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Leslie A. Perlow

Leslie A. Perlow

Konosuke Matsushita Professor of Leadership

Konosuke Matsushita Professor of Leadership

Read more

Leslie Perlow is the Konosuke Matsushita Professor of Leadership in the Organizational Behavior Unit at Harvard Business School. She recently launched a second year elective, Crafting Your Life: The First 10 Years Post MBA. This course encourages students to be more intentional about their choices, and provides guidance to help them in terms of managing their careers, relationships, and lives.  Growing out of this course she has become involved in building and studying the HBS alumni community.  She leads the LIFE lab as part of HBS’ D^3 initiative.

Professor Perlow’s research focuses on the micro-dynamics of work and life. She has long studied how individuals act within an organization – i.e., what do people do all day, how do they spend their time, with whom do they interact– and the consequences for organizations and individuals. She documents individuals’ work practices including the use of technology, meetings, virtual interactions, and managing across cultures with global teams, and explores the implications of these practices for organization productivity, individuals’ careers, and family lives. Professor Perlow has recently launched several projects to explore hybrid work and how individuals' work location relative to their co-workers as well as others in their lives (i.e., family, partners, roommates) effects their work productivity and their individual (and family's) well-being. She combines deep inductive qualitative research with data analytics to better understand and empower teams to improve the way they work.

Before joining the Harvard faculty, Professor Perlow was on the faculty of the University of Michigan Business School. She earned her B.A. in Economics from Princeton University and her Ph.D. in Organization Studies from MIT. Prior to her academic career, she worked as a management consultant.

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Leslie A. Perlow
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Organizational Behavior
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Featured Work Publications Research Summary Awards & Honors
Rethinking Flexibility at Work | WorkLife with Adam Grant
Leslie Perlow discusses with Adam Grant how to think about flexibility in this new hybrid world where flexibility more than ever is not just about time but also place of work.
Stop the Meeting Madness
How to free up time for meaningful work by Leslie A. Perlow, Constance Noonan Hadley, and Eunice Eun
Manage Your Team's Collective Time
Time management is a group endeavor. Harvard Business School Professor Leslie Perlow shares how the payoff goes far beyond morale and retention.
Sleeping with Your Smartphone
How to Break the 24/7 Habit and Change the Way You Work
Does it have to be this way? Can't resist checking your smartphone or mobile device? Sure, all this connectivity keeps you in touch with your team and the office--but at what cost? In "Sleeping with Your Smartphone," Harvard Business School professor Leslie Perlow reveals how you can disconnect and become more productive in the process. In fact, she shows that you can devote more time to your personal life and accomplish more at work.
TED Institute
Leslie Perlow: Thriving in an overconnected world
While email and mobile technology have greatly accelerated the way we do business, Leslie Perlow argues that the always “on” mentality can have a long-term detrimental effect on many organizations. In her sociological experiments at BCG and other organizations, Perlow found that if the team – rather than just individuals - collectively rallies around a goal of personal value, it unleashes a process that creates better work and better lives.
The Economist Intelligence Unit report
The Personalization Challenge: Business culture and mobile security
Video Interview: EIU Editor Riva Richmond interviews Harvard Business School Professor Leslie Perlow about the risks to organisations from the undirected, always-connected work enabled by mobile devices.
Switching off an "Always on" Culture
Leslie talks about the pervasive responsiveness trap in the workforce.

“The problem is that now everyone's on all the time and we come to expect that of each other. And then, we email each other late at night and we actually may or may not expect a response, initially.  But the person getting the e-mail, their response is, 'Well, maybe it’s not urgent but I should respond anyway and maybe it’s because I want to prove that had it been the clients, I was on.'"
CBS: Unplugging at Night
CBS Boston segment about Leslie Perlow's work at Boston Consulting Group.

Leslie Perlow is the Konosuke Matsushita Professor of Leadership in the Organizational Behavior Unit at Harvard Business School. She recently launched a second year elective, Crafting Your Life: The First 10 Years Post MBA. This course encourages students to be more intentional about their choices, and provides guidance to help them in terms of managing their careers, relationships, and lives.  Growing out of this course she has become involved in building and studying the HBS alumni community.  She leads the LIFE lab as part of HBS’ D^3 initiative.

Professor Perlow’s research focuses on the micro-dynamics of work and life. She has long studied how individuals act within an organization – i.e., what do people do all day, how do they spend their time, with whom do they interact– and the consequences for organizations and individuals. She documents individuals’ work practices including the use of technology, meetings, virtual interactions, and managing across cultures with global teams, and explores the implications of these practices for organization productivity, individuals’ careers, and family lives. Professor Perlow has recently launched several projects to explore hybrid work and how individuals' work location relative to their co-workers as well as others in their lives (i.e., family, partners, roommates) effects their work productivity and their individual (and family's) well-being. She combines deep inductive qualitative research with data analytics to better understand and empower teams to improve the way they work.

Before joining the Harvard faculty, Professor Perlow was on the faculty of the University of Michigan Business School. She earned her B.A. in Economics from Princeton University and her Ph.D. in Organization Studies from MIT. Prior to her academic career, she worked as a management consultant.

