HBR IdeaCast

Advice from the CEO of an All-Remote Company

27 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Most organizations have now accepted that the days of all their knowledge workers coming into the office full time are over. So what's next? Sid Sijb...

It’s Time to Fine-Tune Performance Management

20 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Measuring a broad set of standards across the organization seems like a fair way to judge employees’ performance year over year. But Heidi Gardner, ...

Rolling Stone’s Jann Wenner on Cultivating Creative Talent

13 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Rolling Stone launched in 1967 with a mission to not only redefine music journalism but also chronicle important societal changes. Under the leadershi...

Work-Life Supports That Truly Help Your Organization

06 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Work-life support programs have long been known to lower turnover and raise employee loyalty. But new research shows they also have a positive effect ...

What Business Leaders Should Know Now About the Metaverse

30 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

It might still seem like a buzzword, or something that only matters to tech CEOs. But Matthew Ball, CEO of Epyllion and the former global head of stra...

Why Companies Decide to Sell on Amazon—or Not

23 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

It's a dilemma facing more and more brands: should you sell your goods on Amazon? It's the most visited e-commerce platform in the U.S. and the domina...

Strategies for Dealing with Difficult Coworkers

16 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Work is challenging for lots of reasons, but most of us have probably come to realize that what makes or break a professional experience is people - a...

Decisions Don’t Have to Be Either-Or

09 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Making business decisions often means choosing one path over another. And psychology research shows that our brains are wired to make either-or choice...

Is Cynicism Ruining Your Organization?

02 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Around the world, we've become increasingly cynical about other people, public institutions, and corporations. In Edelman's 2022 Trust Barometer, near...

The Case for Embracing Uncertainty

26 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

For many of us, uncertainty is nerve-wracking. However, many of our best achievements and meaningful experiences come from a trying time of ambiguity....

How the Unionization Trend is Changing Workplace Dynamics

19 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

For years, union membership has been shrinking in the United States and many other countries. But recently we've seen a resurgence, with employees in ...

Red Flags You Won’t See on a CEO’s Resume

12 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

For a long time, we have believed that strong corporate governance is enough to prevent CEO malfeasance. However, new research shows that the lifestyl...

Sad, Mad, Anxious? How to Work Through Your ‘Big Feelings’

05 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

When things aren't going well -- in our own lives, our community, our country, or the world -- it's hard to be productive at work. Most of us also shy...

Open Digital Platforms to Spur Innovation

28 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

As the novel coronavirus surfaced in Wuhan in 2019, Chinese officials called for mobile isolation wards. Haier Group partnered with suppliers to desig...

A Debate Champion on How to Have More Productive Disagreements at Work

21 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In an ideal world, professional conflicts are settled with thoughtful discussion and collaborative decision-making. But that’s not usually how it wo...

Fighting Bias and Inequality at the Team Level

14 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Despite the investments made in the last few years, many companies are falling short of their diversity, equity, and inclusion aims. Some firms have f...

The Pros and Cons of Our “Middleman Economy”

07 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Kathryn Judge, a finance professor at Columbia Law School, is troubled by the rise of intermediary platforms between products and services and the cus...

Immigration, Upward Mobility, and the U.S. Economy

31 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In eras past, the United States welcomed immigrant laborers to build and support the country's infrastructure and innovators and entrepreneurs to adva...

Leadership Lessons from a Republican Governor in a Blue State

24 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Underperforming state agencies, a natural disaster, and a pandemic are among the many challenges that faced Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker and h...

How Government and Business Can Tackle Big Global Crises Together

17 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

It feels like a moment of panic for many. While there were some success stories in how public and private sector leaders managed the global pandemic, ...

Comedian Sarah Cooper On Bringing Humor to Any Career

10 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

It's a cliche, but they say it's best to write what you know. That was the case for comedian Sarah Cooper, who rose to viral social media fame in the ...

3 Strategies for Dealing with Procrastination

03 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

We’re all prone to procrastinate. We feel guilty about it. And yet, we still do it. Alice Boyes, a former clinical psychologist and author, says bre...

Find Joy in Any Job: How Do I Get My Team to Love Work?

28 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Not everyone likes everything about their job all the time. But we know from research that people who are energized by at least parts of their work pe...

Let’s Redefine the Role of Manager

26 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Most managers today are overwhelmed. Thanks to rapid technological change, flattening hierarchies, agile work, and new attitudes about talent, they ha...

Find Joy in Any Job: How Do I Improve the Role I Have?

21 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

A lot of us are feeling unhappy and disengaged at work – and that started long before the pandemic. A big part of the problem, says Marcus Buckingha...

How Understanding Your Family Dynamics Can Improve Work

19 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Deborah Ancona, a professor at MIT Sloan School of Management, and Dennis Perkins, CEO of The Syncretics Group, have researched how family dynamics pl...

