Leadership

Leadership is a featured research topic and an initiative at Harvard Business School.

As our world grows increasingly global, intricate, and ever-changing, the role of leaders is becoming more and more complex and critical to business success. In the 1950s and 1960s, Fritz Roethlisberger and Elton Mayo's contributions to the "Hawthorne effect," and work by Paul Lawrence and Jay Lorsch on organizational integration, sparked the field of Organizational Behavior. Early work by Michael Beer on leading organizational change, Rosabeth Kanter on innovation for productivity, John Kotter on power and influence, and Michael Tushman on innovation management helped shape today's understanding of organizational transformation. With an interest in Leadership that spans our academic units, our approach to research is collaborative and multi-disciplinary. We leverage a wide range of research methodologies – from onsite field research to surveys, experiments, and extensive longitudinal studies.

Featured Works

Chapter | The Rise of HR | 2015
Leave No Slice of Genius Behind: Selecting and Developing Tomorrow's Leaders of Innovation
Linda A. Hill
More than ever, leaders of nearly every kind of organization view their human resources teams as essential to institutional well-being and long-term growth and sustainability. That's the central and animating theme of "The Rise of HR: Wisdom from 73 Thought Leaders," a new anthology published by the HR Certification Institute. Professor Hill's essay addresses the question of how to develop leadership talent capable of building and sustaining organizations that can innovate time and again to address the challenges we face as a global community.
Keywords: innovation; human resources; talent management; talent development and retention; leadership; Innovation Leadership; Human Resources; Talent and Talent Management; Leadership; Leadership Development;

Citation:
Hill, Linda A. "Leave No Slice of Genius Behind: Selecting and Developing Tomorrow's Leaders of Innovation." In The Rise of HR: Wisdom from 73 Thought Leaders, edited by Dave Ulrich, William A. Schiemann, and Libby Sartain, 233–240. Alexandria, VA: HR Certification Institute, 2015. View Details
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Article | JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association
Professionalism, Fiduciary Duty, and Health-Related Business Leadership
Joshua D. Margolis
Expanding fiduciary duty to leaders of health-related businesses can help leaders meet the challenges of caring for not only the corporation and shareholders but also the patients and medical professionals. How should leaders of health-related businesses weigh the demand for efficiency and profit alongside the care of patients and the professional development of physicians? How might physicians approach these leadership roles to withstand the pressures that can divert behavior away from the espoused purposes and ethical standards of medicine?

Citation:
Margolis, Joshua D. "Professionalism, Fiduciary Duty, and Health-Related Business Leadership." JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association 313, no. 18 (May 12, 2015): 1819–1820. View Details
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Article | Harvard Business Review | July–August 2014
How the Other Fukushima Plant Survived
Ranjay Gulati, Charles Casto and Charlotte Krontiris
In March 2011, Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant was devastated by three reactor explosions and two core meltdowns in the days following a 9.0 earthquake and a tsunami that produced waves as high as 17 meters. The world is familiar with Daiichi's fate; less well known is the crisis at its sister plant, Daini, about 10 kilometers to the south. As a result of nature's onslaught, three of Daini's four reactors lacked sufficient power to achieve cooldown. To prevent the disaster experienced up north, the site superintendent, Naohiro Masuda, and his team had to connect them to the plant's surviving power sources. In a volatile environment, Masuda and Daini's hundreds of employees responded to each unexpected event in turn. Luck played a part, but so did smart leadership and sensemaking. Until the last reactor went into cold shutdown, Masuda's team took nothing for granted. With each new problem they encountered, it recalibrated, iteratively creating continuity and restoring order. Daini survived the crisis without an explosion or a meltdown.

Citation:
Gulati, Ranjay, Charles Casto, and Charlotte Krontiris. "How the Other Fukushima Plant Survived." Harvard Business Review 92, nos. 7/8 (July–August 2014): 111–115. View Details
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Article | Harvard Business Review | October 2014
The Transparency Trap
Ethan Bernstein
To get people to be more creative and productive, managers increase transparency with open workspaces and access to real-time data. But less transparent work environments can yield more-transparent employees. Employees perform better when they can try out new ideas and approaches within certain zones of privacy. Organizations allow them to do that by drawing four types of boundaries: around teams of people (zones of attention), between feedback and evaluation (zones of judgment), between decision rights and improvement rights (zones of slack), and for set periods of experimentation (zones of time). By balancing transparency and privacy, organizations can encourage just the right amount of "deviance" to foster innovative behavior and boost productivity.

