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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

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
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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.

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. Boston, MA: Harvard Business Review Press, 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).

Case Study: Do We Reskill or Replace Our Workforce?

By: William Kerr
  • July–August 2025 |
  • Article |
  • Harvard Business Review
To remain competitive in the internet-of-things era, should the CEO of SolidTech Innovations, a fictional elevator company, invest a lot of money in reskilling its entire staff? The industry is moving from hardware to software in the form of smart, connected elevators. But instead of laying off legacy hardware staff and hiring new talent, the CEO wants to offer the employees a "Grand Bargain": The company will pay for voluntary reskilling and retraining, but the workers will need to take responsibility for their own futures. Those who opt in will gain valuable skills and have a future with the company; those who don't may face demotions and pay cuts. However, there is pushback from the company's shareholders and leaders. Some want to use the program as a fig leaf for laying off staff; others think it costs too much and might put the company at a competitive disadvantage relative to companies that are hiring technologically skilled people right away. Leaders are worried that longtime workers will balk at learning these new skills and end up quitting, causing the company to lose hundreds of years of cumulative experience. The CEO is now unsure of how to proceed.
Keywords: Training; Competency and Skills; Employees; Change Management; Leading Change
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Kerr, William. "Case Study: Do We Reskill or Replace Our Workforce?" Harvard Business Review 103, no. 4 (July–August 2025): 141–145.

Elon Musk, 2025: The Master of Big Bets?

By: David B. Yoffie
  • July 2025 (Revised August 2025) |
  • Case |
  • Faculty Research
This case explores Elon Musk’s influence across business and politics in 2025, as he navigates the challenges of simultaneously leading multiple companies, such as Tesla, SpaceX, and xAI, while briefly serving in the U.S. government. It examines Musk’s high-stakes bets on autonomous driving, humanoid robots, and generative AI, as well as the backlash from his political alignments and decisions. The case details Musk’s management style, product innovation, and his impact on investor confidence, market valuations, and public perception. It also poses the question of evaluating whether Musk’s extraordinary ambition and multitiered involvement across industries and politics represent visionary leadership or overextension, and whether his governance model is sustainable amid growing scrutiny and risk.
Keywords: Strategy And Leadership; Technological Innovation; Government and Politics; Leadership; Power and Influence; Management Style; Strategy; Public Opinion; Business or Company Management; Auto Industry; Technology Industry; Aerospace Industry; United States
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Yoffie, David B. "Elon Musk, 2025: The Master of Big Bets?" Harvard Business School Case 726-357, July 2025. (Revised August 2025.)

Take-Two Interactive Software Inc.: The Business Behind Video Gaming’s Biggest Hits

By: Anita Elberse, Madden Osei and Sofia Smith
  • July 2025 |
  • Case |
  • Faculty Research
On May 15, 2025, Strauss Zelnick, chairman and chief executive officer of Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. (‘Take- Two’) sees his company’s stock price reach an all-time high, reflecting a market cap well over $40 billion. Under his leadership, Take-Two had grown into one of the world’s leading developers, publishers, and marketers of video games for console gaming systems, PCs, and mobile phones. Its three major labels— Rockstar Games, 2K, and, acquired in 2022, Zynga—are responsible for some of the industry’s biggest hit franchises, including Grand Theft Auto. Yet the intensely competitive marketplace in which a select few titles account for an ever-increasing share of the market, the largely stagnant prices, and the ballooning costs of video game development pose significant challenges. The latest installment in Take-Two’s flagship franchise, Grand Theft Auto VI (‘GTA VI’), illustrates the latter: by some estimates the game, in development for more than a decade, has already cost anywhere between $800 million and $1 billion to develop—and it still is not ready. In fact, Take-Two recently announced that its most highly anticipated game, initially targeted for a fall 2025 release, will now launch on May 26, 2026. Can GTA VI, widely thought to have the potential to become the biggest launch in the history of the entertainment industry, live up to the market’s bigger-than-ever expectations? Is the company well-positioned to maintain its position as one of the world’s leading video game companies? And how can it best manage its portfolio and release schedule going forward?
Keywords: Product Launch; Business or Company Management; Leadership; Competition; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Video Game Industry
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Elberse, Anita, Madden Osei, and Sofia Smith. "Take-Two Interactive Software Inc.: The Business Behind Video Gaming’s Biggest Hits." Harvard Business School Case 526-011, July 2025.

ICARE: Frontline Leadership at Michelin

By: Hubert Joly and Emilie Billaud
  • July 2025 |
  • Case |
  • Faculty Research
In 2025, Michelin CEO Florent Menegaux reflected on the company’s transformation since taking the helm in 2019. Amid a volatile global landscape marked by inflation, rising competition, and geopolitical and sustainability pressures, Michelin had achieved strong financial and operational results. Revenues climbed from €24.1 billion in 2019 to €27.2 billion in 2024, and its share price increased by over 60%.

