In an AI-world, leaders who speak technology’s language gain an edge. But that doesn’t mean every manager needs a computer science degree.A handle on a handful of basics goes a long way toward preparing strategic leaders for today’s reality: Almost all businesses now touch technology—some more so than others. “Every…

After nearly a decade of uninterrupted growth, strategic consulting firms are now facing one of their most challenging periods in memory, prompting widespread cutbacks in staff and changes to recruiting. How did these firms get to this painful point? In response to unprecedented client demand before and during the COVID-19…

To aspiring entrepreneurs and other business practitioners looking to advance their careers, the path to a leadership role may seem daunting. Yet anyone with a dream to open a business, start a nonprofit, or simply move up the ranks at work can indeed get where they want to go, as…

It’s the new way of comparison shopping in the age of large language models (LLM): Tapping into AI-driven search engines for research and advice on which products to buy. But can consumers trust the recommendations to be impartial?New research finds that companies can subtly manipulate the LLM into favoring their…

Many businesses are loath to share proprietary information with others, fearing it will undercut their long-term financial prospects. They view openness as a threat to innovation.But a new years-long study of the wireless router industry shows that businesses that are transparent with suppliers and partners about their technologies can increase…

It’s a manager’s nightmare: A customer pulls into a drive-thru after a long day at work with children in tow, everyone looking frazzled and famished. After waiting patiently in line, the customer grabs her bag of burgers through the window and happily zips away—until her kids rip open their bounty…

Cities like Cairo; Chongqing, China; Delhi; and Kinshasa, Congo are experiencing population explosions accompanied by unprecedented demand for homes, offices, factories, and infrastructure. In the United States, the Biden Administration’s policy-driven infrastructure boom is gaining steam in the world’s largest economy.These trends translate into ballooning global demand for steel, cement,…

Brian Kenny: Somewhere in the Caucasus, around 6,000 BC, someone discovered grapes fermenting in a jar and for some unfathomable reason, decided to taste it. And thank God they did because this is thought to be the origin of wine. Aside from water, wine may be the longest-standing beverage in…

It’s no secret the Federal Reserve and other central banks weren’t prepared for the swift, steep curve of inflation’s climb after COVID-19 snarled supply chains in 2021 and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sent energy prices soaring in 2022.“Central banks are accustomed to working in low-inflation environments.” If central banks had…

When Katherine Coffman presents her research findings about how gender stereotypes shape the behavior of men and women in the workplace, she is often asked: What about non-binary individuals?“People understandably keep asking, ‘What about people other than men and women?’ We know a lot of past [research] hasn’t included everyone,”…

As the vacation season looms, Harvard Business School faculty members share recommendations for a little light reading. Spoiler alert: Lessons in Chemistry tops two of their beach-read lists.For those whose brains can’t—or won’t—turn off, HBS faculty also suggest some of their favorite business and academic tomes. Their favorites hit some…

For refugees fleeing troubled regions as disparate as Afghanistan and Ukraine, finding meaningful work in the United States is not only key to their own success, but also crucial for businesses navigating labor shortages.New research offers lessons for policymakers and employers learned from the final wave of migration after the…

Brian Kenny: On September 2, 1666 in a bake shop on Pudding Lane in London, Thomas Farriner, baker for King Charles II, failed to properly extinguish his oven, sparking a fire that burned for five days, destroying 80 percent of the city, including 13,000 homes, 87 parish churches, the Royal…

Harnessing customer data well is central to any modern business, as is earning consumers’ trust that their information will stay private. With data breaches growing more common, regulations are tightening across the globe to bolster security, creating a new web of norms firms must understand. As generative artificial intelligence (AI)…

Patients and physicians increasingly turned to digital platforms, like patient portal messaging, when COVID-19 made contact risky, but a new study of how providers managed the messaging surge suggests an uncomfortable downside: What if the color of a patient’s skin predicted the response they got to an inquiry?Researchers analyzed more…

New graduates entering the job market will face a very different landscape from even a year ago, with a murky economy and potentially more limited career prospects. Though unemployment figures in the US remain near historically low levels, the pace of hiring in April slowed, according to the Bureau of…

Businesses that dismiss TikTok as merely a platform for teenagers looking to create and consume cat and dance videos do so at their own peril. That’s the message of a Harvard Business School case study tracing the video-sharing app’s explosive rise to the world's most-used platform. Owned by Beijing-based ByteDance,…

Brian Kenny: You may have heard of the “Butterfly Effect” in which a butterfly flapping its wings in Texas leads to changes in wind patterns that cause a tornado in Brazil. It's a simple and poetic way to explain Chaos Theory. In February of 2020, the butterfly took the form…

As more than 50 countries hold elections in 2024, far-right politicians and policies look poised to gain ground, continuing a years-long trend evident in Europe, the United States, and South America.These movements often stoke grievances about international trade, immigration, fiscal policy, and the size of government and amount of state…

Think you’re a better driver than most people? You’re not alone. And you may be one reason self-driving cars haven’t taken off.About 77 percent of participants surveyed in a new study rated themselves superior to automated vehicles, while 60 percent thought other people were worse. Drivers’ egos may be bridling…