Featured Work
Rethinking Flexibility at Work | WorkLife with Adam Grant
Leslie Perlow discusses with Adam Grant how to think about flexibility in this new hybrid world where flexibility more than ever is not just about time but also place of work.
Stop the Meeting Madness
How to free up time for meaningful work by Leslie A. Perlow, Constance Noonan Hadley, and Eunice Eun
Manage Your Team's Collective Time
Time management is a group endeavor. Harvard Business School Professor Leslie Perlow shares how the payoff goes far beyond morale and retention.
Sleeping with Your Smartphone
How to Break the 24/7 Habit and Change the Way You Work
Does it have to be this way? Can't resist checking your smartphone or mobile device? Sure, all this connectivity keeps you in touch with your team and the office--but at what cost? In "Sleeping with Your Smartphone," Harvard Business School professor Leslie Perlow reveals how you can disconnect and become more productive in the process. In fact, she shows that you can devote more time to your personal life and accomplish more at work.
TED Institute
Leslie Perlow: Thriving in an overconnected world
While email and mobile technology have greatly accelerated the way we do business, Leslie Perlow argues that the always “on” mentality can have a long-term detrimental effect on many organizations. In her sociological experiments at BCG and other organizations, Perlow found that if the team – rather than just individuals - collectively rallies around a goal of personal value, it unleashes a process that creates better work and better lives.
The Economist Intelligence Unit report
The Personalization Challenge: Business culture and mobile security
Video Interview: EIU Editor Riva Richmond interviews Harvard Business School Professor Leslie Perlow about the risks to organisations from the undirected, always-connected work enabled by mobile devices.
Switching off an "Always on" Culture
Leslie talks about the pervasive responsiveness trap in the workforce.