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?
Keywords: Human Capital; Transformation; Management Practices and Processes; Managerial Roles; Organizational Culture; Leadership; Competency and Skills; Global Strategy; Multinational Firms and Management; Compensation and Benefits; Recruitment; Retention; Employee Relationship Management; Working Conditions; Leading Change; Growth and Development Strategy; Groups and Teams; Motivation and Incentives; Well-being; Auto Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Europe; China; United States; France
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Joly, Hubert, and Emilie Billaud. "ICARE: Frontline Leadership at Michelin." Harvard Business School Case 326-024, July 2025.

Flanner House and Community-Led Development

By: Brian Trelstad and Ai-Ling Jamila Malone
  • July 2025 |
  • Case |
  • Faculty Research
In 2025, Brandon Cosby, CEO of Flanner House—a century-old nonprofit in Indianapolis’s Near Northwest neighborhood—faced a critical juncture as rising displacement pressures and funding uncertainty threatened the gains made under his leadership. Since taking the helm in 2016, Cosby had transformed the organization from a struggling, underutilized service provider into a vibrant community anchor guided by a model he called “holonomy,” which integrated food justice, early childhood education, workforce development, mental health, and housing. His initiatives included launching Indiana’s only Black-owned bookstore, establishing an urban farm, café and bodega, expanding culturally grounded mental health services, and creating workforce pathways. As nearby developments like the 16 Tech innovation district and Indiana University’s medical campus drove up housing costs and attracted new residents, Cosby aimed to protect the existing community by building a new Flanner House facility and a 120-unit affordable housing development. However, securing sufficient funding—particularly capital not tied to market-rate housing—remained a challenge. This case explores Cosby’s leadership, the complexities of community development in historically marginalized neighborhoods, and the tension between inclusive economic growth and gentrification.
Keywords: Change; Change Management; Transformation; Customer Focus and Relationships; Economic Growth; Education; Early Childhood Education; Learning; Teaching; Ethics; Fairness; Moral Sensibility; Entrepreneurship; Food; Urban Scope; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Government and Politics; Employment; Leadership; Leading Change; Crisis Management; Strategic Planning; Partners and Partnerships; Problems and Challenges; Projects; Risk and Uncertainty; Social Enterprise; Nonprofit Organizations; Trust; Reputation; Power and Influence; Social Issues; Poverty; Strategy; Expansion; Diversification; Integration; System; Complexity; Equality and Inequality; Theory; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Construction Industry; Education Industry; Financial Services Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Health Industry; Music Industry; Real Estate Industry; United States; Indiana; Indianapolis
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Trelstad, Brian, and Ai-Ling Jamila Malone. "Flanner House and Community-Led Development." Harvard Business School Case 325-130, July 2025.

New WOW at Equitable (A): A New Way of Working

By: Das Narayandas and Kerry Herman
  • June 2025 |
  • Case |
  • Faculty Research
Equitable CEO Mark Pearson executes a company-wide change management- transforming a sleepy but reasonably performing firm in a traditional industry not known for innovation, into an innovation-focused agile organization.
Keywords: Leadership; Change Management; Insurance; Insurance Industry; Financial Services Industry; North America
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Narayandas, Das, and Kerry Herman. "New WOW at Equitable (A): A New Way of Working." Harvard Business School Case 525-004, June 2025.

The Value of Art on Campus as a Vision for Educating Leaders Who Make a Difference

By: James Riley, Alexis Lefort and Helen Yap
  • June 2025 (Revised August 2025) |
  • Case |
  • Faculty Research
This case explores the debate surrounding the installation of a large contemporary sculpture, Inés by Jaume Plensa, at Harvard Business School under the leadership of Dean Nitin Nohria. Set in 2016, the case examines the role of physical campus design and public art in shaping a learning environment aligned with HBS’s mission to educate leaders who make a difference. It traces the historical evolution of HBS’s campus as a reflection of its pedagogical priorities, including the adoption of the case method, residential learning, and the fostering of community. The case highlights the tensions between tradition and innovation, aesthetics and utility, and fiscal responsibility versus symbolic value. It invites discussion on how leaders balance competing stakeholder views, institutional values, and personal convictions when making decisions that shape a community’s physical and cultural environment.
Keywords: Leadership; Mission and Purpose; Organizational Culture; Decision Making; Design; Business Education; Values and Beliefs; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Alignment; Education Industry; United States
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Riley, James, Alexis Lefort, and Helen Yap. "The Value of Art on Campus as a Vision for Educating Leaders Who Make a Difference." Harvard Business School Case 425-110, June 2025. (Revised August 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
Lynda M. Applegate
Nancy F. Koehn
→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

    • August 1, 2025
    • Article

    When to Innovate and When to Imitate

    By: Felipe A. Csaszar, Rebecca Karp and Maria Roche
    • 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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