HBR On Leadership

People management consists of a fair amount of mediation and diplomacy, and you can’t expect to get the hang of it right away. You’re in the middle of a lot now. Initiating difficult conversations, and then getting all the way through them, takes planning and practice (and sometimes even a breather). Holding tension takes restraint.

Amy Bernstein and Kelsey Alpaio interview Amy Gallo about the types of conflict that new managers should expect to handle, as well as options for responding. They talk through real experiences and common scenarios. Like that time Kelsey needed to tell a direct report they were falling short of her expectations (but didn’t end up saying anything). Or that time Amy G started reporting to a friend. They also give guidance for intervening or not when team members are arguing and for discreetly clueing your group in about the office politics going on.

Key episode topics include: managing conflicts, interpersonal skills, interpersonal communication, difficult employees, hard conversations, leadership

• Listen to the original Women at Work episode: How to Manage: Conflict
• Find more episodes of Women at Work.
• Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org

Few leaders have been trained to ask great questions. That might explain why they tend to be good at certain kinds of questions, and less effective at other kinds. Unfortunately, that hurts their ability to pursue strategic priorities. Arnaud Chevallier, strategy professor at IMD Business School, explains how leaders can break out of that rut and systematically ask five kinds of questions: investigative, speculative, productive, interpretive, and subjective. He shares real-life examples of how asking the right sort of question at a key time can unlock value and propel your organization. With his IMD colleagues Frédéric Dalsace and Jean-Louis Barsoux, Chevallier wrote the HBR article “The Art of Asking Smarter Questions.”

Key episode topics include: decision-making, problem solving, active listening, leadership strategic planning

• Listen to the original HBR IdeaCast episode: Are You Asking the Right Questions?
• Find more episodes of HBR IdeaCast.
• Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org.

Is your teamwork not working? In this episode of HBR’s advice podcast, Dear HBR:, cohosts Alison Beard and Dan McGinn answer your questions with the help of Amy Edmondson, a professor at Harvard Business School and the author of The Fearless Organization: Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace for Learning, Innovation, and Growth. They talk through what to do when your team isn’t communicating, doesn’t respect its leader, or has one employee who’s causing problems.

Key episode topics include: managing teams, managing difficult people, managing conflict, team dysfunction, organizational culture, communication styles, feedback, trust, employee performance management, leadership styles, leadership

• Listen to the original Dear HBR: episode: Dysfunctional Teams
• Find more episodes of Dear HBR:
• Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org

Frances Frei, professor at Harvard Business School, says that trust, empathy—and even a bit of tough love—are all essential ingredients to strong leadership in today’s world. Successful managers focus on the effect they have on others, not themselves. They also define a strategy and create a culture that drives employee behavior in their absence. Frei is the coauthor, along with Anne Morriss, of the book Unleashed: The Unapologetic Leader’s Guide to Empowering Everyone Around You as well as the HBR article “Begin with Trust.”

Key episode topics include: leadership styles, constructive criticism, feedback, trust, empathy, managing people, employee performance management, underperforming employees,

• Listen to the original HBR IdeaCast episode: Great Leaders Use Tough Love to Improve Performance
• Find more episodes of HBR IdeaCast
• Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org

Being too collaborative can actually hold you back at work, argues leadership coach Rebecca Shambaugh. Instead of showing how well you build consensus and work with others, it can look like indecision or failure to prioritize. She explains what to do if you over-collaborate, how to manage someone who does, and offers some advice for women—whose bosses are more likely to see them as overly consensus-driven. Shambaugh is the author of the books It’s Not a Glass Ceiling, It’s a Sticky Floor and Make Room for Her.

Key episode topics include: leadership styles, collaboration, decision-making, problem solving

HBR On Leadership curates the best conversations and case studies with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.

• Listen to the original HBR IdeaCast episode: Managing Someone Who’s Too Collaborative
• Find more episodes of HBR IdeaCast
• Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org

In the past, executives were usually taught to practice command-and-control leadership. Today they’re often advised to be nimbler, more adaptive, and less controlling. The truth is that most executives need to be able to move back and forth between those two leadership styles. IMD leadership professor and social psychologist Jennifer Jordan offers tactics for navigating these tensions.

Key episode topics include: leadership styles, leadership qualities, management, managing people, VUCA, personal growth

HBR On Leadership curates the best conversations and case studies with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.

• Watch to the original Quick Study video: 7 Key Tensions Every Leader Must Balance
• Find more videos on HBR’s YouTube channel: @HarvardBusinessReview
• Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org

Do you have an employee working against you? In this episode of HBR’s advice podcast, Dear HBR:, cohosts Alison Beard and Dan McGinn answer your questions with the help of Adrian Gostick, an executive coach and the coauthor of Leading with Gratitude: Eight Leadership Practices for Extraordinary Business Results. They talk through what to do when your direct report is creating problems only to fix them, one team member is hoarding knowledge, or two employees have created a disruptive office clique.

Key episode topics include: difficult employees, conflict management, conflict resolution, managing people, management, leadership

HBR On Leadership curates the best conversations and case studies with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.