Citation:
Bernstein, Ethan. "The Transparency Trap." Harvard Business Review 92, no. 10 (October 2014): 58–66. View Details
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Module Note | March 2015
Power and Influence in Society
Julie Battilana
This module aims to help students understand how power and influence are employed, both to reproduce the status quo and to effect change in society. It first helps them to understand why, more often than not, power is used to reproduce the existing way individuals and organizations operate in society. It then highlights what it takes to implement societal change. This includes a wide variety of initiatives ranging from attempts to change individuals' and organizations' behaviors in a given industry or sector, to efforts to change behaviors throughout a country, region, or even the world. Addressing the issue of power and influence in society in an MBA classroom is critical, especially at a time like now, when the relationship between business and society is attracting increasing attention, and when business leaders are increasingly expected to contribute not only to financial value creation, but also to social value creation. In this context, it is important to prepare business school students to lead not just in their organizations, but more broadly in society. Meeting this aspiration requires equipping them with knowledge and tools that will enable them to understand what it takes to have a positive impact in the world. In line with this objective, this module note focuses on how leaders who are not part of government or other public agencies can spark, organize, and/or guide action to bring about change at the societal level.

Citation:
Battilana, Julie. "Power and Influence in Society." Harvard Business School Module Note 415-055, March 2015. View Details
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Recent Publications

Article | Industrial and Corporate Change | April 2020
Technological Leadership (de)Concentration: Causes in Information and Communication Technology Equipment
Shane Greenstein and Yasin Ozcan
Using patent data from 1976 to 2010 as indicators of inventive activity, we determine the concentration level of where inventive ideas originate and then examine how and why those concentrations change over time. The analysis finds pervasive deconcentration in every area related to the Information and Communication Technology equipment market. We find that booms and busts play an important role in deconcentration trends. In comparison, new entry explains surprisingly little, and merger and acquisition activity does not revert the trend.
Keywords: deconcentration; Technological Innovation; Innovation Leadership; Patents; Market Entry and Exit; Telecommunications Industry;

Citation:
Greenstein, Shane, and Yasin Ozcan. "Technological Leadership (de)Concentration: Causes in Information and Communication Technology Equipment." Industrial and Corporate Change 29, no. 2 (April 2020): 241–263. View Details
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Case | HBS Case Collection | March 2020
The Working Circle: Wolves, Ranchers, and Karin Vardaman’s Pursuit of the ‘Radical Middle’
Francesca Gino and Jeffrey Huizinga
Karin Vardaman, a lifelong conservationist now committed to protecting wolves in the American West, finds herself unexpectedly allied with the one of the species' most fervent opponents: cattle ranchers.
Keywords: non-profit; conservation intervention; Agriculture; environment; social impact; Leadership; Nonprofit Organizations;

Citation:
Gino, Francesca, and Jeffrey Huizinga. "The Working Circle: Wolves, Ranchers, and Karin Vardaman’s Pursuit of the ‘Radical Middle’." Harvard Business School Case 920-047, March 2020. View Details
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Article | Harvard Business Review | March–April 2020
Building A Culture of Experimentation
Stefan H. Thomke
Why don’t organizations test more? After examining this question for several years, I can tell you that the central reason is culture. As companies try to scale up their experimentation capacity, they often find that the obstacles are not tools and technology but shared behaviors, beliefs, and values. For every online experiment that succeeds, nearly 10 don’t—and in the eyes of many organizations that emphasize efficiency, predictability, and “winning,” those failures are wasteful. To successfully innovate, companies need to make experimentation an integral part of everyday life—even when budgets are tight. That means creating an environment where employees’ curiosity is nurtured, data trumps opinion, anyone (not just people in R&D) can conduct or commission a test, all experiments are done ethically, and managers embrace a new model of leadership. In this article, I look at several companies that have managed to do those things well.
Keywords: experimentation; culture; innovation; online; customer experience; Organizational Culture; Innovation and Invention; Online Technology; Attitudes; Decision Making; Change; Leadership;

