HBR IdeaCast

Companies that spend their energy on incremental improvements to products, services, and even employee experience might just be spinning their wheels. Author Marcus Buckingham argues that data show that the only way to truly make an impact on performance is to make sure customers don't just like - but love - whatever you are selling them. He shares why extreme positive experiences are so important, companies that are getting it right, and how even the most basic products can inspire love and connection--with the right strategy. Buckingham is author of the HBR article "What Companies Can Learn from Their Biggest Fans" and the book Design Love In: How to Unleash the Most Powerful Force in Business.

Are you a morning type, a night owl, or somewhere in between? And what about the people on your team? When do they feel most energized and productive? Stefan Volk, professor of management at the University of Sydney Business School, says that leaders need to pay more attention to their own and employees’ circadian rhythms because they have a big impact on performance. While forcing everyone into the same schedule can lead to conflict, mistakes, and burnout, carefully planning tasks around individual energy peaks enhances collaboration not only during overlaps but also when people are apart. He offers practical advice on how to get all chronotypes working well together. Volk is author of the HBR article "Tapping into Your Team's Circadian Rhythms."

Artificial intelligence is advancing quickly, but its real impact on productivity, jobs, and competitive advantage is still uncertain. In this four-part special series, we'll share conversations from the recent HBR Strategy Summit to help you get ahead. In this episode, Andrew McAfee, principal research scientist at MIT and cofounder and codirector of the MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy at the MIT Sloan School of Management, will explain why we’re in a moment where “nobody knows anything” about how AI will ultimately reshape business—and what leaders should do anyway. Plus, he argues cutting entry-level hiring because of AI could be a major long-term mistake. HBR editor at large Adi Ignatius contributes audience questions.

For sustainability to be a core part of your business model, you might need to rethink how and why you incorporate sustainable policies and products. That's according to IMD Business School professor Goutam Challagalla, who explains that many customers don't want to pay a premium for sustainability. Instead, he argues that good intentions around sustainability can often lead to weak strategy and wasted investment. He explains how instead, leaders should think about sustainability as a way to create innovation and truly drive customer value, by doing things like reducing inefficiencies and creating affordable products. Challagalla is coauthor, along with Frédéric Dalsace, of the book Clean Winners: Sustainability Strategy That Puts Customers First.

As AI takes hold of the business world, is long-term competitive advantage a thing of the past? In this four-part special series, we'll share conversations from the recent HBR Strategy Summit to help you get ahead. In this episode, Columbia Business School professor Rita McGrath explains how she thinks companies must adapt when they can no longer depend on their competitive advantage lasting. She explains the most important strategic decision an organization can make today, and what it looks like to run an "unbossed" organization. HBR editor in chief Amy Bernstein contributes audience questions.

Disagreement is essential to better decisions—but most of us either avoid it or handle it poorly. Julia Minson is a professor of public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, and she's spent years studying disagreement and what we get wrong. She explains why intent matters less than behavior, how leaders can model “receptiveness,” and why the goal of a good disagreement isn’t to win—but to keep the conversation going. Minson is the coauthor of the HBR article "A Smarter Way to Disagree" and author of the book How to Disagree Better.

As the Trump administration continues to reshape the U.S. and global business landscape, many have been left wondering why CEOs and other business leaders aren't vocalizing their views. Jeffrey Sonnenfeld is a professor at the Yale School of Management and has conversations every day with leaders of some of the country's biggest companies. He explains how many leaders are navigating the current state of affairs in the U.S., explains examples of collective action that have gotten the Trump administration to change course, and whether he thinks organizations are adjusting to this "new normal."

AI needs to be central to any organization's strategy today, but many are still not implementing the technology in the most effective ways. In this four-part special series, we'll share conversations from the recent HBR Strategy Summit to help you get ahead. In this episode, HBR editor in chief Amy Bernstein speaks with Nigel Vaz, CEO of Publicis Sapient, a digital transformation company. Vaz explains that many enterprise-wide AI initiatives fail because incentives, talent strategies and a sense of trust aren't considered thoroughly enough. He shares lessons from his front row seat to AI transformations in the last few years, and how he thinks you can create real operational value at scale.

As organizations and their employees ramp up their generative AI experimentation, leaders are facing a new problem: the rise of AI-generated "workslop," which seems okay on the surface but doesn't actually pass muster and, when passed on to colleagues, ultimately hurts team efficiency, performance, trust and morale. Kate Niederhoffer, chief scientist at BetterUp, and Jeff Hancock, professor of communication at Stanford, say that while it's tempting to blame individuals for this kind of misuse of ChatGPT and other tools, management is more often that not contributing to the workslop epidemic by putting pressure on employees to produce more and to use AI when possible without offering clear training or guidelines. Niederhoffer and Hancock offer advice on how to stem the tide of workslop. They are coauthors of the HBR articles "AI-Generated “Workslop” Is Destroying Productivity" and "Why People Create AI “Workslop”—and How to Stop It."

The ability of an organization to innovate over and over again, for the long term, depends on leadership structure, culture, and systems. That's according to Harvard Business School professor Linda Hill, who has spent years researching the true drivers of innovation, taking lessons from the world's most successful companies. She explains why today's leaders need to shift from the focus on decision-making and producing to creating the conditions for collaboration, experimentation, and smart decision-making across teams, silos, and wider ecosystems. She shares examples from Mastercard, Pixar, and more and outlines some newly defined ways of looking at leadership roles: as Architects, Bridgers, and Catalysts. Hill's new book is Genius at Scale: How Great Leaders Drive Innovation.

Are you guilty of bracing for the worst when it comes to your clients, colleagues, and bosses? Amer Kaissi, professor at Trinity University, explains why bringing that negative mindset to work will quietly undermine your team, organization, and career. He wants leaders to instead adopt a "positive intent mindset," which means giving everyone -- even people who disappoint you or with whom you vehemently disagree -- the benefit of the doubt. He shares five key capabilities we can all build to improve trust and performance without sacrificing accountability. Kaissi's book is called The Positive Intent Mindset: Exceptional Leadership Through Trust and Accountability.

What if the AI you integrate into your organization isn't just about efficiency or creating digital assistants, but completely changes how you work? Longtime digital trend watcher Don Tapscott says the next wave of artificial intelligence is all about identic AI - where personalized agents don't just complete tasks, but understand your judgment and values and take actions on your behalf. He explains the technologies for this that already exist amid the rise of agents and bots, what it means for leaders and organizations, and the pitfalls to look out for. Tapscott is author of You to the Power of Two: Redefining Human Potential in the Age of Identic AI.

What if your customers aren't looking for better products and services, but for a way for themselves to become better? While the experience economy remains important, Strategic Horizons cofounder B. Joseph Pine II argues that it's not enough to acquire and retain customers in today's competitive environment. He sees the next wave in business as one focused on offering outcomes to customers - and that might even mean only getting paid when customers succeed. He shares how this model might actually reduce risk, what it means in a world of AI and mass personalization, and ways that companies can truly deliver on their promises. Pine is author of the book The Transformation Economy: Guiding Customers to Achieve Their Aspirations.

Difficult change is an inevitable part of life, but few of us have the skills and mindset to handle it well. That can trickle into our work and careers, but there are lessons from psychology that can help us be more resilient. Dr. Maya Shankar, cognitive scientist and host of the podcast A Slight Change of Plans, shares concepts that can help you react, reframe, and adapt in life or work. She offers evidence-based strategies for leaders navigating personal, organizational, and technological upheaval—from burnout and culture shifts to AI-driven transformation. Shankar is author of the book The Other Side of Change: Who We Become When Life Makes Other Plans.

What does it take to stay agile and compete effectively in today's business world? Smart leaders are entirely reorienting their organizations around project-based work, says Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez, CEO of Projects & Company. This requires learning how to better prioritize, fund, and staff these initiatives; measure and incentivize success; and quickly end projects that aren't working so resources can be diverted to ones that are. He explains why executives must radically rethink how they and others spend time, how work gets done, and the eventual pay-off of this kind of reorg. Nieto-Rodriguez wrote the book Powered by Projects and the HBR article "The Project Driven Organization."

Over the years, investor Ray Dalio built his hedge fund, Bridgewater Associates, into one of the largest in the world. He's done that in part by understanding the history of economic cycles and macroeconomic trends. He's also made shrewd investing and management decisions and stands by his values. He shares where he sees the U.S. today in terms of economic power and the progress that leaders of all kinds need to make to better the situation, as well as his personal views on how to lead well. Dalio is the author of How Countries Go Broke: The Big Cycle.

Professional search firms play a big role in discovering and choosing leaders for senior roles. That’s why anyone with C-suite ambitions needs to understand the recruiting process and what these evaluators are looking for. Mark Thompson, chairman of the Chief Executive Alliance, and Byron Loflin, global head of board advisory at Nasdaq, explain the ins and outs of recruitment, how to develop your narrative and navigate formal assessments and reference checks, and the best ways to build ongoing relationships. Thompson and Loflin are authors of the HBR article "How to Stand Out to C Suite Recruiters" and the book CEO Ready: What You Need to Know to Earn the Job and Keep the Job.

How does an organization with 100 years of history stay relevant, adaptable, and forward-looking? Bob Sternfels, who runs McKinsey & Company as the Global Managing Partner, has led the company through a wave of recent challenges while trying to plan the road ahead for the consulting industry leader. He explains the balance he's aiming to strike between AI agents and human employees, how he's handled moments of scrutiny, and the ways in which he's been working to build trust both internally and externally.

How different is the newest generation in the workforce, really? While stereotypes abound — some of them unfair — it’s important to understand what the young adults of Gen Z have in common and how they differ from Millennials, Gen X and Boomers. Tim Elmore is a leadership coach and author who says that this generation in particular craves connection with their colleagues, meaningful work, and assurances that they’re seen as people not commodities. He explains how organizational leaders can adapt to the needs of these workers while still maintaining high standards, providing feedback, and building grit and resilience. Elmore wrote the book "The Future Begins with Z: Nine Strategies to Lead Generation Z as They Disrupt the Workplace."

What does it take to rebuild a legendary brand, lead through failure, and win on the world’s most competitive stage? Zac Brown, CEO of McLaren Racing, which competes in Formula 1 racing, explains how he helped guide the company through a rough chapter of its history, powering through financial strain and declining performance to change the company culture and get it back on the winning track. As part of the HBR Executive Live series, he spoke with host Adi Ignatius about staying sharp in a cutthroat industry, leveraging data and AI to get ahead, and how to lead an organization that is equal parts competition and collaboration.

Senior executives are often told to focus on big-picture strategy while delegating the specifics of execution. But, according to Scott Cook, cofounder and former CEO of Intuit, smart leaders also spend time on the details of how the organization gets work done at every level, including the front lines. Working with Harvard Business School professor Nitin Nohria, he studied companies from Toyota to Amazon to better understand why hands-on leadership, from the CEO down, works and how to do it without micromanaging. They are coauthors of the HBR article "The Surprising Success of Hands-On Leaders."

What does it look like for a business in 2025 to build a strategy around sustainability? In this Future of Business series, IdeaCast hosts Alison Beard and Adi Ignatius sat down with four leading CEOs to understand where global business is going. In this episode, host Adi Ignatius speaks with Poul Weihrauch, CEO of Mars, about how he manages the family-owned global pet care, snacking and food company. They discuss balancing short-term performance with long-term goals, resilience, and the business case for sustainability-driven innovation.

Most companies say they want to be more innovative, agile, and customer-centric. But in reality, many still operate like 20th-century factories: hierarchical, risk-averse, and slow. Jana Werner, executive in residence of enterprise strategy at Amazon Web Services, argues that organizations should instead think of an octopus: an organism that manages complexity, can work in many different modes with some autonomy, but all moving in concert toward a common goal. Werner says the future belongs to companies that distribute decision-making, empower teams at the edge, and treat innovation as everyone’s job, and explains steps you can take as a leader to make this cultural shift. She's the coauthor along with Phil Le-Brun of the HBR article "Become an Octopus Organization" and the book, The Octopus Organization: A Guide to Thriving in a World of Continuous Transformation.

What are CEOs across industries doing to build resilience and strong cultures in an age of uncertainty? In this Future of Business series, IdeaCast hosts Alison Beard and Adi Ignatius sat down with four leading CEOs to understand where global business is going. In this episode, host Alison Beard speaks with Noubar Afeyan, the CEO of Flagship Pioneering and Chairman of Moderna. Afeyan shares the organizational models and practices that work best to produce innovation, the difference between managing risk and managing uncertainty, and what separates true breakthrough innovation from everyday, incremental improvements.

It's harder than ever for companies to get their marketing messages in front of the right customers. One increasingly popular -- but also risky -- tactic is fastvertising, the rapid development of ads that tap into a cultural moment, aiming to increase brand relevance and awareness. Harvard Business School associate professor Ayelet Israeli shares pitch-perfect examples, including those from her coauthor, the actor Ryan Reynolds, and his marketing firm Maximum Effort. She explains the importance of timing, describes the talent, culture, and processes you need to succeed, and outlines how to extend the impact of these ads. Ayelet, along with Leonard Schlesinger, Matt Higgins, and Ryan Reynolds, wrote the HBR article "Marketing at the Speed of Culture."

Even in difficult times, leadership must be about empathy, authenticity, fairness and service. That's according to Darren Walker, the outgoing CEO of the Ford Foundation, a nonprofit with an endowment of billions of dollars and a charge to reduce poverty and injustice. Drawing on his own upbringing in rural Texas to his time at the helm of one of the world’s largest philanthropies, Walker explains how inequality erodes hope, why discomfort is essential for meaningful change, and how leaders can build the courage to speak honestly.