• Listen to the original Dear HBR: episode: Subversive Employees
• Find more episodes of Dear HBR:
• Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org

Many people blame the shortage of low-wage workers on the enduring impact of the pandemic. But management professor Joseph Fuller and senior researcher Manjari Raman of Harvard Business School say that the real reason has been long in the making. Their studies show that companies view low-wage workers as people who will be in the job only for a short time. Instead, the researchers find that these employees are loyal and want development and a clear path to career advancement. The researchers share practical suggestions for how leaders and managers can do better in hiring, development, and mentoring. Fuller and Raman wrote the HBR article “The High Cost of Neglecting Low-Wage Workers.”

Key episode topics include: career development, talent management, hiring, recruitment, promotions, leadership

HBR On Leadership curates the best conversations and case studies with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.

• Listen to the original HBR IdeaCast episode: Stop Neglecting Low-Wage Workers
• Find more episodes of HBR Idea Cast
• Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org

Over her career, Simmons University President Lynn Perry Wooten has studied crisis leadership and managing uncertainty. Her most recent book, The Prepared Leader, breaks down successful strategies for navigating crises—whether it’s a pandemic or a viral customer complaint. She taught leaders how to deal with these predicaments during a masterclass at HBR’s Future of Business Conference in 2023.

Key episode topics include: crisis management, managing uncertainty, leadership qualities, leadership

HBR On Leadership curates the best conversations and case studies with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.

• Learn more about HBR’s “Future of Business” virtual conference (November 2023)
• Find more Harvard Business Review live events
• Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org

Getting taken seriously as a new manager is challenging for anyone. You can go from being friends with your peers to suddenly being their boss. It’s easy to make missteps, like playing the part too much—acting the way you think a manager is supposed to act. On the other hand, you may feel you have nothing to offer your direct reports, some of whom may have more experience than you. You may even fall back too much on what you already know well. These are common challenges in anyone’s first rodeo as a manager. But bias can make overcoming them especially difficult for women.

In this 2023 episode of Women at Work, as part of the “How to Manage” series, McKinsey senior partner Lareina Yee discusses these challenges—and how to overcome them—with host Amy Bernstein and former HBR editor Kelsey Alpaio.  

Key episode topics include: leadership, managing people, management, personal growth, resilience, communication, gender

HBR On Leadership curates the best conversations and case studies with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.

• Listen to the original Women at Work episode: How to Manage: Being Taken Seriously
• Find more episodes of Women at Work.
• Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org.

In the early 20th century, Helena Rubinstein defied gender, class, and cultural expectations to become one of the first pioneers of the modern beauty industry. Today, her namesake luxury cosmetics brand is worth more than $1 billion. Harvard Business School professor Geoff Jones wrote a case study about the visionary leader. He explored her journey—and the lasting impact she made on global beauty standards—on Cold Call in 2019 with host Brian Kenny.

Key episode topics include: gender, leadership, feminism, beauty industry, entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial business strategy, marketing 

HBR On Leadership curates the best conversations and case studies with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.

• Listen to the original Cold Call episode: How Helena Rubinstein Used Tall Tales to Turn Cosmetics into a Luxury Brand
• Find more episodes of Cold Call
• Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org

A CEO’s involvement in B2B sales deals, while often well-intentioned, can sometimes backfire.

INSEAD marketing professor Christoph Senn has spent years studying the role top leaders play in B2B relationships. In this episode, he shares the five archetypes of CEO behavior when it comes to sales, which ones are the most effective in closing a deal, and where they fall short.

You’ll learn what to do if your CEO is either overly involved—or not involved enough—in deals, and why knowing your CEO’s archetype can be helpful.

Senn is the coauthor, with Columbia Business School’s Noel Capon, of the HBR article “When CEOs Make Sales Calls.”

Key episode topics include: managing up, sales team management, client management, sales, leadership qualities, interpersonal communication,

HBR On Leadership curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.

• Listen to the original HBR IdeaCast episode: How CEOs Can Drive Sales — or Kill Deals
• Find more episodes of HBR IdeaCast
• Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org

The best leaders know that a person’s skillset and their willingness to learn are more important than the degree they have. Ginni Rometty, former Chairman and CEO of IBM, understands this deeply. She spearheaded a company-wide shift to skills-based hiring and development during her tenure.

In this episode, Rometty shares how her mother’s commitment to education helped her family overcome adversity and inspired her personal approach to talent management. She also discusses why a skills-first mindset is critical to building resilient teams and organizations.

Key episode topics include: upskilling, continuous learning, personal growth, organizational culture, talent development, hiring and recruitment, talent management, leadership 

HBR On Leadership curates the best conversations and case studies with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.

• Listen to the original HBR IdeaCast episode: IBM’s Ginni Rometty on Skill-Building and Success
• Find more episodes of HBR IdeaCast
• Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org

If you’re a leader or aspire to be one, you’ve probably thought about how you project confidence and competence—or, what some call your executive presence. It’s as much a vibe you give off as it is a skill you can develop. And it’s important to exhibit if you want to assure others you’re ready to lead.

