leadership

• 2012
• Case

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and Olivia Leskinen

Robert Whelan and the Student Loan Crisis (A) 2009 AL Fellow Bob Whelan developed an idea with partners that was a seed before his fellowship year and seemed to address a significant national challenge - college financing - with a creative concept and experience from his years in venture capital. His nonprofit was called 13th Avenue Funding and it provided equity as an alternative to debt for students to finance college. Since he first set out on his journey, he faced a lot of resistance and difficulty in scaling his non-profit aimed at enabling one million low income students to obtain a postsecondary education debt free. Whelan continued to persist and adapt to the changing environment.

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• 2012
• Case

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and Anne Arlinghaus

After successful careers as lawyers Richard Fahey and Robert Saudek set out to tackle a large-scale infrastructure challenge in a complex environment by increasing Liberian citizens’ access to lighting solutions. They developed the Liberian Energy Network, which aimed to distribute solar light fixtures to citizens across the country, including some of the most remote regions. Working in Liberia presented a large set of challenges and difficulties, however Fahey and Saudek persevered.

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• 2019
• Book Chapter

By: Laura Morgan Roberts and Anthony J. Mayo

In chapter 23, the concluding chapter of Race, Work, and Leadership, “Intersections of Race, Work, and Leadership,” Roberts and Mayo provide insights for understanding and enhancing the black experience. In addition, the editors summarize a series of recommendations that are beneficial for individuals trying to assert and maximize their leadership potential, for organizations trying to leverage and optimize their diverse talent, and for academics who seek to better understand the key questions that still remain about black leadership.

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• 2019
• Book Chapter

By: Anthony J. Mayo and Laura Morgan Roberts

In chapter 3, “Pathways to Leadership,” Anthony J. Mayo and Laura Morgan Roberts present a portrait of the backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives of black alumni of the HBS MBA program. With this study, HBS has allowed itself to be exposed in a way that other schools have not. Few schools make their specific racial composition data available, and if they do, they do so for compliance purposes. This unprecedented level of transparency allows Mayo and Roberts to focus on race and to do so with an historical lens, looking at the composition and experiences of black alumni over several decades.

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• 2019
• Book Chapter

By: Laura Morgan Roberts, Anthony J. Mayo and Serenity Lee

In this chapter, Laura Morgan Roberts, Anthony J. Mayo, and Serenity Lee outline the rationale for the publication of an edited volume on race, work, and leadership that is squarely focused on the black experience.

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• Forthcoming
• Book

By: Laura Morgan Roberts, Anthony J. Mayo and David A. Thomas

, Work, and Leadership is a rare and important compilation of essays that examines how race matters in people’s experience of work and leadership. What does it mean to be black in corporate America today? How are racial dynamics in organizations changing? How do we build inclusive organizations? Inspired by and developed in conjunction with the research and programming for Harvard Business School’s celebration of the 50th anniversary of the founding of the HBS African American Student Union, this groundbreaking book shines new light on these and other timely questions and illuminates the present-day dynamics of race in the workplace. Contributions from top scholars, researchers, and practitioners in leadership, organizational behavior, psychology, sociology, and education test the relevance of long-held assumptions and reconsider the research approaches and interventions needed to understand and advance African Americans in work settings and leadership roles. At a time when there are fewer African American men and women in corporate leadership roles, Race, Work, and Leadership will stimulate new scholarship and dialogue on the organizational and leadership challenges of African Americans and become the indispensable reference for anyone committed to understanding, studying, and acting on the challenges facing leaders who are building inclusive organizations.

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• May 2019
• Case

By: Francesca Gino, Jeff Huizinga and Nicole Keller

In the spring of 2019, Lt. Col. Matthew 'Chaos' Nussbaum is nearing the end of his two-year term as commander of the U.S. Air Force's 99th Reconnaissance Squadron. In this position, he has focused the majority of his energy on finding new ways to organize, train and equip the unit, whose mission is to execute and sustain U-2 operations globally. Nussbaum's methods empowered individuals within the squadron, and enabled them to achieve much that people familiar with the Department of Defense previously considered impossible. Yet with progress came risk, and costs. This case considers how breakthroughs were made, examines the role leadership played, and asks how Nussbaum's approach can both be sustained in the 99th and more widely applied throughout the Air Force.

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