In uncertain times, leaders at all levels can learn from what the world's best CEOs are doing to protect themselves and forge a path ahead. In this Future of Business series, IdeaCast hosts Alison Beard and Adi Ignatius sat down with four leading CEOs who manage across different industries and geographies to understand where global business is going. In this episode, host Adi Ignatius speaks with Walmart CEO Doug McMillon, who since announced he'll be retiring in early 2026. They discuss how the world's largest company makes it through global disruption and supply chain shocks, their ongoing digital transformation including the implementation of AI, and how McMillon aims to stay close to the original purpose of the company.

Geopolitics are no longer a tailwind for businesses today, opening markets and boosting global trade. Instead, argues ESSEC Business School associate professor Srividya Jandhyala, rising national security concerns and protectionist economic policies have created a headwind for many organizations, and that's changing how executives need to operate. She explains what’s changed in the global balance of power, how it's affecting even small to medium-sized companies and unexpected industries —from shrimp farming to fast fashion -- and why leaders need new talent and risk management strategies to adapt. Jandhyala is the author of the book The Great Disruption.

In uncertain times, leaders at all levels can learn from what the world's leading CEOs are doing to protect their companies from risk and forge a path forward. In this Future of Business series, IdeaCast hosts Alison Beard and Adi Ignatius interview four chief executives from different industries and geographies to better understand where global business is going. In this episode, Alison speaks with Sim Tshabalala, the CEO of Standard Bank. He explains how his childhood in apartheid South Africa informed his decision to go into finance, why purpose drives the company's approach to everything from strategy to customer service, and the role he believes businesses like his must play in promoting sustainable growth.

Leadership takes daring and steadfastness even in the best of times. In eras of shaky political, economic, and social stability, researcher and author Brené Brown argues it is more important than ever to stay true to your values, make thoughtful decisions, and avoid succumbing to external pressures. The podcast host and University of Houston research professor shares what she's learned in her latest studies and explains how to avoid reactivity as an organizational leader navigating a distrusting and disconnected world. Brown is author of Strong Ground: The Lessons of Daring Leadership, the Tenacity of Paradox, and the Wisdom of the Human Spirit.

It isn't always easy to feel like you can have it all: career, family, hobbies and inner peace. Harvard professor Arthur C. Brooks studies happiness and says it is a direction, not a destination. Brooks believes happiness is especially important for leaders, as the higher you climb the more stressful the job can get - and the wider impact you can have on others. Live in conversation at Harvard Business School's Klarman Hall, he speaks with IdeaCast host and HBR editor at large Adi Ignatius about the importance of empathy and having a greater purpose in your life, not just in your career. Brooks is author of the book The Happiness Files: Insights on Work and Life.

When Wikipedia was founded in 2001, the idea that people around the world could come together to create an accurate online encyclopedia covering virtually any topic seemed far-fetched. But today many people see the website as a trusted source of well-curated and -cited information. That's because of careful decisions that its leaders made about how to operate. Cofounder Jimmy Wales explains how introducing a simple purpose, insisting on certain rules of engagement, and other strategies helped the organization to build trust with contributors and users -- and maintain it even in a world bombarded by misinformation. Wales is the author of The Seven Rules of Trust: A Blueprint for Building Things That Last.

When you hit a roadblock in your career, it's easy to blame external factors like the economy, the organization, or your boss. But leaders are just as often stymied by their own beliefs about how they need to show up and operate at work, shares executive coach Muriel Wilkins. Through decades of work counseling high-powered executives, she's uncovered the seven main ways that people limit their own success and has advice on how to overcome those mental blocks. Wilkins is author of the HBR article "The Hidden Beliefs That Hold Leaders Back" and the book Leadership Unblocked: Break Through the Beliefs That Limit Your Potential.

When it first came out in 2005, Freakonomics unearthed the hidden side to everything, helping bring behavioral economics to the forefront of popular culture. But it also has had lasting impacts on how leaders understand problems, how advertisers understand consumers, and how we all understand the workplace. Coauthor Stephen Dubner explains the difficulty of bringing complex economic concepts to the masses, what's surprised him about the hidden side of everything, and what he sees as the impact of his work. Dubner is coauthor of Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explains the Hidden Side of Everything and host of the Freakonomics podcast.

In a crowded media and marketing environment, it can be hard to catch the attention and imagination of consumers. Two people paying close attention to what's working now are Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon and seasoned marketing executive Bozoma Saint John, and they've just launched a reality show called "On Brand" to showcase the work that creatives and companies do to sell their ideas, products, and services. Fallon and Saint John share what their different career paths have taught them about personal branding, working collaboratively, managing teams, and how to navigate the changing media landscape.

Cory Doctorow, author and digital rights advocate, argues that big tech companies from Facebook to Google and beyond have evolved - or devolved - in a disappointing way. He says that many large tech companies begin with a good product, but that over time they prioritize first business customers, and then ultimately shareholders and profits over end users. That creates a decline in service quality, and Doctorow explains why that's bad for customers, companies, and the broader economy and society. Doctorow wrote the new book Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It.

Courage involves taking bold action despite uncertainty and fear. In a volatile business environment, it's hard to be brave. But Ranjay Gulati, a professor at Harvard Business School, says that there are strategies any of us can use to get improve our ability to make smart bets on the future. He's studied dozens of leaders across industries and explains how they embolden themselves and their organizations by building a positive narrative around the mission, cultivating self-confidence, stepping their way into a better understanding of the situation, finding connection, and staying calm. Gulati wrote the HBR article "Now is the Time for Courage" and the book How To Be Bold: The Surprising Science of Everyday Courage.

As a leader, psychology is fundamental to your success - whether that means understanding consumer behavior, team dynamics, or even your own biases and blind spots. Harvard professor Steven Pinker says that an important phenomena to understand is that of common knowledge and its downstream effects. It's the idea that there is power in knowledge, but also power in knowing what other people know - and that when a large group of people know what others around them know, and vice versa, that's when major change can happen. He explains how common knowledge underlies meme stocks, the rise of crypto, meeting etiquette and the success of Super Bowl ads. Pinker wrote the new book When Everyone Knows That Everyone Knows . . .: Common Knowledge and the Mysteries of Money, Power, and Everyday Life.

Across industries, organizations are struggling to move as quickly as they need to on key priorities and new initiatives. The solution for many, says Stanford's Melissa Valentine, might be "flash teams" -- project groups that can be instantly, efficiently, and cost-effectively brought together and organized via online labor markets and AI and other digital tools to solve any problem. She explains why companies and leaders should embrace this new type of collaboration, how flash teams work in practice, and the pitfalls to look out for. Valentine is coauthor along with Michael Bernstein of the book Flash Teams: Leading the Future of AI-Enhanced, On-Demand Work.

A fast-moving lie can do more damage to a company’s reputation than a slow, careful truth can fix. Executives who think fake news is just a political problem are underestimating its reach and cost. Patrick Haack, professor of strategy and responsible management at HEC Lausanne, explains why traditional responses like silence or fact-checking aren’t enough. He outlines what companies should be doing instead: building credibility in advance, monitoring for signs of virality, and enlisting outside allies to push back. It’s a playbook designed not just to correct the record but to protect trust before it erodes. Haack is coauthor of the HBR article “How to Counter Fake News.”

At every stage of leadership, it's important to hand some tasks and even decisions off to team members to foster their development and free up your time for higher level work. But even seasoned bosses often have trouble effectively delegating. Elsbeth Johnson, senior lecturer at the MIT Sloan School of Management, explains the four main reasons why we struggle -- both internal and external -- and outlines strategies for overcoming them to level up your delegation game. Johnson wrote the HBR article "Why Aren’t I Better at Delegating?"

Leading an organization is a serious job, but Adam Christing argues that humor is a shortcut to building trust at an organization - and without it, you might be missing out on an important leadership tool. Christing is a comedian, speaker and author and he walks through five main kinds of humor that are most effective at work. It's not about knock-knock jokes, he says, but finding a style that's authentic to you. Christing is author of the book The Laughter Factor: The 5 Humor Tactics to Link, Lift, and Lead.

Amid great economic, political, and technological change, it can feel impossible to predict what might happen next. Nick Foster, a futurist and designer who has worked at Google X, Sony, and elsewhere, says that most of us struggle because we tend to fall into one pattern of thinking about the future. A better approach -- for leaders, teams, and entire organizations -- is to consider the long-term view through multiple lenses, understanding the strengths and weaknesses of each. He explains how more deep and rigorous thinking and discussion on these issues can yield better outcomes for businesses of all kinds. Foster is the author of the book Could, Should, Might, Don't: How We Think About the Future.

AI ecosystems are moving fast, and smart leaders are considering all options when it comes to staying competitive. Amit Joshi is a professor at IMD Business School, and he argues that leaders should be looking to Chinese technology as a possible way to power up their strategies and growth. The adoption comes with some risks that leaders must be aware of, Joshi explains, but a careful combination of multiple AI tools could be the answer. He also explains just how far Chinese AI platforms have come since the arrival of DeepSeek, what makes them different, and examples of how companies are integrating them into their tech stacks the right way. Joshi is coauthor of the HBR article "How Savvy Companies are Using Chinese AI."

Whether your organization encourages working from home or the office, much of your business is no doubt conducted virtually — over email, on Slack, or via Zoom meetings. But few of us think very carefully about how to most effectively use these tools or which to employ when. And few teams and companies have established best practices for virtual communication, which can hurt collaboration, sales, engagement, and performance. Andrew Brodsky, a professor at the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin who has researched these issues, outlines practical ways to be more conscientious and intentional about our communication choices and patterns. Brodsky wrote the book Ping: The Secrets of Successful Virtual Communication.

It might seem risky to base decisions as a leader on your gut feeling or intuition. But Laura Huang's research has found that intuition isn't just an arbitrary thought or emotion; that it’s the culmination of years of data and observation, and that it is worth listening to. The Northeastern University professor shares what she's learned about intuition, how we can recognize it and tap into it, and why it is a strength for business leaders. She's the author of the book You Already Know: The Science of Mastering Your Intuition. She also wrote the HBR article "How CEOs Hone and Harness Their Intuition."

It might seem that high-achievers with important jobs don't need — or even have time for — activities that bring them joy. But it turns out that finding joy at all stages of life (along with achievement and meaningfulness) is essential to feeling satisfied and being a more effective leader. Harvard Business School professor Leslie Perlow has studied busy executives who do - or do not - find joy and explains the main ways that we can all make the most limited free time, including avoiding passive pursuits and diversifying our activities. Perlow is founder of the Crafting Your Life Project, which created the Life Matrix tool, and coauthor, along with Sari Menster and Salvatore Affinito, of the HBR article "How the Busiest People Find Joy."

Conflict has always been a big part of the business world, whether in the board room, between startup cofounders, or when employees start to disagree with the C suite. But it seems even more pronounced at work today, as political and economic issues seep into the office. Leaders must have the muscles to handle conflict big and small, argues Peter T. Coleman, a professor at Teachers College, Columbia University, where he directs the Morton Deutsch International Center for Cooperation and Conflict Resolution. He explains essential ingredients to conflict-intelligence, like adaptability and creativity - and how they can help you run a better organization. Coleman is the author of the HBR article "The Conflict-Intelligent Leader."

You might have your teams and organization implementing new AI tools, but how much have you experimented with them yourself? Alexandra Samuel is a tech speaker and journalist, and she says many leaders are still just scratching the surface of AI by using things like ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot as supercharged search engines. Instead, she recommends managers at all levels start playing with AI at the next level, building assistants to help in all sorts of functions to not just find efficiencies, but help in decision-making and strategy as well. She explains the ways she uses AI tools for everything from training to project management to coaching and strategic advice - and how you can build your own assistants to do the same. Samuel is the author of the HBR article "How to Build Your Own AI Assistant."

Lawrence H. Summers, former U.S. Treasury Secretary and President Emeritus of Harvard University, has seen the ups and downs of the American economy throughout the decades. As leaders today contend with fears of economic downturn, the growth of artificial intelligence, tariffs, inflation and more, he shares what he thinks we should—and shouldn’t—be worried about. He also discusses how he believes businesses can create stability through macroeconomic uncertainty, and how coming technological and economic forces will shift the labor market, policy agendas, and more.

Whether you're a manager trying to move your organization in a new direction, an entrepreneur seeking to fix a consumer pain point, or a non-profit leader working to improve society, it can be hard to turn your and others' passion for a cause into meaningful change. Shannon Watts, the founder of Moms Demand Action, a gun safety advocacy group, shares how she channeled her anger over U.S. school shootings into an organization with more than 10 million supporters and a string of policy victories. She explains how to know when your desires, values, and skills align to tackle a challenge, how to build a coalition, and how to keep people motivated, Watts is the author of the book Fired Up: How to Turn Your Spark into a Flame and Come Alive at Any Age.

With some high-profile CEOs demanding workers return to the office five days a week, and others touting the benefits of fully remote work, many companies compromised and ended up somewhere in the middle. But that hybrid compromise can often bring the worst of both worlds. Wharton professor Peter Cappelli and senior HR strategist Ranya Nehmeh have looked deeply at what is going wrong with hybrid - and how leaders can make it right. They explain practical ways to improve meetings, build culture, and inspire commitment from employees in a hybrid model, which is most likely here to stay. Cappelli and Nehmeh are the authors of the forthcoming book In Praise of the Office: The Limits to Hybrid and Remote Work and the HBR article "Hybrid Still Isn't Working". For further listening HBR IdeaCast Episode 1025 with Amazon CEO Andy Jassy. HBR IdeaCast Episode 877 with GitLab CEO Sid Sijbrandij.