“The problem is that now everyone's on all the time and we come to expect that of each other. And then, we email each other late at night and we actually may or may not expect a response, initially.  But the person getting the e-mail, their response is, 'Well, maybe it’s not urgent but I should respond anyway and maybe it’s because I want to prove that had it been the clients, I was on.'"
CBS: Unplugging at Night
CBS Boston segment about Leslie Perlow's work at Boston Consulting Group.
Books
  • Perlow, Leslie A. Sleeping with Your Smartphone: How to Break the 24-7 Habit and Change the Way you Work. Harvard Business Review Press, 2012. View Details
  • Perlow, Leslie. When You Say Yes But Mean No: How Silencing Conflict Wrecks Relationships and Companies. New York: Crown Business, 2003. View Details
  • Perlow, Leslie. Finding Time: How Corporations, Individuals, and Families Can Benefit from New Work Practices. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1997. View Details
Journal Articles
  • Whillans, Ashley V., Leslie Perlow, and Aurora Turek. "Experimenting During the Shift to Virtual Team Work: Learnings from How Teams Adapted Their Activities During the COVID-19 Pandemic." Information and Organization 31, no. 1 (March 2021). View Details
  • Perlow, Leslie, Constance Noonan Hadley, and Eunice Eun. "Stop the Meeting Madness: How to Free Up Time for Meaningful Work." Harvard Business Review 95, no. 4 (July–August 2017): 62–69. View Details
  • Perlow, Leslie. "Manage Your Team's Collective Time." Harvard Business Review 92, no. 6 (June 2014): 23–25. View Details
  • Perlow, Leslie A., and Erin L. Kelly. "Toward a Model of Work Redesign for Better Work and Better Life." Work and Occupations 41, no. 1 (February 2014): 111–134. View Details
  • Perlow, Leslie, and Jessica L. Porter. "Making Time Off Predictable—and Required." Harvard Business Review 87, no. 10 (October 2009). View Details
  • Perlow, Leslie, and Nelson Repenning. "The Dynamics of Silencing Conflict." Research in Organizational Behavior 29 (2009): 195–223. View Details
  • Perlow, Leslie, Jody Hoffer Gittell, and Nancy R. Katz. "Contextualizing Patterns of Work Group Interaction: Toward a Nested Theory of Structuration." Organization Science 15, no. 5 (September–October 2004): 520–536. View Details
  • Perlow, Leslie, and Stephanie Williams. "Is Silence Killing Your Company?" Harvard Business Review 81, no. 5 (May 2003): 52–58. View Details
  • Perlow, Leslie, Gerardo Okhuyson, and Nelson Repenning. "The Speed Trap: Exploring the Relationship between Decision Making and the Temporal Context." Academy of Management Journal 45, no. 5 (October 2002): 931–955. View Details
  • Perlow, Leslie, and John Weeks. "Who's Helping Whom: A Comparison of Helping Behavior among American and Indian Software Engineers." Journal of Organizational Behavior 23, no. 4 (June 2002): 345–361. View Details
  • Staudenmayer, Nancy, Marcie Tyre, and Leslie Perlow. "Time to Change: Temporal Shifts As Enablers of Organizational Change." Organization Science 13, no. 5 (September–October 2002). View Details
  • Perlow, Leslie. "Time to Coordinate: Toward an Understanding of Work-Time Standards and Norms in a Multi-Country Study of Software Engineers." Work and Occupations 28, no. 1 (February 2001). View Details
  • Ancona, Deborah, Gerardo Okhuyson, and Leslie Perlow. "Time-out: Taking Time to Integrate Temporal Research." Academy of Management Review 26, no. 4 (October 2001): 512–529. View Details
  • Perlow, Leslie. "The Time Famine: Towards a Sociology of Work Time." Administrative Science Quarterly 44, no. 1 (March 1999): 57–81. View Details
  • Perlow, Leslie. "Boundary Control: The Social Ordering of Work and Family Time in a High-Tech Corporation." Administrative Science Quarterly 43, no. 2 (June 1998): 328–357. View Details
  • Perlow, Leslie. "Putting the Work Back into Work/Family." Group & Organization Management 20, no. 2 (1995): 227–239. View Details
Book Chapters
  • Perlow, Leslie. "Collaborative Implementation: 'What If,' Asked George?" In Research Alive: Exploring Generative Moments in Doing Qualitative Research. Vol. 27, edited by Arne Carlsen and Jane E. Dutton. Advances in Organization Studies. Copenhagen Business School Press, 2011. View Details
  • Trefalt, Spela, and Leslie Perlow. "Learning from Women Who Make It Work: A Call for Dynamic Flexibility." In Qualitative Organizational Research: Best Papers from the Davis Conference on Qualitative Research, edited by K. Elsbach, 227–251. Greenwich, CT: Information Age Publishing (IAP), 2005. View Details
  • Perlow, Leslie. "Studying Work Groups in India, China, and Hungary." In Gaining Access: A Practical Guide for Field Researchers, edited by Martha S. Feldman, Jeannine Bell, and Michele Tracy Berger. Altamira Press, 2003. View Details
  • Perlow, Leslie, and L. Bailyn. "The Senseless Submergence of Difference: Engineers, Their Work and Their Careers." In Between Technology and Society: Technical Workers in Modern Workplaces, edited by B. Barley and J. Orr. Ithaca, NY: IRL Press, 1997. View Details
Cases and Teaching Materials
  • Perlow, Leslie, and Matthew Preble. "Luke Fuszard." Harvard Business School Case 422-026, October 2021. View Details
  • Perlow, Leslie A., and Matthew G. Preble. "Dallin and Elizabeth Anderson." Harvard Business School Case 422-025, October 2021. View Details
  • Zhang, Ting, and Leslie A. Perlow. "Developmental Relationships." Harvard Business School Background Note 421-045, October 2020. View Details
  • Perlow, Leslie, and Matthew Preble. "Gerald Chertavian." Harvard Business School Case 421-030, August 2020. View Details
  • Perlow, Leslie, and Matthew Preble. "Sangu Delle." Harvard Business School Case 421-031, August 2020. View Details
  • Perlow, Leslie, and Matthew Preble. "Sheena Gupta (B)." Harvard Business School Supplement 421-029, August 2020. View Details
  • Perlow, Leslie, and Matthew Preble. "Sheena Gupta (A)." Harvard Business School Case 421-028, August 2020. View Details
  • Perlow, Leslie, and Matthew Preble. "The Power of Enduring Relationships." Harvard Business School Case 420-070, January 2020. View Details
  • Perlow, Leslie, and Matthew Preble. "Thierry Porté." Harvard Business School Case 420-074, November 2019. (Revised October 2020.) View Details
  • Perlow, Leslie, and Matthew Preble. "Jessica Deckinger (MBA 2008)." Harvard Business School Case 420-069, October 2019. View Details
