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anbileru adaleru/noun project Compassion has become increasingly recognized as a foundational aspect of leadership. One study from 2012 found that compassionate leaders appear stronger and have more-engaged followers. Other studies have found that organizations with more-compassionate leaders have better collaboration, lower turnover, and employees who are more trusting, more connected to each other, and more […]

Victoria Jones – PA Images / Contributor/Getty Images The UK will exit the European Union on March 29, 2019, and many companies are struggling to prepare for how it will change doing business there. Only a minority of firms is well ahead in planning and preparing a UK market strategy. At the recent Brexit Workshop we held for […]

Marina Nasr / EyeEm/Getty Images Increasing volatility, uncertainty, growing complexity, and ambiguous information (VUCA) has created a business environment in which agile collaboration is more critical than ever. Organizations need to be continually on the lookout for new market developments and competitive threats, identifying essential experts and nimbly forming and disbanding teams to help tackle […]

Microprocessor (CPU) with human brain   By Paul Clarke, Chief Technology Officer, Ocado Artificial Intelligence (AI) offers the prospect of a frictionless existence, making us more efficient, helping us prevent mistakes, spotting the onset of potential problems before they become problems, and enabling us to spend more time on the things that really matter to […]

Jennifer Petriglieri, an assistant professor of organizational behavior at INSEAD, asks company leaders to consider whether they really need to relocate their high-potential employees or make them travel so much. She says moving around is particularly hard on dual-career couples. And if workers can’t set boundaries around mobility and flexibility, she argues, firms lose out […]

Ilka & Franz/Getty Images Here’s a truth: many in the marketing industry today don’t really understand brands. They may think that “brand” and “customer experience” are different. But that kind of brand is a layer of communications. That is the stuff of blowhard manifestos — too high-minded to sell anything, and too lofty to be […]

Marie LaFauci/Getty Images The employment rate gap between black Americans and white Americans has remained persistently high over the past 30 years. Looking at 2014 data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, white Americans were 10% more likely to be employed than African-Americans were. A great deal of research — using methodologies such as resume studies […]

Marie LaFauci/Getty Images The employment rate gap between black Americans and white Americans has remained persistently high over the past 30 years. Looking at 2014 data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, white Americans were 10% more likely to be employed than African-Americans were. A great deal of research — using methodologies such as resume studies […]

Marie LaFauci/Getty Images The employment rate gap between black Americans and white Americans has remained persistently high over the past 30 years. Looking at 2014 data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, white Americans were 10% more likely to be employed than African-Americans were. A great deal of research — using methodologies such as resume studies […]

Marie LaFauci/Getty Images The employment rate gap between black Americans and white Americans has remained persistently high over the past 30 years. Looking at 2014 data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, white Americans were 10% more likely to be employed than African-Americans were. A great deal of research — using methodologies such as resume studies […]

Marie LaFauci/Getty Images The employment rate gap between black Americans and white Americans has remained persistently high over the past 30 years. Looking at 2014 data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, white Americans were 10% more likely to be employed than African-Americans were. A great deal of research — using methodologies such as resume studies […]

Christopher Stevenson/Getty Images We’ve probably all been to at least one networking event, those initially promising but inevitably awkward meet-ups where most people arrive hoping to meet new contacts that can further their career — but end up stirring their drink in the corner of the room chatting with someone they already knew. To an […]

David Ryder/Stringer/Getty Images Amazon came under fire last week after its board opposed a shareholder proposal to increase the diversity of the board. CtW Investment Group, an activist shareholder group, requested that Amazon implement something much like the “Rooney Rule,” a requirement instituted by the NFL in 2003 that every team must interview at least one minority […]

Catherine MacBride/Getty Images Global teams have the potential to help organizations reach new markets and provide a seamless brand experience for customers across the world. But for global teams to work, team leaders need to make sure all members feel connected and engaged, regardless of their location or culture. From what I’ve seen when advising global teams, […]

Marcia Straub/Getty Images Companies are collecting more data than ever before, and are making significant business decisions based on it. Of the 4 Vs of Big Data (Volume, Velocity, Variety, and Veracity), we have now seen ample evidence of the impact and importance of the first three. A higher “Volume” of data has led to […]

Danae Diaz/Getty Images There is no single leadership trait that guarantees success in any profession, but there is, based on my experience, one that many of the best leaders share: a fierce commitment to objectivity. And yet I realize it’s often not easy for leaders to remain objective. In my nearly three-decade career in the […]