Megan Bock, the COO of an insurance technology company, has mastered executive presence. And Laura Sicola is a cognitive linguist who coaches executives. In this episode, Bock and Sciola discuss the key elements of executive presence and offer advice to a listener who’s trying to develop it while working remotely.

Key episode topics include: public speaking, leadership qualities, gender, personal growth, remote work, leadership

HBR On Leadership curates the best conversations and case studies with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.

• Listen to the original Women at Work episode: The Essentials: Executive Presence
• Find more episodes of Women at Work
• Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org

In December 2020, Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian and his leadership team were deciding whether or not to commit to recruiting, hiring, training, and advancing one million Black Americans into stable, well-paid jobs over the next decade, as part of the OneTen coalition. But if Delta joined, Bastian faced a key challenge: how could he make the airline truly inclusive and create systemically equal access to career opportunities?

In this episode from 2023, Harvard Business School professor Linda Hill explains how Bastian shifted Delta’s talent architecture to prioritize skills over four-year degrees and how he created new apprenticeship programs to recruit entry-level employees. She also explains why Bastian prioritized front-line employees for internal promotions, instead of recruiting new talent externally.

Key episode topics include: leadership, hiring and recruitment, diversity and inclusion, corporate social responsibility, airline industry, talent, recruiting, career.

HBR On Leadership curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.

• Listen to the original Cold Call episode: Building a More Equitable Culture at Delta Air Lines (2023)
• Find more episodes of Cold Call
• Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org

How does critical feedback affect your team’s success? Researchers Marcus Buckingham and Ashley Goodall argue that many managers invest too much energy in correcting weaknesses. Instead, they encourage leaders to focus on developing employees’ strengths. Buckingham and Goodall are the authors of the book, Nine Lies About Work: A Freethinking Leader’s Guide to the Real World and the HBR article “The Feedback Fallacy” In this episode, they explain how to lead more effective conversations about performance by focusing on what your team members do best.

Key episode topics include leadership, giving feedback, managing people, performance indicators.

HBR On Leadership curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.

• Listen to the original HBR IdeaCast episode: What Managers Get Wrong About Feedback (2019)
• Find more episodes of HBR IdeaCast.
• Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org.

Many people believe that leaders instinctively make the best decisions based on past experience, almost like muscle memory. But Carol Kauffman, assistant professor at Harvard Medical School and the founder of the Institute of Coaching, challenges this view. She explains why falling back on automatic behaviors can lead to poor decisions, especially when the stakes are high.

In this episode, Kauffman outlines her framework for sound decision-making in high-pressure situations. She also shares real-life stories of leaders she has coached through difficult decisions and offers insights into how to navigate high-stakes challenges effectively.

Key episode topics include: leadership, leadership styles, strategy, decision making and problem solving.

HBR On Leadership curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.

• Listen to the original HBR IdeaCast episode: Why Leaders Should Rethink Their Decision-Making Process (2023)
• Find more episodes of HBR IdeaCast.
• Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org

When Jason Buechel became CEO of Whole Foods in 2022, he faced the challenge of succeeding cofounder John Mackey, who led the company for over 40 years. This leadership transition was not only a personal challenge for Buechel but also a significant shift for the entire organization.

In this episode, Buechel tells Harvard Business Review editor in chief Adi Ignatius how he addressed employees’ concerns while preserving Whole Foods’ culture and core values. He also discusses his focus on internal leadership and strategies for supporting the company’s ongoing growth.

Key episode topics include: leadership, careers, leadership transitions, succession planning, Whole Foods, authenticity, culture. 

HBR On Leadership curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.

• View to the original New World of Work episode: Whole Foods CEO Jason Buechel on the Challenges and Opportunities of Following a Visionary Leader (2023)
• Find more episodes of the New World of Work
• Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org

Are you struggling to manage people who are older than you?

Lindsey Pollak explains that cross-generational dynamics in the workplace are becoming increasingly complex, driven by rapid technological advancements and longer career spans.

As a workplace expert and author of The Remix: How to Lead and Succeed in the Multigenerational Workplace, Pollak addresses listener questions about motivating older direct reports and engaging senior employees who may be skeptical about new technology. She also offers practical advice for navigating situations where you’ve been promoted ahead of more experienced colleagues.

Key episode topics include: leadership, business communication, motivating people, age and generational issues, leading teams, leading across difference.

HBR On Leadership curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.

• Listen to the original Dear HBR episode: Managing Older Workers (2019)
• Find more episodes of Dear HBR.
• Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org.

How can you tell if you’re on your company’s leadership fast track?

Jay Conger, a leadership professor at Claremont McKenna College, notes that many organizations quietly maintain and update lists of high-potential employees.

In this episode, he offers advice for what to do if you suspect you’re on the list. In addition, Conger shares his research on the five critical “X factors” that distinguish high-potential employees. Discover what these traits are and how you can leverage them to enhance your career.

Key episode topics include: leadership, career planning, developing employees, leadership development, talent management.

HBR On Leadership curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.

• Listen to the original HBR IdeaCast episode: Does Your Firm See You as a High Potential? (2018)
• Find more episodes of HBR IdeaCast.
• Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org.

