HBR On Leadership
Episodes
When Leading a Global Team, Don’t Leave Connection to Chance
21 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Leading a team that spans countries and time zones brings communication challenges that go far beyond working remotely. Tsedal Neeley, a professor at ...
How to Speak with Confidence When You’re Put on the Spot
14 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
We all know that leaders need to captivate audiences and effectively convey their ideas. But not every speaking opportunity can be prepared and practi...
How to Strengthen Your Focus When Demands Never Let Up
07 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
If you’re feeling distracted, mentally fogged, and unable to pay attention to the task at hand, you’re not alone. The human brain is highly suscep...
What Actually Works to Change Someone’s Mind
31 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Jonah Berger, professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, says that most of us aren’t approaching persuasion the right way. P...
How the Best Leaders Develop and Spend “Innovation Capital”
24 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Nathan Furr, professor of strategy at INSEAD, researches what makes great innovative leaders, and he reveals how they develop and spend “innovation ...
What Jargon Says About Your Company Culture
17 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Anne Curzan, English professor at the University of Michigan, studies the evolution of language. While many of us roll our eyes at bizspeak—from syn...
Setting Goals for Your Team When the Path Isn’t Clear
10 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this Coaching Real Leaders session, a leader who has worked in the higher education sector for decades seeks guidance on how to set direction and m...
Bring More Discipline to Your Decision-Making
03 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Corey Phelps, the dean of Penn State’s Smeal College of Business, says great problem solvers are hard to find. Even seasoned professionals at the hi...
Communicating Clearly When You’re Under Stress
26 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Leadership development coach Muriel Wilkins talks us through communication techniques that meet you where you’re at mentally and emotionally so that...
How to Scale What’s Working at Your Company
19 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Stanford professor Bob Sutton, coauthor of Scaling Up Excellence, explains how leaders can expand what’s working in their organizations without lett...
The “Hidden Blockers” That Are Limiting Your Leadership Potential
12 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Many of us have internal beliefs—I need it done now, I know I’m right, I need to be involved—that feel like truth but actually hold us back as l...
Why Purpose Is Foundational in Leadership
05 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Nicholas Pearce, clinical associate professor at Kellogg School of Management, says too many companies—and individuals—lack a clear sense of purpo...
How Design Thinking Unlocks Creativity
29 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
For business leaders, the struggle between efficiency and innovation is constant. How do businesses meet their customers’ needs while also developin...
How Business Leaders Can Help Solve the World’s Toughest Problems
22 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Rosabeth Moss Kanter, professor at Harvard Business School, believes the world demands a new kind of business leader. She says so-called “advanced l...
How Better Contracts Can Strengthen Strategic Partnerships
15 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Even the most carefully worded and meticiously reviewed contracts can fall apart once they hit the reality of modern business dynamics. Oliver Hart, N...
Leading a Team When the Strategy Keeps Changing
08 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
It's tough to keep a team motivated when the strategy from the top keeps shifting. That's the challenge facing a leader in a large global organization...
Cultivating an Experimental Mindset in Your Organization
01 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Harvard Business School’s Stefan Thomke says running experiments can give companies tremendous value, but too often business leaders still make deci...
Moving Beyond Either-Or Decision-Making
24 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Jennifer Riel, an adjunct professor at the Rotman School of Management, describes a problem-solving method that helps leaders move beyond either-or de...
The Types of Questions Every Leader Should Ask
17 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Leslie K. John and Alison Wood Brooks, professors at Harvard Business School, say people in business can be more successful by asking more and better ...
What It Takes to Join Your First Board
10 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Eight women who’ve been on boards share how they landed a seat, gained confidence in the role, and found unexpected personal and professional benefi...
Change How Your Colleagues See You
03 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Do you need a career makeover? Dan and Alison answer your questions with the help of Dorie Clark, the author of Reinventing You: Define Your Brand, Im...