  • Perlow, Leslie, and Matthew Preble. "Grant Freeland." Harvard Business School Case 420-067, October 2019. View Details
  • Perlow, Leslie, and Matthew Preble. "Mia Mends." Harvard Business School Case 420-065, October 2019. View Details
  • Perlow, Leslie A., Eunice Eun, and Matthew G. Preble. "Noah Fisher (MBA 2016)." Harvard Business School Case 420-049, September 2019. (Revised January 2020.) View Details
  • Perlow, Leslie A., Eunice Eun, and Matthew Preble. "Mary Elizabeth Carter (MBA 2017)." Harvard Business School Case 420-048, September 2019. View Details
  • Perlow, Leslie, Jeff Steiner, and Matthew Preble. "Gina Wilcox." Harvard Business School Case 420-045, September 2019. (Revised September 2020.) View Details
  • Perlow, Leslie, and Matthew Preble. "Sonya Brown (MBA 2002)." Harvard Business School Case 420-051, September 2019. View Details
  • Perlow, Leslie A., Eunice Eun, and Matthew G. Preble. "Ming Min Hui (MBA 2015)." Harvard Business School Case 420-050, September 2019. (Revised January 2020.) View Details
  • Perlow, Leslie, Jeff Steiner, and Nathaniel Schwalb. "Joseph Kahn." Harvard Business School Case 420-044, August 2019. View Details
  • Perlow, Leslie, Jeff Steiner, and Olivia Hull. "Christopher Crosby." Harvard Business School Case 420-043, August 2019. View Details
  • Perlow, Leslie, and Eunice Eun. "Phuc Huynh and Teach for Vietnam (A)." Harvard Business School Case 419-036, October 2018. View Details
  • Perlow, Leslie, Eunice Eun, and Wenjie Ma. "Srivathsan Canchi at eBay Inc." Harvard Business School Case 416-006, September 2015. (Revised August 2016.) View Details
  • Perlow, Leslie A., and Kerry Herman. "George Martin at The Boston Consulting Group (C)." Harvard Business School Supplement 410-118, April 2010. (Revised May 2010.) View Details
  • Perlow, Leslie A., and Kerry Herman. "George Martin at The Boston Consulting Group (A)." Harvard Business School Case 410-112, April 2010. View Details
  • Perlow, Leslie A., and Kerry Herman. "George Martin at The Boston Consulting Group (B)." Harvard Business School Supplement 410-117, April 2010. View Details
  • Snook, Scott A., Leslie A. Perlow, and Brian DeLacey. "Coach K: A Matter of the Heart." Harvard Business School Case 406-044, August 2005. (Revised December 2005.) View Details
  • Snook, Scott A., Leslie A. Perlow, and Brian DeLacey. "Coach Knight: The Will to Win." Harvard Business School Case 406-043, August 2005. (Revised December 2005.) View Details
  • Perlow, Leslie A., and Daisy Wademan. "Pat Anderson." Harvard Business School Case 405-033, September 2004. (Revised October 2004.) View Details
  • Perlow, Leslie A., and David Ager. "Cat is out of the Bag, The: KANA and the Layoff Gone Awry (A)." Harvard Business School Case 403-117, January 2003. (Revised April 2004.) View Details
  • Perlow, Leslie A. "Time Distribution and Interaction Patterns for PEARL Project Team: Work Patterns at Ditto (D)." Harvard Business School Compilation 404-058, September 2003. (Revised March 2004.) View Details
  • Perlow, Leslie A. "PEARL Project, The: Work Patterns at Ditto (A)." Harvard Business School Compilation 404-055, September 2003. (Revised March 2004.) View Details
  • Perlow, Leslie A. "Laura Barr: Work Patterns at Ditto (B)." Harvard Business School Compilation 404-056, September 2003. (Revised March 2004.) View Details
  • Perlow, Leslie A. "Max Green: Work Patterns at Ditto (C)." Harvard Business School Compilation 404-057, September 2003. (Revised March 2004.) View Details
  • Perlow, Leslie A., and Elizabeth Kind. "New HP, The: The Clean Room and Beyond." Harvard Business School Case 404-064, February 2004. View Details
  • Perlow, Leslie A. "Work Patterns at Ditto (TN) (A), (B), (C), and (D)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 404-059, September 2003. (Revised October 2003.) View Details
  • Perlow, Leslie A. "Versity.com (TN)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 404-061, September 2003. (Revised October 2003.) View Details
  • Perlow, Leslie A., and Thomas J. DeLong. "Anne F. Baird." Harvard Business School Supplement 403-086, November 2002. (Revised October 2003.) View Details
  • Perlow, Leslie A. "Versity.com." Harvard Business School Case 403-132, February 2003. (Revised October 2003.) View Details
  • Perlow, Leslie A. "Peter Jacobs at Versity.com." Harvard Business School Case 403-133, February 2003. (Revised October 2003.) View Details
  • Perlow, Leslie A., and David Ager. "Cat is out of the Bag, The: Kana and the Layoff Gone Awry (TN) (A), (B), and (C)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 404-060, September 2003. (Revised October 2003.) View Details
  • Perlow, Leslie A., and David Ager. "Cat is out of the Bag, The: KANA and the Layoff Gone Awry (B)." Harvard Business School Case 403-118, January 2003. (Revised October 2003.) View Details
  • Perlow, Leslie A., and David Ager. "Cat is out of the Bag, The: KANA and the Layoff Gone Awry (C)." Harvard Business School Case 403-119, January 2003. (Revised October 2003.) View Details
  • Perlow, Leslie A. "Managing the Competing Goals of Work and Life." Harvard Business School Module Note 404-063, September 2003. View Details
  • Perlow, Leslie A. "Howie Cohen at Versity.com." Harvard Business School Case 403-134, February 2003. (Revised September 2003.) View Details
  • Perlow, Leslie A. "Profiles of the Class of 1976 (TN)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 404-062, September 2003. View Details
  • Perlow, Leslie. "The Danger of Silencing Conflict at Work." Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing Class Lecture, 2003. Electronic. (Faculty Lecture: HBSP Product Number 5615C.) View Details
  • Perlow, Leslie A., and Thomas J. DeLong. "Linda Fay Harris." Harvard Business School Supplement 403-081, November 2002. View Details
  • Perlow, Leslie A., and Thomas J. DeLong. "Samuel Allston." Harvard Business School Supplement 403-082, November 2002. View Details
  • Perlow, Leslie A., and Thomas J. DeLong. "Patricia Hughes Mason." Harvard Business School Supplement 403-083, November 2002. View Details
  • Perlow, Leslie A., and Thomas J. DeLong. "Matthew J. Martin." Harvard Business School Supplement 403-084, November 2002. View Details
  • Perlow, Leslie A., and Thomas J. DeLong. "Richard Oliva." Harvard Business School Supplement 403-085, November 2002. View Details
  • Perlow, Leslie A., and Thomas J. DeLong. "Profiles of the Class of 1976." Harvard Business School Case 403-087, November 2002. View Details
Research Summary
Research Summary

