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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

Layoff Letters: The Art of Delivering Bad News

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Edward A. Meyer
  • August 2025 |
  • Case |
  • Faculty Research
When companies downsize, they often issue press releases announcing the layoffs. Increasingly often, senior leaders also communicate the “bad news” internally using videos or text (letters, emails, or memos). This case analyzes the practice of writing “layoff letters” and provides five sample letters for analysis and critique. It also provides both statistical data (e.g., word counts) and content analysis (e.g., word frequency) of the layoff letters.
Keywords: Communication Strategy; Announcements; Values and Beliefs; Corporate Disclosure; Resignation and Termination; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Leadership; Restructuring; Technology Industry; United States
Citation
Educators
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Esty, Benjamin C., and Edward A. Meyer. "Layoff Letters: The Art of Delivering Bad News." Harvard Business School Case 226-023, September 2025.

How to Keep Your Team's Spirits Up in Anxious Times

By: Ranjay Gulati
  • September 8, 2025 |
  • Article |
  • Harvard Business Review (website)
During periods of turbulence and turmoil, leaders must be not just muscular strategists but also caring empaths, attuned to the emotional barometers of their teams and able to move the mood of the organization in a most positive direction. This requires communicating a clear purpose, embodying and modeling organizational values, and always projecting focused calm. When you adopt all three strategies, you move everyone toward a more courageous collective mindset that will help propel you through uncertainty toward a more successful future.
Keywords: Leadership; Emotions; Organizational Culture
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Gulati, Ranjay. "How to Keep Your Team's Spirits Up in Anxious Times." Harvard Business Review (website) (September 8, 2025).

Oriental Weavers: Handing Over the Loom

By: Christina R. Wing and Ahmed Dahawy
  • September 2025 |
  • Case |
  • Faculty Research
Over the course of forty years, Oriental Weavers had grown from a modest Egyptian family business into one of the world’s largest manufacturers of machine woven carpets and rugs. Managing a family-led company at that scale was no easy task, but the business was guided by the firm and respected hand of its founder, Mohamed Farid Khamis. After his passing in 2020, his eldest daughter, Yasmine, stepped into his role as chairperson, taking on the responsibility of leading the company through its next chapter. She had spent decades working closely with her father and practically running Oriental Weavers alongside him. But as the company grew more complex and globally integrated, Yasmine became convinced that it needed to evolve—shifting from a family-run enterprise to a professionally governed institution. Determined to build a structure that could outlast the family name, she appointed a non-family CEO and brought in several seasoned executives. Yet handing over the reins proved far from easy. Relatives pushed back, long-serving employees resisted change, and even Yasmine struggled to fully let go. The situation was compounded by lingering challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic and a new crisis in 2025, as a wave of U.S. tariffs threatened Oriental Weavers’ most important export market. With the company at a turning point, Yasmine faced a defining question: Should she double down on the leadership changes she had set in motion? Or retake the helm to guide Oriental Weavers through yet another moment of crisis?
Keywords: Family Business; Restructuring; Transformation; Corporate Governance; Governance Controls; Employee Relationship Management; Job Design and Levels; Leadership; Leadership Development; Leadership Style; Leading Change; Business or Company Management; Crisis Management; Growth Management; Management Succession; Management Teams; Adaptation; Business Strategy; Consumer Products Industry; Egypt; United States
Citation
Educators
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Wing, Christina R., and Ahmed Dahawy. "Oriental Weavers: Handing Over the Loom." Harvard Business School Case 626-015, September 2025.

BairesDev: Culture and Growth

By: Raffaella Sadun, Jorge Tamayo and Karina Souza
  • September 2025 |
  • Case |
  • Faculty Research
In February 2025, Nacho de Marco, CEO of BairesDev, the nearshoring tech company founded in Buenos Aires, Argentina, was planning the company’s next growth phase. After ten years of organic expansion, the COVID-19 pandemic had validated BairesDev’s fully remote model and fueled its rapid scale-up, growing from a 500-person team to a talent pool of 4,000 people across 50 countries. By 2025, the company aimed to double its workforce within five years, but this leap would put its culture to the test. While BairesDev remained committed to attracting the “top 1% talent,” employee engagement metrics were steadily declining. Did the company’s purpose-driven culture need to evolve to support further growth? Moreover, would its remote-only model remain sustainable under a shifting business strategy?
Keywords: Business Growth and Maturation; Business Model; Business Organization; Transformation; Communication Strategy; Talent and Talent Management; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Retention; Digital Platforms; Human Capital; Leadership; Growth and Development Strategy; Growth Management; Management Teams; Managerial Roles; Organizational Culture; Performance Productivity; Problems and Challenges; Motivation and Incentives; Business Strategy
Citation
Educators
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Sadun, Raffaella, Jorge Tamayo, and Karina Souza. "BairesDev: Culture and Growth." Harvard Business School Case 726-382, September 2025.