The Risks of Putting People on Too Many Project Teams
27 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Mark Mortensen, a professor of organizational behavior at INSEAD, discusses the research on “multiteaming”—when employees work not only across m...
Make a Mid-Career Industry Change with Confidence
20 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
When you realize the line of work you’ve been in for years doesn’t interest you anymore or is in decline or won’t ever pay well enough, what’s...
How to Make Fractional Leadership Work
13 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
If you need senior talent but can’t afford full-time hires, consider fractional leadership, where part-time executives work with multiple organizati...
Step Up from Middle Management to Senior Leadership
06 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Is mid-level management a stone you’re ready to step off of? Making that move is difficult but doable, and Amy B and her three guests will direct, i...
3 Types of Executive Team Dysfunction
30 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
CEOs get a ton of credit or blame for a company’s performance. But the entire leadership team is vital to success, and any dysfunction is often over...
How Leaders Undermine Their Own Authority
23 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Does your organization lack quality leadership? In this episode of HBR’s advice podcast, Dear HBR:, cohosts Alison Beard and Dan McGinn answer your ...
Is the C-Suite Right for You?
16 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Lots of people’s career timelines go something like this: graduate, get a job, get promoted, and keep climbing until you reach the top. Somewhere al...
How to Succeed in Your Career When Change Is a Constant
09 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Disruption and transformation are the new normal in nearly every industry. So how do you stay ahead of the curve? Over the past four decades, Bonnie...
The Right Way to Step Down as CEO
02 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
When news breaks of a CEO succession, much of the attention is given to the new leader and how they will change the company. But new research shows th...
Why Profits Follow Purpose
25 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This month, we're highlighting some of the best conversations from the 2025 HBR Leadership Summit held in April. In today’s episode, Anish Shah, CEO...
How Nonprofits Can Navigate Uncertainty
18 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This month, we're highlighting some of the best conversations from the 2025 HBR Leadership Summit held in April. In this episode, Janti Soeripto, CEO ...
Customer-Obsessed Innovation
11 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This month, we're highlighting some of the best conversations from the 2025 HBR Leadership Summit held in April. In this episode, David Risher, CEO of...
Building an AI-Powered, Talent-Friendly Organization
04 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Over the next four weeks, we're highlighting some of the best conversations from the 2025 HBR Leadership Summit held in April. In this episode, Jane S...
Don’t Just Coach Your Employees—Teach Them
28 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Sydney Finkelstein, a professor of management at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College, encourages leaders to approach their direct report...
How to Resolve Team Conflict
21 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 middl...
The Best Leaders Ask the Right Questions
14 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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...
How to Fix Dysfunctional Team Dynamics
07 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 th...
How to Bring Out the Best in Your Team
30 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Frances Frei, professor at Harvard Business School, says that trust, empathy—and even a bit of tough love—are all essential ingredients to strong...
When Over-Collaboration Leads to Indecision
23 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Being too collaborative can actually hold you back at work, argues leadership coach Rebecca Shambaugh in this episode. Instead of showing how well you...
How—and When—to Adapt Your Leadership Style
16 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In the past, executives were usually taught to practice command-and-control leadership. Today they’re often advised to be nimbler, more adaptive, an...
When One of Your Employees Is Working Against You
09 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 qu...
Why Your Frontline Employee Turnover Is High
02 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Many people blame the shortage of low-wage workers on the enduring impact of the pandemic. But management professor Joseph Fuller and senior researc...
How to Prepare For—and Lead Through—a Crisis
26 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Over her career, Simmons University President Lynn Perry Wooten has studied crisis leadership and managing uncertainty. Her most recent book, The Prep...
How to Earn Respect as a First-Time Manager
19 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Helena Rubinstein: A Pioneer of the Modern Beauty Industry
12 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In the early 20th century, Helena Rubinstein defied gender, class, and cultural expectations to become one of the first pioneers of the modern beauty ...
