leadership

• July–August 2018
• Article

By: Michael E. Porter and Nitin Nohria

In 2006 Harvard Business School’s Michael E. Porter and Nitin Nohria launched a study tracking how large companies’ CEOs spent their time, 24/7, for 13 weeks: where they were, with whom, what they did, and what they were focusing on. To date, Porter and Nohria have gathered 60,000 hours' worth of data on 27 executives, interviewing them—and hundreds of other CEOs—about their schedules. This article presents the findings, offering insights not only into best time-management practices but into the CEO’s role itself. CEOs need to learn to simultaneously manage the seemingly contradictory dualities of the job: integrating direct decision-making with indirect levers like strategy and culture, balancing internal and external constituencies, proactively pursuing an agenda while reacting to unfolding events, exercising leverage while being mindful of constraints, focusing on the tangible impact of actions while recognizing their symbolic significance and combining formal power with legitimacy.

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• May 2018
• Case

By: Richard G. Hamermesh and Matthew G. Preble

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• April 2018
• Case

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter

By the middle of the 1990s, Miami’s reputation was changing. An influx of Spanish-speaking immigrants and major investments in the airport and seaport had changed the image of a sleepy southern city to the de facto business center of Latin America, a center for commerce connecting the Americas. But going into the millennium, Miami and South Florida were still known primarily as seasonal tourist destinations, with all the economic and occupational challenges that entailed. Then, between 2000 and 2010, an activist Miami mayor, Manny Diaz, and a handful of civic leaders including foundation heads, undertook investments that began a significant transformation, improving Miami’s economy and quality of life, making residents feel that it was more than a region for tourists. The question in 2011 was what needed to be done to further the transformation, especially in light of fears about what new technology would mean for jobs. What should be the theme or main focus? Who should lead change? This case series begins with data on the situation in 2000, discusses progress between 2000 and 2010, and identifies a possible new regional initiative that is just an idea in 2011. Is it the right direction? And what would it take to have impact on Miami’s future?

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• March 2018
• Case

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Jonathan Cohen

As a middle manager at a biotechnology company, Sandra Brown harnessed digital tools and social media to engage others and build campaigns for change in the company. This case follows her career at the company, and describes the challenges she faced as a change agent, working to promote gender equality within the company, and a new drug developed to fight cancer externally.

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