There has been tremendous change in the workplace — ubiquitous technology, 24/7 globalization, hyper-efficiency and now significant changes in work location. Professor Perlow’s research focuses on the implications for the ways we work and live, and what we can do to improve both. She finds we have become less efficient, unable to plan or prioritize work; less effective, with speed substituting for strategy and innovation; more isolated, overwhelmed, harried, as the dividing line between work and home disappears. She further finds that change is possible – change that results in better work and better lives.

As an ethnographer, Professor Perlow does in-depth studies, often for years at a time. Her work to date has been based predominantly on firms in high tech, professional services, and pharmaceuticals. She has studied companies with co-located teams and global teams. She has lived for months at a time in both China and India. She is currently conducting an ethnographic study that began with the sudden shift to virtual in March 2020 and continues today as the organization grapples with how to most effectively make hybrid work work. She has also launched several other projects to gather data about working hybrid and what makes it more effective for both the individuals but also the teams of which they are apart.

Other recent projects include the study of meetings and their deeper roots in the way we organize and execute work; the study of team dynamics as they are experienced simultaneously by team members in different locations (having researchers at multiple sites at the same time); and the effects of being connected 24-7.

Professor Perlow has further been developing and implementing a change process that revolves around empowering groups of people to rally around a collective goal, catalyzing a process of innovating and improving how they do their work. Most recently she is experimenting with data as a source of learning and motivating change.

Awards & Honors
Recipient of the 2012 Work Life Legacy Award from the Families and Work Institute.
Additional Information
  • Working Knowledge Articles
  • My Website
Areas of Interest
  • corporate culture
  • ethnography
  • leading change
  • qualitative research
  • work/family balance
  • Additional Topics
  • conflict
  • conflict management
  • cross-cultural/cross-border
  • entrepreneurship
  • gender
  • group dynamics
  • interactions
  • interactive communication
  • leadership
  • organizational behavior
  • organizational development
  • organizational learning
  • power and influence
  • professional service firms
In The News