Find Joy in Any Job: What Do I Really Love To Do?

14 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

At a time when 41% of us are considering quitting our jobs, it’s time for us to understand why and what we can do about it. In this special series ...

How Political Polarization Is Changing Work

12 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Politics has traditionally been a taboo topic to discuss on the job. But as people get more vocal about their views -- on everything from from climate...

Find Joy in Any Job: Why Am I Unhappy at Work?

07 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

There’s been much talk about the Great Resignation and what’s driving it. The pandemic has exacerbated a long-term problem: many of us struggle to...

Working with Colleagues: Should You Collaborate or Compete?

05 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Randall Peterson, founding director of the Leadership Institute at London Business School, studies coworker dynamics. He says lately, the idea of head...

Filmmaker Ken Burns on Lessons in Innovation and Collaboration

29 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

As the acclaimed documentarian releases a new two-part PBS series about Ben Franklin, he describes how the U.S. founding father transformed himself fr...

Breaking Free of the Cult of Productivity

22 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Madeleine Dore, an author and podcast host, offers a cure for “productivity guilt.” That’s the cycle of dejection she says many of us suffer fro...

DEI Isn’t Enough; Companies Need Anti-Racist Leadership

15 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Over the past few years in the United States, we’ve seen some horrific examples of racism seize the public consciousness. Amid all these tragedies –...

You’re Overlooking a Source of Diversity: Age

08 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Megan Gerhardt, management professor at Miami University, studies the impact of generational conflict on organizations. She says too many leaders see ...

Regrets Are Inevitable. Start Learning From Them.

01 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

"No regrets" might be a popular modern-day mantra, but it's virtually impossible to live your life without wishing you could do certain things over. S...

Why Some Companies Thrived During the Pandemic

22 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Keith Ferrazzi, founder of the consulting firm Ferrazzi Greenlight, led a survey of more than 2,000 executives to study how they reengineered operatio...

Inside Companies that Get the Purpose-Profit Balance Right

15 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Purpose has become a corporate buzzword over the past decade. Leaders are embracing the idea that companies can’t just do well financially; they als...

The Positives—and Perils—of Storytelling

08 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Jonathan Gottschall, a distinguished fellow at Washington & Jefferson College, has researched storytelling and its unique power to inspire. But as he ...

Need a Reset? Try This One Quick Meditation Session (Bonus)

03 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

You've probably heard about the benefits of mindfulness and how meditation can help you achieve it. But you still can't find the inclination to start ...

No, Tech Start-ups Aren’t Taking Over the World

01 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Looking at business news and stock market coverage over the past decade (including a few HBR articles), you'd think that just about every traditional,...

Why Companies Should Stop Political Spending Now

25 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

A decade ago, the U.S. Supreme Court changed the rules on how businesses could donate to political campaigns. Since then, hundreds of millions of corp...

How Companies Reckon with Past Wrongdoing

18 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Sarah Federman, assistant professor at the University of Baltimore, studies how companies handle their historical misdeeds and what that means for emp...

To Get Ahead, You Need Both Ambition and Humility

11 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

We know that great leadership takes not just intelligence and drive but also the ability to get along well with and learn from others. The key, says A...

We’re Bad at Measuring Inequality—Here’s Why That Matters

04 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Stefanie Stantcheva, economist at Harvard University, founded the Social Economics Lab to study inequality, our feelings about it, and how policies in...

Best of IdeaCast: What Sets Successful People Apart

28 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Heidi Grant, a motivational psychologist, has studied successful people and what makes them tick. In this classic episode, she and former host Sarah G...

There Still Aren’t Enough “Good Jobs”

21 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Companies around the world are struggling to fill open positions, while millions of unemployed people look for work. What's going on? Zeynep Ton, prof...

Gaslighting at Work—and What to Do About It

14 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Mita Mallick, head of inclusion, equity, and impact at the firm Carta, says gaslighting at the office is more common than many people realize. That's ...

How to Use All Your Vacation — And Really Unplug

07 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

When was the last time you really took a sustained break from work? No emails. No calls. No taking care of that one little thing. For most of us —...

One Way to Fight the Great Resignation? Re-recruit Your Current Employees

30 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Debbie Cohen and Kate Roeske-Zummer, cofounders of HumanityWorks, are sounding an alarm bell for employee retention. Record numbers of people are quit...

Why the Highest Paying Jobs So Rarely Go to Women

23 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Companies pay disproportionately high salaries to CEOs and other high-powered professionals willing to live and breathe their jobs, on-call 24/7, read...

In a New Role? Here’s How to Hit the Ground Running

16 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Rob Cross, management professor at Babson College, says people are changing jobs more than ever and too often falling short when they do. Surveys show...

The Future of Work Is Projects—So You’ve Got to Get Them Right

09 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

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-...