In a visual world, most online retailers still rely on consumers to define and enter their own search keywords. But using images to help shoppers sharpen their queries could push them to buy more, spend more, and feel happier about their purchases.“For a long time, consumers have been asking things…

Leaders have fretted since COVID-19 lockdowns that collaboration and innovation might suffer when teammates interact less. New research points to an emerging concern four years on, as organizations settle into remote, hybrid, and in-person configurations: Potentially fewer opportunities for vital knowledge sharing outside one’s core department.That is one implication of…

Brian Kenny:What do tires and oat cuisine have in common? The answer was obvious to brothers André and Édouard Michelin. France in 1889 had just a few thousand cars on the road, barely enough to keep their fledgling tire company afloat. So they created a guidebook to show people all…

Virtual meetings have become the standard for global and hybrid team communication, but what happens when the call ends? Participants who are in the same room keep talking—and the tone of those conversations can dramatically impact team dynamics over time, says new research.Think of the Zoom screen or the conference…

A new study of startups sharing a coworking space offers a new wrinkle in the debate over work-from-anywhere: Proximity matters, especially close proximity, to spread knowledge between disparate enterprises.“The more different the startups are, the more they’re going to benefit from being nearby,” says Harvard Business School assistant professor Maria…

In the 1990s, when Harvard Business School Professor Lynn S. Paine was researching and writing about examples of corporate misconduct, she hoped more businesses would take decisive action to root out fraud and other unethical behavior.Many companies have since formed ethics and compliance programs designed to boost responsibility, yet corporate…

(Illustration created using image generated by Midjourney, an artificial intelligence tool.)Last month, I posted a column in HBS Working Knowledge titled, “What’s Enough to Make Us Happy?” Over the last few months, I’ve been asking myself the same question: “What’s enough?” My answer, as it turns out: Twenty-four years and…

Leaders intent on boosting team performance could learn from the old-school, military-style approach of Deion Sanders, a former star athlete and now the unorthodox coach behind the revival of two college football teams.“When I’m teaching executives, most of them say they want to hold their subordinates accountable, but they have…

Brian Kenny: When the Klondike Gold Rush swept the nation in 1896, the tiny lumber town of Seattle became a bustling city almost overnight. On the heels of the Gold Rush came a shipbuilding boom, followed by a post-war bust and the great depression. Then Boeing to the rescue, as…

With each month clocking record-breaking temperatures across the planet, this Earth Day reflected the renewed urgency of regulators and businesses to find climate-change solutions.The US Securities and Exchange Commission recently adopted new rules that will mandate many companies to disclose more about their environmental impact. And the European Union has…

The idea of supporting social change has propelled impact investing assets to more than $1 trillion. But what if those funds aren’t as impactful as investors expect? Recent Harvard Business School research indicates that while impact investors do behave differently in some important ways, the vast majority tend to invest…

Business leaders face a wide variety of difficult decisions: whether their companies should stay small or go big, whether layoffs are necessary for survival, whether a proposed partnership is a good idea or a recipe for disaster.When faced with difficult decisions, it can be tough for leaders to cut through…

Almost one-third of Americans consider immigration the most important “problem” that the United States faces, according to a new Gallup poll. And yet, companies say they need far more workers than the current system allows.Some business leaders say that visa restrictions remain too tight on visas for skilled and unskilled…

For almost four years, Omar Asensio and his colleagues have been studying the impact of federal energy programs on low-income neighborhoods.The intersection of technology—artificial intelligence, in particular—and public policy has long been an area of focus for Asensio, a visiting fellow with the Institute for Business in Global Society (BiGS)…

Brian Kenny: On February 6, 2023 a 7.8 Magnitude earthquake shattered the pre-dawn calm in southeastern Turkey and northwestern Syria. Tremors could be felt as far away as Israel and Cyprus. A few hours later as the sun appeared on the horizon, another powerful quake struck 60 miles to the…

Think about all the routines you follow on a regular basis: When you’re getting ready for work, you brush your teeth, go for a 20-minute walk, then take a shower. Before giving a big presentation in the office, you might repeat a mantra to mentally prepare. And at the end…

Inflation remains front and center for consumers and businesses, which continue to reel from the double-digit rise in prices during the COVID-19 pandemic and the interest rate hikes designed to cool them. While price increases for goods have slowed, the climate remains uncertain, with inflation ticking up again as recently…

(Image created with Midjourney, an artificial intelligence tool)Happiness, an elusive condition we all want to experience, is a popular topic. It’s a complex subject. It may or may not require everything from good health to sufficient wealth to good relationships in varying degrees for each of us. The result is…

Absenteeism is so pervasive in Latin America and Asia that 10 percent of a business’ workers might not show up on any given day.This risk can create tremendous uncertainty, especially for businesses running on low margins, says Jorge Tamayo, an assistant professor at Harvard Business School. “You can’t control absenteeism,…

Brian Kenny: If you've listened to Cold Call before, you may have heard our discussions about cases that focus on individual acts of courage and leadership, like the case about Muhammad Ali risking his boxing career as a conscientious objector to the Vietnam War, or the one about Madame Curie,…