More from the Author

• Case | HBS Case Collection | April 2006 (Revised April 2020)

  "The Case of Leadership Inertia"

  Rosabeth Moss Kanter

  The CEO of an international bank has raised the bank's performance by emphasizing a new culture of leadership that empowers people at all levels. Managers are rated both on their business results and their leadership—how they model new behaviors—but 12 senior managers with good business results have yet to embrace the new culture. The CEO is concerned that their inertia will undermine the culture change, especially as the bank is about to consummate a major merger and a new strategic alliance. He solicits proposals from three consultancies with different approaches to change to determine which might help him solve the problem presented by the 12 laggards. A fictional case based on real situations.

  Keywords: Organizational Culture; Leadership Style; Leading Change; Performance Evaluation; Employee Relationship Management;

  Citation:

  Kanter, Rosabeth Moss. The Case of Leadership Inertia"." Harvard Business School Case 303-125, April 2006. (Revised April 2020.)  View Details

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• Case | HBS Case Collection | September 2019 (Revised January 2020)

  Gun Safety in America: Three Leaders Propose Innovative Solutions

  Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Joseph Paul

  Gun violence was a significant problem in America. Three Harvard Advanced Leadership Initiative Fellows Christy Wood, Russell Sternlicht, and Gareth Glaser each decided to do something about gun safety. They each used their professional and leadership experience to identify their own solutions to the issue. Wood created a set of principles for investments funds to pressure gun manufacturers and gun sellers within their portfolios to adopt safety standards. Sternlicht designed a membership-based lobbying and advocacy group in order to harness the power of mass movements to create positive change. And Glaser founded a smart-gun company whose product could help reduce certain types of deaths and injuries. Would any of these three innovations move beyond the historical gridlock on gun safety?

  Keywords: gun violence; guns; advanced leadership; Advanced Leadership Initiative; innovation; innovation ＆ entrepreneurship; social change; social responsibility; Leadership; Change Management; Experience and Expertise; Social Entrepreneurship; Values and Beliefs; Policy; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Leading Change; Non-Governmental Organizations; Social Issues; Innovation and Invention; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; United States;

  Citation:

  Kanter, Rosabeth Moss, and Joseph Paul. "Gun Safety in America: Three Leaders Propose Innovative Solutions." Harvard Business School Case 320-004, September 2019. (Revised January 2020.)  View Details

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• Book | 2020

  Think Outside the Building: How Advanced Leaders Can Change the World One Smart Innovation at a Time

  Rosabeth Moss Kanter

  Over a decade ago, renowned innovation expert Rosabeth Moss Kanter co-founded and then directed Harvard’s Advanced Leadership Initiative. Her breakthrough work with hundreds of successful professionals and executives, as well as aspiring young entrepreneurs, identifies the leadership paradigm of the future: the ability to “think outside the building” to overcome establishment paralysis and produce significant innovation for a better world.
  Thinking inside the building"—using the authority of position—can work in corporate settings but not when you have to work with, through, or around people with independent power bases and within challenging cultural and political situations. Kanter's insight into advanced leadership is an important and original contribution, one that transcends conventional practice.
  The book illustrates how purpose-driven people united in their conviction that positive change is possible can have real impact on some of today’s biggest problems, from climate change to gun safety to inequality to racial issues. Kanter provides candid narrative accounts of their successes and near stumbles. A former Trader Joe’s executive, for example, navigated across business, government, and community sectors to deal with poor nutrition in inner cities while reducing food waste. A concerned European banker used the power of persuasion, not position, to find novel financing for improving the health of the oceans. A Washington couple enticed global partners to join an Uber-like platform to match skilled refugees with talent-hungry companies. A visionary journalist-turned-entrepreneur closed social divides by giving 50 million social media users access to free local education and culture.

  Keywords: Leaders; advanced leadership; Advanced Leadership Initiative; community; change leadership; innovation; problem solving; cross-sector collaboration; institutional change; Leadership; Change; Leading Change; Communication; Innovation Leadership; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Business and Community Relations; Civil Society or Community;

  Citation:

  Kanter, Rosabeth Moss. Think Outside the Building: How Advanced Leaders Can Change the World One Smart Innovation at a Time. New York: PublicAffairs, 2020.  View Details

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