As prime minister of New Zealand from 2017 to 2023, Jacinda Ardern managed one challenge after another: from natural disasters to a terrorist attack to the Covid-19 pandemic. To navigate that complexity, she had to learn how to gather experts and gain consensus on decisions even when information was scant or changing, to transparently communicate her plan of action, and to convey both calm and compassion, all while avoiding burnout.  Ardern offers advice to business leaders grappling with geopolitical and economic uncertainty and disruption. She's the author of the book A Different Kind of Power.

Listening well is an essential aspect of leadership - not just to maintain good relationships with employees, but to drive real business improvements and results. But many of us still get it wrong - or might think we are good listeners but don't give that impression to our teams. Jeff Yip, assistant professor of management at Simon Fraser University’s Beedle School of Business, explains why the skill is so important to business success and identifies the five main mistakes leaders make when it comes to listening. He is coauthor, along with Colin Fisher of University College London, of the HBR article “Are You Really A Good Listener?”

Although we’ve seen great successes come out of the technology sector in recent decades, many critics — and even some insiders — say it’s due for an overhaul. As a longtime Silicon Valley engineer and executive and cofounder of the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing conference, Telle Whitney argues that tech culture is still too closed-off and unwelcoming to different points of view, which leads to products and services that aren’t as good as they could be — for consumers and society. She thinks the industry — and corporate tech departments — can stay innovative while also becoming more inclusive and shares her advice for leaders who want to help. Whitney is the author of the new book Rebooting Tech Culture: How to Ignite Innovation and Build Organizations Where Everyone Can Thrive.

To achieve long-term success in tumultuous businesses like media and entertainment, following formulas and data won't get you there. Barry Diller, the current Chairman and Senior Executive of both IAC and Expedia Group, has built a decades-long career in TV, film, and digital media by going with his instincts and betting on what he views as good ideas with limitless potential. He shares what he's learned about navigating the larger-than-life personalities in Hollywood, developing talent over time, and taking advantage of luck when it comes your way. Diller is the author of the new memoir, Who Knew.

In a period of increasing political and economic uncertainty, government funding cuts, and AI that can outperform humans, many people are rightly worried about how those forces might disrupt their careers. Layoffs loom, and even those in senior leadership might soon experience - or have already endured - a setback they weren't expecting. Whitney Johnson, the CEO of Disruption Advisors, has advice on how to deal with the emotions surrounding those kinds of shocks, tactical steps you can take to get back in the game, and ways to learn from the experience so you're better positioned for the future.

It's a tough time to lead one of the biggest companies in the world - one that depends on supply chains, physical infrastructure, and top tech talent to stay competitive. But Andy Jassy, who took over as CEO of Amazon from legendary founder Jeff Bezos in 2021, manages in a way that he says helps him stay focused on what is best for their products and ultimately their customers. He explains his decision to get workers back to the office five days a week, why he is building an organization less dependent on managers, and how their artificial intelligence strategy differs from the rest.

 A new sound is in store for the HBR IdeaCast. Every Tuesday, we'll keep giving you the insights, research, and advice you need to lead, featuring practical conversations with leading thinkers. But as Adi Ignatius, editor-at-large at Harvard Business Review, joins executive editor Alison Beard as cohost of the show, we're offering even more to better serve you. Look forward to more interviews with C-suite executives, more expert perspectives on the most pressing, up-to-date problems facing leaders, and some special surprises for HBR subscribers. The new and improved HBR IdeaCast kicks off next Tuesday, be sure to hit subscribe so you don't miss an episode. Tell us what topics you'd like us to cover: [email protected]

Many industries depend on the government to finance infrastructure and research before a true private market can develop. In the case of space, there is still a strong need for public-private collaboration. But as costs drop to reach space, more private-sector companies can enter the market. Matthew Weinzierl is a senior associate dean and professor at Harvard Business School, and Brendan Rosseau is a strategy manager at Blue Origin. They explain the evolving role of the U.S. government to foster innovation and competition as the space economy increasingly privatizes. They also identify the emerging opportunities for businesses and individuals. Weinzierl and Rosseau are authors of the book Space to Grow: Unlocking the Final Economic Frontier.

It's a common story: an immigrant arrives in a new country, sees a need, and works hard to build a successful business around it. Think of Chobani, Google, or Tesla. Indeed, 45 percent of Fortune 500 companies had immigrant founders. While most research focuses on why these people launched their businesses, perhaps more interesting is how they achieved lasting success. Neri Karra Sillaman is an entrepreneurship expert at Oxford University and the founder of luxury leather goods company Neri Karra. She's studied these entrepreneurs and shares her findings, which offer lessons for anyone in the corporate world. Sillaman wrote the book Pioneers: Eight Principles of Business Longevity from Immigrant Entrepreneurs.

As you advance in your career, you develop the skills to lead teams and manage direct reports. But no matter your role or seniority, you’ll always need to manage those above you and to develop the right relationships to progress. The secret to managing up, says Melody Wilding, is being strategic and thoughtful in several key kinds of conversations with your boss and boss’s boss—including finding alignment, setting boundaries, getting visibility for your work, and winning a promotion. She explains how the effort pays off both in future opportunities and your day-to-day satisfaction on the job. Wilding is an executive coach and the author of the book Managing Up: How to Get What You Need from the People in Charge.

Whether you're a fan of Taylor Swift or not, no one can deny her success as both a music star and businesswoman. Her career has been a masterclass in everything from customer connection to innovation, decision-making to digital adaption, offering lessons for people in any industry. HBR senior editor Kevin Evers investigated Swift's rise and evolution for his new book, There's Nothing Like This: The Strategic Genius of Taylor Swift, and found interesting patterns. He explains how she's kept audiences loyal, why her Eras tour was so successful, and the vision and "productive paranoia" that have kept her on top. Evers also wrote the HBR article "The Strategic Genius of Taylor Swift."

Many organizational leaders believe remote work is here to stay. Others are requiring employees return to the workplace. But Prithriwaj “Raj” Choudhury, an associate professor at Harvard Business School, says it’s not a simple managerial choice between two options. He explains three main variations of hybrid work: quarterly, monthly, and weekly. And he shares three key challenges to remote work: isolation, communication, and socialization. And he breaks down the specific management practices necessary to make those hybrid arrangements succeed most effectively, adding that AI is making some of those practices easier and cheaper than ever. Choudhury’s new book is The World Is Your Office: How Work from Anywhere Boosts Talent, Productivity, and Innovation.

Whether we’re interacting with colleagues, clients, friends, family members or strangers, conversations are the way most of us build — or break — relationships. And yet we don’t often think deeply about how to approach this type of casual communication.  Alison Wood Brooks, associate professor at Harvard Business School, has studied what it takes to create a great conversation and offers research-backed tips for improving your skills. Brooks is the author of the book Talk: The Science of Conversation and the Art of Being Ourselves.

Sales commissions act as a crucial lever to increase revenue and customers. But sometimes those incentives bring unintended consequences. New research identifies eight ways that salespeople across industries cheat or bend the rules to maximize their gain—often at the expense of the company's bottom line and customer loyalty. Huntsman School of Business professor Timothy Gardner and consultant Colin Wong explain these tactics, like sandbagging, falsifying data, and giving excessive discounts to close deals. The researchers also share how company leaders can audit, correct, and monitor an incentive program—and when they should let some practices slide to maintain productivity and motivation. Gardner and Wong are coauthors of the HBR article “How Salespeople Game the System.”

What does it take to really energize people and motivate them toward a goal?  Inspirational leadership might seem idiosyncratic and hard to quantify, but, according to Adam Galinsky, professor at Columbia Business School, it involves three key elements: having a vision, setting an example, and mentoring. His research shows this is true across industries and geographies, and he offers advice on how to improve in each area. He's author of the book Inspire: The Universal Path for Leading Yourself and Others as well as the HBR article “What Sets Inspirational Leaders Apart”.

There are all kinds of productivity tools out there promising to help you make the most of your day. Some people swear by timeboxing: the method of reserving time on your calendar each day for each task you want to get done, and then truly focusing on that one thing at a time. The return on merging your to-do list with your calendar like this, says Marc Zao-Sanders, is higher productivity, better collaboration, and less distraction and anxiety. He explains how try to the method yourself and the how your team and organization benefit from it, not just you. Zao-Sanders is author of the book "Timeboxing: The Power of Doing One Thing at a Time."

In an age of rapidly changing technology, it’s more important than ever for organizations to effectively support employee learning. Gianpiero Petriglieri, associate professor at INSEAD, has studied leaders who do this well and says they fall into three categories: custodians, challengers, or connectors. He explains which type of learning leader works best in which contexts and how all three approaches can help individuals and teams reach the next level. Petriglieri is author of the HBR article "Three Ways to Lead Learning."

Despite all the ways that artificial intelligence promises to improve our lives, many consumers feel anxious and are averse to AI-powered products and services. For marketers and product managers, it’s vital to understand what is driving that resistance to adoption. Julian De Freitas is an assistant professor in the marketing unit at Harvard Business School. He has identified five main ways people see artificial intelligence negatively: that AI is opaque, emotionless, inflexible, autonomous, and not human enough. Through real-life cases and the latest research, he explains how companies can soothe anxieties and encourage consumer adoption. De Freitas the author of the HBR article "Why People Resist Embracing AI."

Amid the backlash against diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in the United States and elsewhere, leaders in both the public and private sectors are reevaluating their organizations' policies and goals. While many employers and employees still value and support DEI, a growing chorus argues that such programs run counter to meritocratic ideals. Iris Bohnet and Siri Chilazi of the Harvard Kennedy School think there's one principle everyone should be able to agree on -- fairness -- and argue for a data-driven approach to measuring it. They share their research on how to make workplace systems more fair and offer cases we can all learn from. They wrote the book Make Work Fair: Data-Driven Design for Real Results.

Many consumers are buying electric vehicles, thanks to sportscar-like performance, government incentives, and personal motivations to minimize climate change. But the EV industry overall has revved and sputtered in unpredictable ways and offers a case study in managing innovation, regulation, and competition. Mike Colias, deputy bureau chief at The Wall Street Journal, explains the complex landscape that incumbents such as GM and Ford and start-ups like Tesla find themselves in. Through stories of iconic industry executives and bold competitive moves, he shares insights that leaders in every industry can learn from. Colias wrote the new book Inevitable: Inside the Messy, Unstoppable Transition to Electric Vehicles.

As organizations and workers face a new wave of technological change, Deborah Perry Piscione argues that we're at a pivot point where old models of employment will be replaced by entirely new ones. Get ready for GenAI-assisted, decentralized, sometimes autonomous workforces, and “jobs” that span gigs, companies, industries, geographies, and the metaverse.  Piscione describes this new reality and how mindset shifts and upskilling can help us prepare. She's the coauthor, along with Josh Drean, of the book Employment is Dead: How Disruptive Technologies are Revolutionizing the Way We Work.

If you've ever tried to change things at work, you know the headwinds you face. Teams and processes are often trapped in longstanding, ineffective patterns that are hard to budge. Dan Heath, senior fellow at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, explains proven techniques to reset. Those include making the problem visible, jolting incremental progress to start gaining traction, and motivating teams into a new direction. He shares real-life examples of how leaders and teams broke through seemingly intractable work situations. Heath is the author of the new book Reset: How to Change What’s Not Working.

Our families, schools, and workplaces often train us to comply: taking on additional work when asked, agreeing with the group's consensus, and going along to get along with our bosses and colleagues. So, even when we're told to "think different" and "embrace conflict," we often hold ourselves back. But when individuals learn to say no more often, it can have huge benefits for their careers and organizations, says Dr. Sunita Sah. A psychologist and professor at Cornell's SC Johnson College of Business, she shares a research-backed framework for evaluating whether to comply or defy at work and offers advice on how to do both more effectively. Sah is author of the book Defy: The Power of No In a World That Demands Yes.

High standards, attention to detail, and self-control are invaluable qualities at work. They’re also aspects of perfectionism, something to which many high achievers credit much of their success. But Ellen Hendriksen, clinical psychologist at Boston University's Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders, says being your own worst critic can also lead to constant dissatisfaction at work and alienation from coworkers. Her new book is How to Be Enough: Self-Acceptance for Self-Critics and Perfectionists. Drawing on her own research, clinical work, and personal experience as a perfectionist, she explains where perfectionism comes from and how it affects teams. Hendriksen shares how not to be so hard on yourself—while still keeping your high standards.

We all know the stereotypes of leaders who use charisma, manipulation, domineering behavior, or their status in the hierarchy to exert control. But there is another type of leader whose power isn’t necessarily related to their position on the org chart. Chris Lipp has spent years studying people who’ve developed this “personal power” that is rooted in their internal values. Lipp is a professor at Tulane University’s Freeman School of Business, an executive coach, and the author of the new book The Science of Personal Power. He’s investigated where this second type of power comes from, how it can enhance our lives, and how to tap into it using some simple strategies and tools.

Asking questions is a powerful way to build trust, exchange ideas, and unlock value in organizations. And it is a skill that can be honed to make work conversations more productive, say Leslie K. John and Alison Wood Brooks, professors at Harvard Business School. In this classic episode, they join former host Sarah Green Carmichael to talk through insights from behavioral science research. They share techniques to adjust the frame, tone, and type of questions to improve results—whether you’re looking to get information, find solutions, or just get someone to like you. Brooks and John wrote the article “The Surprising Power of Questions” in the May–June 2018 issue of Harvard Business Review.