In The News

    • 11 Jan 2023
    • Fast Company

    Tracking Employees Doesn’t Work. Here’s How to Move beyond Productivity Paranoia

    • 25 May 2022
    • MIT Sloan Management Review

    Declare ‘Calendar Bankruptcy’ to Move Beyond Meeting-Driven Culture

    • 19 Apr 2022
    • WorkLife with Adam Grant

    Rethinking Flexibility at Work

    • 24 Apr 2021
    • New York Times

    How to Navigate the Postpandemic Office

    • 07 Apr 2021
    • HBS Working Knowledge

    How Teams Work: Lessons from the Pandemic

→More News for Leslie A. Perlow

Leslie A. Perlow In the News

Media Mentions

11 Jan 2023
Fast Company
Tracking Employees Doesn’t Work. Here’s How to Move beyond Productivity Paranoia

25 May 2022
MIT Sloan Management Review
Declare ‘Calendar Bankruptcy’ to Move Beyond Meeting-Driven Culture

19 Apr 2022
WorkLife with Adam Grant
Rethinking Flexibility at Work

24 Apr 2021
New York Times
How to Navigate the Postpandemic Office

07 Apr 2021
HBS Working Knowledge
How Teams Work: Lessons from the Pandemic

17 Mar 2021
TodayOnline.com
Are there enough hours in the day for hybrid work?

03 Mar 2021
Bloomberg
Sick Days Don’t Look So Good Now That You Can Work From Home

20 Aug 2020
New York Times
How to Make Work Better

20 Aug 2020
New York Times
The Office Will Never Be the Same

02 Aug 2020
Wall Street Journal
Remote Work Is Here to Stay. Bosses Better Adjust.

31 Jul 2020
New York Times
Remote Work Isn’t Working? Maybe Your Company Is Doing It Wrong

18 May 2020
Wall Street Journal
Why It Is OK to Miss the Office and Your Old Work Self

18 May 2020
Wall Street Journal
It’s OK to Miss the Office During the Coronavirus Lockdown

16 Jan 2019
Harvard Business Review
How to Make Any Business Trip Less Boring

10 Sep 2018
Mint
Get your team to help you to switch off the ‘always on’ culture

12 Mar 2018
CNBC
Billionaire Richard Branson says this is the key to happiness and success

21 Aug 2017
Harvard Business Review
Help Your Team Achieve Work-Life Balance — Even When You Can’t

07 Aug 2017
Sydney Morning Herald
Could this be the real reason your boss emails you outside business hours?

17 Jul 2017
Financial Times
Silence breaks through the noise of success

05 Jul 2017
Harvard Business Review
Stop the Meeting Madness

15 May 2017
Forbes
How Setting Digital Boundaries Can Help Women Succeed

17 Jun 2016
Fast Company
The Secret Economic And Career Benefits Of Taking Vacation

18 Nov 2015
Huffington Post
Seven Books for Working Relationships

20 Aug 2015
Inc.
Why Employees' Long Hours Can Hurt Your Company's Bottom Line

22 Jun 2015
Huffington Post
How To Stop Working All The Time And Get More Done

26 May 2015
HBS Working Knowledge
Corporate Field Researchers Share Tricks of the Trade

08 Apr 2015
Fortune
Why and how managers should help workers set boundaries

27 Feb 2015
Washington Post
How long can you go without your phone? Well, what if it’s for a good cause?

29 Jun 2012
Harvard Business School
New Books from Harvard Business School Faculty

Additional Media Mentions

13 Oct 2014
CNN
Can disappearing desks improve how we work?

30 Sep 2014
Entrepreneur
There Are Always a Million Distractions. Here's How to Silence the Noise and Pay Attention.

14 Jul 2014
Entrepreneur
8 Ways to Break Bad Smartphone Habits

20 May 2014
Harvard Business Review
Manage Your Team’s Collective Time

13 May 2014
US News & World Report
Arianna Huffington's Tips on How to Feel Better and Get More Done

06 Feb 2014
Wall Street Journal
Smartphones Make You Tired and Unproductive, Study Says

10 Jan 2014
TED@BCG San Francisco
Thriving in an overconnected world

20 Nov 2013
Huffington Post
How Our Team of Always-on Consultants Learned to Unplug

08 Oct 2013
Human Capital Magazine
Break your Smartphone Dependence, it’s Killling You

19 Oct 2013
Daily Beast
Wired Executives Find that Disconnecting Can Help Spur Creativity

26 Sep 2013
Fast Company
Share Your Job, Save Your Sanity

19 Sep 2013
Fast Company
When Does Efficiency Become Stupid?

12 Sep 2013
Economist Intelligence Unit
Mobility and Organizational Culture

27 Aug 2013
Wall Street Journal
CEOs Find Unplugging Can Help With Work