Being the most knowledgeable and experienced person on your team can seem advantageous. However, Sydney Finkelstein, an expert in leadership and talent development, warns that expertise can lead you astray in two significant ways: it may stifle your curiosity about new developments and foster overconfidence in your problem-solving abilities.

In this episode, Finkelstein explores these pitfalls and proposes a crucial supplement to expertise: the importance of becoming more humble and open-minded. He also offers research-backed advice on how to cultivate these qualities as a leader.

Finkelstein is a professor at Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business and the author of the book Superbosses: How Exceptional Leaders Master the Flow of Talent.

Key episode topics include: leadership, leadership qualities, emotional intelligence, ambition, humility, listening skills, learning, Steve Jobs.

HBR On Leadership curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.

• Listen to the original HBR IdeaCast episode: Avoiding the Expertise Trap (2019)
• Find more episodes of HBR IdeaCast.
• Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org

Oprah Winfrey isn’t just a public figure—she’s the wealthiest woman in the entertainment industry and the first African-American woman billionaire. But how did she rise from a daytime talk show host to a media mogul? What leadership skills did she develop along the way?

In this episode, Harvard Business School executive fellow Bill George explores the challenges Oprah faced on her path to success and how she overcame them. He explains how she shifted away from people-pleasing, found her unique voice, and embraced vulnerability as a key leadership strength.

Key episode topics include: leadership, entrepreneurship, race, media, TV, entertainment.

HBR On Leadership curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.

• Listen to the original Cold Call episode: Black Business Leaders Series: Oprah’s Path to Authentic Leadership (2018)
• Find more episodes of Cold Call
• Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org

When you think of “office politics,” you might picture someone hoarding information or taking credit for others’ work. While negative stereotypes persist, learning to navigate office politics is crucial for leadership — and you can do it without sacrificing your principles or authenticity.

In this episode, organizational psychologist Madeleine Wyatt, along with a guest from the management consulting field, discusses how to become more politically savvy at work by mastering three essential skills: apparent sincerity, networking, and interpersonal influence.

Key episode topics include: leadership, office politics, power and influence, business services sector.

HBR On Leadership curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.

• Listen to the original Women at Work episode: The Essentials: Playing Office Politics (2023)
• Find more episodes of Women at Work.
• Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org

What makes a leader truly effective? Is it about strategic vision, time management, confidence?

Robert Steven Kaplan says the best leaders are exceptionally good at asking tough questions so they can make the right decisions. He is the author of the book What to Ask the Person in the Mirror: Critical Questions for Becoming a More Effective Leader and Reaching Your Potential.

He explains how to frame better questions to get the answers you need to make decisions. He also discusses how to use questions to clarify your key priorities and how to make sure you’re then spending your time in service of them.

Key episode topics include: leadership, managing yourself, critical questions, decision-making, tough questions, analysis. 

HBR On Leadership curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.

• Listen to the original HBR IdeaCast episode: Key Questions for Leaders (2011)
• Find more episodes of HBR IdeaCast
• Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org

As CEO of Menlo Innovations, an enterprise software company based in Michigan, Sheridan deliberately focuses on cultivating joy in his company. His 2018 book, Chief Joy Officer: How Great Leaders Elevate Human Energy and Eliminate Fear, offers guidance for how to create joy at work — and why it’s so important for innovation.

He explains the difference between joy and happiness and how to harness joy in service of a larger project. He also discusses how, as a leader, you can model joy for your team and why joy and a culture of fear are incompatible.

Key episode topics include: leadership, managing people, emotional intelligence.

HBR On Leadership curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.

• Listen to the original HBR IdeaCast episode: How One CEO Creates Joy at Work (2018)
• Find more episodes of HBR IdeaCast.
• Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org.

Are you stuck in a negative rut with someone at work?

HBR contributing editor and workplace conflict expert Amy Gallo says repairing a broken professional relationship will improve your work life — whether it’s your boss, a coworker, or even your employee.

In this episode, she breaks down the different types of relationship conflicts that are common at work and the steps you can take to move forward — starting with more empathy and less ego.

Key episode topics include: leadership, careers, managing conflicts, difficult conversations. 

HBR On Leadership curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.

• Watch the original HBR Guide episode: Fixing a Broken Relationship at Work (2024)
• Find more episodes of the HBR Guide series on YouTube.
• Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org.

Do you have an employee who just gets on your nerves?

In this episode, Dear HBR cohosts Alison Beard and Dan McGinn answer listener questions with the help of Art Markman, former professor of psychology at the University of Texas at Austin and now the school’s Senior Vice Provost for Academic Affairs.

They talk through how to manage someone who is difficult, overly polite, or passive aggressive. Markman also offers advice for how to give your initial feedback and then follow up. He also has tips for coaching an employee who needs to improve their communication skills.

Key episode topics include: leadership, managing people, managing conflicts, difficult conversations.

HBR On Leadership curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.

• Listen to the original Dear HBR episode: Annoying Subordinates (2018)
• Find more episodes of Dear HBR.
• Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org.