Many companies make money by selling goods that need to be constantly replaced; think fast fashion, or tech devices that come out in new versions each year. But according to Vijay Govindarajan, professor at Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business, smart organizations are increasingly eschewing that strategy for one focused on products that grow with the consumer through creative design or software updates. He shares several examples and explains how this approach can deliver more value for the buyer – and for the business – over the long term. Govindarajan is the coauthor of the HBR article "Design Products That Won't Become Obsolete."

Hollywood is known for huge personalities and behemoth production studios taking big swings. But critics worry that the movie industry is playing it way too safe recently — by churning out remakes and fleshing out franchises, rather than dreaming up new things. And the same can be said of many established businesses in other industries. Larry Kasanoff, a movie producer and former studio head, has lessons from his career taking passionate risks to make groundbreaking movies like Platoon, Dirty Dancing, and Mortal Kombat. He breaks down his framework for innovation in three parts: Create, Ask, and Play. Kasanoff is the author of A Touch of the Madness: How to Be More Innovative in Work and Life . . . by Being a Little Crazy.

We all know that innovative thinking is vital to individual, team, and organizational success. But we still often put creativity in a box, assuming it's only for people in certain roles or best attempted once a year at an off-site brainstorming session. Marketing executives Kathryn Jacob and Sue Unerman argue that we all need to be exercising our creative muscles more regularly, especially in the age of AI, when routine work can be outsourced to algorithms but new thinking still comes from human minds. They offer prompts for spurring more creativity -- by yourself or with a team -- no matter where you work. Jacob and Unerman are the authors of the book A Year of Creativity: 52 Smart Ideas for Boosting, Creativity, Innovation, and Inspiration at Work.

Twenty-five years ago, a Harvard Business School case study featured the exceptional networking practices of Silicon Valley entrepreneur and venture capitalist Heidi Roizen. This was before the rise of online social networks and the ubiquity of social media. But today, Roizen says that those developments have not fundamentally changed how she builds and maintains strong personal and professional relationships. Now a partner at Threshold Ventures and a lecturer at Stanford Graduate School of Business, she shares the biggest missteps that she sees people take. She also explains the impact of AI and remote work on networking, her most effective strategies for building relationships, and her frank advice for those just starting their careers. Roizen is subject of the HBS case study “Heidi Roizen.”

Palo Alto Networks is the leading global cybersecurity company. Over his six-year tenure there, CEO Nikesh Arora has expanded and reorganized the organization, including safely incorporating generative AI into all of its products. Nikesh explains how he’s managing new opportunities and risks in the age of generative AI – including the single cybersecurity risk that keeps him up at night. He also shares his approach to leading innovation and evolving Palo Alto’s go-to-market strategy when new technologies are developing so rapidly.

This week marks a huge milestone for the HBR IdeaCast: our 1000th episode! Since the podcast launched in 2006, so much has happened. What hasn’t changed is our commitment to sharing in-depth conversations with expert thinkers on key business, management, and leadership issues. To celebrate, hosts Alison Beard and Curt Nickisch have scoured the archive for ten episodes with top-notch insights to give your career a rocket boost. The curated selection features a diverse group of academics—from business strategy icon Michael Porter to burnout researcher Christina Maslach—and practitioners, such as Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and Oscar-winning director Ron Howard. Their powerful ideas and timeless advice cover a range of communication, leadership, and problem-solving skills that are essential for success—whether you’re in your first job, managing a team, or leading an organization. Listen to the episodes: #677: Why People — and Companies — Need Purpose (2019) #114: Speaking Well in Tough Moments (2008) #371: Lead Authentically, Without Oversharing (2013) #924: How One F-35 Fighter Pilot Makes Decisions Under Pressure (2023) #949: Making Peace with Your Midlife, Mid-career Self (2024) #889: Ron Howard on Collaborative Leadership and Career Longevity (2022) #596: Microsoft’s CEO on Rediscovering the Company’s Soul (2017) #595: Transcending Either-Or Decision Making (2017) #771: Why Burnout Happens — and How Bosses Can Help (2020) #229: How to Fix Capitalism (2011) The IdeaCast team would like to thank all the guests who've contributed their voices and expertise as well as all the people who've made the show possible behind the scenes.

Baidu launched in 2000 as a search engine platform. Two decades later, it’s become one of the few companies in the world that offers a full AI stack. Its core businesses span mobile, cloud, intelligent driving and other growth initiatives, and its products and services have attracted hundreds of millions of users and hundreds of thousands of enterprise customers. Leading all of that is co-founder, CEO, and chairman Robin Li. He explains how Baidu has built generative AI into its business – including their AI chatbot, ERNIE Bot. Robin also shares the technology trends he’s keeping an eye on – from AI bubbles to robotaxis – and how he anticipates these fast-moving changes will transform our world.

Imagine you’re leading a small organization, but you’re struggling to recruit and afford the senior talent you need to grow. You could hire a part-time executive. So-called “fractional leadership” is common in startups and is spreading to other businesses and nonprofits. But while a fast-growing number of senior leaders seek this work arrangement, many companies are unsure of how to go about it. Tomoko Yokoi and Amy Bonsall are experts on the practice. Yokoi is a researcher at the TONOMUS Global Center for Digital and AI Transformation at IMD Business School. Bonsall is a former executive at IDEO and Old Navy who works as a part-time chief product officer with several organizations. They explain when and how fractional leadership works best—for the individual as well as the organization—and how to do it right. Yokoi and Bonsall wrote the HBR article “How Part-Time Senior Leaders Can Help Your Business.”

With more than $7 billion in annual revenue and 24,000 employees, SAIC provides engineering, digital, AI, and mission support to defense, space, intelligence, and civilian customers. CEO Toni Townes-Whitley took the helm a year ago, after stints as a senior executive at Microsoft, CGI Federal, and Unisys. She discusses her approach to strategic transformation at SAIC through fine tuning and employee upskilling, rather than wholesale change. She also shares how the company is incorporating cutting edge technologies, like generative AI, with appropriate safeguards for government clients.

Around the world, the past few years have been marked by increasing political polarization and public outrage. Like it or not, this spills over into the business world, with employees, customers, and shareholders more willing than ever to challenge companies -- and one another -- on a range of issues. It's hard to know how to lead gracefully in such turbulent times, but Karthik Ramanna, professor at the University of Oxford's Blavatnik School of Government, has some answers. Drawing on his work with government officials and corporate executives, he walks us through the root causes of our current crisis, explains how to effectively navigate through disagreement, and offers practical takeaways for managers at every level. Ramanna is the author of the book The Age of Outrage: How to Lead in a Polarized World.

Reid Hoffman is one of the most prominent and recognizable voices in Silicon Valley, and after predicting some of the biggest trends that have shaped our world in the last 25 years, he is sharing his thoughts on the future of artificial intelligence. In this interview with HBR Editor in Chief Adi Ignatius, Hoffman shares his approach to managing technological change and innovation, explains why he thinks generative AI won't destroy jobs, and imagines how these new tools will transform our world. Spoiler: It's all about managing technological change and innovation the right way. Previously, Hoffman founded or co-founded PayPal, Inflection AI, and LinkedIn, where he served as CEO and is now its executive chairman. He’s also an active early-stage investor at Greylock Partners, host of the Masters of Scale and Possible podcasts, and author of the forthcoming book Superagency.

We live in an age of data. But having powerful tools to gather employee feedback doesn't mean you’ll get powerful results. It’s challenging for executives to turn that feedback into substantive action. New research from Ethan Burris, professor of management at the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin, sheds light on how to weed through all the data, make sure workers feel heard, and turn employee insights into real results. Burris is a coauthor of the HBR article "What Companies Get Wrong About the Employee Experience."

Unwelcome employee turnover can create big problems for managers, teams, and organizations, so it's important to understand the real drivers of attrition. New research from Ethan Bernstein, associate professor at Harvard Business School, and Michael Horn, cofounder of the Clayton Christensen Institute, points to a host of push and pull forces that cause workers to jump ship and also outlines better retention strategies. They are the coauthors, along with Bob Moesta, of the HBR article "Why Employees Quit" and the book Job Moves: 9 Steps for Making Progress in Your Career.

Managing is a tough job, sometimes a seemingly thankless one where you can feel squeezed from all sides. But for team leaders who are feeling burnt out or overwhelmed with their job, Daisy Auger-Domínguez has advice on regaining your joy at work. She recommends various techniques to incorporate optimism and well-being into your management role. They include remembering your purpose, embracing a beginner’s mindset, keeping a folder of positive feedback as inspiration, and celebrating the contributions of team members. Auger-Domínguez is a workplace strategist and the author of the HBR article "Finding Joy as a Manager — Even on Bad Days."

There was a time when business leaders and managers didn't worry so much about psychology or other social science research. Malcolm Gladwell's writing played a big role in changing that. His popular exploration of tipping points — the phenomenon where small, incremental actions can suddenly fuse into a full-blown social behavior — brought research insights to life and made them mainstream. Now he's revisiting tipping points, this time looking at how they can be used for damaging results. In this episode, HBR editor in chief Adi Ignatius speaks to Gladwell about how the author’s ideas have changed, the importance of social science and journalism in today's world of virality, and the unexpected ways leaders should consider human behavior. Gladwell is the author of the new book Revenge of the Tipping Point: Overstories, Superspreaders, and the Rise of Social Engineering.

Many companies are investing heavily in artificial intelligence right now, hoping to improve both efficiency and innovation. But, as with any technology that sees widespread adoption, AI itself won't be enough to build a long-term advantage over competitors, says Jay Barney, professor at the University of Utah's Eccles School of Business. Yes, leaders need to deploy these new tools, especially those that use GenAI, to stay relevant. But they also need to think about how AI can be applied to their business' differentiating competencies and offerings to truly add value. Barney is the coauthor, along with Martin Reeves of Boston Consulting Group, of the HBR article "AI Won't Give You a New Sustainable Advantage."

We live in a world that seems more divisive and polarized than ever, and it’s common to describe this phenomenon as tribalism. But Michael Morris, professor at Columbia Business School, says that term is often misunderstood and that tribal instincts can in fact be very positive influences in society and at work. He uses the lens of cultural psychology to explain the deep-seated instincts behind the human need to join and identify as a group. And he breaks down how team managers and organizational leaders can leverage tribal instincts in positive ways strengthen workplace culture. Morris is the author of the new book Tribal: How the Cultural Instincts That Divide Us Can Help Bring Us Together.

The worlds of business and politics might seem worlds apart, but executives can learn a lot from the most successful political communicators. Terry Szuplat spent several years on the speechwriting team for President Barack Obama, helping to carefully craft his messages and win over audiences. He has gone on to coach business leaders including Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, and he says that many of the same principles for good speechwriting and delivery apply - whether you’re giving a presentation to your team, pitching a client, or making comments in a moment of crisis. He explains the importance of authenticity and personal stories, structure, language choice and presence. Szuplat is the author of the book Say It Well: Find Your Voice, Speak Your Mind, Inspire Any Audience.

What if the key to efficiency in a world increasingly powered by AI wasn't quantity, but quality? Neuroscientist Mithu Storoni has looked at how and when our brains are the most creative and truly productive at knowledge work. As automation and AI take more rote takes off our plates, she shares how we can train our brains to be more effective at doing work that really matters. She explains how our brains tackle different kinds of work, how we can better schedule our days to align with those states of mind, and what this all means for managers and organizations. Storoni is the author of the new book Hyperefficient: Optimize Your Brain to Transform the Way You Work.

Generative artificial intelligence is here to stay, and that means employees and managers need to think even more carefully about how to make the most effective use of it. Accenture's H. James Wilson, global managing director of technology research and thought leadership, and Paul R. Daugherty, chief technology and innovation officer, argue that we all need to build what they call "fusion skills." They include intelligent interrogation (using research-backed prompting techniques to deliver better results), judgment integration (ensuring there is a human in the loop when necessary), and reciprocal apprenticing (training ChatGPT, Claude, Co-pilot or proprietary tools to improve while we get better at working with them). They offer advice on how to hone all three. Together, they wrote the HBR book Human + Machine: Reimagining Work in the Age of AI, now available in a New and Expanded Edition as well as the HBR article “Embracing Gen AI At Work.”

CEOs get a ton of credit or blame for a company’s performance. But the entire leadership team is vital to success, and any dysfunction is often overlooked. Sometimes the CEOs leading them don’t even see that they’re not working. Thomas Keil, management professor at the University of Zurich, and Marianna Zangrillo, a partner at The Next Advisors, have interviewed more than 100 CEOs and senior executives. Their research identifies three main types of failing leadership teams: shark tanks, petting zoos, and mediocracies. And they identify the pitfalls of each pattern and how to turn those teams around. Keil and Zangrillo wrote the HBR article "Why Leadership Teams Fail."

We live in an age where we have more data than ever. But most leaders have two strong reactions to new data. Either they rely too heavily on studies or information to make decisions. Or they dismiss outright data that could be very relevant. The better way is learning how to interpret, question, and engage with data and studies, say Harvard Business School professor Amy Edmondson and Johns Hopkins Carey Business School professor Michael Luca. They break down the essential analytical tools to assess and interrogate data to be able to apply it to business decisions. Edmondson and Luca are coauthors of the HBR article "Where Data-Driven Decision-Making Can Go Wrong."