Citation:
Thomke, Stefan H. "Building A Culture of Experimentation." Harvard Business Review 98, no. 2 (March–April 2020): 40–48. View Details
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Case | HBS Case Collection | February 2020
Leading Change in Talent at L'Oréal
Lakshmi Ramarajan, Vincent Marie Dessain and Emer Moloney
Jean-Claude Le Grand had dedicated almost his entire career to following talent at L'Oréal. He strongly believed that L'Oréal's workforce needed to be diverse in order to ensure creativity and innovation. In early 2018—as he was about to take up the position of EVP for Human Relations and a place on the Executive Committee—L'Oréal still struggled to diversify its senior leadership team, which was often male, French, elite-educated and made up of executives who had spent their entire careers at the company. At the same time, in an increasingly competitive market for talent, and given digitalization and new ways of working Le Grand was preoccupied that L'Oréal would no longer be able to attract vibrant young talent.
Keywords: Advertising; Business Headquarters; Business Divisions; Business Organization; Change; Change Management; Transformation; Competency and Skills; Experience and Expertise; Talent and Talent Management; Demographics; Diversity; Gender; Nationality; Multinational Firms and Management; Human Resources; Employees; Recruitment; Retention; Selection and Staffing; Innovation and Management; Jobs and Positions; Employment; Human Capital; Leadership; Leadership Development; Leadership Style; Leading Change; Management Practices and Processes; Marketing; Brands and Branding; Product Marketing; Organizations; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Structure; Personal Development and Career; Planning; Strategic Planning; Problems and Challenges; Networks; Social Psychology; Attitudes; Power and Influence; Social and Collaborative Networks; Business Strategy; Advertising Industry; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; Consumer Products Industry; France; Paris;

Citation:
Ramarajan, Lakshmi, Vincent Marie Dessain, and Emer Moloney. "Leading Change in Talent at L'Oréal." Harvard Business School Case 420-106, February 2020. View Details
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Case | HBS Case Collection | January 2020
Governing PG&E
Lynn S. Paine and Will Hurwitz
The five commissioners of the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) listened intently at a public forum in April 2019 as PG&E Corporation’s out-going chairman Richard Kelly described the company’s proposed new board. PG&E, which provided electricity and natural gas to millions of Californians, had once been recognized for its vision in foreseeing energy’s potential to reshape the state and power its economy. But PG&E was now in the crosshairs of investors, regulators, and the public for something else entirely: its role in a series of deadly and destructive wildfires that had ravaged the region and precipitated PG&E’s bankruptcy months earlier. Called “the first climate-change bankruptcy,” it was the largest utility bankruptcy in U.S. history. The commissioners at the CPUC, PG&E’s primary regulator, were particularly concerned about PG&E’s governance and had convened the forum to solicit opinions from experts and the public and to hear for themselves what steps the company was taking to improve it. The Commissioners are considering whether to make specific recommendations regarding the board’s composition and functioning, including how the board assesses and compensates PG&E’s CEO. A principal issue is the use of non-financial metrics to evaluate and reward CEO performance.
Keywords: bankruptcy; board of directors; board dynamics; Business ethics; business model innovation; corporate boards; energy efficiency; environmental and social sustainability; government and business; hedge funds; Institutional investors; legal aspects of business; regulated monopolies; regulation; shareholders; stakeholder management; strategy and execution; utilities; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Governing and Advisory Boards; Ethics; Capital Structure; Climate Change; Corporate Accountability; Corporate Governance; Environmental Sustainability; Executive Compensation; Leadership; Management; Safety; Business and Government Relations; Energy Industry; Utilities Industry; California; United States;

Citation:
Paine, Lynn S., and Will Hurwitz. "Governing PG&E." Harvard Business School Case 320-024, January 2020. View Details
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Case | HBS Case Collection | January 2020
The Origins of Bell Labs
Tom Nicholas and John Masko
In 1947, scientists at Bell Labs invented the transistor—a tiny signal amplifier which would go on to become the fundamental building block of the digital age. But, confounding most traditional economic assumptions, it was not a vigorous startup that made this momentous discovery, but the R&D lab of the America’s telecommunications monopoly, AT&T. This case explores the early years of U.S. telephone history and its years of negotiation between monopolists, independent competitors, and regulators; raises questions of whether telecommunications really are a “natural monopoly;” explores the incentives that lead firms to innovate; and traces the story of how AT&T came to become one of the foremost innovation engines of the 20th century.
Keywords: Business History; Innovation Leadership; Technological Innovation; Patents; Monopoly; Organizational Structure; Competitive Strategy; Telecommunications Industry; Boston; Massachusetts; New York (city, NY);