Amid the racial reckoning that followed George Floyd’s murder in 2020, many U.S. business leaders promised to make workplaces more diverse, equitable, and inclusive. But these efforts have now slowed, and many DEI teams have faced cuts, and calls for anti-racist leadership have all but disappeared.

In this episode, James White, the former CEO of Jamba Juice, and his daughter and coauthor Krista White offer advice on how corporate leaders can promote lasting change in their organizations and society at large. They also discuss why it’s so important to engage middle managers in inclusion work—and how to do that.

James and Krista White are coauthors of the book Anti-Racist Leadership: How to Transform Corporate Culture in a Race-Conscious World.

Key episode topics include: leadership, race, diversity and inclusion, leadership and managing people.

HBR On Leadership curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.

• Listen to the original HBR IdeaCast episode: DEI Isn’t Enough; Companies Need Anti-Racist Leadership (2022)
• Find more episodes of HBR IdeaCast.
• Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org.

Think of a large company you admire. What kind of leadership culture do they have — and how does that affect their ability to innovate?

If you went right to command-and-control leadership, you’re not alone. It’s a common approach to leading large organizations. But MIT Sloan School of Management researchers Deborah Ancona and Kate Isaacs argue that big organizations can be nimble if they have three types of leaders in the mix: entrepreneurial, enabling, and architecting.

In this episode, Ancona and Isaacs explain how some large organizations continually develop new talent by empowering employees to lead in their area of expertise and make choices about the projects to which they contribute. They also discuss the structures these companies have created to support leaders and their teams as they transition from hierarchical leadership to more autonomous ways of working.

Key episode topics include: leadership, innovation, business management.

HBR On Leadership curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.

• Listen to the original HBR IdeaCast episode: The 3 Types of Leaders of Innovative Companies (2019)
• Find more episodes of HBR IdeaCast.
• Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org.

What’s the best way to determine whether or not your business should engage on potentially controversial societal issues?

In this episode, Harvard Business School senior lecturer Hubert Joly explains how to create a process for decision-making around these issues, in collaboration with your board.

Joly wrote a case study based on his own time as chairman and CEO of electronics retailer Best Buy. When George Floyd was murdered in Minneapolis in 2020, just a few miles from their global headquarters, Joly led the organization through weeks of unrest and protests in their community and within the firm.

The episode also offers lessons from other organizations, like Nike, Disney, and Starbucks, whose leaders have spoken out on issues related to racism and LGBTQ rights.

Key episode topics include: leadership, business ethics, social movements, corporate social responsibility.

HBR On Leadership curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.

• Listen to the original Cold Call episode: Should Businesses Take a Stand on Societal Issues? (2024)
• Find more episodes of Cold Call
• Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org

Do you know how your best employees feel about their work?

Are they actually engaged and motivated? Or are they already looking for a better opportunity? If so, what would it take to make them want to stay?

In this episode, you’ll learn how to retain your best employees for the long term, including tactics you can use to help the people you manage feel valued and respected. You’ll also learn what to do when a valuable employee says they have another job offer.

Key episode topics include: leadership, employee retention, career coaching, managing teams.

HBR On Leadership curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.

• Listen to the original Women at Work episode: The Essentials: Retaining Talent (2022)
• Find more episodes of Women at Work.
• Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org.

Joel Peterson has spent a career leading teams, building businesses, and managing people at every level. Along the way, he’s learned valuable lessons about the best ways to bring on new talent, as well as when and how to let people go.

Peterson is the former chairman of JetBlue Airways. He also teaches at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

He shares his approach to hiring for top leadership positions and why it’s so important to slow down and take plenty of time with interviews. He also explains how he coaches new hires who are struggling and how he knows when it’s time to let someone go.

You’ll learn why Peterson says you shouldn’t wait for a “triggering event” to fire someone who’s not performing. And you’ll learn why he never outsources that difficult conversation to human resources.

Key episode topics include: leadership, dismissing employees, hiring and recruitment, managing people, difficult conversations, firing. 

HBR On Leadership curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.

• Listen to the original HBR IdeaCast episode: Rules for Effective Hiring — and Firing (2020)
• Find more episodes of HBR IdeaCast.
• Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org.

Knowing how to get people to listen to you is an important part of leadership.

But HBR contributing editor and workplace conflict expert Amy Gallo says being heard isn’t about how loud you say something. It’s about saying the right thing at the right time—in other words, it’s about having a communication strategy.

In this episode, Gallo offers research-based tips for how to lay the groundwork for your ideas. She also offers advice on how to manage your body language and what to watch out for in your counterpart’s body language as well.

Gallo cohosts HBR’s Women at Work podcast, and her most recent book is Getting Along: How to Work with Anyone (Even Difficult People).

Key episode topics include: leadership, emotional intelligence, managing yourself, careers, communication.

HBR On Leadership curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.

• Watch the original HBR Guide episode: How to Get People to Listen to You (2024)
• Find more episodes of the HBR Guide series on YouTube.
• Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org.