Are you the sort of person who works really hard, hits your deadlines, runs successful projects, wins over clients... but never seems to get noticed for all that diligence, much less promoted? Especially if you’re on the quieter and more understated side, working in an organization where the loud and showy get the most recognition, this can be frustrating. But there are ways to get noticed while also staying true to yourself, says Jessica Chen. She's a former TV news reporter and the founder of Soulcast Media, a communications consultancy, and she shares lessons about more effective communication and self-promotion. Chen wrote the book Smart, Not Loud: How to Get Noticed at Work for All the Right Reasons.

Many managers don't know what to say when a team member appears angry, frustrated, or sad. They might even feel it is unprofessional to acknowledge those feelings at all. But research shows that avoidance is costly. Doctoral student Christina Bradley and professor Lindy Greer, both of the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan, say teams perform better when their leaders respond effectively to members’ emotions. The researchers outline when and how to do that in a way that builds stronger relationships, teams, and organizational culture. Bradley and Greer are coauthors, with Michigan Ross professor Jeffrey Sanchez-Burks, of the HBR article "When Your Employee Feels Angry, Sad, or Dejected."

It's hard to imagine a more challenging work environment than the International Space Station. During her 24 years as a NASA astronaut, including a six-month stint on the ISS, Cady Coleman learned pivotal lessons about everything from managing stress and assessing risk to cross-cultural communication and navigating bias. She shares how the skills she picked up can be applied in all kinds of careers. Coleman is the author of the book Sharing Space: An Astronaut's Guide to Mission Wonder and Making Change.

Many marketers today focus on getting consumers to consciously change their behavior. But that’s a sure path to failure, according to Leslie Zane, founder of Triggers Brand Consulting. She says neuroscience research shows that mastering instinct is far more effective than persuasion. And she shares her key lessons for aligning with the instinctive mind to improve company brands, new products, social campaigns, or your own personal brand. Zane is the author of the book The Power of Instinct: The New Rules of Persuasion in Business and Life.

There's a fine line between pitching in to help your team and taking on too much at the expense of your mental health and performance. Author and coach Hailey Magee walks us through why some of us fall into people-pleasing patterns, the negative impact it can have on our careers, and how to stop. She also offers advice for managers on how to help employees identify and break out of these bad habits. Magee is the author of Stop People Pleasing and Find Your Power.

When news breaks of a CEO succession, much of the attention is given to the new leader and how they will change the company. But new research shows that the leave-taking process of the outgoing chief executive is often mishandled, with negative impacts on succession and the organization. Rebecca Slan Jerusalim, an executive director at Russell Reynolds Associates, and Navio Kwok, a leadership advisor at RRA, say that boards are often surprised when a CEO gives notice, and they often make that person feel excluded during the handoff process. The researchers share stories from the front lines about CEO psychology, best practices for outgoing leaders and their boards, and broader lessons for effective transitions. Jerusalim and Kwok wrote the HBR article "The Vital Role of the Outgoing CEO."

Darius Rucker has reached the top of the music charts in not just one but two genres: first as the lead singer of the 1990s band Hootie and the Blowfish, then in a second act as a solo country star. He shares lessons on following your passion, staying humble, working your way up, and defying stereotypes and expectations. He's the author of a new memoir Life's Too Short.

Many managers struggle with initiating difficult conversations around an individual’s subpar performance. Often, leaders wait way too long to sit down with an employee who isn’t meeting expectations. Leadership coach Jenny Fernandez says that increasing the frequency of feedback and consciously developing better relationships with direct reports help make these conversations easier to start. And she shares how the right preparation, tone, and open-minded approach lead to more effective discussions that improve not just the one-on-one relationship, but also team morale and turnover rates. Fernandez is the author of the HBR article "How to Talk to an Employee Who Isn’t Meeting Expectations."

While most good bosses try to be fair and balanced with their direct reports, it's only human to prefer the company and work styles of some team members over others, and employees are keenly aware of those preferences. They see favorites and non-favorites, ingroups and outgroups -- and when those divisions fester, they can destroy team culture and performance. Ginka Toegel, professor at IMD Business School, explains why even well-intentioned managers succumb to favoritism, how workers on both sides are affected, and what we can do to both avoid and rectify the problem. Toegel is the coauthor of the HBR article "Stop Playing Favorites."

Managing technology has never been more challenging. HBR IdeaCast’s new special series, Tech at Work, offers research, stories, and advice to make technology work for you and your team. This week: how to prepare your company for the future of spatial computing.

After 15 years leading the parent company of KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell, David Novak wanted to help others become better leaders. He believes the key is to put learning at the center of everything you do, whether you’re an entry-level worker or a multinational executive. Novak outlines three main areas for learning: from your own life experiences, from the people and situations available right now, and from the habit of curiosity. Above all, he says the most effective leaders turn their learnings into action, something that takes insight and practice. Novak’s new book is How Leaders Learn: Master the Habits of the World's Most Successful People.

While many teams and organizations engage in scenario planning, most don't go far enough. Arjan Singh, consultant and adjunct professor at Southern Methodist University, says a more disciplined approach, borrowed from the military, can help leaders truly test how their strategies, operations, and tactics hold up against competitors, shifting market dynamics, and unexpected events. He's helped hundreds of companies identify risks and find new ways to innovate by leading them through corporate war games, and he explains his process and results. Singh is the author of the book Competitive Success: Building Winning Strategies with Corporate War Games.

Managing technology has never been more challenging. HBR IdeaCast’s new special series, Tech at Work, offers research, stories, and advice to make technology work for you and your team. This week: how your team can get the most out of digital collaboration tools.

Venture capital firms notoriously embrace risk and take big swings, hoping that one startup will become a monster hit that pays for many other failed investments. This VC approach scares established companies, but it shouldn’t. Stanford Graduate School of Business professor Ilya Strebulaev says that VC firms have proven best practices that all leaders should apply in their own companies. He explains exactly how VC’s operationalize risk, embrace disagreement over consensus, and stay agile in their decision-making—all valuable lessons that apply outside of Silicon Valley. With author Alex Dang, Strebulaev cowrote the new book The Venture Mindset: How to Make Smarter Bets and Achieve Extraordinary Growth and the HBR article "Make Decisions with a VC Mindset."

Disruption and transformation at the new normal in nearly every industry. So how do you stay ahead of the curve?  Over the past four decades, Bonnie Hammer  successfully adapted to massive changes in the media industry, rising from production assistant to leadership roles in broadcast, cable, and streaming. Now vice chair of NBCUniversal, she has advice on how to get noticed, acquire the right skillsets, make smart decisions, and adjust to shifting corporate and market dynamics. She's the author of the book 15 Lies Women Are Told at Work: ...and the Truth We Need to Succeed.

Managing technology has never been more challenging. HBR IdeaCast’s new special series, Tech at Work, offers research, stories, and advice to make technology work for you and your team. This week: how digital marketers are preparing for the end of third-party cookies—and what this change means for the open Internet.

Around 18 million adults in the U.S. alone suffer from long Covid, a chronic illness with a wide range of symptoms and severity. With approved therapies a long way off, workers with long Covid often struggle in silence. And most companies have neither a good understanding of the situation nor effective policies in place, say MIT research scientist Beth Pollack and Vanguard University professor Ludmila Praslova. They share the conditions associated with long Covid, what life is like for those workers, and the accommodations and flexibility they recommend HR leaders and organizations implement. Pollack and Praslova are coauthors with researcher Katie Bach of the HBR Big Idea article “Long Covid at Work: A Manager's Guide.”

There was a time when consumer goods companies paid musicians, athletes, and actors for endorsements, or to license their name and likeness. But in recent years, there's been an explosion of celebrities getting into business directly, selling everything from shapewear to tequila. Ayelet Israeli, professor at Harvard Business School, says the growth of social media and online, direct-to-consumer retail accelerated this trend, but notes that not all celebrity brands are a success. She explains what works and doesn't, and outlines lessons for non-famous entrepreneurs and established companies. Israeli is coauthor of the HBR article "What Makes a Successful Celebrity Brand?"

Managing technology has never been more challenging. HBR IdeaCast’s new special series, Tech at Work, offers research, stories, and advice to make technology work for you and your team. This week: how your team can get the most out of working with generative AI.

There's plenty of advice on how to grow into a better leader. And it takes effort to become more effective. But bad leadership gets worse almost effortlessly, says Barbara Kellerman, a Center for Public Leadership Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School. She shares real examples from the public and private sectors of how bad leaders spiral downward, and how bad followership enables that negative trend. She gives her advice for recognizing and avoiding ineffective and unethical leaders. Kellerman is the author of the new book Leadership from Bad to Worse: What Happens When Bad Festers.

Managing technology has never been more challenging. HBR IdeaCast’s new special series, Tech at Work, offers research, stories, and advice to make technology work for you and your team. Listen every other Thursday starting May 2 in the HBR IdeaCast feed, after the regular Tuesday episode.

Worker disengagement is on the rise around the world. Even those of us who generally like our jobs sometimes find it hard to muster energy and focus. So what's the key to regaining motivation? Harvard Business School professor Boris Groysberg and research associate Robin Abrahams share a four part process to help you get your groove back: detachment, empathy, action and reframing. They offer simple tips like thinking in the third person, helping others, and gamification to help get back on track. Groysberg and Abrahams are the authors of the HBR article "Advice for the Unmotivated."

Few leaders have been trained to ask great questions. That might explain why they tend to be good at certain kinds of questions, and less effective at other kinds. Unfortunately, that hurts their ability to pursue strategic priorities. Arnaud Chevallier, strategy professor at IMD Business School, explains how leaders can break out of that rut and systematically ask five kinds of questions: investigative, speculative, productive, interpretive, and subjective. He shares real-life examples of how asking the right sort of question at a key time can unlock value and propel your organization. With his IMD colleagues Frédéric Dalsace and Jean-Louis Barsoux, Chevallier wrote the HBR article "The Art of Asking Smarter Questions."

Many people aspire to entrepreneurship but we all know it's a high-risk endeavor. Bill Aulet, the Ethernet Inventors Professor of Entrepreneurship at the MIT Sloan School of Management, has for decades studied what it takes for start-ups to succeed and advises the next generation of founders on how to do it. He discusses the key trends and changes he's seen over the past few years, and outlines concrete steps anyone can take to get a new venture -- including those within larger organizations -- off the ground. Aulet is the author of the newly updated book Disciplined Entrepreneurship: 24 Steps to a Successful Startup.

The amount of work we need to get done seems to grow daily. To avoid becoming overwhelmed, we have to become more productive than ever. Laura Mae Martin has advice on what has worked well at one of the biggest organizations in the world. She's the Executive Productivity Advisor at Google and shares the practical ways she helps her colleagues and company executives manage their time, calendars, email inboxes, and more. Martin is the author of the new book Uptime: A Practical Guide to Personal Productivity and Wellbeing.

It's been nearly two decades since the term "glass cliff" was coined; it refers to the tendency for women to break through the glass ceiling to top management roles only when there is a big crisis to overcome, which makes it more difficult for them to succeed. In short, senior female leaders are often set up to fail — and this continues to happen today, as recent examples from business, politics, and academia show. Sophie Williams, a former C-suite advertising executive and global leader at Netflix, has researched why the glass cliff remains a problem and offers advice for women facing them — as well as lessons for the broader corporate world. She's the author of the book "The Glass Cliff: Why Women in Power Are Undermined - and How to Fight Back."

A growing number of workers are reaching retirement age around the globe. At the same time, many countries face a worker shortage, especially in critical areas like health care. Ken Dychtwald, cofounder and CEO of Age Wave, says it’s time for companies to stop overlooking this valuable labor pool, because AI alone won't alleviate the tight supply. He explains why many late-career people want to work longer. And he shares creative and often simple ways that companies can keep older workers engaged, including phased retirements, non-ageist recruiting, mentorship programs, and grandparental leave. Dychtwald is a coauthor of the HBR article "Redesigning Retirement."

There's a lot of advice out there on how to get job interviews right, whether you're the one trying to get hired or the one evaluating the candidates. But the dos and don'ts aren't always applicable to every person. In fact, author Anna Papalia thinks we're better served by understanding and leveraging our own natural interviewing style. Having spent years as a corporate recruiter, organizational consultant, and coach to students and professions, she's conducted thousands of real and mock interviews and noticed that people tend to fall into one of four categories: charmer, examiner, challenger, or harmonizer.  She outlines the strengths and weaknesses of each and explains how this framework can help us get better from both sides of the desks. Papalia wrote the book "Interviewology: The New Science of Interviewing."

The coauthor of the classic book Getting to Yes has new advice on how to negotiate, designed for a world that feels more conflicted than ever. William Ury, cofounder of Harvard’s Program on Negotiation, has come to learn that the biggest obstacle in a negotiation is often yourself—not your opponent. Ury, who also coined the term BATNA, explains the latest thinking from his research and consulting. He shares his tried-and-true methods for overcoming yourself to negotiate better outcomes at work and in life. Ury wrote the new book Possible: How We Survive (and Thrive) in an Age of Conflict.

Many companies, especially in the tech world, have come to embrace the idea of growth at all costs. But according to research from Gary Pisano, professor at Harvard Business School, most firms fail to consistently increase revenues and profits over the long term, adjusting for inflation. He says that it’s important for leaders to think more strategically about not just the rate of growth they want to achieve but the direction they want to grow in and their method for doing so. Trying to grow too fast can be the downfall of many organizations. He shares examples of companies that have fallen into this trap, as well as those getting the balance right.  Pisano wrote the HBR article "How Fast Should Your Company Really Grow?"

