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Leadership

Leadership

    • 2015
    • Chapter

    Leave No Slice of Genius Behind: Selecting and Developing Tomorrow's Leaders of Innovation

    By: Linda A. Hill

    More than ever, leaders of nearly every kind of organization view their human resources teams as essential to institutional well-being and long-term growth and sustainability. That's the central and animating theme of "The Rise of HR: Wisdom from 73 Thought Leaders," a new anthology published by the HR Certification Institute. Professor Hill's essay addresses the question of how to develop leadership talent capable of building and sustaining organizations that can innovate time and again to address the challenges we face as a global community.

    • 2015
    • Chapter

    Leave No Slice of Genius Behind: Selecting and Developing Tomorrow's Leaders of Innovation

    By: Linda A. Hill

    More than ever, leaders of nearly every kind of organization view their human resources teams as essential to institutional well-being and long-term growth and sustainability. That's the central and animating theme of "The Rise of HR: Wisdom from 73 Thought Leaders," a new anthology published by the HR Certification Institute. Professor Hill's...

    • Article

    Professionalism, Fiduciary Duty, and Health-Related Business Leadership

    By: Joshua D. Margolis

    Expanding fiduciary duty to leaders of health-related businesses can help leaders meet the challenges of caring for not only the corporation and shareholders but also the patients and medical professionals. How should leaders of health-related businesses weigh the demand for efficiency and profit alongside the care of patients and the professional development of physicians? How might physicians approach these leadership roles to withstand the pressures that can divert behavior away from the espoused purposes and ethical standards of medicine?

    • Article

    Professionalism, Fiduciary Duty, and Health-Related Business Leadership

    By: Joshua D. Margolis

    Expanding fiduciary duty to leaders of health-related businesses can help leaders meet the challenges of caring for not only the corporation and shareholders but also the patients and medical professionals. How should leaders of health-related businesses weigh the demand for efficiency and profit alongside the care of patients and the professional...

    • July–August 2014
    • Article

    How the Other Fukushima Plant Survived

    By: Ranjay Gulati, Charles Casto and Charlotte Krontiris

    In March 2011, Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant was devastated by three reactor explosions and two core meltdowns in the days following a 9.0 earthquake and a tsunami that produced waves as high as 17 meters. The world is familiar with Daiichi's fate; less well known is the crisis at its sister plant, Daini, about 10 kilometers to the south. As a result of nature's onslaught, three of Daini's four reactors lacked sufficient power to achieve cooldown. To prevent the disaster experienced up north, the site superintendent, Naohiro Masuda, and his team had to connect them to the plant's surviving power sources. In a volatile environment, Masuda and Daini's hundreds of employees responded to each unexpected event in turn. Luck played a part, but so did smart leadership and sensemaking. Until the last reactor went into cold shutdown, Masuda's team took nothing for granted. With each new problem they encountered, it recalibrated, iteratively creating continuity and restoring order. Daini survived the crisis without an explosion or a meltdown.

    • July–August 2014
    • Article

    How the Other Fukushima Plant Survived

    By: Ranjay Gulati, Charles Casto and Charlotte Krontiris

    In March 2011, Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant was devastated by three reactor explosions and two core meltdowns in the days following a 9.0 earthquake and a tsunami that produced waves as high as 17 meters. The world is familiar with Daiichi's fate; less well known is the crisis at its sister plant, Daini, about 10 kilometers to the...

    • October 2014
    • Article

    The Transparency Trap

    By: Ethan Bernstein

    To get people to be more creative and productive, managers increase transparency with open workspaces and access to real-time data. But less transparent work environments can yield more-transparent employees. Employees perform better when they can try out new ideas and approaches within certain zones of privacy. Organizations allow them to do that by drawing four types of boundaries: around teams of people (zones of attention), between feedback and evaluation (zones of judgment), between decision rights and improvement rights (zones of slack), and for set periods of experimentation (zones of time). By balancing transparency and privacy, organizations can encourage just the right amount of "deviance" to foster innovative behavior and boost productivity.