19 Jun 2013
Fast Company
Why You're Sleeping With Your Smartphone

18 Jun 2013
Fast Company
3 Ways to Really Put the "Vacate" into Vacation

18 Jun 2013
Fast Company
Why You're Sleeping With Your Smartphone

15 Jun 2013
New York Times
Messages Galore, But No Time To Think

23 May 2013
Huffington Post
5 Things You Should Know About Sleep Health in the Workplace

23 May 2013
Huffington Post
HuffPost Blog: 5 Things You Should Know About Sleep Health in the Workplace

23 May 2013
Wall Street Journal
I’m Out of the Office. No, Really. I Am.

14 May 2013
Cornerstone Blog
Leslie Perlow: How to Have Your Downtime -- Without Missing a Beat

12 Mar 2013
Atlantic
Anthropology Inc.

07 Mar 2013
New York Times
Yes, You Can

06 Mar 2013
Huffington Post
Why working in the office is bad for you

21 Feb 2013
U.S. News & World Report
Work, Life, and the Attempt to Do it All

20 Feb 2013
Washington Post
When maternity leave doesn’t mean ‘out of office’

20 Feb 2013
Fast Company
Slacking At Work Is A Controversial Productivity Tool—So Is There A Better Way?

20 Feb 2013
Fast Company
Slacking At Work Is A Controversial Productivity Tool--So Is There A Better Way?

01 Feb 2013
WNCN
Beating Smartphone Addiction

22 Jan 2013
Entrepreneur
Why Being a Workaholic is Counterproductive

01 Jan 2013
New York Times
Silencing the Smartphone

04 Dec 2012
Bloomberg
Gorman Skips Business, Jain Likes Faulks: Best Books of 2012

10 Oct 2012
Management Tip of the Day: Try Not Responding for a Change

08 Oct 2012
HBR Blogs
Does Success Require Sleeping With Your Smartphone?

01 Oct 2012
China Daily USA
Anchored to mobiles

28 Sep 2012
Should You Handle Work Email on Your Smartphone?

27 Sep 2012
Huffington Post
Breaking the Cycle of Responsiveness at Work

27 Sep 2012
Huffington Post
Breaking the Cycle of Responsiveness at Work

17 Sep 2012
Learning Executives Briefing
Step Away From the Smartphone

30 Aug 2012
Life Inc. on Today
Flexible Work Schedules are Good for Business, Expert Says

21 Aug 2012
CNN
We dare you to take a real vacation

15 Aug 2012
Forbes
What I Learned From Swimming With My SmartPhone

15 Jul 2012
New York Times
The Workplace Benefits of Being Out of Touch

11 Jul 2012
Boston Public Radio
The Smartphone Paradox

11 Jul 2012
Washington Post
Why ‘work-life balance’ doesn’t work

06 Jul 2012
Business Insider
It's Sick How Close We're Getting To A 24/7 Workweek

27 Jun 2012
Wall Street Journal
Real Vacations Are Good for You: Take Them and Turn Off

21 Jun 2012
Fortune
Put the smartphone down: It'll be okay

19 Jun 2012
New York Times
Keeping Social Media in Their Place

19 Jun 2012
CNNMoney
4 cardinal sins of work communication

03 Jun 2012
Business Insider
Harvard B-School Prof: Stop Sleeping With Your Smartphone!

29 May 2012
How to Stop Sleeping With Your Smartphone

22 May 2012
HBR Blogs
Are You Sleeping With Your Smartphone?

21 May 2012
Fast Company
Predictable Time Off: The Team Solution To Overcoming Constant Work Connection

17 May 2012
TIME
How To Stop Sleeping With Your Smartphone

14 May 2012
WBZ-TV Boston
Unplugging At Night May Be A Smarter Way To Work

14 May 2012
HBS Working Knowledge
Breaking the Smartphone Addiction

03 May 2012
When the smartphone's turned off

02 May 2012
HBR Blogs
Overcome Your Work Addiction

18 Apr 2012
Huffington Post
Turning off Your Smartphone: More Stress Or Less?

10 Mar 2012
Economist
Schumpeter: Slaves to the smartphone

04 Nov 2011
Americans Work Too Much for Their Own Good: de Graaf and Batker

19 Aug 2011
HBR Blogs
Managing Multiple Bosses

10 Sep 2010
Washington Post
Debunking the 24/7 workday

23 Feb 2010
Entrepreneur
E-mail is Making You Stupid

Additional Information
Working Knowledge Articles
My Website

Areas of Interest

corporate culture
ethnography
leading change
qualitative research
work/family balance
 More

Additional Topics

conflict
conflict management
cross-cultural/cross-border
entrepreneurship
gender
group dynamics
interactions
interactive communication
leadership
organizational behavior
organizational development
organizational learning
power and influence
professional service firms
 Less

