Leadership
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.
LeadershipRecent Publications
Cristina Ventura at White Star Capital
- September 2025 |
- Case |
- Faculty Research
Are You a Good Boss—or a Great One?
- 2025 |
- Chapter |
- Faculty Research
When to Innovate and When to Imitate
- August 1, 2025 |
- Article |
- Harvard Business Review Digital Articles
Case Study: Do We Reskill or Replace Our Workforce?
- July–August 2025 |
- Article |
- Harvard Business Review
Elon Musk, 2025: The Master of Big Bets?
- July 2025 (Revised August 2025) |
- Case |
- Faculty Research
Take-Two Interactive Software Inc.: The Business Behind Video Gaming’s Biggest Hits
- July 2025 |
- Case |
- Faculty Research
ICARE: Frontline Leadership at Michelin
- July 2025 |
- Case |
- Faculty Research
Under Menegaux’s leadership, Michelin had adopted a new purpose, defined an ambitious strategy, and implemented an innovative leadership approach—ICARE—which focused on genuinely investing in and empowering its frontline employees, especially in its 83 tire production plants around the world. Menegaux believed that the implementation of the ICARE leadership philosophy had been a key driver of the company’s strong performance during this period. He believed that an engaged and empowered workforce was essential to achieving excellence and sustaining continuous improvement. The approach required significant investments and remained a major undertaking still in progress.
The case profiles operators, business unit leaders, and executives to explore how the ICARE philosophy shaped factory culture, engagement and performance—and what challenges remained.
As Menegaux reflected on this transformation, a question remained: How could Michelin rigorously evaluate the return on its people investments and determine whether its leadership model was truly making a difference?
Flanner House and Community-Led Development
- July 2025 |
- Case |
- Faculty Research
New WOW at Equitable (A): A New Way of Working
- June 2025 |
- Case |
- Faculty Research
The Value of Art on Campus as a Vision for Educating Leaders Who Make a Difference
- June 2025 (Revised August 2025) |
- Case |
- Faculty Research