    • October 2014
    • Article

    The Transparency Trap

    By: Ethan Bernstein

    To get people to be more creative and productive, managers increase transparency with open workspaces and access to real-time data. But less transparent work environments can yield more-transparent employees. Employees perform better when they can try out new ideas and approaches within certain zones of privacy. Organizations allow them to do that...

    • March 2015
    • Module Note

    Power and Influence in Society

    By: Julie Battilana

    This module aims to help students understand how power and influence are employed, both to reproduce the status quo and to effect change in society. It first helps them to understand why, more often than not, power is used to reproduce the existing way individuals and organizations operate in society. It then highlights what it takes to implement societal change. This includes a wide variety of initiatives ranging from attempts to change individuals' and organizations' behaviors in a given industry or sector, to efforts to change behaviors throughout a country, region, or even the world. Addressing the issue of power and influence in society in an MBA classroom is critical, especially at a time like now, when the relationship between business and society is attracting increasing attention, and when business leaders are increasingly expected to contribute not only to financial value creation, but also to social value creation. In this context, it is important to prepare business school students to lead not just in their organizations, but more broadly in society. Meeting this aspiration requires equipping them with knowledge and tools that will enable them to understand what it takes to have a positive impact in the world. In line with this objective, this module note focuses on how leaders who are not part of government or other public agencies can spark, organize, and/or guide action to bring about change at the societal level.

    • March 2015
    • Module Note

    Power and Influence in Society

    By: Julie Battilana

    This module aims to help students understand how power and influence are employed, both to reproduce the status quo and to effect change in society. It first helps them to understand why, more often than not, power is used to reproduce the existing way individuals and organizations operate in society. It then highlights what it takes to implement...

Leadership Initiative

The Leadership Initiative undertakes cutting-edge research and course development projects about leadership and leadership development, both within HBS and through collaborations with other organizations.
Leadership

As our world grows increasingly global, intricate, and ever-changing, the role of leaders is becoming more and more complex and critical to business success. In the 1950s and 1960s, Fritz Roethlisberger and Elton Mayo's contributions to the "Hawthorne effect," and work by Paul Lawrence and Jay Lorsch on organizational integration, sparked the field of Organizational Behavior. Early work by Michael Beer on leading organizational change, Rosabeth Kanter on innovation for productivity, John Kotter on power and influence, and Michael Tushman on innovation management helped shape today's understanding of organizational transformation. With an interest in Leadership that spans our academic units, our approach to research is collaborative and multi-disciplinary. We leverage a wide range of research methodologies – from onsite field research to surveys, experiments, and extensive longitudinal studies.

Leadership Initiative

The Leadership Initiative undertakes cutting-edge research and course development projects about leadership and leadership development, both within HBS and through collaborations with other organizations.

Leadership

Recent Publications

Outcome and Process Frames: Strategic Renewal and Capability Reprioritization at the Federal Bureau of Investigation

