Episodes
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Do you have an employee who just gets on your nerves?
In this episode, Dear HBR cohosts Alison Beard and Dan McGinn answer listener questions with the help of Art Markman, former professor of psychology at the University of Texas at Austin and now the school’s Senior Vice Provost for Academic Affairs.
They talk through how to manage someone who is difficult, overly polite, or passive aggressive. Markman also offers advice for how to give your initial feedback and then follow up. He also has tips for coaching an employee who needs to improve their communication skills.
Key episode topics include: leadership, managing people, managing conflicts, difficult conversations.
HBR On Leadership curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.
· Listen to the original Dear HBR episode: Annoying Subordinates (2018)
· Find more episodes of Dear HBR.
· Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org.
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Amid the racial reckoning that followed George Floyd’s murder in 2020, many U.S. business leaders promised to make workplaces more diverse, equitable, and inclusive. But these efforts have now slowed, and many DEI teams have faced cuts, and calls for anti-racist leadership have all but disappeared.
In this episode, James White, the former CEO of Jamba Juice, and his daughter and coauthor Krista White offer advice on how corporate leaders can promote lasting change in their organizations and society at large. They also discuss why it’s so important to engage middle managers in inclusion work—and how to do that.
James and Krista White are coauthors of the book Anti-Racist Leadership: How to Transform Corporate Culture in a Race-Conscious World.
Key episode topics include: leadership, race, diversity and inclusion, leadership and managing people.
HBR On Leadership curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.
· Listen to the original HBR IdeaCast episode: DEI Isn’t Enough; Companies Need Anti-Racist Leadership (2022)
· Find more episodes of HBR IdeaCast.
· Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org.
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Missing episodes?
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Think of a large company you admire. What kind of leadership culture do they have — and how does that affect their ability to innovate?
If you went right to command-and-control leadership, you’re not alone. It’s a common approach to leading large organizations. But MIT Sloan School of Management researchers Deborah Ancona and Kate Isaacs argue that big organizations can be nimble if they have three types of leaders in the mix: entrepreneurial, enabling, and architecting.
In this episode, Ancona and Isaacs explain how some large organizations continually develop new talent by empowering employees to lead in their area of expertise and make choices about the projects to which they contribute. They also discuss the structures these companies have created to support leaders and their teams as they transition from hierarchical leadership to more autonomous ways of working.
Key episode topics include: leadership, innovation, business management.
HBR On Leadership curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.
· Listen to the original HBR IdeaCast episode: The 3 Types of Leaders of Innovative Companies (2019)
· Find more episodes of HBR IdeaCast.
· Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org.
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What’s the best way to determine whether or not your business should engage on potentially controversial societal issues?
In this episode, Harvard Business School senior lecturer Hubert Joly explains how to create a process for decision-making around these issues, in collaboration with your board.
Joly wrote a case study based on his own time as chairman and CEO of electronics retailer Best Buy. When George Floyd was murdered in Minneapolis in 2020, just a few miles from their global headquarters, Joly led the organization through weeks of unrest and protests in their community and within the firm.
The episode also offers lessons from other organizations, like Nike, Disney, and Starbucks, whose leaders have spoken out on issues related to racism and LGBTQ rights.
Key episode topics include: leadership, business ethics, social movements, corporate social responsibility.
HBR On Leadership curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.
· Listen to the original Cold Call episode: Should Businesses Take a Stand on Societal Issues? (2024)
· Find more episodes of Cold Call
· Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org
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Do you know how your best employees feel about their work?
Are they actually engaged and motivated? Or are they already looking for a better opportunity? If so, what would it take to make them want to stay?
In this episode, you’ll learn how to retain your best employees for the long term, including tactics you can use to help the people you manage feel valued and respected. You’ll also learn what to do when a valuable employee says they have another job offer.
Key episode topics include: leadership, employee retention, career coaching, managing teams.
HBR On Leadership curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.
· Listen to the original Women at Work episode: The Essentials: Retaining Talent (2022)
· Find more episodes of Women at Work.
· Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org.
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Joel Peterson has spent a career leading teams, building businesses, and managing people at every level. Along the way, he’s learned valuable lessons about the best ways to bring on new talent, as well as when and how to let people go.
