A recent HBS case study, “Leading Bank Leumi into the Future,” focuses on the bank’s entry into online banking under Russak-Aminoach’s dynamic leadership. In 2017, five years into her tenure as CEO, she took a characteristically bold step and launched Pepper, Israel’s first completely mobile bank, as a stand-alone business with financial backing from Bank Leumi. The case opens in the spring of 2019 when Russak-Aminoach must decide whether to keep Pepper as a separate entity or integrate it into Bank Leumi’s overall operations. Pepper had defied skeptics, including those from within Bank Leumi, and attracted the next generation of banking customers—millennials—with its no-fee, customer-focused approach.

Unconventional Leadership Style

Having worked for the bank for 16 years, Russak-Aminoach had garnered international attention for her leadership style. She was named one of the 100 most powerful women in business by Fortune in 2015, 2016, and 2018—the only Israeli on the list.

“Rakefet is an unconventional leader. She is usually the smartest person in the room, but she also knows how to listen and is very interested in different points of view,” observes Joshua Margolis, the James Dinan and Elizabeth Miller Professor of Business Administration. Both the California Research Center (CRC) and the Israel Research Office (IRO) supported Margolis with the case, which he wrote with Allison Ciechanover and Nicole Keller of the CRC and Danielle Golan of the IRO.

“The case poses several questions,” says Margolis, “including how to keep pace with the future and disrupt yourself before others do.” And at its center is Russak-Aminoach, “a leader who is daring and relatable, and who is focused on what is best for the business, not on whether people like her.” The case also chronicles complex challenges the bank faced around becoming more efficient and innovative simultaneously and all that it entailed, from implementing innovative products, leading change, and attracting top talent, to withstanding criticism, learning from missteps, and pursuing regulatory changes.

Margolis found the School’s research office in Israel and center in California to be instrumental in all aspects of the case. “This project epitomizes the wonder of Harvard Business School,” he says, noting that the idea for the case came from an Executive Education participant; the CRC provided background on Bank Leumi, Pepper, and Russak-Aminoach; and the IRO offered “boots-on-the-ground” to provide introductions, organize scheduling, help conduct interviews and translate as needed, and navigate cultural aspects of the project. Margolis also leveraged this access to create a video case with the HBS Online team for the Organizational Leadership course that he and Anthony Mayo, the Thomas S. Murphy Senior Lecturer of Business Administration and a C. Roland Christensen Distinguished Management Educator, have developed for launch in 2021.

Identifying with the Challenges

Margolis has taught the case in two Executive Education programs: the Program for Leadership Development, which he chairs, and the High Potentials Leadership Program. “Our Executive Education participants can really identify with the challenges presented in the case,” says Margolis. “They see Rakefet as a Rosetta stone for how to professionalize and modernize their businesses. They also find inspiration in her willingness and ability to grow as a leader.”

For her part, Russak-Aminoach thoroughly enjoyed being part of the case study and visiting HBS as a case protagonist. “From the outside, things often look a lot easier than they are. The case shows that there are all kinds of difficulties in leading and transforming a complex organization,” says Russak-Aminoach, who is now focused on fintech. “I hope it will help these young leaders persevere when they face challenges.”