By: Ryan Raffaelli, Tiona Zuzul, Ranjay Gulati and Jan Rivkin
  • June 2025 |
  • Article |
  • Strategic Management Journal
[Research Summary]: Framing is critical for leaders who must build support for strategic renewal. While research has concentrated on renewal that replaces one set of capabilities with another, we explore a distinctive challenge: how leaders persuade stakeholders to endorse the reprioritization of resources toward a capability set that must coexist with an existing one. Moreover, while research has focused on how leaders build employee support for renewal, we examine how to persuade those overseeing resource allocation. Our study analyzes Director Robert Mueller's 12-year effort at the FBI—after the 9/11 terrorist attacks—to build up counterterrorism capabilities while maintaining existing law enforcement capabilities. We offer a novel distinction between outcome frames and process frames and discuss how each frame, sequenced properly, is relevant to strategic renewal.
[Managerial Summary]: This study examines how leaders can build support for strategic renewal when an organization must develop new capabilities while maintaining existing ones. We analyze how FBI Director Robert Mueller, in the wake of 9/11, used strategic communication—or framing—to persuade members of Congress overseeing the FBI's budget to support the development of new counterterrorism capabilities alongside its traditional law enforcement mandate. We highlight two types of frames: outcome frames (focused on what the organization seeks to achieve) and process frames (emphasizing how the organization operates). Our findings reveal that sequencing these types of frames is essential. By using outcome frames to address immediate concerns and shifting to process frames to resolve longer-term tensions, leaders can build stakeholder support for complex resource reprioritization efforts.
Keywords: Framing; Stakeholder Management; Capabilities; Transformation; Leading Change; Crisis Management; Resource Allocation; Government and Politics; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Public Administration Industry
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Raffaelli, Ryan, Tiona Zuzul, Ranjay Gulati, and Jan Rivkin. "Outcome and Process Frames: Strategic Renewal and Capability Reprioritization at the Federal Bureau of Investigation." Strategic Management Journal 46, no. 6 (June 2025): 1325–1362. (Lead article.)

Windsurf and the AI Code Assistant Market

By: Suraj Srinivasan, Sudhanshu Nath Mishra and Radhika Kak
  • May 2025 |
  • Case |
  • Faculty Research
In April 2025, the founding team of Windsurf, an AI start-up specializing in code generation gathered in Mountain View, California, to assess its remarkable year of growth. The company had scaled from a niche GitHub Copilot alternative to a breakout player with over 700,000 individual users, 1,000 enterprise customers, and more than $40 million in ARR. Yet, as the AI code assistant market became increasingly crowded with tech giants, well-funded startups, and rapidly evolving user expectations, Windsurf faced three key strategic questions. First: Who should Windsurf serve? Should it continue to serve highly regulated enterprises demanding on-premise deployments, or shift focus entirely toward a broader base of cloud-first enterprises, including both technical and non-technical users adopting its new AI-native IDE, the Windsurf Editor? Second: How could Windsurf build a durable moat? Would long-term defensibility come from building a proprietary foundation model, from advanced context retrieval, or from delivering the most intuitive user experience? And third: How should Windsurf grow? Should it continue pursuing top-down enterprise sales or lean into the bottom-up, developer-led momentum that had already propelled it to eight-figure ARR within a month of launching a paid plan? This case examines strategic trade-offs in AI-first product companies, evaluate paths to defensibility in a fiercely competitive space, and how generative AI is reshaping the economics of software development.
Keywords: AI and Machine Learning; Venture Capital; Innovation Leadership; Technological Innovation; Technology Industry; United States
Citation
Educators
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Srinivasan, Suraj, Sudhanshu Nath Mishra, and Radhika Kak. "Windsurf and the AI Code Assistant Market." Harvard Business School Case 125-111, May 2025.

What People Get Wrong About Psychological Safety

By: Amy C. Edmondson and Michaela J. Kerrissey
  • May–June 2025 |
  • Article |
  • Harvard Business Review
Psychological safety—a shared belief among team members that it’s OK to speak up with candor—has become a popular concept. However, as its popularity has grown, so too have misconceptions about it. Such misunderstandings can lead to frustration among leaders and employees, stymie constructive debates, and ultimately harm organizational performance. In this article the authors identify the following six common misperceptions: Psychological safety means being nice; it means getting your way; it means job security; it requires a trade-off with performance; it’s a policy; and it requires a top-down approach. They explain why each misperception gets in the way and give advice on how to counter it. They also offer leaders a blueprint for building the kind of strong, learning-oriented work environment that is crucial for success in an uncertain world. Leaders should clearly communicate what psychological safety is and what it isn’t, and take steps to improve the quality of conversations and to establish structures and rituals that will help teams assess their progress in building a psychologically safe environment.
Keywords: Leadership; Organizational Culture; Employees; Interpersonal Communication
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Edmondson, Amy C., and Michaela J. Kerrissey. "What People Get Wrong About Psychological Safety." Harvard Business Review 103, no. 3 (May–June 2025): 52–59.