Cristina Ventura at White Star Capital

By: Linda A. Hill, Allison J. Wigen, Dave Habeeb and Ruth Page
  • September 2025 |
  • Case |
  • Faculty Research
[pre-abstract] This multimedia case should be assigned to students in advance of class. [abstract] This multimedia case study focuses on General Partner and Chief Catalyst Officer Cristina Ventura at White Star Capital, as she builds an ecosystem for investors and startups in Southeast Asia. The case follows how Ventura worked to break down geographic siloes and build connections in the region, while setting up White Star Capital's office in Singapore, building a team both local and global. The case also charts Ventura's path as a leader, with particular focus on her ecosystem building, personal investment philosophy, and purpose-driven leadership. The case ends with White Star Capital looking to expand the firm's strength in Southeast Asia, while turning to new areas of growth and opportunity. Ventura is left wondering how she can apply the catalyst leadership lessons she has learned in the MENA region.
Keywords: Investing For Impact; Investment Fund; Investment Strategy; Entrepreneurial Ecosystems; Teams; Purpose; Asia; Southeast Asia; Technology; Start-ups; Venture Capital; Venture Investing; Investment; Investment Funds; Entrepreneurship; Leadership; Singapore; Asia; Southeast Asia; Europe
Citation
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Hill, Linda A., Allison J. Wigen, Dave Habeeb, and Ruth Page. "Cristina Ventura at White Star Capital." Harvard Business School Multimedia/Video Case 425-710, September 2025.

How to Lead in the Stakeholder Era: Focus on Purpose and People. The Profits Will Follow

By: Hubert Joly
  • 2025 |
  • Chapter |
  • Faculty Research
The world is clearly facing multifaceted crises, including a societal crisis, an environmental crisis, and rising geopolitical tensions. In the face of these challenges, there is a growing realization that business and society cannot thrive if employees, customers, and communities are not healthy; if our planet is on fire; and if our society is fractured. More and more leaders believe that creating a better and sustainable future requires corporations to serve all their stakeholders—not just their investors—in a harmonious fashion. To make this transition, leaders need to evolve how they think about their mission and how they lead. According to Hubert Joly, the former chairman and CEO of Best Buy, we need leaders who, in both good times and bad, are keen to pursue a noble purpose, are ready to put people at the center of it, and are dedicated to creating an environment where every employee can blossom. In short, we need leaders who will embrace a declaration of interdependence. This is how we can create a more sustainable future. This is how business can be a force for good and do well by doing good.
Keywords: Leadership; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact
Citation
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Joly, Hubert. "How to Lead in the Stakeholder Era: Focus on Purpose and People. The Profits Will Follow." Chap. 10 in HBR's 10 Must Reads on Leadership. Updated, Expanded, 191–202. Harvard Business Review Press, 2025.

Are You a Good Boss—or a Great One?

By: Linda A. Hill and Kent Lineback
  • 2025 |
  • Chapter |
  • Faculty Research
Private moments of doubt and fear come even to managers who have spent years on the job. Any number of events can trigger them: an initiative is going poorly; you get a lukewarm performance review; your new assignment is daunting. HBS professor Linda Hill and executive Kent Lineback have long studied the question of how managers grow and advance. Their experience brings them to a simple but troubling observation: Most bosses reach a certain level of proficiency and stay there-short of what they could and should be. Why? Because they stop working on themselves. The authors offer what they call the three imperatives for every manager who seeks to avoid this stagnation: Manage yourself. Who you are as a person, the beliefs and values that drive your actions, and especially how you connect with others all matter to the people you must influence. Manage your network. Effective managers know they cannot avoid conflict and competition among organizational groups; they build and nurture ongoing relationships. Manage your team. Team members need to know what's required of them collectively and individually and what the team's values, norms, and standards are. The authors include a useful assessment tool to help readers get started.
Keywords: Leadership; Innovation and Management
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Hill, Linda A., and Kent Lineback. "Are You a Good Boss—or a Great One?" Chap. 10 in HBR's 10 Must Reads on Managing People. Updated, Expanded, 223–239. Boston, MA: Harvard Business Review Press, 2025.

Now Is the Time for Courage: Five Strategies to Drive Bold Action amid Uncertainty.

