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• Article | Harvard Business Review | May–June 2018

  The Surprising Power of Questions

  Alison Wood Brooks and Leslie K. John

  Much of an executive’s workday is spent asking others for information—requesting status updates from a team leader, for example, or questioning a counterpart in a tense negotiation. Yet unlike professionals such as litigators, journalists, and doctors, who are taught how to ask questions as an essential part of their training, few executives think of questioning as a skill that can be honed—or consider how their own answers to questions could make conversations more productive.
  That’s a missed opportunity. Questioning is a powerful tool for unlocking value in companies: It spurs learning and the exchange of ideas, it fuels innovation and better performance, and it builds trust among team members. And it can mitigate business risk by uncovering unforeseen pitfalls and hazards.
  Several techniques can enhance the power and efficacy of queries: Favor follow-up questions, know when to keep questions open ended, get the sequence right, use the right tone, and pay attention to group dynamics.

  Keywords: Interpersonal Communication; Communication Strategy; Information; Knowledge Sharing; Performance Effectiveness;

  Citation:

  Brooks, Alison Wood, and Leslie K. John. "The Surprising Power of Questions." Harvard Business Review 96, no. 3 (May–June 2018): 60–67.  View Details

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• Article | Review of Economics and Statistics

  The Asymmetric Experience of Positive and Negative Economic Growth:: Global Evidence Using Subjective Well-being Data

  Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, George Ward, Femke De Keulenaer, Bert Van Landeghem, Georgios Kavetsos and Michael I. Norton

  Are individuals more sensitive to losses than gains in terms of economic growth? We find that measures of subjective well-being are more than twice as sensitive to negative as compared to positive economic growth. We use Gallup World Poll data from over 150 countries, BRFSS data on 2.3 million U.S. respondents, and Eurobarometer data that cover multiple business cycles over four decades. This research provides a new perspective on the welfare cost of business cycles, with implications for growth policy and the nature of the long-run relationship between GDP and subjective well-being.

  Keywords: Economic Growth; Business Cycles; Welfare or Wellbeing; Perception; Global Range;

  Citation:

  De Neve, Jan-Emmanuel, George Ward, Femke De Keulenaer, Bert Van Landeghem, Georgios Kavetsos, and Michael I. Norton. "The Asymmetric Experience of Positive and Negative Economic Growth: Global Evidence Using Subjective Well-being Data." Review of Economics and Statistics 100, no. 2 (May 2018): 362–375.  View Details

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• Case | HBS Case Collection | January 2018 (Revised April 2018)

  Adeo Health Science: Turning a Product into a Brand

  Elizabeth A. Keenan and Jill Avery

  For decades, American parents were warned to avoid introducing potential allergens to their babies prior to their first birthday. But two influential clinical studies caused the medical establishment to radically reverse their position. Parents were now warned that delaying the introduction of these types of foods increased a baby's risk of food allergies. Adeo Health Science was ready, with patents filed for a baby food that made it simple for parents to introduce allergens. Now, the new company had to turn its product into a brand and map its go-to-market strategy, including creating a compelling value proposition, choosing a path to market that was either direct-to-consumer, through grocery retailers, or via the physician channel, and planning its marketing communications and sales strategy. As a new startup with constrained resources, the company knew its marketing decisions would make or break the new product.

  Keywords: marketing; Startup; entrepreneurship; health care; consumer; consumer products; branding; brands and branding; marketing strategy; Marketing communications; Distribution; retailing; go to market strategy; Marketing; Marketing Channels; Marketing Communications; Brands and Branding; Marketing Strategy; Entrepreneurship; Health Care and Treatment; Consumer Products Industry; Health Industry; United States; North America;

  Citation:

  Keenan, Elizabeth A., and Jill Avery. "Adeo Health Science: Turning a Product into a Brand." Harvard Business School Case 518-065, January 2018. (Revised April 2018.)  View Details

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