Campbell's Recipe for Advancing School Nutrition

By: Hise O. Gibson, F. Christopher Eaglin and Ai-Ling Jamila Malone
  • April 2025 |
  • Case |
  • Faculty Research
In 2021, The Campbell’s Company launched Full Futures, a collective impact initiative aimed at advancing school nutrition environments in underserved communities. The program started in Camden, NJ—home to Campbell’s headquarters—and later expanded to Charlotte, NC, and Hanover, PA with a $5 million commitment over 5 years. Full Futures brought together diverse partners across corporate, nonprofit, and school district sectors to address four key pillars: culture, infrastructure, nutrition education, and food access. This case explores how Campbell’s navigated complex partnerships, power dynamics, and contextual differences across cities to drive sustainable community impact, while grappling with how to measure success and inspire replication beyond its own communities.
Keywords: Strategy; Leadership; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Education; Health; Nutrition; Social Enterprise; Relationships; Business and Community Relations; Decision Making; Operations; Food and Beverage Industry; New Jersey; North Carolina; Pennsylvania
Citation
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Gibson, Hise O., F. Christopher Eaglin, and Ai-Ling Jamila Malone. "Campbell's Recipe for Advancing School Nutrition." Harvard Business School Case 625-117, April 2025.

Thrivent: From Insurance Agents to Financial Advisors

By: Hubert Joly, Leonard A. Schlesinger and Tom Quinn
  • April 2025 |
  • Case |
  • Faculty Research
Thrivent, a midwestern financial services company with a centuries-long history rooted in Lutheranism, had reached $10 billion in revenue mostly by selling life insurance. In the 2020s, however, CEO Terry Rasmussen began a transformation process centered around the company’s financial advisors, who urged Thrivent to emphasize holistic financial planning. The transformation journey involved adjusting recruiting, compensation, technology, and many other aspects of the company. Rasmussen needed to account for several different types of advisors and other frontline employees as she tried to broaden the company’s customer base and plan around an evolving financial services market.
Keywords: Change Management; Transformation; Talent and Talent Management; Customer Focus and Relationships; Customer Value and Value Chain; Forecasting and Prediction; Employee Relationship Management; Retention; Selection and Staffing; Job Design and Levels; Human Capital; Leading Change; Mission and Purpose; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Insurance Industry; Financial Services Industry; United States; Minneapolis
Citation
Educators
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Joly, Hubert, Leonard A. Schlesinger, and Tom Quinn. "Thrivent: From Insurance Agents to Financial Advisors." Harvard Business School Case 325-047, April 2025.

Lisa Su and AMD (A)

By: Joshua D. Margolis, Matthew Preble and Dave Habeeb
  • April 2025 |
  • Case |
  • Faculty Research
This multimedia case study focuses on CEO Lisa Su’s turnaround and subsequent transformation of the technology company Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD). When Su accepted the top position in 2014, AMD was on the verge of collapse. Su focused the company’s culture, simplified its product roadmap, repaired relationships with key stakeholders, and placed a big bet on innovations in high performance computing and Artificial Intelligence to make AMD a tech powerhouse by late 2023. Lisa Su and AMD (A) and Lisa Su and AMD (B) are not standalone case studies. They are designed to be taught together. Lisa Su and AMD (A) explores AMD’s successes and challenges prior to Lisa Su becoming CEO. Lisa Su and AMD (B) helps students understand the key elements of the transformation, and how Su is positioning the company for the future.
Keywords: Turnaround; Artificial Intelligence; Semiconductors; Change Management; Transformation; Decision Making; Globalized Markets and Industries; Government and Politics; AI and Machine Learning; Innovation and Management; Innovation Strategy; Innovation Leadership; Leadership; Leadership Style; Leading Change; Management; Product Design; Product Development; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Organizational Design; Strategic Planning; Business and Shareholder Relations; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Research and Development; Business Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Corporate Strategy; Semiconductor Industry; Computer Industry; United States; California; Texas
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Margolis, Joshua D., Matthew Preble, and Dave Habeeb. "Lisa Su and AMD (A)." Harvard Business School Multimedia/Video Case 425-704, April 2025.