By: Ranjay Gulati
  • September–October 2025 |
  • Article |
  • Harvard Business Review
Research has shown that fortune favors the bold, not the cautious. But in volatile and uncertain times, many leaders hesitate to act, and others simply freeze up. The question is, Can bravery be acquired? In this article an HBS professor who has done extensive research on the subject argues that everyone can—and should—learn to be courageous. Risk management helps tamp down fear, of course, but it isn’t enough. By studying daring CEOs like BlackRock’s Larry Fink and PepsiCo’s Indra Nooyi, gutsy whistleblowers like Frances Haugen of Facebook, and everyday heroes like the Taj hotel employees who helped guests survive a 2008 terrorist attack, the author uncovered five specific strategies used by people who demonstrate bravery: (1) They create positive narratives that guide them through chaos, often recasting their work as a moral quest. (2) They build their confidence through training and preparation, by expanding their arsenal of mental tools, and by focusing on what they can control. (3) They size up complex and ambiguous situations step-by-step, adjusting course as their understanding grows. (4) They enlist the help of allies, mentors, and critics. And finally, (5) they help themselves stay calm by practicing self-care, embracing rituals, and reframing situations more positively.
Keywords: Personal Development and Career; Leadership; Risk Management; Personal Characteristics
Citation
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Gulati, Ranjay. "Now Is the Time for Courage: Five Strategies to Drive Bold Action amid Uncertainty." Harvard Business Review 103, no. 5 (September–October 2025): 40–49.

Beko: Leveraging Sustainability for Growth

By: Gunnar Trumbull, Joseph B. Fuller, Emilie Billaud and Gizem Cihan Dincsoy
  • August 2025 |
  • Case |
  • Faculty Research
In July 2024, Hakan Bulgurlu, CEO of Beko, reflected on the early integration of Whirlpool’s European operations. The merger expanded Beko’s scale and market reach but posed significant challenges, particularly aligning Whirlpool’s carbon-intensive legacy with Beko’s long-standing sustainability ambitions. As part of Türkiye’s Koç Holding, Beko had grown into a global appliance leader with a strong ESG track record, but the complexity of the merger tested both its operational discipline and strategic direction. The deal was driven by market realities. Inflation in Türkiye had raised Beko’s costs, while rising competition from Asian manufacturers intensified price pressures. Whirlpool offered strong brands; Beko brought agility, cost-efficient manufacturing, and a deep commitment to carbon reduction across its value chain. But integration was far from straightforward. Cultural differences and incompatible systems created friction. Aligning emissions targets and climate goals across two legacy organizations added another layer of complexity. Translating sustainability into profitability remained a challenge. Energy-efficient products were costly to produce, and consumer willingness to pay a premium was limited. Meanwhile, Asian competitors advanced rapidly, offering low-cost, increasingly green appliances. Beko faced a strategic test: could it fulfill its climate ambitions, integrate Whirlpool effectively, and maintain a competitive edge in a commoditized, low-margin industry?
Keywords: Sustainability; Carbon Accounting; Growth Strategy; Organization Alignment; Manufacturing; Leadership; Mergers and Acquisitions; Manufacturing Industry; Turkey; Europe
Citation
Educators
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Trumbull, Gunnar, Joseph B. Fuller, Emilie Billaud, and Gizem Cihan Dincsoy. "Beko: Leveraging Sustainability for Growth." Harvard Business School Case 726-006, August 2025.

When to Innovate and When to Imitate

By: Felipe A. Csaszar, Rebecca Karp and Maria Roche
  • August 1, 2025 |
  • Article |
  • Harvard Business Review Digital Articles
Innovation is often the gold standard for firms looking to grow profits and become leaders in their industries. But given the steep cost of failure, is a relentless pursuit of innovation always advisable? Or might there be some instances when imitation may be a better strategy to drive performance gains? This research-backed framework helps companies make more informed decisions about their innovation or imitation strategy: First, companies need to determine their industry’s maturity; then, they must plot their company’s position relative to competitors along important criteria. Knowing where their company falls along these dimensions can help leaders make the right decisions—saving resources, reducing risk, and accelerating impact. We often valorize companies that attempt to innovate in their industries, because they push the boundaries of what is possible and, in doing so, achieve extraordinary returns for their endeavors. Not surprisingly, the vast majority of top performing companies rank innovation among their top three priorities. But not all firms benefit from their investment in innovation.
Keywords: Imitation; Innovation Strategy; Competition; Innovation Leadership
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Csaszar, Felipe A., Rebecca Karp, and Maria Roche. "When to Innovate and When to Imitate." Harvard Business Review Digital Articles (August 1, 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
Ranjay Gulati
Lynda M. Applegate
→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

    • September 8, 2025
    • Article

    How to Keep Your Team's Spirits Up in Anxious Times

    By: Ranjay Gulati
    • September 2025
    • Case

    Cristina Ventura at White Star Capital

    By: Linda A. Hill, Allison J. Wigen, Dave Habeeb and Ruth Page
    • 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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