How CEOs Make or Break Sales
05 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A CEO's involvement in B2B sales deals, while often well-intentioned, can sometimes backfire. INSEAD marketing professor Christoph Senn has spent yea...
When Hiring, Emphasize Skills Over Degrees
26 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 Ch...
How to Develop Your Executive Presence
19 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
If you’re a leader or aspire to be one, you’ve probably thought about how you project confidence and competence. Your executive presence is as muc...
How CEO Ed Bastian Is Transforming DEI at Delta Air Lines
12 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 a...
How to Give Your Team the Feedback They Actually Need
05 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
How does critical feedback affect your team’s success? Researchers Marcus Buckingham and Ashley Goodall argue that many managers invest too much ene...
How to Make Better Decisions Under Pressure
29 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Many people believe that leaders instinctively make the best decisions based on past experience, almost like muscle memory. But Carol Kauffman, assist...
How to Get Leadership Succession Right
22 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 year...
How to Bridge Generational Gaps on Your Team
15 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Are you struggling to manage people who are older than you? Lindsey Pollak explains that cross-generational dynamics in the workplace are becoming inc...
5 Leadership Traits That Set High-Potential Employees Apart
08 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 ma...
Why Expertise Can Make You a Less Effective Leader
01 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Being the most knowledgeable and experienced person on your team can seem advantageous. However, Sydney Finkelstein, an expert in leadership and talen...
What Oprah’s Leadership Journey Reveals about the Power of Authenticity
25 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Oprah Winfrey isn’t just a public figure—she’s the wealthiest woman in the entertainment industry and the first African-American woman billionai...
How to Master Office Politics Without Compromising Your Values
18 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
When you think of "office politics," you might picture someone hoarding information or taking credit for others' work. While negative stereotypes pers...
The Questions Leaders Need to Be Asking Themselves
11 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Robert Steven Kaplan says the best leaders are exceptionally good at asking tough questions so they can make the right decisions. Kaplan is the author...
How to Cultivate Joy on Your Team
04 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Software executive Richard Sheridan argues that one key quality is missing from too many workplaces today: joy. As CEO of Menlo Innovations, an enterp...
How to Repair a Broken Relationship at Work
27 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Are you stuck in a negative rut with someone at work? HBR contributing editor and workplace conflict expert Amy Gallo says repairing a broken professi...
How to Manage an Employee Who Gets on Your Nerves
20 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Why DEI Still Matters (and How to Get It Right)
13 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Amid the racial reckoning that followed George Floyd’s murder in 2020, many U.S. business leaders promised to make workplaces more diverse, equitabl...
How Large Firms Can Get Innovation Right
06 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
MIT Sloan School of Management researchers Deborah Ancona and Kate Isaacs argue that big organizations can be nimble if they have three types of leade...
Should Your Business Take a Stand on Societal Issues?
30 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
What’s the best way to determine whether or not your business should engage on potentially controversial societal issues? In this episode, Harvard B...
Are Your Best Employees Eyeing the Door?
23 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 opportuni...
How to Make Better Hiring and Firing Decisions
16 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Joel Peterson has spent a career leading teams, building businesses, and managing people at every level. Along the way, he’s learned valuable lesson...
How to Get People to Listen to You
09 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 say...
Why Founders Need to Focus More on Sales and Marketing
02 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Harvard Business School senior lecturer Mark Roberge argues that every aspect of being an early-stage founder involves sales. But many founders lack a...
What It Really Takes to Be a Manager
25 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 offe...
Former MA Governor Charlie Baker on Solving Complex Problems
18 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Former Massachusetts governor Charlie Baker and his former chief of staff Steve Kadish faced many challenges during Baker’s time in office—perhaps...
How to Manage Breakthrough Innovation
11 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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-m...
Chobani’s Founder on Mission-Driven Entrepreneurship
04 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 y...
Are You Ready to Be a Leader?
28 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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? In this episode, tw...
Leadership Lessons from a NASA Tragedy
21 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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...