Governing Sustainability in a Shifting Context (A)

By: Lynn S. Paine and Will Hurwitz
  • April 2025 (Revised May 2025) |
  • Case |
  • Faculty Research
In early 2025, boards of directors had to rethink corporate responsibility and sustainability efforts amid rapidly-shifting social, legal, regulatory, and economic forces. While just a few years earlier, calls to address racial justice and climate change reached into boardrooms, the pendulum seemed to swing the other way. A landmark 2023 U.S. Supreme Court rejecting race-conscious college admissions as unconstitutional sent shockwaves through corporate America for its potential to be applied in other contexts; a surge in so-called “anti-ESG” shareholder proposals sought to compel companies to undo diversity and environmental initiatives; and other social and regulatory changes found boards and business leaders at companies of all sizes grappling with difficult decisions about the role of corporations in society. This note includes five selected examples, including Tractor Supply addressing DEI programs and climate targets after an activist launched a social media campaign; McDonald’s navigating a high-stakes lawsuit over its long-standing Hispanic scholarship program; Costco confronting a shareholder proposal questioning its diversity programs; Wells Fargo debating whether or not to keep climate-related goals in the face of changing regulatory and legal dynamics; and Banco Santander considering multinational dynamics involving whether to use a diversity-focused executive compensation metric in all its markets or only in some markets, depending on regional legal and regulatory differences.
Keywords: Climate Change; Corporate Governance; Diversity; Leadership; Business or Company Management; Mission and Purpose; Social Media; Race; Environmental Sustainability; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Governing and Advisory Boards; Lawfulness; Lawsuits and Litigation; Measurement and Metrics; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Business and Shareholder Relations; Social Issues; Retail Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Banking Industry; United States
Citation
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Paine, Lynn S., and Will Hurwitz. "Governing Sustainability in a Shifting Context (A)." Harvard Business School Case 325-121, April 2025. (Revised May 2025.)

Joe Mazzulla and the Boston Celtics (A)

By: Linda A. Hill, James I. Cash and Lydia Begag
  • April 2025 |
  • Case |
  • Faculty Research
Joe Mazzulla's leadership journey with the Boston Celtics began in 2016 when he served as an assistant coach for their NBA G-League affiliate. In 2019, he was promoted to a "behind-the-bench" assistant coaching role with the Celtics, before being asked to become the interim head coach in September 2022 following the suspension of the head coach. All throughout the 2022-2023 NBA season, Mazzulla discovered the demands of the role, learning what his players and coaching staff needed from him as well as how to manage relationships with the Boston sports fanbase and the media. Despite the Celtics falling short in the 2023 NBA Eastern Conference Finals, Mazzulla used the offseason to recalibrate and refine his leadership and communication strategies for the upcoming 2023-2024 season. By June 2024, Mazzulla's hard work and evolution had paid off, with the Celtics reaching the NBA Finals for the second time in three years. As Game 4 of the Finals approaches (with the Celtics being up 3-0), Mazzulla finds himself at a crossroads, contemplating his pre-game message to the team. Should he rally them with an aggressive “go for the kill” mindset, or choose language that is more aligned with their “joyous intensity” culture? Mazzulla knows his rhetoric matters and how he communicates could determine if the franchise secures their 18th championship or not.
Keywords: Personal Development and Career; Change Management; Communication; Values and Beliefs; Innovation and Invention; Decision Making; Innovation Leadership; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Leadership; Leading Change; Leadership Development; Leadership Style; Crisis Management; Management Skills; Business Processes; Organizational Culture; Organizational Structure; Performance Efficiency; Sports Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; United States
Citation
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Hill, Linda A., James I. Cash, and Lydia Begag. "Joe Mazzulla and the Boston Celtics (A)." Harvard Business School Case 425-059, April 2025.