Harvard Business School senior lecturer Mark Roberge argues that every aspect of being an early-stage founder involves sales. But many founders lack an understanding of how to incorporates sales into their ventures.

Which sales candidate is a startup’s ideal first hire? What marketing channels are worth investing in? How aggressively should you align sales with customer success?

In this episode, you’ll learn how to hire for early sales roles, design compensation, and lay a strong foundation for a growing sales team.

Key episode topics include: leadership, entrepreneurship, sales, marketing, startups, entrepreneurial business strategy, pricing strategy, talent management.

HBR On Leadership curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.

• Listen to the original Cold Call episode: What Founders Get Wrong about Sales and Marketing (2023)
• Find more episodes of Cold Call
• Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org

Are you ready to be a manager?

In this episode, Ellen Van Oosten answers questions from listeners who are struggling to move into management.  She offers advice for what to do when you’ve been tapped for a managerial role, but you don’t want the job. She also discusses how to respond if your supervisor is blocking you from earning a promotion into management, and how you can make the move to manager even if you only have informal management experience.

Van Oosten is a professor at the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve. She’s also a coauthor of the book, Helping People Change: Coaching with Compassion for Lifelong Learning and Growth.

Key episode topics include: leadership, careers, career transitions, managing people, coaching, growth.

HBR On Leadership curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.

• Listen to the original Dear HBR episode: Management Material (2020)
• Find more episodes of Dear HBR.
• Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org.

If you think your organization is difficult to maneuver, consider the unique challenges of government leadership.

Former Massachusetts governor Charlie Baker and his former chief of staff Steve Kadish faced many challenges during Baker’s time in office—perhaps most notably: the Covid-19 pandemic.

Looking back, they argue that running a government is often much harder than leading a private-sector company. For one thing, Baker says, there’s rightly more public scrutiny of every decision you make as a leader. And, Kadish adds, decision-making is far more dispersed.

In this episode, they share their four-part framework for breaking down complicated problems with many stakeholders to get results. If you’re struggling with bureaucracy and politics in your organization, this episode is for you.

Key episode topics include: leadership, strategy execution, government, stakeholder management, decision making, problem solving, negotiation.

HBR On Leadership curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.

• Listen to the original HBR IdeaCast episode: Leadership Lessons from a Republican Governor in a Blue State (2022)
• Find more episodes of HBR IdeaCast.
• Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org.

How do you guide a team working on innovative projects—when there is no existing playbook?

Astro Teller says he uses a vetted approach to decision-making for the innovative projects that he and his teams undertake at X, Alphabet’s R&D engine.

Teller is the Captain of Moonshots at X, which he helped launch at Google in 2010. His mission there is to invent and launch new technologies that address serious problems in the world. But those technologies must also create the foundations for substantial new businesses for Google’s parent company, Alphabet. They’ve worked on a pill that detects cancer, cars that drive themselves, and mega-kites that work as turbines to collect wind energy, to name just a few examples.

In this episode, Teller offers key lessons for managing the process that delivers breakthrough innovations. You’ll learn how he decides to keep investing in a project, and how he knows when it’s time to pull the plug. You’ll also learn how he assembles teams and what qualities he looks for in potential new hires.

Key episode topics include: leadership, innovation, technology and analytics, leadership and managing people, experimentation, creativity, breakthrough, Alphabet, Google.

HBR On Leadership curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.

• Listen to the original HBR IdeaCast episode: X’s Astro Teller on Managing Moonshot Innovation
• Find more episodes of HBR IdeaCast.
• Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org.

Chobani is a leader in the global yogurt market, with more than 20 percent share of the U.S. market alone. It all started with one man, an abandoned yogurt factory in upstate New York, and a mission to make quality yogurt accessible to more people.

In this episode, Harvard Business Review editor in chief Adi Ignatius and Chobani founder and CEO Hamdi Ulukaya discuss mission-driven entrepreneurship.

You’ll learn how Ulukaya kept Chobani true to its original values, even as it scaled and began competing in new sectors. You’ll also learn why he adapted Chobani’s mission to center his employees.

Key episode topics include: leadership, entrepreneurship, entrepreneurs and founders, entrepreneurial management, food and beverage sector, Chobani, yogurt. 

HBR On Leadership curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.

• View to the original New World of Work episode: Chobani Founder Hamdi Ulukaya on the Journey from Abandoned Factory to Yogurt Powerhouse (2022)
• Find more episodes of the New World of Work
• Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org

What distinguishes a leader? How do you know if you’re ready to lead? And how do you make the transition into a leadership role?

The shift from being part of a team to leading one isn’t like flipping a switch. It’s a process, and it can be awkward. It can be especially difficult your identity differs from other leaders in your organization — for example, if you’re a young leader in an organization dominated by older leaders, or a woman in a male-dominated organization.

In this episode, two leadership coaches, Amy Su and Muriel Wilkins of Paravis Partners, explain how to develop a leadership presence that’s both authentic to you and resonates with others. You’ll also learn some deeper questions to ask yourself during your transition into leadership.

Key episode topics include: leadership, gender, authenticity, leadership presence, transitions, influencing others, leadership style, leadership journey.