The Key to Abraham Lincoln’s Leadership
14 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
Lessons from Maggie Lena Walker’s Entrepreneurial Leadership
07 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 t...
NBA Star Chris Paul on Communicating as a Leader
31 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 teache...
How to Coach an Employee Who’s Struggling to Perform
24 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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? Me...
How to Embrace Ambiguity When Making Decisions
17 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 a...
What Is Psychological Safety, Really?
10 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
You’re probably familiar with the term “psychological safety.” But do you know what it really means? HBR contributing editor and workplace confl...
Getting Project Management Right
03 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 multi...
Leadership Lessons from Adventurer and Environmentalist Rick Ridgeway
26 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
When Rick Ridgeway compares mountaineering to risk management, he’s speaking from deep experience navigating both the boardroom and some of the worl...
How to Solve Your Company’s Toughest Problems
19 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
You’ve likely heard the phrase, “Move fast and break things.” But Harvard Business School professor Frances Frei says speed and experimentatio...
How GitLab Leads Its Fully Remote Workforce
12 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
GitLab, which builds and manages an open-source software development application, started off with employees fully dispersed and has stayed that way. ...
Deloitte’s Pixel: A Case Study on How to Innovate from Within
05 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In 2014, Deloitte launched Pixel to facilitate open talent and crowdsourcing for client engagements that need specific expertise — like machine lear...
How to Make Your Leadership Potential More Visible
29 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Suzanne Peterson says many talented professionals miss out on leadership roles for relatively intangible reasons. But she argues that aspiring leade...
Is Your Team Keeping You Up at Night?
22 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Managing difficult personalities, stalled productivity, and conflict are inevitable parts of leading a team. But how do you know if your leadership is...
What It Takes to Build Influence at Work
15 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Nashater Deu Solheim argues that there are proven techniques to help you understand your colleagues’ thinking and win their respect—even in virtua...
When Your Star Employee Leaves
08 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
If you’ve invested in someone you manage, it’s natural to feel hurt when that person tells you they’re leaving—especially if they’re a stron...
Sharing Personal Information Can Build Trust on Your Team — If You Do It Right
01 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Some leaders are too comfortable talking about themselves and others — at work. Their teams may struggle to trust them because they have no boundari...
Managing Your Emotions During an Argument at Work
24 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
When you’re in the middle of a conflict, it’s common to automatically enter fight-or-flight mode. But HBR contributing editor and workplace confli...
Crisis Leadership Lessons from Polar Explorer Ernest Shackleton
17 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In early 1915, polar explorer Ernest Shackleton’s ship became trapped in ice, north of Antarctica. For almost two years, he and his crew braved thos...
How to Make Tough Decisions as a Manager
10 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
There are no simple answers for the tough decisions that managers face. Harvard Business School professor Joe Badaracco says that hard and fast rules ...
Do You Understand the Problem You’re Trying to Solve?
03 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Problem solving skills are invaluable in any job. But Thomas Wedell-Wedellsborg says that all too often, we jump to find solutions to a problem withou...
When a Top Performer Is Treating Colleagues Badly
27 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Would you promote an employee who’s a top performer, but mistreats their colleagues and disregards company values? It’s a dilemma that many manage...
When You Make the Leap to Manager
20 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Many of us are promoted into people manager roles without any preparation for the complexities involved in that work. But Harvard Business School prof...
How to Become More Persuasive at Work
13 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Vanessa Bohns, a professor of organizational behavior at Cornell University, and Raven Hoffman, who works in a construction role that involves recruit...
How to Lead Great Conversations with Your Team
06 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Some leaders spend their careers honing their relationships with employees. But Harvard Business School professor Boris Groysberg and corporate commun...
How Etsy Became Profitable — Without Sacrificing Its Purpose
28 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Etsy, the online seller of handmade and vintage goods, was founded as an alternative to mass-manufactured products. The company grew substantially in ...