Pm Images/Getty Images Platform business models are booming—becoming bigger and more powerful than ever. Just consider that a few tweets from the president caused Amazon’s market capitalization to fall by about $40 billion, or that Russian influencers were able to reach 126 million people through Facebook. At OpenMatters, we spend a lot of time studying […]

Danae Diaz/Getty Images There is no single leadership trait that guarantees success in any profession, but there is, based on my experience, one that many of the best leaders share: a fierce commitment to objectivity. And yet I realize it’s often not easy for leaders to remain objective. In my nearly three-decade career in the […]

Danae Diaz/Getty Images There is no single leadership trait that guarantees success in any profession, but there is, based on my experience, one that many of the best leaders share: a fierce commitment to objectivity. And yet I realize it’s often not easy for leaders to remain objective. In my nearly three-decade career in the […]

Danae Diaz/Getty Images There is no single leadership trait that guarantees success in any profession, but there is, based on my experience, one that many of the best leaders share: a fierce commitment to objectivity. And yet I realize it’s often not easy for leaders to remain objective. In my nearly three-decade career in the […]

Danae Diaz/Getty Images There is no single leadership trait that guarantees success in any profession, but there is, based on my experience, one that many of the best leaders share: a fierce commitment to objectivity. And yet I realize it’s often not easy for leaders to remain objective. In my nearly three-decade career in the […]

Dragan Todorovic/Getty Images “We have a great culture.” We have all heard it. We have all said it. But what does that mean? Ping-Pong tables, free meals, and beer on tap? No. Yoga, CrossFit classes, and massage chairs? I so need that, but no. The promise of being part of a hip, equity-incentivized, fast growing […]

CSA Images/Mod Art Collection/Getty Images When people think of the automotive Factory of the Future, the first word that comes to mind is automation. They think of the “lights-out” factory that General Motors Chief Executive Roger Smith fantasized about in 1982 and Elon Musk talks about building today—plants so dominated by robots and machines that […]

Richard Drury/Getty Images It can be draining to work with a perfectionist. While it’s great to work with colleagues who care about the quality of their work, perfectionists take it a step further. Their unrelenting standards can result in unnecessary stress, conflict, and missed deadlines due to a failure to prioritize the big picture over […]

chuttersnap/unsplash On March 3, 2015, hyperlocal social network Nextdoor announced that it had raised $110 million in venture capital. The deal valued the company at more than $1 billion—revered, unicorn status. It had to be a giddy moment for CEO Nirav Tolia and co-founders David Wiesen, Prakash Janakiraman, and Sarah Leary. But just three weeks […]

Westend61/Getty Images In Denmark, we are well known for our welfare system — a system that is supposed to give women and men equal access to the job market and equal possibilities of making a career. We have daycare, schools, and other public institutions at the top of global rankings. Both men and women have great […]

Westend61/Getty Images In Denmark, we are well known for our welfare system — a system that is supposed to give women and men equal access to the job market and equal possibilities of making a career. We have daycare, schools, and other public institutions at the top of global rankings. Both men and women have great […]

Westend61/Getty Images In Denmark, we are well known for our welfare system — a system that is supposed to give women and men equal access to the job market and equal possibilities of making a career. We have daycare, schools, and other public institutions at the top of global rankings. Both men and women have great […]

Westend61/Getty Images In Denmark, we are well known for our welfare system — a system that is supposed to give women and men equal access to the job market and equal possibilities of making a career. We have daycare, schools, and other public institutions at the top of global rankings. Both men and women have great […]

beastfromeast/Getty Images In every conversation at work, there’s the explicit discussion happening — the words being spoken out loud — and the tacit one. To be successful in most organizations, it’s important to understand the underlying conversations and reactions that people in the room are having. But if you aren’t picking up on those subtle […]

Peter Dazeley/Getty Images There’s a lot of excitement right now about how artificial intelligence (AI) is going to change health care. And many AI technologies are cropping up to help people streamline administrative and clinical health care processes. According to venture capital firm Rock Health, 121 health AI and machine learning companies raised $2.7 billion in […]

Marcus Winther/Getty Images From targeted online advertising to more precise recommendation engines, consumer markets are bursting with innovation around machine learning and advanced analytics. While there’s less buzz around business-to-business markets, these innovations are changing the game in B2B as well, even in old-line industries selling what might be considered commodity products. A growing number […]

By Sean Downey, Vice President, Media Platforms, Google A few years ago, it was clear that mobile technology was changing the way people searched when they wanted to know, go, do or buy. With advancing technology, people are again changing how they search — and time is of the essence. Google data shows that in […]

HBR Staff Black women continue to be sorely underrepresented in leadership roles in corporate America. Currently, they make up 12.7% of the U.S. population, yet they represent only 1.3% of senior management and executive roles of S&P 500 firms, 2.2% of Fortune 500 boards of directors, and in a post-Ursula Burns world, there is not […]