In The News

    • 11 Jan 2023
    • Fast Company

    Tracking Employees Doesn’t Work. Here’s How to Move beyond Productivity Paranoia

    • 25 May 2022
    • MIT Sloan Management Review

    Declare ‘Calendar Bankruptcy’ to Move Beyond Meeting-Driven Culture

    • 19 Apr 2022
    • WorkLife with Adam Grant

    Rethinking Flexibility at Work

    • 24 Apr 2021
    • New York Times

    How to Navigate the Postpandemic Office

    • 07 Apr 2021
    • HBS Working Knowledge

    How Teams Work: Lessons from the Pandemic

→More News for Leslie A. Perlow

Leslie A. Perlow In the News

Media Mentions

11 Jan 2023
Fast Company
Tracking Employees Doesn’t Work. Here’s How to Move beyond Productivity Paranoia

25 May 2022
MIT Sloan Management Review
Declare ‘Calendar Bankruptcy’ to Move Beyond Meeting-Driven Culture

19 Apr 2022
WorkLife with Adam Grant
Rethinking Flexibility at Work

24 Apr 2021
New York Times
How to Navigate the Postpandemic Office

07 Apr 2021
HBS Working Knowledge
How Teams Work: Lessons from the Pandemic

17 Mar 2021
TodayOnline.com
Are there enough hours in the day for hybrid work?

03 Mar 2021
Bloomberg
Sick Days Don’t Look So Good Now That You Can Work From Home

20 Aug 2020
New York Times
How to Make Work Better

20 Aug 2020
New York Times
The Office Will Never Be the Same

02 Aug 2020
Wall Street Journal
Remote Work Is Here to Stay. Bosses Better Adjust.

31 Jul 2020
New York Times
Remote Work Isn’t Working? Maybe Your Company Is Doing It Wrong

18 May 2020
Wall Street Journal
Why It Is OK to Miss the Office and Your Old Work Self

18 May 2020
Wall Street Journal
It’s OK to Miss the Office During the Coronavirus Lockdown

16 Jan 2019
Harvard Business Review
How to Make Any Business Trip Less Boring

10 Sep 2018
Mint
Get your team to help you to switch off the ‘always on’ culture

12 Mar 2018
CNBC
Billionaire Richard Branson says this is the key to happiness and success

21 Aug 2017
Harvard Business Review
Help Your Team Achieve Work-Life Balance — Even When You Can’t

07 Aug 2017
Sydney Morning Herald
Could this be the real reason your boss emails you outside business hours?

17 Jul 2017
Financial Times
Silence breaks through the noise of success

05 Jul 2017
Harvard Business Review
Stop the Meeting Madness

15 May 2017
Forbes
How Setting Digital Boundaries Can Help Women Succeed

17 Jun 2016
Fast Company
The Secret Economic And Career Benefits Of Taking Vacation

18 Nov 2015
Huffington Post
Seven Books for Working Relationships

20 Aug 2015
Inc.
Why Employees' Long Hours Can Hurt Your Company's Bottom Line

22 Jun 2015
Huffington Post
How To Stop Working All The Time And Get More Done

26 May 2015
HBS Working Knowledge
Corporate Field Researchers Share Tricks of the Trade

08 Apr 2015
Fortune
Why and how managers should help workers set boundaries

27 Feb 2015
Washington Post
How long can you go without your phone? Well, what if it’s for a good cause?

29 Jun 2012
Harvard Business School
New Books from Harvard Business School Faculty

Additional Media Mentions

13 Oct 2014
CNN
Can disappearing desks improve how we work?

30 Sep 2014
Entrepreneur
There Are Always a Million Distractions. Here's How to Silence the Noise and Pay Attention.

14 Jul 2014
Entrepreneur
8 Ways to Break Bad Smartphone Habits

20 May 2014
Harvard Business Review
Manage Your Team’s Collective Time

13 May 2014
US News & World Report
Arianna Huffington's Tips on How to Feel Better and Get More Done

06 Feb 2014
Wall Street Journal
Smartphones Make You Tired and Unproductive, Study Says

10 Jan 2014
TED@BCG San Francisco
Thriving in an overconnected world

20 Nov 2013
Huffington Post
How Our Team of Always-on Consultants Learned to Unplug

08 Oct 2013
Human Capital Magazine
Break your Smartphone Dependence, it’s Killling You

19 Oct 2013
Daily Beast
Wired Executives Find that Disconnecting Can Help Spur Creativity

26 Sep 2013
Fast Company
Share Your Job, Save Your Sanity

19 Sep 2013
Fast Company
When Does Efficiency Become Stupid?

12 Sep 2013
Economist Intelligence Unit
Mobility and Organizational Culture

27 Aug 2013
Wall Street Journal
CEOs Find Unplugging Can Help With Work

19 Jun 2013
Fast Company
Why You're Sleeping With Your Smartphone

18 Jun 2013
Fast Company
3 Ways to Really Put the "Vacate" into Vacation

18 Jun 2013
Fast Company
Why You're Sleeping With Your Smartphone

15 Jun 2013
New York Times
Messages Galore, But No Time To Think

23 May 2013
Huffington Post
5 Things You Should Know About Sleep Health in the Workplace

23 May 2013
Huffington Post
HuffPost Blog: 5 Things You Should Know About Sleep Health in the Workplace

23 May 2013
Wall Street Journal
I’m Out of the Office. No, Really. I Am.

14 May 2013
Cornerstone Blog
Leslie Perlow: How to Have Your Downtime -- Without Missing a Beat

12 Mar 2013
Atlantic
Anthropology Inc.

07 Mar 2013
New York Times
Yes, You Can

06 Mar 2013
Huffington Post
Why working in the office is bad for you

21 Feb 2013
U.S. News & World Report
Work, Life, and the Attempt to Do it All

20 Feb 2013
Washington Post
When maternity leave doesn’t mean ‘out of office’

20 Feb 2013
Fast Company
Slacking At Work Is A Controversial Productivity Tool—So Is There A Better Way?

20 Feb 2013
Fast Company
Slacking At Work Is A Controversial Productivity Tool--So Is There A Better Way?

01 Feb 2013
WNCN
Beating Smartphone Addiction

22 Jan 2013
Entrepreneur
Why Being a Workaholic is Counterproductive

01 Jan 2013
New York Times
Silencing the Smartphone

04 Dec 2012
Bloomberg
Gorman Skips Business, Jain Likes Faulks: Best Books of 2012

10 Oct 2012
Management Tip of the Day: Try Not Responding for a Change

08 Oct 2012
HBR Blogs
Does Success Require Sleeping With Your Smartphone?

01 Oct 2012
China Daily USA
Anchored to mobiles

28 Sep 2012
Should You Handle Work Email on Your Smartphone?

27 Sep 2012
Huffington Post
Breaking the Cycle of Responsiveness at Work

27 Sep 2012
Huffington Post
Breaking the Cycle of Responsiveness at Work

17 Sep 2012
Learning Executives Briefing
Step Away From the Smartphone

30 Aug 2012
Life Inc. on Today
Flexible Work Schedules are Good for Business, Expert Says

21 Aug 2012
CNN
We dare you to take a real vacation

15 Aug 2012
Forbes
What I Learned From Swimming With My SmartPhone

15 Jul 2012
New York Times
The Workplace Benefits of Being Out of Touch

11 Jul 2012
Boston Public Radio
The Smartphone Paradox

11 Jul 2012
Washington Post
Why ‘work-life balance’ doesn’t work

06 Jul 2012
Business Insider
It's Sick How Close We're Getting To A 24/7 Workweek

27 Jun 2012
Wall Street Journal
Real Vacations Are Good for You: Take Them and Turn Off

21 Jun 2012
Fortune
Put the smartphone down: It'll be okay

19 Jun 2012
New York Times
Keeping Social Media in Their Place

19 Jun 2012
CNNMoney
4 cardinal sins of work communication

03 Jun 2012
Business Insider
Harvard B-School Prof: Stop Sleeping With Your Smartphone!

29 May 2012
How to Stop Sleeping With Your Smartphone

22 May 2012
HBR Blogs
Are You Sleeping With Your Smartphone?

21 May 2012
Fast Company
Predictable Time Off: The Team Solution To Overcoming Constant Work Connection

17 May 2012
TIME
How To Stop Sleeping With Your Smartphone

14 May 2012
WBZ-TV Boston
Unplugging At Night May Be A Smarter Way To Work

14 May 2012
HBS Working Knowledge
Breaking the Smartphone Addiction

03 May 2012
When the smartphone's turned off

02 May 2012
HBR Blogs
Overcome Your Work Addiction

18 Apr 2012
Huffington Post
Turning off Your Smartphone: More Stress Or Less?

10 Mar 2012
Economist
Schumpeter: Slaves to the smartphone

04 Nov 2011
Americans Work Too Much for Their Own Good: de Graaf and Batker

19 Aug 2011
HBR Blogs
Managing Multiple Bosses

10 Sep 2010
Washington Post
Debunking the 24/7 workday

23 Feb 2010
Entrepreneur
E-mail is Making You Stupid

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