Faculty & Research
Faculty & Research
Harvard Business School faculty members have made notable contributions to the history
of business. Faculty research is diverse, based in several of the School’s units,
and reflects disciplinary backgrounds in economics, history, sociology, strategy,
and political science.
24
Results
- 10 Sep 2021
- News
The Evolution of Black Friday Shopping — And What 2021 May Bring
Re: Nancy Koehn
| The term “Black Friday” originally had no connection to shopping, explained Nancy Koehn, a historian and professor at the Harvard Business School. It described a financial panic in 1869 that resulted from investors Jay Gould and Jim Fisk driving up gold prices and...
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- 23 Feb 2021
- News
Managing Diversity, A Conversation about John Lewis and the Civil Rights Movement
Re: Nancy Koehn
| Historian and Professor Nancy Koehn shared her latest thinking on a case study she and Research Associate Eugene B. Kogan are creating on Congressman John Lewis and the Civil Rights Movement in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Lewis' death in July 2020 brought to a...
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- 01 Sep 2020
- News
Comeback Trail
Re: Nancy Koehn, David Moss & Debora Spar
| To better understand how to approach an economic recovery of this scale, we asked three HBS professors—David Moss, Nancy Koehn, and Debora Spar—to weigh in on what advice history can offer as we navigate the current economic crisis.
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- 02 Jun 2020
- News
History teaches 3 essential leadership lessons for our current crisis
By: Nancy Koehn
| The COVID-19 pandemic and current unrest may seem unprecedented, yet this country has previously faced times of grave peril that have tested our leaders, front-line workers, and ordinary citizens. History offers important insights for navigating the high seas and...
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- 12 May 2020
- News
How History's Great Leaders Managed Anxiety
Re: Nancy Koehn
| History can serve as a guide. Nancy Koehn, the James E. Robison Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School and author of the book Forged in Crisis, explains that history’s very best leaders — think Abraham Lincoln, Ernest Shackleton, and Franklin...
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- 10 May 2020
- News
The Brilliant Success of Shackleton’s Failure
Re: Nancy Koehn
| Sir Ernest Shackleton wanted to be the first man to walk across the Antarctic continent. In 1914, with a crew of 28 men, he set sail on the Endurance to complete the first “Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition." But harsh winds and frigid temperatures threatened the...
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- 28 Apr 2020
- News
"What Yesterday’s Leaders Can Teach Us about Today’s Crisis "
Re: Nancy Koehn
| "No pressure, but how mayors handle the COVID-19 crisis is likely to define their legacy as leaders for years to come. That weighty reminder was just one message Harvard Business School Professor Nancy Koehn presented during the latest online coaching and learning...
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- 03 Apr 2020
- News
What FDR, Churchill, and Shackleton can teach us about leadership during the coronavirus crisis
By: Nancy Koehn
| As a historian at the Harvard Business School, I study courageous leaders, especially men and women working in crisis situations. When I began this work, almost 20 years ago, I never imagined living through turbulence of this magnitude. I could not foresee that we...
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- 19 Mar 2020
- News
Real Leaders: Abraham Lincoln and the Power of Emotional Discipline
Re: Nancy Koehn
| In 1863, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln wrote a scathing letter to his top Union general, who had squandered a chance to end the Civil War. Then Lincoln folded it up and tucked it away in his desk. He never sent it. Lincoln understood that the first action that comes...
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- 12 Mar 2020
- News
Real Leaders: Rachel Carson Seeds the Environmental Movement
Re: Nancy Koehn
| In 1958, writer Rachel Carson began her exhaustive research on the effects of widespread pesticide use for her next book, Silent Spring. Over the next four years, she built up an airtight case showing how the world’s most powerful chemical companies were harming...
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- 05 Mar 2020
- News
Real Leaders: Ernest Shackleton Leads a Harrowing Expedition
Re: Nancy Koehn
| In 1915, polar explorer Ernest Shackleton’s ship became trapped in ice, north of Antarctica. For the next two years, he kept his crew of 27 men alive on a drifting ice cap, then led them in their escape. How Shackleton did that has become one of the most famous...
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- 27 Nov 2019
- News
Remembering Lincoln's 1863 Thanksgiving Proclamation
Re: Nancy Koehn
| David Gergen, a professor of public service at the Harvard Kennedy School where he founded the Center for Public Leadership, and Nancy Koehn, a historian at the Harvard Business School where she holds the James E. Robison chair of business administration, joined Boston...
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