Leadership and managing people

Without clipping their wings.

A curated list to help you do your job better.

The corporate president stared out the window of his skyscraper office. His forehead was furrowed in anger and puzzlement. His fingers drummed the arm of his chair with a speed that signified intense frustration. The other executives in the room waited expectantly. Each had said his piece. Each had come to his and her own […]

When work is demanding, it's the little (but really important) things that suffer.

Hitting the hiring bull’s-eye is one of an executive’s most important—and most difficult—responsibilities. Ten common mistakes can get in the way, but a pointed and systematic approach can virtually guarantee success.

It’s hard to focus on your work when your child is hallucinating. One of the least discussed yet quite salient issues for American business in this year of health care reform is an important yet hidden cost associated with mental illness: the drain on productive work endured by family members struggling to support loved ones […]

Five tips to set yourself apart.

The primitive, emotional parts of our brains have a powerful influence on the choices we make. Now, neuroscientists are mapping the risk and reward systems in the brain that drive our best—and worst—decision making.

Bonuses and other forms of incentive compensation are an effective motivator of executives to achieve ever higher earnings per share. The drive to produce short-term results, however, often influences management to forgo investment in capital equipment and R&D that would benefit the corporation several years hence even more than improved earnings next year would. The […]

A study reveals the risks of helping your employees deal with personal problems.

The best change agents almost never realize when it’s time to stop. That’s what makes them so good.

Tips for staying calm through a stressful stretch.

You’re not paying attention to your family, your community, your private self? All you have time for is your career? You’re making a big mistake. How things are going at home, in your community, and in your interior life all influence whether you perform well at work. Over 20 years of research and practice on […]

Even in engineering, competence alone isn't enough.

Network groups for black and Hispanic employees had been an unqualified success. Now a Christian group was forming—and Bill Thompson didn’t know what to think about it.

Employees learn how to run meetings, have conversations, and set goals.

When should a family business give up on an outside leader?

I recently returned from the Peter Drucker Global Forum Vienna, Austria, an event held as part of the centennial celebration of Peter Drucker’s birth. Having studied and written about Drucker extensively, spent years infusing his thinking into my own management consulting work, and befriended him late in his life, I take three messages from the […]

More than 2.2 million women have been displaced from the U.S. labor market since March.

Why should that be a surprise?

The four-part case study (text cases A, B, C, and video case D) illustrates key concepts and lessons about leading adaptive change in the context of some...

This case addresses the issues of leadership and change management in the process of transforming an industry through an innovative public-private partnership...

The four-part case study (text cases A, B, C, and video case D) illustrates key concepts and lessons about leading adaptive change in the context of some...

Many Chinese family businesses are facing a succession crisis due to the lack of succession planning. Contrary to this finding, Chen Koon-yaw, the fourth-generation...

Xerox Production Manager Jim Deese has to address the concerns of an employee who is uncomfortable with the company's "vision quests," or creative and...

Focuses on competitive repositioning, organizational renewal, and personal leadership. Describes how Asahi Breweries was faced with a major capacity expansion...

This case explores the use of social media to support product design, customer support, marketing and HR activities at National Instruments (NI). Based...

Circumstantial evidence points to the possibility that the Japanese Imperial Army showed many common features ¿ both positive and negative ¿ with present-day...

This note develops and explains a five-part framework for persuading others to support (or not oppose) a desired course of action.

This case asks students to consider how to prioritize goals when placed in a new leadership role. In August 2014, Meredith "Max" Hodges became the youngest...

The four-part case study (text cases A, B, C, and video case D) illustrates key concepts and lessons about leading adaptive change in the context of some...

The cases focus on how Zhang Ruimin, CEO of the Qingdao refrigerator factory, managed to turn around a nearly bankrupt factory which produced bad quality...

Marc Buoniconti is the co-founder of the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, a nonprofit medical research organization. The project was founded in 1985 by...

After years of vigorous denials, on January 14, 2013 Lance Armstrong admitted in a television interview with Oprah Winfrey that he "doped" in each of...

Examines the implementation of a new patient care delivery model at Massachusetts General Hospital. Uses clinical and financial data to examine different...

How would you react if you were faced with a humiliating interaction with an abrasive colleague, boss, coworker, or direct report? What if that person...

Presents a framework for thinking about problems of implementing strategy. Defines the tasks of implementation and the range of implementation situations,...

Philip McCrea is dealing with the aftermath of the move of his company and family from San Francisco to New Jersey (from the A case). Although the move...

Flying J was a family-owned company that operated travel plazas, oil refineries, a bank for trucking companies, and other related businesses. In early...

The Packet Design case looks at successful serial entrepreneur Judy Estrin and her efforts to build a technology incubator immediately before the Internet...

Without clipping their wings.

The four-part case study (text cases A, B, C, and video case D) illustrates key concepts and lessons about leading adaptive change in the context of some...

A curated list to help you do your job better.

The corporate president stared out the window of his skyscraper office. His forehead was furrowed in anger and puzzlement. His fingers drummed the arm of his chair with a speed that signified intense frustration. The other executives in the room waited expectantly. Each had said his piece. Each had come to his and her own […]

When work is demanding, it's the little (but really important) things that suffer.

Hitting the hiring bull’s-eye is one of an executive’s most important—and most difficult—responsibilities. Ten common mistakes can get in the way, but a pointed and systematic approach can virtually guarantee success.

It’s hard to focus on your work when your child is hallucinating. One of the least discussed yet quite salient issues for American business in this year of health care reform is an important yet hidden cost associated with mental illness: the drain on productive work endured by family members struggling to support loved ones […]

Five tips to set yourself apart.

The primitive, emotional parts of our brains have a powerful influence on the choices we make. Now, neuroscientists are mapping the risk and reward systems in the brain that drive our best—and worst—decision making.

Bonuses and other forms of incentive compensation are an effective motivator of executives to achieve ever higher earnings per share. The drive to produce short-term results, however, often influences management to forgo investment in capital equipment and R&D that would benefit the corporation several years hence even more than improved earnings next year would. The […]