Peterson is the former chairman of JetBlue Airways. He also teaches at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
He shares his approach to hiring for top leadership positions and why it’s so important to slow down and take plenty of time with interviews. He also explains how he coaches new hires who are struggling and how he knows when it’s time to let someone go.
You’ll learn why Peterson says you shouldn’t wait for a “triggering event” to fire someone who’s not performing. And you’ll learn why he never outsources that difficult conversation to human resources.
Key episode topics include: leadership, dismissing employees, hiring and recruitment, managing people, difficult conversations, firing.
HBR On Leadership curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.
· Listen to the original HBR IdeaCast episode: Rules for Effective Hiring — and Firing (2020)
· Find more episodes of HBR IdeaCast.
· Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org.
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Knowing how to get people to listen to you is an important part of leadership. But HBR contributing editor and workplace conflict expert Amy Gallo says being heard isn't about how loud you say something. It's about saying the right thing at the right time—in other words, it’s about having a communication strategy. In this episode, Gallo offers research-based tips for how to lay the groundwork for your ideas. She also offers advice on how to manage your body language and what to watch out for in your counterpart’s body language as well.
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Harvard Business School senior lecturer Mark Roberge argues that every aspect of being an early-stage founder involves sales. But many founders lack an understanding of how to incorporates sales into their ventures.
Which sales candidate is a startup’s ideal first hire? What marketing channels are worth investing in? How aggressively should you align sales with customer success?
In this episode, you’ll learn how to hire for early sales roles, design compensation, and lay a strong foundation for a growing sales team.
Key episode topics include: leadership, entrepreneurship, sales, marketing, startups, entrepreneurial business strategy, pricing strategy, talent management.
HBR On Leadership curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.
· Listen to the original Cold Call episode: What Founders Get Wrong about Sales and Marketing (2023)
· Find more episodes of Cold Call
· Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org
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Are you ready to be a manager?
In this episode, Ellen Van Oosten answers questions from listeners who are struggling to move into management. She offers advice for what to do when you’ve been tapped for a managerial role, but you don’t want the job. She also discusses how to respond if your supervisor is blocking you from earning a promotion into management, and how you can make the move to manager even if you only have informal management experience.
Van Oosten is a professor at the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve. She’s also a coauthor of the book, Helping People Change: Coaching with Compassion for Lifelong Learning and Growth.
Key episode topics include: leadership, careers, career transitions, managing people,
coaching, growth.
HBR On Leadership curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.
· Listen to the original Dear HBR episode: Management Material (2020)
· Find more episodes of Dear HBR.
· Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org.
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If you think your organization is difficult to maneuver, consider the unique challenges of government leadership.
Former Massachusetts governor Charlie Baker and his former chief of staff Steve Kadish faced many challenges during Baker’s time in office—perhaps most notably: the Covid-19 pandemic.
Looking back, they argue that running a government is often much harder than leading a private-sector company. For one thing, Baker says, there’s rightly more public scrutiny of every decision you make as a leader. And, Kadish adds, decision-making is far more dispersed.
In this episode, they share their four-part framework for breaking down complicated problems with many stakeholders to get results. If you’re struggling with bureaucracy and politics in your organization, this episode is for you.
Key episode topics include: leadership, strategy execution, government, stakeholder management, decision making, problem solving, negotiation.
HBR On Leadership curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.
· Listen to the original HBR IdeaCast episode: Leadership Lessons from a Republican Governor in a Blue State (2022)
· Find more episodes of HBR IdeaCast.
· Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org.
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How do you guide a team working on innovative projects—when there is no existing playbook?
Astro Teller says he uses a vetted approach to decision-making for the innovative projects that he and his teams undertake at X, Alphabet’s R&D engine.
Teller is the Captain of Moonshots at X, which he helped launch at Google in 2010. His mission there is to invent and launch new technologies that address serious problems in the world. But those technologies must also create the foundations for substantial new businesses for Google’s parent company, Alphabet. They’ve worked on a pill that detects cancer, cars that drive themselves, and mega-kites that work as turbines to collect wind energy, to name just a few examples.
In this episode, Teller offers key lessons for managing the process that delivers breakthrough innovations. You’ll learn how he decides to keep investing in a project, and how he knows when it’s time to pull the plug. You’ll also learn how he assembles teams and what qualities he looks for in potential new hires.