Organizations regularly reward devoted workers who put in long hours. At the same time, “always-on” communication spurred by the pandemic and new digital tools encourage workaholism. But research shows that it’s not just individuals who are harmed by overworking. Their employers are, too. Malissa Clark, associate professor and head of the Healthy Work Lab at the University of Georgia, explains how companies unwittingly create a workaholic culture — one that ultimately backfires with higher turnover and disengaged employees. She shares what companies can easily do to change that. Clark wrote the new book Never Not Working: Why the Always-On Culture Is Bad for Business--and How to Fix It.

In a globally connected and highly politicized world, organizations are increasingly expected to comment on social, political, and environmental issues. But taking a stance doesn't always make business sense and can backfire when employees or consumers see a disconnect between leaders’ words and actions. Alison Taylor, associate professor at New York University, says there's a better way to make decisions on corporate speech, which includes involving workers in the process. Taylor is the author of the HBR book Higher Ground: How Business Can Do the Right Thing in a Turbulent World and the HBR article “Corporate Advocacy in a Time of Social Outrage.”

Many leaders confidently go about tackling challenges. After all, relying on their experience got them to where they are. But taking the same approach over and over again can actually hold you back. Sometimes you need to switch up your tactics to break through to the next level. Decision-making expert Cheryl Strauss Einhorn says the first step is to understand your personal problem-solving style. Then she explains a framework to assess the situation and select the best approach. Einhorn is founder and CEO of Decisive. She also wrote the book Problem Solver: Maximizing Your Strengths to Make Better Decisions and the HBR article “When Your Go-To Problem-Solving Approach Fails.”

Organizations too often subject their employees and customers to unnecessary friction that creates inefficiency and causes frustration. But, in some situations, friction can be a positive force, spurring more innovation and better decision-making. So how do you reduce the bad kind and embrace the good?  Stanford professors Bob Sutton and Huggy Rao have studied this problem for seven years and offer strategies for leaders at every level to help them recognize when friction is needed or not and then add or subtract accordingly. They share ample examples of people and companies getting it right. Sutton and Rao are the authors of The Friction Project: How Smart Leaders Make the Right Things Easier and the Wrong Things Harder, as well as the HBR article, "Rid Your Organization of Obstacles that Infuriate Everyone."

The rapid pace of technological change is making a big impact on hiring. Some organizations are dynamically securing freelance workers through platform apps like Upwork and Freelancer. Other companies are investing heavily in work enabled by artificial intelligence. John Winsor and Jin Paik say these structural changes call for a reimagining of your talent strategy — one that is open to flexible, project-based work for talent inside or outside your organization — and they explain how to go about it. Winsor is the founder and chair of Open Assembly and an executive-in-residence at the Laboratory for Innovation Science at Harvard. Paik is a cofounder and managing partner at the AI consultancy Altruistic and a visiting research scientist at Harvard Business School. Together, they wrote the book Open Talent: Leveraging the Global Workforce to Solve Your Biggest Challenges and the HBR article "Do You Need an External Talent Cloud?"

Research shows that happiness bottoms out for people in their mid to late 40s. We might struggle with mid-career slumps, caring for both children and aging parents, and existential questions about whether everything has turned out as we'd planned. But Chip Conley says we can approach this phase of our personal and profesional lives with a different perspective. He's a former hospitality industry CEO and founder of the Modern Elder Academy, and he explains how to reframe our thinking about middle age, find new energy, and become more fulfilled and successful people at work and home. Conley wrote the book Learning to Love Midlife: 12 Reasons Why Life Gets Better with Age.

Most good bosses know that they should schedule regular one-on-ones with each of their team members. But fewer know exactly how to manage these meetings well, in part because organizations rarely offer relevant training. Steven Rogelberg, Chancellor's Professor at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, has spent years researching the best way to prepare for, structure, engage in, and follow up on one-on-ones. He says they're a key way to boost performance, and offers tips for ensuring that we all get more out of them. Rogelberg is author of the book Glad We Met: The Art and Science of 1:1 Meetings.

A growing number of companies are mandating office time for employees and structuring hybrid work under broad, rigid rules. But pushing people into the office is a mistake, argues Kimberly Shells, a senior director in the Gartner HR practice. She shares research showing how much flexibility and autonomy and belonging workers want. And Shells says organizations can still foster those qualities in an in-person office culture that also improves productivity and collaboration. She explains that companies should follow through on a clear purpose and craft policies that allow for options, flexibility, offsite team-building events, and support services such as on-site childcare. Shells cowrote the HBR article “Return-to-Office Plans Don’t Have to Undermine Employee Autonomy.”

For the qualities that top-performing CEOs have in common, research shows some surprising results. It turns out that charisma, confidence, and pedigree all have little bearing on CEO success. Elena Botelho, partner at leadership advisory firm ghSMART and coleader of its CEO Genome Project, studied high performers in the corner office. The analysis found that they demonstrated four business behaviors: quick decision making, engaging for impact, adapting proactively, and delivering reliably. Botelho cowrote the HBR article “What Sets Successful CEOs Apart.”

For a long time, conventional wisdom ruled that companies should avoid reselling their own products in used condition. There’s the threat of cannibalization, marketing confusion, and tricky logistics that can erase margins. But more name-brand retailers are jumping into resale, says Wharton marketing professor Tom Robertson. Thanks in part to Gen Z with its zeal for sustainability, he says consumer demand is rising fast for reused goods. He sees a revolution where brands cash in on resale, knowing that if they don’t own those customer relationships and sales, others will. Robertson wrote the HBR article “The Resale Revolution.”

Economic activity has long been concentrated in big metropolitan areas. But has the rise of remote work technology -- and its accelerated adoption during the pandemic -- changed that? How are talent flows between geographies changing? And what does it mean for employers? Richard Florida, professor at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto known for coining the term "creative class," shares his latest research, which shows the deepening links between urban centers in various parts of the world, and he explains how these "meta cities" remain important places for people to connect. He is coauthor of the HBR article “The Rise of the Meta City.”

Unfortunately, you can’t set up your organization’s artificial intelligence projects like just any other IT project. By their nature, AI endeavors are quite different and suffer high failure rates. But there are proven approaches you can take to increase your odds of success. Iavor Bojinov, assistant professor at Harvard Business School and former LinkedIn data scientist, breaks down five critical steps for an AI project to turn into an effective product: selection, development, evaluation, adoption, and management. He’s the author of the HBR article “Keep Your AI Projects on Track.”

Introducing HBR’s podcast for young professionals, New Here, hosted by Elainy Mata. Whether it’s your first job or a fresh start, New Here will help you build a meaningful career on your own terms. In this episode, author and personal finance expert Anne-Lyse Ngatta and author, career advisor, and past HBR IdeaCast guest Gorick Ng explain how to lay the groundwork before you ask for a raise, when and how to start the conversation with your manager, and how to navigate the negotiation that may follow.

The restaurant business is notoriously competitive and often propelled by passing fads. But, first at the helm of Au Bon Pain, and then as the founder of Panera Bread, Ron Shaich managed to create an entirely new category of dining between fast food and table service and then dominate that market in the United States. He says the strategies that brought him success can be applied in any type of organization:  listen to and observe customers so you know what they want, create a truly differentiated offering, execute with excellence, and find the right opportunities to grow. He’s employed this playbook as an investor in newer ventures like Cava and Tatte, as well. Shaich wrote the book Know What Matters: Lessons from a Lifetime of Transformations.

Traditionally, private equity companies have created value at the companies they own by taking on debt, restructuring, and exploiting underserved opportunities. But surging interest rates and increased competition have made it much harder to deliver strong returns. Ted Bililies, a partner and managing director of AlixPartners, says private equity leaders can no longer count on financial engineering to drive performance. Instead, they need to invest in the human capital at their portfolio companies. Bililies wrote the HBR article “Private Equity Needs a New Talent Strategy.”

The future of AI goes far beyond individuals using ChatGPT. Companies are now integrating artificial intelligence into all aspects of their businesses. One key player in this transition is Nvidia, the AI-driven computing company, which makes both hardware and software for a range of industries. In this episode, HBR editor in chief Adi Ignatius speaks with Nvidia’s CEO and cofounder Jensen Huang at HBR’s Future of Business conference about how he keeps his company agile in the face of accelerating change and where he sees AI going next.

What holds many people back from attaining the success they want - whether it's winning an Olympic medal or a seat in the C-suite - isn’t a lack of effort or talent. It’s the fear of other people’s opinions. That’s according to Michael Gervais, a performance expert and founder of the consultancy Finding Mastery. He works with top athletes and executives around the world to help them overcome FOPO and improve their performance and well-being. Gervais is the author of the book The First Rule of Mastery: Stop Worrying about What People Think of You.

The rapid expansion of artificial intelligence technology is creating, destroying, and changing jobs. And Harvard Business School professor Raffaella Sadun has been studying how leading companies are training and reskilling employees for this new paradigm. She says many firms underestimate how quickly and significantly workers will need to be reskilled and leave this effort to the HR department. Instead, she explains leaders and middle managers across the company are essential to manage this change. With Jorge Tamayo and Leila Doumi of HBS and Sagar Goel and Orsolya Kovács-Ondrejkovic of the BCG Henderson Institute, Sadun wrote the HBR article “Reskilling in the Age of AI.”

We know that teams mixing people of different generations, genders, and cultures yield better outcomes, and that frank, constructive feedback is key to improving individual, group, and organizational performance. But these two attributes -- diversity and candor -- often clash, says Erin Meyer, a professor at INSEAD. She's studied the challenges that arise when teammates with different backgrounds try to give one another advice and offers recommendations for overcoming them, including establishing norms around regular feedback and ensuring that it is asked for, designed to assist, and actionable. She’s the author of the HBR article “When Diversity Meets Feedback.”

It’s a reality that more employees are discussing their mental health in the workplace. And proactive leaders can serve their teams better by listening and responding. At the same time, managers can’t play the role of a therapist or the HR department. Counseling psychologist Kiran Bhatti and University of Cambridge leadership professor Thomas Roulet argue that following the basic practice of cognitive behavioral therapy can serve managers well. The researchers explain the mental-health first-aid tool, how managers can help employees address emotional distress and negative behavioral patterns, and how that can strengthen the work culture and ultimately the business. Bhatti and Roulet wrote the HBR article, “Helping an Employee in Distress.”

How does someone who's been told he will die much sooner than expected find contentment in the time he has left? As a former therapist, cofounder of the Deeper Coaching Institute, and business book author, Mark Goulston has spent his entire career trying to help others manage their emotions, improve their communication, and find the right balance between the personal and the professional. Faced with his own cancer diagnosis, he's been reflecting on lessons learned in his own life, things he and clients wish they'd done differently, and how to both prepare for a "good" death and leave a meaningful legacy. He shares his newfound perspective and his advice for early, mid- and late-career leaders.

When it comes to solving complicated problems, the default for many organizational leaders is to take their time to work through the issues at hand. Unfortunately, that often leads to patchwork solutions or problems not truly getting resolved. Instead, Anne Morriss offers a different framework: to increase trust and transparency and the speed of execution to truly tackle big problems. Morriss is an entrepreneur, leadership coach, and founder of the Leadership Consortium. With Harvard Business School professor Frances Frei, she wrote the new book, Move Fast and Fix Things: The Trusted Leader’s Guide to Solving Hard Problems.

We all know that leaders need to captivate audiences and effectively convey their ideas. But not every speaking opportunity can be prepared and practiced. That's why it's so important to learn the skill of speaking off-the-cuff, and Matt Abrahams, lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and host of the podcast Think Fast, Talk Smart, has advice to help. He explains how to stay calm in these situations, craft a compelling message, and ensure you've made a good impression. Abrahams is author of the book Think Faster, Talk Smarter: How to Speak Successfully When You’re Put on the Spot as well as the HBR article “How to Shine When You’re Put on the Spot.”

After the summer of 2020 in the United States, many organizations made a big push to increase diversity, equity, and inclusion in their ranks and operations. But now, many fear that that momentum is slipping, especially in the face of economic headwinds. Laura Morgan Roberts, organizational psychologist and professor at the University of Virginia Darden School of Business, says it is time to recommit to these efforts by creating the conditions for all workers to flourish. She explains four freedoms that organizations can foster to allow employees to become their best selves — and even be able to fade into the background when they choose. Roberts wrote the HBR Big Idea article “Where Does DEI Go From Here?”

It is now accepted wisdom that increasing the diversity of your workforce in any dimension can improve both organizational culture and performance. But one group — people living with intellectual, developmental, and physical disabilities — continues to be overlooked by many companies. Luisa Alemany, associate professor at London Business School, has studied workplaces that do recruit and hire employees with disabilities and found that it can be a true source of competitive advantage. She explains four main ways this talent strategy benefits the firm. She’s the coauthor, along with Freek Vermeulen, of the HBR article “Disability as a Source of Competitive Advantage.”

Many leaders realize they need to change their organization’s culture to save the business. But employees usually resist change and stick to past norms. Jay Barney, professor at the University of Utah’s Eccles School of Business, studied leaders who successfully led culture change and found one thing in common: they created and spread stories. He says it's not about making up stories but taking action — in authentic, yet theatrical and memorable ways. The new stories then emanate throughout the workforce and rewrite the old narrative. Barney explains the six rules of this practice that leaders need to follow. He’s a coauthor, with Manoel Amorim and Carlos Júlio, of The Secret of Culture Change: How to Build Authentic Stories That Transform Your Organization and the HBR article “Create Stories That Change Your Company’s Culture.”