HBR On Leadership curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.

• Listen to the original Women at Work episode: Seeing Ourselves as Leaders (2019)
• Find more episodes of Women at Work.
• Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org.

In early 2003, the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated as it re-entered the earth’s atmosphere. All seven astronauts on board were killed.

This was not the first NASA mission to end in disaster, and it inspired Harvard Business School professor Amy Edmondson to write a business case about what went wrong.

Edmondson studies psychological safety and organizational learning. Her most recent book is Right Kind of Wrong: The Science of Failing Well.

In this episode, she breaks down the organizational challenges within NASA that contributed to the Columbia tragedy, offering a window into the organization’s leadership. Edmondson also shares lessons for all leaders about the dangers of unyielding hierarchy and of failing to listen to dissenting voices.

Key episode topics include: leadership, managing people, organizational culture, operations and supply chain management, NASA, hierarchy, science.

HBR On Leadership curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.

• Listen to the original Cold Call episode: The Space Shuttle Columbia’s Final Mission (2016)
• Find more episodes of Cold Call
• Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org.

In 1863, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln wrote a scathing letter to his top Union general, who had squandered an opportunity to end the American Civil War. Then Lincoln folded it up and tucked it away in his desk.

The letter was never signed and sent—just one example of how Lincoln’s legendary emotional discipline enabled him to rise above mundane arguments and focus on a larger mission.

In this episode, Harvard Business School professor and historian Nancy Koehn analyzes Lincoln’s leadership both before and during America’s greatest crisis.

You’ll learn how emotional self-control can impact your day-to-day leadership as well as your long-term legacy.

Key episode topics include: leadership, crisis management, decision making and problem solving, government, American history, emotional discipline, communication.

HBR On Leadership curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.

• Listen to the original HBR IdeaCast episode: Real Leaders: Abraham Lincoln and the Power of Emotional Discipline (2020)
• Find more episodes of HBR IdeaCast
• Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org.

Growing up in the heart of the Confederacy, Maggie Lena Walker started work as a laundress at age nine. At the urging of her mother and mentors, she turned to education, and used it to propel her life forward — graduating high school at 16, working as a teacher, and learning accounting.

Those experiences, coupled with her strong work ethic, culminated in Walker rising to lead the Independent Order of St. Luke and found several other businesses, all of which created jobs and opportunities for many women and Blacks people where there had been none before.

In this episode, Harvard Business School senior lecturer Tony Mayo traces Walker’s approach to leadership on her journey to becoming the first female bank president in America.

You’ll learn how she led the turnaround of the Order of St. Luke starting in 1899 by cutting costs, increasing membership, and launching new businesses that catered to unmet needs in Richmond’s Black community. You’ll also learn how Walker relied on her personal networks and deep local roots to overcome challenges rooted in systemic racism throughout her career.

Key episode topics include: leadership, managing people, entrepreneurship, race, gender, Independent Order of St. Luke. 

HBR On Leadership curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.

• Listen to the original Cold Call episode: Black Business Leaders Series: A Remarkable Legacy of Firsts, Maggie Lena Walker (2017)
• Find more episodes of Cold Call
• Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org

Most of us can point to a few key people who have made a real difference in our lives and careers—the coach who pushed you to outperform, the teacher whose passion for a subject inspired your own, or the boss who showed you what it is to be a leader at work.

In this episode, NBA star Chris Paul shares how his own mentors guided him through the early years of his professional basketball career and helped him develop his leadership skills on and off the court.

Paul is regarded as one of the best point guards of all time and led the National Basketball Players Association from 2013 to 2021. He shares what he’s learned about mentorship and leadership—and the important role communication skills play in enabling both. He also explains how to communicate with colleagues in a high-pressure situation and why it’s so important to listen to the people you lead. 

Key episode topics include: leadership, teams, power and influence, leading teams, organizational culture, basketball, sports. 

HBR On Leadership curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.

• Listen to the original HBR IdeaCast episode: NBA Star Chris Paul on Mentorship and Taking a Stand (2023)
• Find more episodes of HBR IdeaCast
• Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org.

Do you have a difficult employee on your team— someone who might be underperforming or resistant to taking feedback? Do you know how to help them?

Melvin Smith says that coaching can be harder than you realize. First you must figure out which approach will work well for that specific employee. But you also need to know how to measure the success of your coaching and when it’s time to move on to other options—like performance management.

In this episode, he takes questions from listeners who are struggling to coach some of their employees. He offers advice for what to do when your new employee is slacking off, or when they’re struggling to adjust to your organization’s culture and communication style. He also has suggestions for coaching two direct reports who are in conflict with each other.

Smith is a professor at the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University and coauthor of the book Helping People Change: Coaching with Compassion for Lifelong Learning and Growth.

Key episode topics include: leadership, careers, career coaching, managing people, organizational culture, difficult conversations.

HBR On Leadership curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.

• Listen to the original Dear HBR episode: Coaching Problem Employees (2020)
• Find more episodes of Dear HBR.
• Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org.

