HBR On Leadership

How Leaders Create the Conditions for Innovative Thinking

Today’s leaders need to be able to innovate over and over again despite fast-changing market conditions and a multitude of other uncertainities. Harvard Business School p

An Announcement from HBR On Leadership

Since 2023, HBR On Leadership has been bringing you hand-curated insights and inspiration from across the HBR archive to unlock the best in those around you. But the time

Why Speed and Trust Are Critical to Solving Hard Problems

When it comes to solving complex, layered problems, the default for many organizational leaders is to take their time to work through the issues at hand. Unfortunately, t

How to Actually Finish What You Need to Get Done

There are many productivity tools and tactics that promise to help you make the most of your workday. But there is one simple practice that’s consistently been shown to b

How to Cultivate Your “Personal Power” as a Leader

We all know the stereotypes of leaders who use charisma, manipulation, domineering behavior, or their status in the hierarchy to exert control. But there is another type

How Shake Shack Balanced Digitalization with Its Hospitality Ethos

Shake Shack started in 2001 as a hot dog cart in New York City’s Madison Square Park. It’s now a global fast-casual restaurant chain renowned for both quality and hospita

Getting Buy-In for Your Next Big Idea

Leaders are often called upon to pitch ideas to senior management about how to change the way their company does business. Perhaps you have proposed an improvement to an

Redefining What Efficiency Means in the Age of AI

What is the real definition of efficiency in a world powered by AI? What if it was quality, not quantity? Neuroscientist Mithu Storoni has researched how and when our bra

Communicating with Confidence When You’re Under Pressure

Communicating clearly sets you up to have the leadership impact and influence you need to drive change. But what if you’re running on empty? Expressing your ideas and giv

Build Your Resilience in the Face of Tough Change

Difficult change is inevitable, but few of us have the skills to it navigate well. Dr. Maya Shankar, cognitive scientist and host of the podcast A Slight Change of Plans,

Making the Shift from Individual Contributor to Leader

Once you’ve committed to a leadership role—whether formally or informally—getting everyone else at work to buy in requires relationship management. The steps to transitio

Scaling a Business Beyond the Family Playbook

Johnson Security Bureau is one of the oldest Black-owned security firms in the United States, providing services to New York-area banks, public works, hospitals, transpor

Is Your Company Suffering from Initiative Overload?

Most organizations struggle to kill initiatives, even those that no longer support their strategy. Rose Hollister and Michael Watkins, consultants at Genesis Advisers, ex

When You’re Worn Down—and Your Team Is Too

There’s nothing easy about being a manager today. But for team leaders who are feeling burnt out or overwhelmed with their job, workplace strategist Daisy Auger-Domínguez

The Most Successful Leaders Never Stop Learning

After leading Yum! Brands, which includes chains such as KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell, David Novak wanted to help others become better leaders. He believes the key is to

What It Takes to Execute a Successful Company Turnaround

If a company starts to veer off track, whether amid technological change, marketplace conditions, or otherwise, it is daunting to get back on a path to growth. But big tu

Looking Back on Nike’s Evolution from Startup to Global Enterprise

Phil Knight, co-founder, former CEO, and Chairman Emeritus of Nike, tells the story of starting the sports apparel and equipment giant after taking an entrepreneurship cl

Why Storytelling Matters When Changing Company Culture

Jay Barney, a professor at the University of Utah’s David Eccles School of Business, studied leaders who successfully led culture change and found one thing in common: th

Combatting Cynicism in Your Organization

Around the world, we’ve become increasingly cynical about other people, public institutions, and corporations. Back in 2022, Edelman’s Trust Barometer found that nearly 6

Why Most Projects Fail—and How to Achieve Better Outcomes

Companies of every size in every industry and part of the world are basing more of their work around projects. And yet research shows that nearly two-thirds of those effo