#FutureFresenius: Implementing a New Strategy to Transform the Company and Advance Patient Care

By: David J. Collis, Benjamin C. Esty and Haisley Wert
  • April 2025 |
  • Case |
  • Faculty Research
In February 2024, Fresenius CEO Michael Sen reflected on the company’s transformation journey from his office in Bad Homburg, Germany. With revenues of €22 billion and a mission to advance patient care, Fresenius had built a strong reputation through decades of acquisitions and dividend growth. However, between 2017 and 2022, the company’s share price dropped over 70% as financial and operational performance sharply declined. When Sen became CEO in October 2022, he recognized the need for a fundamental reset. In response, Sen and the leadership team launched #FutureFresenius, a bold transformation plan that began with changes to the company’s structure, portfolio, and financial framework. By early 2024, key structural changes were in motion, and momentum was building. Looking ahead, the turnaround required deeper cultural shifts and further development of the company’s target operating models. Sen believed in the progress made but faced a critical question: Was Fresenius executing the transformation in the right sequence, at the right speed, and with the right priorities to ensure long-term success? This case study examines the challenges of corporate transformation, the role of leadership in driving change, and the importance of aligning stakeholders in a high-stakes turnaround.
Keywords: Strategic Planning; Corporate Strategy; Transformation; Finance; Leading Change; Organizational Culture; Organizational Structure; Alignment; Health Industry; Germany; United States
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Collis, David J., Benjamin C. Esty, and Haisley Wert. "#FutureFresenius: Implementing a New Strategy to Transform the Company and Advance Patient Care." Harvard Business School Case 725-361, April 2025.

Setting a CEO Agenda: Ole Rosgaard at Greif

By: Krishna Palepu and Kerry Herman
  • April 2025 |
  • Case |
  • Faculty Research
Since taking over as CEO of industrial packaging giant Greif, Ole Rosgaard has focused on growing the company and improving the perception of its value by the capital markets. He and his senior leadership team have made inroads to this end, including adjusting the company’s portfolio mix to higher-margin businesses and affirming and strengthening Greif’s strong culture. In partnership with the company’s board chair, Rosgaard worked to make changes to the board composition and board routines to create more board engagement with the company’s strategy and transformation. Have these efforts been enough?
Keywords: Leadership; Valuation; Governing and Advisory Boards; Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Culture; Industrial Products Industry; North America; Europe
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Palepu, Krishna, and Kerry Herman. "Setting a CEO Agenda: Ole Rosgaard at Greif." Harvard Business School Case 125-099, April 2025.
More Publications

Faculty

Rosabeth M. Kanter
Boris Groysberg
Linda A. Hill
Nitin Nohria
Lynn S. Paine
Amy C. Edmondson
Michael L. Tushman
Anthony Mayo
Joshua D. Margolis
Joseph L. Bower
Nancy F. Koehn
Rakesh Khurana
→See All

HBS Working Knowlege

    • 08 Nov 2024

    What Wartime Service Taught These Historic Leaders

    Re: Robert Simons
    • 17 Sep 2024

    Fawn Weaver’s Entrepreneurial Journey as an Outsider in the Spirits Industry

    Re: Hise O. Gibson
    • 20 Aug 2024

    Why Competing With Tech Giants Requires Finding Your Own Edge

    Re: Feng Zhu
→More Articles

Harvard Business Publishing

    • May–June 2025
    • Article

    What People Get Wrong About Psychological Safety

    By: Amy C. Edmondson and Michaela J. Kerrissey
    • April 2025
    • Case

    Lisa Su and AMD (A)

    By: Joshua D. Margolis, Matthew Preble and Dave Habeeb
    • 2023
    • Book

    Move Fast and Fix Things: The Trusted Leader's Guide to Solving Hard Problems

    By: Frances X. Frei and Anne Morriss
→More Harvard Business Publishing
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