Making business decisions often means choosing one path over another—but that doesn’t always need to be the case. Wendy Smith and Marianne Lewis argue that leaders should move beyond “either/or” choices and try to come up with solutions that embrace ambiguity and paradox.

In this episode, you’ll learn how to reframe the question you’re asking in order to get more creative answers. You’ll also learn how to shift your own internal thinking away from oppositional relationships and instead focus on interdependencies.

Smith is a management professor at the University of Delaware, and Lewis is dean of the University of Cincinnati Lindner College of Business. Together they’re coauthors of the book Both/And Thinking: Embracing Creative Tensions to Solve Your Toughest Problems.

Key episode topics include: leadership, decision making and problem solving, tradeoffs, reframing.

HBR On Leadership curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.

• Listen to the original HBR IdeaCast episode: Decisions Don’t Have to Be Either-Or (2022)
• Find more episodes of HBR IdeaCast.
• Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org.

You’re probably familiar with the term “psychological safety.” But do you know what it really means?

HBR contributing editor and workplace conflict expert Amy Gallo says both the idea and the value of psychological safety are commonly misunderstood. Gallo cohosts HBR’s Women at Work podcast, and her most recent book is Getting Along: How to Work with Anyone (Even Difficult People).

In this episode, you’ll learn how to define psychological safety, how to figure out if your team has it, and what to do if it doesn’t.

Key episode topics include: leadership, organizational culture, psychology, teams, leading teams, psychological safety, emotional intelligence. 

HBR On Leadership curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.

• Watch the original HBR Guide episode: What Is Psychological Safety? (2023)
• Find more episodes of the HBR Guide series on YouTube.
• Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org.

Many of us manage projects—even if “project manager” isn’t in our official job title. We try to learn the basics as we go: how to manage multiple stakeholders, adapt as circumstances change, and set realistic deadlines. It’s not easy, and it’s no wonder that people get certified in project management: it’s a discipline that’s surprisingly deep, from planning to close-out.

In this episode, you’ll hear from a former clinical social worker who recently pivoted to project management and has already experienced several of the most common challenges, including uncertainty, interpersonal conflict, and lack of responsiveness from the team. She talks with Tamara McLemore, an experienced project manager who shares tips for motivating and influencing others, communicating effectively, and solving problems.

You’ll also learn how to use some essential project managements tools, like a project charter and a work breakdown structure, as well as how to divide any project into four core phases and then work through them effectively.

Key episode topics include: leadership, project management, leading teams, motivating people, agile, communication, collaboration.

HBR On Leadership curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.

• Listen to the original Women at Work episode: The Essentials: Managing Projects (2023)
• Find more episodes of Women at Work.
• Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org.

Mountains are often used as metaphors for the challenges that arise in business and leadership. But when Rick Ridgeway compares mountaineering to risk management, he’s speaking from deep experience navigating both the boardroom and some of the world’s highest slopes.

Ridgeway is an outdoor adventurer, writer, and advocate for sustainability and conservation initiatives. He’s also the former vice president of environmental initiatives at Patagonia.

In this episode, Ridgeway explains why good communication, ambitious goal setting, and meticulous planning are essential in both mountaineering and business. He also emphasizes the importance of recruiting a strong team — whether you’re leading an uphill battle to make apparel manufacturing more sustainable or summiting K2. (Spoiler alert: Ridgeway has done both.)

Key episode topics include: leadership, sustainable business, environmental sustainability.

HBR On Leadership curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.

• Listen to the original HBR IdeaCast episode: Tenacious Leadership on the Mountain and in the Organization (2011)
• Find more episodes of HBR IdeaCast
• Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org

You’ve likely heard the phrase, “Move fast and break things.” But Harvard Business School professor Frances Frei says speed and experimentation are not enough on their own. Instead, she argues that you should move fast and fix things. (That’s also the topic and title of the book she coauthored with Anne Morriss.)

In this episode, Frei explains how you can solve any problem in five clear steps. First, she says, start by identifying the real problem holding you back. Then move on to building trust and relationships, followed by a narrative for your solution — before you begin implementing it.

Key episode topics include: leadership, strategy execution, managing people, collaboration and teams, trustworthiness, organizational culture.

HBR On Leadership curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.

• Learn more about HBR’s “Future of Business” virtual conference (November 2023)
• Find more Harvard Business Review live events
• Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org

GitLab, which builds and manages an open-source software development application, started off with employees fully dispersed and has stayed that way. Now with more than 1,300 people spread across more than 60 countries, it’s said to be the world’s largest all-remote company.

In this episode, the company’s CEO Sid Sijbrandij shares the lessons he’s learned about how to manage a distributed workforce. He explains how to recruit talent who are well-suited for remote work and how to onboard them effectively. He also shares how GitLab leaders reinforce company culture remotely and how they create virtual space for informal relationship building.

Key episode topics include: leadership, remote work, managing people, teams, dispersed work, culture, communication, recruitment, talent management, innovation.

HBR On Leadership curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.

• Listen to the original HBR IdeaCast episode: Advice from the CEO of an All-Remote Company (2022)
• Find more episodes of HBR IdeaCast.
• Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org.