VCG/Getty Images Counterfeit luxury goods are big business in China. Together, China and Hong Kong are estimated to be the source of 86% of the world’s counterfeit goods—an amount that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce estimates is worth about $397 billion. Fake merchandise accounted for 12.5% of China’s exports in 2016, according to the same report. But China also has a huge […]

VCG/Getty Images Counterfeit luxury goods are big business in China. Together, China and Hong Kong are estimated to be the source of 86% of the world’s counterfeit goods—an amount that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce estimates is worth about $397 billion. Fake merchandise accounted for 12.5% of China’s exports in 2016, according to the same report. But China also has a huge […]

VCG/Getty Images Counterfeit luxury goods are big business in China. Together, China and Hong Kong are estimated to be the source of 86% of the world’s counterfeit goods—an amount that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce estimates is worth about $397 billion. Fake merchandise accounted for 12.5% of China’s exports in 2016, according to the same report. But China also has a huge […]

VCG/Getty Images Counterfeit luxury goods are big business in China. Together, China and Hong Kong are estimated to be the source of 86% of the world’s counterfeit goods—an amount that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce estimates is worth about $397 billion. Fake merchandise accounted for 12.5% of China’s exports in 2016, according to the same report. But China also has a huge […]

hh5800/Getty Images The problems we’re facing often seem as complex as they do intractable. And as Albert Einstein is often quoted as saying, “We cannot solve our problems with the same level of thinking that created them.” So what does it take to increase the complexity of our thinking? Too many leaders default to looking at decisions as either-or: […]

Neasden Control Centre for hbr When Tesla CEO Elon Musk said that “moats are lame” during the company’s earnings call last week, he was calling out Warren Buffett, the chair of Berkshire Hathaway, who uses “moat” to describe barriers to imitation that stave off competition. “If your only defense against invading armies is a moat, you […]

Jeffrey Coolidge/Getty Images Entrepreneurs are known for their creativity and risk tolerance; engineers, mathematicians, and health care workers typically aren’t. Consider, for example, the ideal attributes of a civil engineer building an interstate bridge near your home. Do you picture a risk-tolerant engineer who is highly comfortable with uncertainty, or one who tends to prefer […]

Monzino/Getty Images One evening in February 2016, writer and filmmaker Ava DuVernay met with two top Disney executives about the possibility of directing an adaptation of Madeleine L’Engle’s classic novel A Wrinkle in Time. DuVernay, 44 at the time, had overcome many challenges to reach that moment. She had launched her career 12 years earlier […]

miragec/Getty Images The myth that 75% of all mergers fail has long been dispelled. It was based on a statistic related to announcement day effect that failed to capture the reality of corporate value creation. M&A does boost companies’ growth and value, our new research shows, but the bet-the-company deal isn’t the route to success. […]

beastfromeast/Getty Images Whether it’s attending startup events, social gatherings, or happy hours, networking is a necessary part of every entrepreneur’s life. Seventy-eight percent of entrepreneurs agree that networking is crucial to startup success, which is why there are a myriad of articles online about how to master and love the art of networking. But networking can […]

cintascotch/Getty Images If you watched the Super Bowl a few months ago, you probably saw the coaches talking to each other over headsets during the game. What you didn’t know is that during the 2016 season, the NFL made major league-wide improvements to its radio frequency technology, both to prevent interference from media using the same […]

yangleephoto/Multi-bits/Getty Images The shadow sector, or informal economy, includes everything from illicit sidewalk sales of counterfeit handbags to large corporations that evade taxes and ignore regulations. It makes up a substantial portion of the global economy. The OECD estimated in 2009 that 1.8 billion workers participated in this sector, generating over $10 trillion in goods […]

Jennifer Maravillas for HBR Imagine that the next time you see your doctor, she says you have a life-threatening disease. The catch? A computer has performed your diagnosis, which is too complex for humans to understand entirely. What your doctor can explain, however, is that the computer is almost always right. If this sounds like […]

Joshua Gans, a professor at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management, advises against trying to commercialize a new technology or product before considering all the strategic options. He talks through some questions entrepreneurs should ask themselves — like, collaborate or compete? — and outlines a framework he and his fellow researchers have found […]

Jennifer Maravillas for HBR Imagine that the next time you see your doctor, she says you have a life-threatening disease. The catch? A computer has performed your diagnosis, which is too complex for humans to understand entirely. What your doctor can explain, however, is that the computer is almost always right. If this sounds like […]