Key episode topics include: leadership, innovation, technology and analytics, leadership and managing people, experimentation, creativity, breakthrough, Alphabet, Google.
HBR On Leadership curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.
· Listen to the original HBR IdeaCast episode: X’s Astro Teller on Managing Moonshot Innovation (2023)
· Find more episodes of HBR IdeaCast.
· Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org.
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Chobani is a leader in the global yogurt market, with more than 20 percent share of the U.S. market alone. It all started with one man, an abandoned yogurt factory in upstate New York, and a mission to make quality yogurt accessible to more people.
In this episode, Harvard Business Review editor in chief Adi Ignatius and Chobani founder and CEO Hamdi Ulukaya discuss mission-driven entrepreneurship.
You’ll learn how Ulukaya kept Chobani true to its original values, even as it scaled and began competing in new sectors. You’ll also learn why he adapted Chobani’s mission to center his employees.
Key episode topics include: leadership, entrepreneurship, entrepreneurs and founders, entrepreneurial management, food and beverage sector, Chobani, yogurt.
HBR On Leadership curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.
· View to the original New World of Work episode: Chobani Founder Hamdi Ulukaya on the Journey from Abandoned Factory to Yogurt Powerhouse (2022)
· Find more episodes of the New World of Work
· Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org
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What distinguishes a leader? How do you know if you’re ready to lead? And how do you make the transition into a leadership role?
The shift from being part of a team to leading one isn’t like flipping a switch. It’s a process, and it can be awkward. It can be especially difficult your identity differs from other leaders in your organization — for example, if you’re a young leader in an organization dominated by older leaders, or a woman in a male-dominated organization.
In this episode, two leadership coaches, Amy Su and Muriel Wilkins of Paravis Partners, explain how to develop a leadership presence that’s both authentic to you and resonates with others. You’ll also learn some deeper questions to ask yourself during your transition into leadership.
Key episode topics include: leadership, gender, authenticity, leadership presence, transitions, influencing others, leadership style, leadership journey.
HBR On Leadership curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.
· Listen to the original Women at Work episode: Seeing Ourselves as Leaders (2019)
· Find more episodes of Women at Work.
· Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org.
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In early 2003, the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated as it re-entered the earth’s atmosphere. All seven astronauts on board were killed.
This was not the first NASA mission to end in disaster, and it inspired Harvard Business School professor Amy Edmondson to write a business case about what went wrong.
Edmondson studies psychological safety and organizational learning. Her most recent book is Right Kind of Wrong: The Science of Failing Well.
In this episode, she breaks down the organizational challenges within NASA that contributed to the Columbia tragedy, offering a window into the organization’s leadership. Edmondson also shares lessons for all leaders about the dangers of unyielding hierarchy and of failing to listen to dissenting voices.
Key episode topics include: leadership, managing people, organizational culture, operations and supply chain management, NASA, hierarchy, science.
HBR On Leadership curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.
· Listen to the original Cold Call episode: The Space Shuttle Columbia’s Final Mission (2016)
· Find more episodes of Cold Call
· Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org
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In 1863, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln wrote a scathing letter to his top Union general, who had squandered an opportunity to end the American Civil War. Then Lincoln folded it up and tucked it away in his desk.
The letter was never signed and sent—just one example of how Lincoln’s legendary emotional discipline enabled him to rise above mundane arguments and focus on a larger mission.
In this episode, Harvard Business School professor and historian Nancy Koehn analyzes Lincoln’s leadership both before and during America’s greatest crisis.
You'll learn how emotional self-control can impact your day-to-day leadership as well as your long-term legacy.
Key episode topics include: leadership, crisis management, decision making and problem solving, government, American history, emotional discipline, communication.
HBR On Leadership curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.
· Listen to the original HBR IdeaCast episode: Real Leaders: Abraham Lincoln and the Power of Emotional Discipline (2020)
· Find more episodes of HBR IdeaCast
· Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org
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Growing up in the heart of the Confederacy, Maggie Lena Walker started work as a laundress at age nine. At the urging of her mother and mentors, she turned to education, and used it to propel her life forward — graduating high school at 16, working as a teacher, and learning accounting.
Those experiences, coupled with her strong work ethic, culminated in Walker rising to lead the Independent Order of St. Luke and found several other businesses, all of which created jobs and opportunities for many women and Blacks people where there had been none before.