Anti-Bias Policies That Really Work in Customer Service

02 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Alexandra Feldberg and Tami Kim, assistant professors at Harvard Business School and the University of Virginia Darden School of Business, respectivel...

Find Focus in a Chaotic World

26 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

If you're feeling distracted, mentally fogged, and unable to pay attention to (or focus on if attention is in hed) the task at hand, you're not alone....

Algorithms Won’t Solve All Your Pricing Problems

19 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Marco Bertini, marketing professor at Esade Business School, says more and more companies are turning to pricing algorithms to maximize profits. But m...

Tech’s Exponential Growth – and How to Solve the Problems It’s Created

12 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Technological development is happening faster than ever and changing our lives in fundamental ways. The companies behind all these new gadgets and ser...

First He Saved Unilever. Now He Wants to Save Capitalism.

05 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Paul Polman, former CEO of Unilever, led a dazzling career in consumer goods, from Procter & Gamble to Nestlé to the British multinational. His exper...

How to Make Strategic Career Decisions, Even in a Crisis (Back to Work, Better)

28 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

When it comes to work, it's easy to focus on the near term: the next meeting, project, promotion. The global pandemic pushed many of us even further i...

The Innovation System Behind Moderna’s Covid-19 Vaccine

23 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Noubar Afeyan, cofounder and chair of Moderna Therapeutics and CEO of Flagship Pioneering, says that the breakthrough innovation behind the company’...

Can Big Tech Reform Itself?

14 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Mehran Sahami, a Stanford professor and former Google employee, wants to see a reset from the technology industry. For the past few decades, the world...

Why Companies Need Returnship Programs (Back to Work, Better)

07 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Carol Fishman Cohen, human resource consultant and CEO of iRelaunch, says that extended career breaks have always been common. Now the pandemic has ma...

How the Pandemic Changed Talent Management (Back to Work, Better)

31 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Johnny C. Taylor Jr., CEO and President of the Society for Human Resource Management, says that this is a reset moment for organizations that want to ...

Best of IdeaCast: Saying No to More Work

26 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

When the work keeps piling on, there comes a time when everyone needs to say no. But how do you do so without offending your coworkers or hurting your...

What We Still Need to Learn about AI in Marketing — and Beyond

24 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Eva Ascarza, professor at Harvard Business School, studies customer analytics and finds that many companies investing in artificial intelligence fail ...

Rethinking Our Relationship with Work (Back to Work, Better)

17 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Emily Esfahani Smith, author of “The Power of Meaning,” has long studied how people find fulfillment. As the ongoing pandemic causes many of us to...

When Entrepreneurs Distort the Truth

10 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Kyle Jensen, associate dean at the Yale School of Management, has seen firsthand just how tempting it is for entrepreneurs to lie. As a startup founde...

Moving the Needle on DEI

03 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Shelly McNamara, head of equality and inclusion at Procter & Gamble, knows just how valuable it is to work at an inclusive company. Back in 2012, as a...

Building Successful Hybrid Teams (Back to Work, Better)

27 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Tsedal Neeley, professor at Harvard Business School, has been studying remote work and global teams for years. In episode 732 early in the pandemic, s...

Lessons in Innovation from Bowie, Beyoncé, and More

20 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Panos Panay, incoming co-president of the Recording Academy, which presents the Grammys, and R. Michael Hendrix, partner at the innovation consultancy...

Stop Networking, Start Connecting

13 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Susan McPherson, communications consultant, says many people feel strange reconnecting in person with colleagues after an extended period working in p...

Best Buy’s Hubert Joly on Walking the Talk of Stakeholder Capitalism

06 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Hubert Joly, former chairman and CEO of Best Buy, says that now is the time for companies to get serious about operating to benefit not just sharehold...

Hybrid Work Is Here To Stay. Now What? (Back to Work, Better)

29 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Nicholas Bloom, economics professor at Stanford University, has been studying remote work and hybrid (a mix of remote and onsite) work for years. Then...

The Rise and Fall of Carlos Ghosn: Part 4

24 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Suddenly powerless in Tokyo prison after his arrest, Carlos Ghosn plans an audacious escape and flees Japan while out on bail. Out of reach of Japanes...

What Anthropologists Can Teach Us About Work Culture

22 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Greg Urban, anthropologist at the University of Pennsylvania, used to study indigenous tribes in Brazil. Now he hangs out in break rooms and boardroom...

The Rise and Fall of Carlos Ghosn: Part 3

17 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

A decade into Ghosn’s tenure, Nissan starts missing his goals for growth, profits, and electric vehicle sales. Then a devastating earthquake and tsu...

Former Washington Post Top Editor on Leading Through Change

15 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Martin Baron, former executive editor of the Washington Post, managed the newsroom during a decade of incredible change and shifting views about the m...