New AI technology enables anyone to become a programmer — opening doors to faster analytics and automation but also presenting big challenges. Organizations need policies and strategies to manage the chaos created by what Tom Davenport calls “citizen developers.” Davenport is a professor of management and information technology at Babson College, and he’s been studying how employees are using new AI tools and how companies can both encourage and benefit from this work. He suggests practical ways for team and organizational leaders and IT departments to best oversee these efforts. Davenport is coauthor of the HBR article “We’re All Programmers Now” and the book All-in On AI: How Smart Companies Win Big with Artificial Intelligence.

Companies plan for crises and aim to be resilient and adaptive in the face of all kinds of risks, but it’s always easier said than done. And perhaps none of these threats is as serious as war. That’s what Roman Rodomansky had to prepare his company for. He’s the cofounder and COO at Ralabs, a Ukrainian software development company. As Russia prepared to invade his home country, Rodomansky and his leadership team crafted a plan to survive and keep serving clients. He shares how his firm put people first, communicated with customers, and managed to become resilient. Rodomansky wrote the HBR article “A Cofounder of Ralabs on Leading a Ukrainian Start-Up Through a Year of War.”

How does a brand or product that's been around for decades suddenly become popular with a whole new segment of consumers? Terence Reilly has some pointers. As CMO of Crocs, he used social media and celebrity collaborations to drive sales of its signature boat shoes. Now, as president at Stanley, he has made the company's durable mugs TikTok famous and bestsellers across numerous retail outlets. He explains how listening to employees and customers and acting quickly on their insights can help any organization spur growth.

Much of the business world has bought into the idea of stakeholder capitalism. But Freada Kapor Klein and Mitch Kapor say that doing some good by doing well isn’t enough when the business impact still creates negative effects and broader disparities overall. Freada, with a background in social justice and empirical research, and Mitch, an entrepreneur and investor who got his start making early spreadsheet software, strive to invest in ventures that close the distance between those with wealth and privilege and those without. The founders explain their metrics and decision-making process at Kapor Capital. The profitable firm explicitly invests in tech startups serving low-income and underrepresented communities. Freada and Mitch wrote the book Closing the Equity Gap: Creating Wealth and Fostering Justice in Startup Investing.

After decades of industrial policy that favored globalization and free trade, we are entering a new era. Prompted by the pandemic, climate change, rising geopolitical tensions and economic concerns, countries and groups of countries are once again using the power they have to intervene in the private sector, whether it's investing in drug development, offering clean energy tax breaks, or incentivizing domestic manufacturing. Harvard Business School professor Willy Shih wants to help corporate leaders navigate these changes in a way that protects their businesses, workers, and customers. He explains the new challenges - as well as opportunities. Shih wrote the HBR article, "The New Era of Industrial Policy is Here."

There are few jobs that demand decisive, clear thinking under pressure more than that of a fighter jet pilot. But the best combat pilots don't act on gut and muscle memory alone. They train to use proven mental models for making tough, fast decisions with extremely high stakes. Hasard Lee is a U.S. Air Force fighter pilot and instructor who has learned, practiced, and taught these techniques. He breaks down the tools that individuals and organizational leaders alike can apply to some of their biggest problems and most difficult situations. Lee wrote the new book The Art of Clear Thinking: A Stealth Fighter Pilot’s Timeless Rules for Making Tough Decisions.

Middle managers are meant to serve as a go-between for leadership teams and individual contributors. But in large organizations, with many layers of hierarchy, some of these roles feel like bureaucratic bloat, which, in tighter economic times, makes them a target for elimination. Emily Field, a partner at McKinsey & Company, thinks in many cases that's a mistake. She argues that most middle managers are critical to corporate performance and productivity, executive team insight, and employee well-being. The key is making sure their roles adapt to the times. Field is the coauthor, along with Bryan Hancock and Bill Schaninger, of the HBR article "Don’t Eliminate Your Middle Managers," as well as the book Power to the Middle: Why Managers Hold the Keys to the Future of Work.

If you had the chance to talk to hundreds of business leaders at the top of their game, what habits and patterns would you learn? Adam Bryant has done just that. He's the senior managing director of the ExCo Group and founded the “Corner Office” interview series at The New York Times. Along the way, he has identified the mindset and attributes that the world's best leaders have acquired to truly influence and change their organizations. He shares what they are and how to develop them in your own career. Bryant wrote the HBR article “The Leap to Leader” as well as the book The Leap to Leader: How Ambitious Managers Make the Jump to Leadership.

We know that trying new things, taking risks, and even failing are vital to most success stories. But getting out of areas where you’re comfortable and breaking through to the next level is easier said than done. Andy Molinsky, professor of organizational behavior at Brandeis International Business School, says that there are actions we all can take to get out of our safe zone and achieve our goals. In this classic episode, he shares his research and advice with former IdeaCast host Sarah Green Carmichael. Molinsky is the author of Reach: A New Strategy to Help You Step Outside your Comfort Zone, Rise to the Challenge and Build Confidence.

With all the hype in the startup world around unicorns and hypergrowth, entrepreneurs feel enormous pressure to raise massive amounts of cash from venture capitalists. But now, as interest rates have risen, a lot of that funding has dried up. And a growing number of founders are seeking ways to scale without burning through cash to acquire users. Mike Salguero is the CEO and founder of the meat subscription service ButcherBox. After a negative experience with venture capital at his prior company, Salguero pledged to grow his new startup without it. That meant a "Box One Profitable" strategy built on the creative leverage of influencers, laser focus on costs, and making tough decisions during the pandemic. Salguero shares how he grew a $600 million company in seven years without outside money.

Most of us can point to a few key people who have made a real difference in our lives and careers - a family member, a coach, a boss. And many who get that kind of mentoring build on the lessons they learn to become leaders and role models themselves. Basketball star Chris Paul is a prime example. He had the support of a tight-knit family growing up, was mentored by a great coach in college, and as an NBA rookie looked to league veterans for guidance. Now, at age 38, he's the seasoned vet, a perennial All-Star across multiple teams who led the National Basketball Players Association from 2013 through the 2020 Covid-19 crisis and racial reckoning in the United States and is widely regarded as one of the best point guards of all time. Paul's new book is "Sixty-One: Life Lessons from Papa, On and Off the Court." Note: This episode was taped before the start of the 2023 NBA playoffs.

It's easy to see how big stresses at work or home -- like layoffs, illnesses, or even a complex and important project -- cause anxiety too spike. But sometimes the stresses that cause the most hard are the tiny, everyday ones that build up over time into a much bigger problem because we don't take the time to recognize and manage our reactions to them. Former HBR editor Karen Dillon and Babson College professor Rob Cross studied the most common types of "microstress" and the ways in which they impact individuals, teams, and organizations. They explain why, if left unchecked, microstress can lead to mistakes, burnout, damaged relationships, and poor mental and physical health. But they also offer advice for better handling it -- and helping others to do the same. Dillon and Cross wrote the book The Microstress Effect and the HBR article "The Hidden Toll of Microstress."

Sabbaticals have long been thought of as an academic privilege, but a growing number of companies offer them, especially since the pandemic. DJ DiDonna, a senior lecturer at Harvard Business School and founder of The Sabbatical Project, has interviewed hundreds of workers who’ve taken them and studied organizations that offer them. From his research and his own experience on a sabbatical, DiDonna shares the surprising impacts that extended time off—paid or unpaid—can have on workers, teams, and the overall organization. And he explains how organizations can make sabbaticals work both financially and culturally.

The use of artificial intelligence and specifically generative AI is growing rapidly, and tech giants like Google have an important role to play in how that technology gets adopted and developed. Sundar Pichai is the CEO of Google as well as its parent company Alphabet, which he's led as an AI-first company for several years. He speaks with HBR editor in chief Adi Ignatius about shaping Google's AI strategy, putting safeguards in place, and how work and leadership will change as AI advances.

Strategy is about making the future happen, not just reacting to it, according to author Gary Hamel. And with generative artificial intelligence, senior leaders suddenly wield an awesome new tool to change the fortunes of their organizations. The promise of generative AI is more than just a sweet hack to boost productivity and streamline operations. Its deeper potential lies in companies that rethink what they do and conjure brand-new, AI-first products and services. Simply put, generative AI is blasting open new strategic paths to create novel business opportunities, even as it brings serious risks and heightened competition. In this episode, How Generative AI Changes Strategy, HBR editor in chief Adi Ignatius speaks to Microsoft’s head of strategy Chris Young and Harvard Business School professor Andy Wu. They lay out the technology, its emerging value chains, and its main providers. They also break down the key choices and tradeoffs that large and small companies alike will be making in this fast-changing market. This is the fourth and final episode in the special series How Generative AI Changes Everything. Each week, HBR editor in chief Adi Ignatius and HBR editor Amy Bernstein have been hosting conversations with experts and business leaders about the impact of generative AI. Find those episodes on the impact on productivity, creativity, and organizational culture in the HBR IdeaCast feed. And for more on ethics in the age of AI, check out HBR’s Big Idea on implementing the new technology responsibly.

One of the first things we learn about people is what they do for a living. But the link between work and identify has moved far beyond that, especially in certain industries, geographies, and cultures. Many of us put everything we have into our jobs, expecting our careers to fulfill us. Author Simone Stolzoff argues for a different approach. He wants us to find work that keeps us engaged and gives us the security we need, while still allowing us to define ourselves in other ways. Drawing on research and real-life stories, he explains what it means to have a "good enough" job, and why this shift in thinking could be good not just for individuals but also for teams and organizations. Stolzoff is the author of The Good Enough Job: Reclaiming Life from Work.

Read just about any business history and you realize just how much a firm’s success depends on its culture. Without the right culture, you can't have successful innovation. You can't compete successfully. You can't thrive over the long term. So, if you want to lead your organization into a future that features generative artificial intelligence, you need to build the right culture for it. In this episode, How Generative AI Changes Organizational Culture, HBR editor Amy Bernstein speaks to two experts, Nitin Mittal and Tsedal Neeley, about how to adopt generative AI effectively and ethically within your organization. Mittal leads Deloitte’s global AI business and cowrote the book All-in On AI: How Smart Companies Win Big with Artificial Intelligence. Neeley is a professor at Harvard Business School and wrote the HBR article “8 Questions About Using AI Responsibly, Answered.” They discuss the risks, challenges, and emerging best practices of adapting organizational culture to generative AI. How Generative AI Changes Everything is a special series from HBR IdeaCast. Each week, HBR editor in chief Adi Ignatius and HBR editor Amy Bernstein host conversations with experts and business leaders about the impact of generative AI on productivity, creativity and innovation, organizational culture, and strategy. The episodes publish in the IdeaCast feed each Thursday in May, after the regular Tuesday episode. And for more on ethics in the age of AI, check out HBR’s Big Idea on implementing the new technology responsibly.

You don’t have to be a famous author to suffer from writer’s block. We all can get stuck in our thought processes and mired in our actions. That's true for leaders and managers as well, explains Adam Alter, a marketing professor at the NYU Stern School of Business. He has studied how people hit plateaus or roadblocks in their work and careers. And he shares different methods for breaking free, including one proven tactic that seems very wrong: doing nothing. Alter wrote the new book Anatomy of a Breakthrough: How to Get Unstuck When It Matters Most.

From prehistoric cave paintings to an inventor’s Eureka moment, creativity has always been described as a particularly human trait. But something strange can happen with generative artificial intelligence. Your ideas can take shape far faster. You also get ideas that you might never have imagined on your own. So, who is the creator here? What is creative work in the era of generative AI? What is innovation in this emerging world? In this episode, How Generative AI Changes Creativity, Adi Ignatius speaks with video artist and consultant Don Allen Stevenson III about how generative AI is disrupting creative work and the creative industry. Then Ignatius speaks to two innovation researchers, Jacqueline Ng Lane and David De Cremer, about changes to the creative process within organizations. Lane is a professor at Harvard Business School. De Cremer is a professor at the National University of Singapore Business School and a coauthor of the HBR article “How Generative AI Could Disrupt Creative Work.” How Generative AI Changes Everything is a special series from HBR IdeaCast. Each week, HBR editor in chief Adi Ignatius and HBR editor Amy Bernstein host conversations with experts and business leaders about the impact of generative AI on productivity, creativity and innovation, organizational culture, and strategy. The episodes publish in the IdeaCast feed each Thursday in May, after the regular Tuesday episode. And for more on ethics in the age of AI, check out HBR’s Big Idea on implementing the new technology responsibly.

Unless you're famous - or want to be - you might not think of yourself as a brand. But whether you're in a meeting or on social media, interviewing for a job or asking for a promotion, the way you carry yourself conveys a certain image to the people around you. Jill Avery studies marketing and is a senior lecturer at Harvard Business School, and Rachel Greenwald is a professional matchmaker and dating coach. Together, they explain why a strong personal brand is important for professional success. They walk us through how to think about reputation, identify core values, and project our authentic selves. Avery and Greenwald wrote the HBR article “A New Approach to Building Your Personal Brand.”