In this episode, Harvard Business School senior lecturer Tony Mayo traces Walker’s approach to leadership on her journey to becoming the first female bank president in America.
You’ll learn how she led the turnaround of the Order of St. Luke starting in 1899 by cutting costs, increasing membership, and launching new businesses that catered to unmet needs in Richmond's Black community. You’ll also learn how Walker relied on her personal networks and deep local roots to overcome challenges rooted in systemic racism throughout her career.
Key episode topics include: leadership, managing people, entrepreneurship, race, gender, Independent Order of St. Luke.
HBR On Leadership curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.
· Listen to the original Cold Call episode: Black Business Leaders Series: A Remarkable Legacy of Firsts, Maggie Lena Walker (2017)
· Find more episodes of Cold Call
· Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org
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Most of us can point to a few key people who have made a real difference in our lives and careers—the coach who pushed you to outperform, the teacher whose passion for a subject inspired your own, or the boss who showed you what it is to be a leader at work.
In this episode, NBA star Chris Paul shares how his own mentors guided him through the early years of his professional basketball career and helped him develop his leadership skills on and off the court.
Paul is regarded as one of the best point guards of all time and led the National Basketball Players Association from 2013 to 2021. He shares what he’s learned about mentorship and leadership—and the important role communication skills play in enabling both. He also explains how to communicate with colleagues in a high-pressure situation and why it’s so important to listen to the people you lead.
Key episode topics include: leadership, teams, power and influence, leading teams, organizational culture, basketball, sports.
HBR On Leadership curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.
· Listen to the original HBR IdeaCast episode: NBA Star Chris Paul on Mentorship and Taking a Stand (2023)
· Find more episodes of HBR IdeaCast
· Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org
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Do you have a difficult employee on your team— someone who might be underperforming or resistant to taking feedback? Do you know how to help them?
Melvin Smith says that coaching can be harder than you realize. First you must figure out which approach will work well for that specific employee. But you also need to know how to measure the success of your coaching and when it’s time to move on to other options—like performance management.
In this episode, he takes questions from listeners who are struggling to coach some of their employees. He offers advice for what to do when your new employee is slacking off, or when they’re struggling to adjust to your organization’s culture and communication style. He also has suggestions for coaching two direct reports who are in conflict with each other.
Smith is a professor at the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University and coauthor of the book Helping People Change: Coaching with Compassion for Lifelong Learning and Growth.
Key episode topics include: leadership, careers, career coaching, managing people, organizational culture, difficult conversations.
HBR On Leadership curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.
· Listen to the original Dear HBR episode: Coaching Problem Employees (2020)
· Find more episodes of Dear HBR.
· Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org.
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Making business decisions often means choosing one path over another—but that doesn’t always need to be the case. Wendy Smith and Marianne Lewis argue that leaders should move beyond “either/or” choices and try to come up with solutions that embrace ambiguity and paradox.
In this episode, you’ll learn how to reframe the question you’re asking in order to get more creative answers. You’ll also learn how to shift your own internal thinking away from oppositional relationships and instead focus on interdependencies.
Smith is a management professor at the University of Delaware, and Lewis is dean of the University of Cincinnati Lindner College of Business. Together they’re coauthors of the book Both/And Thinking: Embracing Creative Tensions to Solve Your Toughest Problems.
Key episode topics include: leadership, decision making and problem solving, tradeoffs, reframing.
HBR On Leadership curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.
· Listen to the original HBR IdeaCast episode: Decisions Don’t Have to Be Either-Or (2022)
· Find more episodes of HBR IdeaCast.
· Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org.
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You’re probably familiar with the term “psychological safety.” But do you know what it really means?
HBR contributing editor and workplace conflict expert Amy Gallo says both the idea and the value of psychological safety are commonly misunderstood. Gallo cohosts HBR’s Women at Work podcast, and her most recent book is Getting Along: How to Work with Anyone (Even Difficult People).
In this episode, you’ll learn how to define psychological safety, how to figure out if your team has it, and what to do if it doesn’t.
Key episode topics include: leadership, organizational culture, psychology, teams, leading teams, psychological safety, emotional intelligence.
HBR On Leadership curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.
· Watch the original HBR Guide episode: What Is Psychological Safety? (2023)
· Find more episodes of the HBR Guide series on YouTube.
· Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org.
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