The Rise and Fall of Carlos Ghosn: Part 2

10 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

After Carlos Ghosn’s dramatic turnaround at Nissan, profits soar and Ghosnmania sweeps Japan. But signs of trouble emerge as Ghosn takes over as the...

What Business Leaders Need to Know About China Now

08 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Elsbeth Johnson, senior lecturer at MIT’s Sloan School of Management, and Rana Mitter, professor of history at Oxford, argue that there's a lot abou...

The Rise and Fall of Carlos Ghosn: Part 1

03 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

When Japan's most famous CEO is suddenly arrested, conflicts are revealed in the Renault-Nissan Alliance he led for two decades. Then Carlos Ghosn jum...

How Leaders Can Encourage Imagination

01 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Martin Reeves, managing director and senior partner at Boston Consulting Group’s Henderson Institute, has looked at how companies reinvent themselve...

CEO Series: Ursula Burns on Leading with Authenticity at Xerox

27 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Ursula Burns, CEO of Xerox from 2009 to 2016, rose from humble beginnings to become the first Black woman to lead a Fortune 500 company. In this inter...

Why Smart People (Sometimes) Make Bad Decisions

25 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Daniel Kahneman, Nobel Prize winner and emeritus professor at Princeton University, and Olivier Sibony, professor of strategy at HEC, say that bias is...

CEO Series: 23andMe’s Anne Wojcicki on Scientific Breakthroughs and Public Trust

20 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Anne Wojcicki, CEO of 23andMe, spent a decade in healthcare and biotechnology before launching the DNA testing and analysis company in 2006. Her goal ...

Understanding the Venture Capital Gender Gap

18 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Jenny Lefcourt, partner at Freestyle VC and cofounder of All Raise, says that even as a serial entrepreneur herself, she long underestimated how littl...

CEO Series: Mastercard’s Ajay Banga on Promoting Financial Inclusion

13 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Ajay Banga, the executive chairman and former CEO of Mastercard, has spearheaded a strategy focused on serving the previously unbanked via new technol...

How To Talk Yourself Up (Without Turning People Off)

11 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Leslie John, associate professor at Harvard Business School, has done some deep research into the ways that people self-promote in their professional ...

CEO Series: Mary Barra of General Motors on Committing to an Eco-Friendly Future

06 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Mary Barra, chair and CEO of General Motors, says that electric vehicles are the future for the company and the automobile industry. GM has said it wi...

How Tech Adoption Fuels China’s Innovation Boom

04 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Zak Dychtwald, founder of the advisory firm Young China Group, believes that the perception of China as a copycat and not an innovator is outdated. In...

Quit Overthinking Things

27 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Ethan Kross, professor of psychology at the University of Michigan, has spent years studying how people talk to themselves and the effect that this "c...

Streamlining Your Company’s Strategy

20 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Felix Oberholzer-Gee, professor at Harvard Business School, says many organizations spend so much energy on strategy that it overwhelms with conflicti...

The Career Rules You Didn’t Learn at School

13 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Gorick Ng, career advisor at Harvard, tried to learn about the world of work at an early age, helping his mother search job listings and send out resu...

How the Creative Economy is Changing with Covid-19

06 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Scott Belsky, chief product officer at Adobe, says that creative workers are a bigger part of the economy than ever, thanks to new technologies, more ...

Building a Company While Battling Depression

30 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Melissa Bernstein, cofounder of the toy company Melissa & Doug, spent decades hiding her struggles with depression even as she launched and led a boom...

The Competitive Advantage of an Offboarding Program

23 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Alison Dachner, management professor at John Carroll University, and Erin Makarius, management professor at the University of Akron, say that an organ...

Workplace Design, Post-Pandemic (Back to Work, Better)

16 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Anne-Laure Fayard, associate professor at NYU’s Tandon School of Engineering, was studying the effects of workplace design on employees long before ...

New Recruiting Strategies for a Post-Covid World (Back to Work, Better)

09 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Lauren Smith, vice president at Gartner Research, says the pandemic is accelerating several key recruitment trends. She led a survey of thousands of j...

What Black Leaders Bring to the Table

02 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Chad Sanders, a former tech executive and entrepreneur, says that people of color, especially Black men like him, often feel the need to assimilate to...

How CEOs Can Drive Sales — or Kill Deals

23 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Christoph Senn, marketing professor at INSEAD, has spent years studying how top executives involve themselves in B2B sales. Some are very hands-off. O...

Bill Gates on How Business Leaders Can Fight Climate Change

16 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Bill Gates, philanthropist and founder of Microsoft, argues that, even as we work to end the global pandemic, we can't lose sight of another existenti...

Taking on a Senior Leadership Role Remotely

09 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Muriel Wilkins, cofounder of the executive coaching firm Paravis Partners, says that starting a leadership role at a new company or via internal promo...