA Superstar Dirk Nowitzki was unsure whether the 2018-19 season would be his last as an NBA player. He had not faced such uncertainty since 1998, when he had navigated a difficult decision regarding the timing of his move to... View Details

Keywords: Problems and Challenges; Practice; Retirement; Work-Life Balance; Success; Knowledge Acquisition; Knowledge Sharing; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Growth and Development; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Performance; Sports Industry; United States

April 2024
Background Note

Leader as a Communicator

By: Boris Groysberg, Robin Abrahams and Katherine Connolly Baden

April 2024
Background Note

Leader as a Motivator

By: Boris Groysberg, Robin Abrahams and Katherine Connolly Baden

July 2022
Case

Operation Overlord

By: Boris Groysberg, Greg Goullet, Katherine Connolly Baden and Sarah L. Abbott

On June 6, 1944, nearly 5,000 ships, 11,000 planes, and 160,000 infantrymen under an Allied joint-command of American, British, and Canadian leaders were sent across the English Channel, with hopes of re-establishing a foothold in Nazi-occupied France. Known as D-Day,... View Details

Keywords: Execution; Data Analytics; Leadership; Planning; Operations; Crisis Management; War; Organizational Structure; Decision Choices and Conditions; Information Management; France; England

May 2022
Case

Byte

By: Boris Groysberg, Katherine Connolly Baden and Julia Kelley

In January 2021, Byte co-founders Scott Cohen and Blake Johnson reflected on how far their Los Angeles-based direct-to-consumer (DTC) orthodontics company had come since launching its clear aligners just a little over two years earlier. Cohen and Johnson were both... View Details

Keywords: Growth; Customer Experience; Customer Focused Organization; Innovation; DTC; Growth Management; Expansion; Entrepreneurship; Customer Focus and Relationships; Innovation and Invention; Growth and Development Strategy; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; United States

June 2021
Case

Chris Ernst: Purpose, People, Progress

By: Boris Groysberg, Robert Cross, Robin Abrahams and Katherine Connolly Baden

Executive Chris Ernst uses a unique personal strategy to define his six life roles (spiritual explorer, natural being, development pioneer, global/local citizen, thriving family, true friend) and achieve harmony among them. View Details

Keywords: Self-awareness; Self-discovery; Self-affirmation; Life Satisfaction; Work-Life Balance; Identity; Personal Development and Career; Family and Family Relationships; Happiness; Technology Industry; United States

April 21, 2021
Article

The Pandemic Conversations That Leaders Need to Have Now

By: Boris Groysberg, Robin Abrahams and Katherine Connolly Baden

Read Now

September 2020 (Revised December 2020)
Case

Siba Mtongana: A Pioneering Chef in South Africa

By: Boris Groysberg, Susan Seligson, Katherine Connolly Baden and Robin Abrahams

For Siba Mtongana, South African celebrity chef, the year 2020 was fraught with challenges and unknowns. Her brand was strong and she was certain it would survive. But as she fine-tuned her growth and innovation strategy in a shaky, unpredictable economy in the midst... View Details

Keywords: Food; Crisis Management; Health Pandemics; Growth and Development Strategy; Food and Beverage Industry; South Africa

August 2020 (Revised December 2020)
Case

General Dennis L. Via: People First, Mission Always

By: Boris Groysberg, Susan Seligson, Katherine Connolly Baden and Robin Abrahams

Dennis L. Via, was a retired four-star U.S. Army general and one of the world’s foremost experts on logistics, crisis management, supply chains, and maintaining a state of readiness at all times. As he reflected back on his career and leadership experience during the... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Crisis Management; Planning; Health Pandemics; United States

January 2018
Case

Kids & Company: Entering the U.S.

By: Boris Groysberg, Matthew G. Preble and Katherine Connolly Baden

In April 2017, Victoria Sopik and Jennifer Nashmi, CEO and CFO (respectively) of Kids & Company, a Canadian childcare provider that they had co-founded in the early 2000s and developed into a nearly 100-unit enterprise, are discussing how the company should proceed... View Details