How Generative AI Changes Everything is a special series from HBR IdeaCast. Each week, HBR editor in chief Adi Ignatius and HBR editor Amy Bernstein host conversations with experts and business leaders about the impact of generative AI on productivity, creativity and innovation, organizational culture, and strategy. The episodes publish in the IdeaCast feed each Thursday in May, after the regular Tuesday episode. Generative artificial intelligence is grabbing headlines with the widespread public excitement over tools like ChatGPT. And early academic research shows significant productivity gains in written communications, customer service, market research, computer coding, and professional analysis such as legal work. Meanwhile, the technology is rapidly evolving and getting better the more people use it. As a leader, it’s hard to stay ahead of the developments. In this episode, How Generative AI Changes Productivity, Amy Bernstein speaks with Karim Lakhani, a professor at Harvard Business School and a coauthor of the book Competing in the Age of AI: Strategy and Leadership When Algorithms and Networks Run the World. They discuss initial productivity gains for individuals from the technology, how that will scale across a workforce, and the pressing challenges facing organizational leaders.

Disruptive innovation has proven such a powerful idea that many people now equate innovation with market disruption. But INSEAD strategy professor Renée Mauborgne says there's a powerful way to create new markets without destroying jobs, companies, and communities: "nondisruptive creation." She explains how some entrepreneurs and companies have been able to grow billion-dollar businesses that are new markets rather than displacements of existing ones. Two examples are the microfinance industry and the firm Square. And she explains how leaders can seek out these opportunities to foster profitable growth with less social harm. With fellow INSEAD professor W. Chan Kim, Mauborgne wrote the new book Beyond Disruption: Innovate and Achieve Growth without Displacing Industries, Companies, or Jobs.

Generative AI seems to be everywhere right now, but what do you actually need to know? HBR IdeaCast is cutting through the noise in the special series How Generative AI Changes Everything. How will this new technology upend workforce productivity? What impact will it have on creativity and innovation? How can you build an internal culture that uses generative artificial intelligence and adopt it effectively in your organization? What could it mean for your company's strategy? Hosted by HBR editor in chief Adi Ignatius and HBR editor Amy Bernstein, you'll hear directly from the business leaders at the leading edge, as well as experts, who in some cases are questioning the ethics and speed of this rollout. If you want to understand what this technology means for your organization and how you can lead effectively, listen every Thursday in May in the HBR IdeaCast feed, after the regular Tuesday episode.

As a founding board member of PayPal, cofounder of LinkedIn, and a partner at Silicon Valley VC firm Greylock, Reid Hoffman has long been at the forefront of the U.S. tech industry, from the early days of social media to the launch of new artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT. He acknowledges that technologists are often better at seeing the benefits of their products and services than they are at predicting the problems they might create. But he says that he and his peers are working harder than ever to understand and monitor the downstream effects of technological advancements and to minimize risks by adapting as they go. He speaks about the future of A.I., what he looks for in entrepreneurs, and his hopes for the future. Hoffman is the host of the podcast Masters of Scale as well as the new show Possible.

Many people blame the shortage of low-wage workers on the enduring impact of the pandemic. But management professor Joseph Fuller and senior researcher Manjari Raman of Harvard Business School say that the real reason has been long in the making. Their studies show that companies view low-wage workers as people who will be in the job only for a short time. Instead, the researchers find that these employees are loyal and want development and a clear path to career advancement. The researchers share practical suggestions for how leaders and managers can do better in hiring, development, and mentoring. Fuller and Raman wrote the HBR article "The High Cost of Neglecting Low-Wage Workers."

The business world has increasingly begun to recognize the importance of mental health, but we still have a long way to go in openly acknowledging our challenges with it. Writer, entrepreneur, and podcast host Morra Aarons-Mele says that when we take the time and energy to better understand and talk about our own issues, we can actually harness the learnings to become better managers and colleagues. She says that there are a number of ways to stop anxiety from spiraling and instead use it for good. She also has recommendations for organizations trying to enhance the mental health of their workforces. Morra Aarons-Mele is the article "How High Achievers Overcome Their Anxiety" and the book The Anxious Achiever: Turn Your Biggest Fears into Your Leadership Superpower.

From Theranos to Enron, we can't get enough of corporate scandals. We also can't get enough of the intriguing people who perpetrate them. But instigators of fraud are not all Disneyesque villains chasing money and power at any cost, says DePaul University accounting professor Kelly Richmond Pope. She studies white-collar crime and finds that besides intentional perpetrators, there are also accidental and righteous ones. And she shares real stories of these long-overlooked employees and explains exactly which behaviors and incentives should raise red flags for managers and leaders. Pope is the author of the new book Fool Me Once: Scams, Stories, and Secrets from the Trillion-Dollar Fraud Industry.

How do you solve the world's toughest problems? Or find the next big thing in tech? Lots of organizations fail to explore and take big bets on new ideas because they can't tolerate the mess of experimentation and the fear of failure. At X, Alphabet's dedicated innovation factory, they don't have that problem, and Astro Teller, Captain of Moonshots at X, can explain why. Undertaking projects on everything from rural communication to ocean health to machine learning, he and his teams operate with different creative mindsets and decision-making principles than many of us. He spoke with host Alison Beard at HBR at 100: Future of Business live virtual conference.

What seemed like science fiction for decades is now a reality: companies are selling wearable tech and monitoring devices that can sense people’s brain activity. Neurotechnology opens incredible opportunities for new products and safer workplaces. It also raises huge red flags for privacy and ethics. And managers and organizational leaders are on the front lines of these dilemmas, says Duke University School of Law professor Nita Farahany. She explains the commercial products based on neurotechnology, the impact on workers and organizations, and the need for regulations and corporate policies. Farahany wrote the book The Battle for Your Brain: Defending the Right to Think Freely in the Age of Neurotechnology.

The online application ChatGPT and its integration into Microsoft search engines have put generative artificial intelligence technology in the hands of millions of people. Early adopters are using them in their daily jobs, and preliminary academic studies show big boosts in productivity. Managers can’t sit on the sidelines, says Ethan Mollick, an associate professor of management at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He argues that companies urgently need to experiment with ChatGPT and eventually develop policies for it. He explains the breakthrough, some promising uses, open questions, and what the technology could mean for workers, companies, and the broader economy. Mollick wrote the HBR article "ChatGPT Is a Tipping Point for AI."

For years, employers have used university degrees as a major requirement for hiring. But, for many jobs, success depends more on skills -- and the ability to adapt and learn -- than on piece-of-paper credentials. Ginni Rometty, former chairman and CEO of IBM, realized this early on -- first by watching her mother and other female relatives support their families and later by seeing what it took to rise to the top in her own career. At the helm of IBM from 2012 to 2020, she pushed the company to adopt skills-first recruitment and development practices, and now she's encouraging other organizations to do the same through her work at the non-profit OneTen. Rometty is coauthor of the HBR article “The New-Collar Workforce,” and the book Good Power: Leading Positive Change in Our Lives, Work, and World.

Online influencers are an increasingly important way for companies to find new customers and drive sales. Whether you're a marketer who wants to more effectively use social media or a consumer targeted by influencer content - in good ways and bad - you'll benefit from better understanding how the industry works. Emily Hund, researcher at the University of Pennsylvania, explains that it was born from not only increased connectivity but also Great Recession job cuts which forced people in creative fields to innovate. She argues that these are entrepreneurs who now have an impact on many different sectors of the economy and offers advice for both them and the brands wanting to develop better influencer marketing strategies. Hund is the author of the book The Influencer Industry: The Quest for Authenticity on Social Media.

Many people believe that leaders instinctively make the best decisions based on past experience, almost like muscle memory. But Carol Kauffman, assistant professor at Harvard Medical School and the founder of the Institute of Coaching, says falling back on automatic patterns of behavior is often wrong—especially in a crisis or high-stakes choices. Instead, she explains a framework of stepping back, evaluating options, and choosing the tactics that work best in each situation. Kauffman is a coauthor, along with View Advisors founder David Noble, of the HBR article "The Power of Options" and the book Real-Time Leadership: Find Your Winning Moves When the Stakes Are High.

Whether you're someone who enjoys ruffling feathers or the type of person who'd like to challenge the status quo but shies away, you'll benefit from understanding the best, research--backed ways to practice disagreement - even insubordination - while holding onto others' respect at work. Todd Kashdan is a psychology professor at George Mason University and the author of the book The Art of Insubordination: How to Dissent and Defy Effectively. He explains how contrarians, and those with ideas that run counter to the mainstream, can pick their battles, articulate their arguments, and gain allies along the way.

From Microsoft to Google to Meta, many of the world's biggest tech companies have been announcing layoffs recently. Their explanation is usually that they overhired and need to cut costs. But Harvard Business School professor Sandra Sucher, who has been studying layoffs for years, says companies often underestimate the downsides. Layoffs don’t just come with bad publicity, she explains. They also lead to loss of institutional knowledge, weakened engagement, higher turnover, and lower innovation as remaining employees fear risk-taking. And she says it can take years for companies to catch up. Sucher is a coauthor of the HBR article "What Companies Still Get Wrong About Layoffs."

We all know that creativity is the backbone of innovation and, ultimately, business success. But we don't always think deeply about how creative people get their ideas and the steps we might take to do the same. Gabriella Rosen Kellerman, a physician and chief product and chief innovation officer at BetterUp, and Martin Seligman, a professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, say there are four types of creativity -- integration, splitting, figure-ground reversal, and distal thinking -- and explain how each shows up at work. Amid startling advances in artificial intelligence, people who hone these skills will set themselves apart. Kellerman and Seligman are the authors of the HBR article “Cultivating the Four Kinds of Creativity” and the book Tomorrowmind.

By hosting the podcasts How I Built This and Wisdom from the Top, Guy Raz has won an inside look at how visionary leaders build their own careers and incredible companies. While many leaders have unique qualities that help them succeed, he has identified three behaviors that consistently rise to the surface. These leaders create a culture of collaboration. They encourage risk-taking. And they allow for failure. Raz shares stories of leaders of everything from Starbucks to Proctor & Gamble.

Even in a slowing economy, the battle to attract and retain talent persists. But employers need to look beyond what people are currently demanding — whether it’s higher salaries, more stock options or the flexibility to work from home. Studies show that, over the long term, employees also find value in aspects of work that they overlook in the short term, such as community and opportunities for growth. Professor Amy Edmondson and INSEAD associate professor Mark Mortensen offer up strategies for a holistic talent acquisition and retention strategy that incorporates more lasting benefits, even if workers aren't asking for them right now. Edmondson and Mortensen are the authors of the HBR article "Rethink Your Employee Value Proposition."

It's the start of a fresh year, and optimism is in the air. But if you want happiness to extend far beyond your New Year's resolution, Robert Waldinger says you can take some inspiration from the longest-running study of happiness out there. He’s a psychiatrist who runs the Harvard Study of Adult Development. The longitudinal research has followed individuals and their families for nine decades. He shares what makes people happiest in the long run and how their work factors into that. Waldinger is the author of the new book "The Good Life: Lessons from the World’s Longest Scientific Study of Happiness."

From incivility for frontline workers to struggles with hybrid work to actual progress made since the murder of George Floyd, HBR IdeaCast spent 2022 sharing impactful management research and exploring the social and business trends that affect workers and leaders. Join hosts Alison Beard and Curt Nickisch as they listen in on some of their favorite interviews of the year. They share what made these conversations so memorable and insightful and why they’re still worth a listen—or a re-listen—in 2023. Alison’s and Curt’s Picks: The Positives—and Perils—of Storytelling Let’s Protect Our Frontline Workers from Rude Customers Fighting Bias and Inequality at the Team Level Sad, Mad, Anxious? How to Work Through Your ‘Big Feelings’ NASA’s Science Head on Leading Space Missions with Risk of Spectacular Failure Advice from the CEO of an All-Remote Company

In The New World of Work video series, host and HBR Editor in Chief Adi Ignatius explores how top-tier executives see the future and how their companies are trying to set themselves up for success. Each week, he interviews a top leader live on LinkedIn, and in this special IdeaCast episode, he speaks with LinkedIn CEO Ryan Roslansky on how his company adapted during the pandemic (and after) and how he approaches growth, talent management, and more. You can browse previous episodes of The New World of Work on the HBR YouTube channel and follow HBR on LinkedIn to stay up-to-date on future live interviews. Ignatius also shares an inside look at these conversations —and solicits questions for future discussions — in a newsletter just for HBR subscribers. If you’re a subscriber, you can sign up here.

For decades, actor-producer-director Ron Howard has made popular and critically acclaimed movies while also maintaining a reputation for being one of the nicest guys in Hollywood. He explains how he turned early TV gigs into long-term success and why he often involves his cast and crew members in creative decisions. His latest film is Thirteen Lives.

Managing rapid growth is a huge challenge for young businesses. Even start-ups with glowing reviews and skyrocketing sales can fail. That’s because new ventures and corporate initiatives alike have to sustain profitability at scale, according to Harvard Business School senior lecturer Jeffrey Rayport. He has researched some of the biggest stumbling blocks to long-lasting success and explains how to make the tricky transition out of the start-up phase successfully. With professors Davide Sola and Martin Kupp of ESCP Business School, Rayport cowrote the HBR article “The Overlooked Key to a Successful Scale-Up.”

Over the past few years, organizations around the world have invested in diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives with varying results. But to achieve lasting change, they'll need to commit to that work for much longer, says Ella Washington, organizational psychologist and professor at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business. Her research shows that companies move toward DEI maturity in five stages (aware, compliant, tactical, integrated, and sustainable) and each takes time to work through. She explains why some organizations get stuck, and how to overcome those challenges. Washington is author of "The Necessary Journey: Making Real Progress on Equity and Inclusion" and the HBR article "The Five Stages of DEI Maturity."