Boris Groysberg
Richard P. Chapman Professor of Business Administration
Boris Groysberg is a Professor of Business Administration in the Organizational Behavior unit at the Harvard Business School. He currently teaches the Managing Human Capital course in the second year elective course of the MBA program and in several Executive Education programs. Professor Groysberg's research focuses on the challenges of managing professional service firms. In particular, his work investigates how a firm can be systematic in achieving a sustainable competitive advantage by leveraging its employees. In a number of related papers, he examines how firms develop, hire, retain, and utilize star knowledge workers. By focusing on the performance of these highly skilled professionals, his research contributes to the human capital theory, the theory of allocation of talent, the theory of labor market competition, and human research management studies. Boris Groysberg has won, for two consecutive years, the Strategic Management Society PhD Fellowship (Booz Allen Hamilton/SMS fellow) for his research on talent management. In 2001, he was also named runner up for the Best Conference Paper Prize. Professor Groysberg holds a DBA in Business Policy from Harvard Business School and a bachelor's degree in accounting from New York University. Prior to joining the faculty, he worked at IBM. Professor Groysberg has taught executive education and has advised professional service firms. He lives in Brookline, with his wife Liliya and his children.
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Talk, Inc.
How Trusted Leaders Use Conversation to Power their Organizations
How can leaders make their big or growing companies feel small again? How can they recapture the “magic”—the tight strategic alignment, the high level of employee engagement—that drove and animated their organization when it was a start-up? As more and more executives have discovered in recent years, the answer to this conundrum lies in the power of conversation. In Talk, Inc., Boris Groysberg and Michael Slind show how trusted and effective leaders are adapting the principles of face-to-face conversation in order to pursue a new form of organizational conversation. They explore the promise of conversation-powered leadership—from the time-tested practice of talking straight (and listening well) to the thoughtful adoption of social media technology. And they offer guidance on how to balance the benefits of open-ended talk with the realities of strategic execution. Drawing on the experience of leaders at diverse companies from around the world, Talk, Inc., offers provocative insights and user-friendly tips on how to make organizational culture more intimate, more interactive, more inclusive, and more intentional—in short, more conversational. How can leaders make their big or growing companies feel small again? How can they recapture the “magic”—the tight strategic alignment, the high level of employee engagement—that drove and animated their organization when it was a start-up? As more and more executives have discovered in recent years, the answer to this conundrum lies in the power of conversation. In Talk, Inc., Boris Groysberg and Michael Slind show how trusted and effective leaders are adapting the principles of face-to-face conversation in order to pursue a new form of organizational conversation. They explore the promise of conversation-powered leadership—from the time-tested practice of talking straight (and listening well) to the thoughtful adoption of social media technology. And they offer guidance on how to balance the benefits of open-ended talk with the realities of strategic execution. Drawing on the experience of leaders at diverse companies from around the world, Talk, Inc., offers provocative insights and user-friendly tips on how to make organizational culture more intimate, more interactive, more inclusive, and more intentional—in short, more conversational.
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Not Just Talk
This article by Boris Groysberg and Michael Slind on organizational conversation appeared in The World Financial Review, July-August 2012.
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Chasing Stars
The Myth of Talent and the Portability of Performance
It is taken for granted in the knowledge economy that companies must employ the most talented performers to compete and succeed. Many firms try to buy stars by luring them away from competitors. But Boris Groysberg shows what an uncertain and disastrous practice this can be.
After examining the careers of more than a thousand star analysts at Wall Street investment banks, and conducting more than two hundred frank interviews, Groysberg comes to a striking conclusion: star analysts who change firms suffer an immediate and lasting decline in performance. Their earlier excellence appears to have depended heavily on their former firms' general and proprietary resources, organizational cultures, networks, and colleagues. There are a few exceptions, such as stars who move with their teams and stars who switch to better firms. Female stars also perform better after changing jobs than their male counterparts do. But most stars who switch firms turn out to be meteors, quickly losing luster in their new settings. Groysberg also explores how some Wall Street research departments are successfully growing, retaining, and deploying their own stars. Finally, the book examines how its findings apply to many other occupations, from general managers to football players. Chasing Stars offers profound insights into the fundamental nature of outstanding performance. It also offers practical guidance to individuals on how to manage their careers strategically, and to companies on how to identify, develop, and keep talent.
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An interview with Boris Groysberg, Professor, Harvard Business School. Many star performers hired from outside don't perform as expected at their new company. So, develop stars within your company; for example, through strong training and mentoring programs.
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