Citation:
Nicholas, Tom, and John Masko. "The Origins of Bell Labs." Harvard Business School Case 820-081, January 2020. View Details
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Working Paper | HBS Working Paper Series | 2020
Fostering Perceptions of Authenticity via Sensitive Self-Disclosure
Li Jiang, Maryam Kouchaki, Francesca Gino, Reihane Boghrati and Leslie John
Leaders’ perceived authenticity—the sense that a leader is acting in accordance with her “true self” —is associated with positive outcomes for both employees and organizations alike. How might a leader foster this impression? Using field and experimental data, we test whether sensitive self-disclosures—for example, revealing an aversion to public speaking—make leaders come across as authentic and lead to positive outcomes, such as an enhanced desire to work with that leader (Studies 1, 2A, 2B, and 3). Stemming from our conceptual account, we show that these benefits emerge when the self-disclosure is mild to moderately sensitive in nature (Study 4) and made voluntarily (as opposed to by requirement) (Study 6) by a relatively high-status person (Study 5). Would-be disclosers do not intuit these positive consequences of self-disclosure (Study 7), suggesting that leaders may under employ an effective tool for making a positive impression.
Keywords: Authenticity; disclosure; Leaders; impression management; Leadership Style; Personal Characteristics; Communication Intention and Meaning; Perception;

Citation:
Jiang, Li, Maryam Kouchaki, Francesca Gino, Reihane Boghrati, and Leslie John. "Fostering Perceptions of Authenticity via Sensitive Self-Disclosure." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 20-070, January 2020. View Details
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Case | HBS Case Collection | January 2020
A Tough Call: SEAL Team Leader in Kandahar (A)
George A. Riedel
The case, which is a disguised version of real events, is set in Kandahar, Afghanistan (2013) during the long running Afghan war. Lt. Paul Rickson, a Navy SEAL Platoon Commander, is leading a team of 30 US and Afghan soldiers on a mission to clear hostile forces in Maiwand Village. After a long day of various hostile activities and clearing Improvised Explosive Devices (IED’s), he faces a tough choice that is filled with various tensions. After he directs a missile attack from a drone onto an enemy position, he’s ordered to conduct an on the ground Battle Damage Assessment (BDA), to confirm there are no civilian casualties. This would require some or all of his team crossing 800 meters in open territory, almost certainly drawing enemy fire. He’s concerned about the real risks to his team vs the perceived benefit of a US-forces taken picture. His has to reconcile a conflicting sense of priorities, from the Rules of Engagement for his team, the directive from HQ and inputs from his team. The primary purpose of the case is to focus on lessons from his decision-making approach that might be beneficial for a young leader facing conflicting tensions, such as:
a. The strategic directive to win hearts and minds, while training Afghan forces vs. the on the ground facts and circumstances facing the platoon commander and the threats to his team.
b. The predictability of support systems (e.g. communications, HQ guidance, video surveillance, transport) that can have outsized impact on options and outcomes.
c. How substantial risks and core values come together in deciding what to do for you and your team.
Keywords: War; Leadership; Risk and Uncertainty; Safety; Decision Choices and Conditions; Afghanistan;

Citation:
Riedel, George A. "A Tough Call: SEAL Team Leader in Kandahar (A)." Harvard Business School Case 320-001, 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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Book | 2020
Teaching by Heart: One Professor's Journey to Inspire
Thomas J. DeLong
The best teachers are leaders, and the best leaders are teachers. Teaching by Heart summarizes the author's key insights gained from more than 40 years of teaching and managing. It illustrates how teachers can both lift people up and let them down. It proposes that the best teachers are also leaders, and the best leaders are also teachers. In examining how to lead and teach, renowned Harvard Business School professor Thomas J. DeLong takes the reader inside his own head and heart. He notes that, as teachers, we often focus more on our inadequacies and missteps than on our strengths and unique talents. He explains why this is so by dissecting and analyzing his own experiences—using himself as a case study. The book's goal is to help readers learn about the intricacies of teaching and managing and to impart lessons about how teachers can create a unique teaching atmosphere. To do this, the author analyzes the process of creating a curriculum, preparing for an 80-minute class, managing the 15 minutes before class begins, and evaluating the nature of the teaching experience after the session concludes. Along the way, he connects specific classroom behaviors with leadership issues—in organizations, in teams, and in personal relationships. He also asks—and answers—some provocative questions: What happens on multiple levels when I teach or lead—with me, students, or professionals? What am I thinking and feeling as I process what students are thinking and feeling? How are my internal conversations affecting how I teach and lead? How do I manage my biases, including having "favorite" students? To what extent can I use teaching methods in the arena of management? Throughout Teaching by Heart, DeLong discusses why empathy and authenticity matter. When teachers embrace this mindset, students have the opportunity to have a unique learning experience. Teachers and managers will learn how to create moments of transformation for students.

Whether you're a university professor, a student, a business leader, or just someone fascinated by teaching, this book will instruct, entertain, and—hopefully—inspire.
Keywords: Teaching; Leadership; Attitudes; Management; Business Education;

Citation:
DeLong, Thomas J. Teaching by Heart: One Professor's Journey to Inspire. Boston: Harvard Business Review Press, 2020. View Details
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