HBR On Leadership

Latest Episodes:

How to Bring Out the Best in Your Team Apr 30, 2025

Show notes

Frances Frei, professor at Harvard Business School, says that trust, empathy—and even a bit of tough love—are all essential ingredients to strong leadership in today’s world. Successful managers focus on the effect they have on others, not themselves. They also define a strategy and create a culture that drives employee behavior in their absence. Frei is the coauthor, along with Anne Morriss, of the book Unleashed: The Unapologetic Leader’s Guide to Empowering Everyone Around You as well as the HBR article “Begin with Trust.”

Key episode topics include: leadership styles, constructive criticism, feedback, trust, empathy, managing people, employee performance management, underperforming employees,

Listen to the original HBR IdeaCast episode: Great Leaders Use Tough Love to Improve Performance
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Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org

When Over-Collaboration Leads to Indecision Apr 23, 2025

Show notes

Being too collaborative can actually hold you back at work, argues leadership coach Rebecca Shambaugh. Instead of showing how well you build consensus and work with others, it can look like indecision or failure to prioritize. She explains what to do if you over-collaborate, how to manage someone who does, and offers some advice for women—whose bosses are more likely to see them as overly consensus-driven. Shambaugh is the author of the books It’s Not a Glass Ceiling, It’s a Sticky Floor and Make Room for Her.

Key episode topics include: leadership styles, collaboration, decision-making, problem solving

HBR On Leadership curates the best conversations and case studies with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.

Listen to the original HBR IdeaCast episode: Managing Someone Who’s Too Collaborative
Find more episodes of HBR IdeaCast
Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org

How—and When—to Adapt Your Leadership Style Apr 16, 2025

Show notes

In the past, executives were usually taught to practice command-and-control leadership. Today they’re often advised to be nimbler, more adaptive, and less controlling. The truth is that most executives need to be able to move back and forth between those two leadership styles. IMD leadership professor and social psychologist Jennifer Jordan offers tactics for navigating these tensions.

Key episode topics include: leadership styles, leadership qualities, management, managing people, VUCA, personal growth

HBR On Leadership curates the best conversations and case studies with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.

Watch to the original Quick Study video: 7 Key Tensions Every Leader Must Balance
Find more videos on HBR’s YouTube channel: @HarvardBusinessReview
Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org

When One of Your Employees Is Working Against You Apr 09, 2025

Show notes

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 questions with the help of Adrian Gostick, an executive coach and the coauthor of Leading with Gratitude: Eight Leadership Practices for Extraordinary Business Results. They talk through what to do when your direct report is creating problems only to fix them, one team member is hoarding knowledge, or two employees have created a disruptive office clique.

Key episode topics include: difficult employees, conflict management, conflict resolution, managing people, management, leadership

HBR On Leadership curates the best conversations and case studies with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.

Listen to the original Dear HBR: episode: Subversive Employees
Find more episodes of Dear HBR:
Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org

Why Your Frontline Employee Turnover Is High Apr 02, 2025

Show notes

Many people blame the shortage of low-wage workers on the enduring impact of the pandemic. But management professor Joseph Fuller and senior researcher Manjari Raman of Harvard Business School say that the real reason has been long in the making. Their studies show that companies view low-wage workers as people who will be in the job only for a short time. Instead, the researchers find that these employees are loyal and want development and a clear path to career advancement. The researchers share practical suggestions for how leaders and managers can do better in hiring, development, and mentoring. Fuller and Raman wrote the HBR article “The High Cost of Neglecting Low-Wage Workers.”

Key episode topics include: career development, talent management, hiring, recruitment, promotions, leadership

HBR On Leadership curates the best conversations and case studies with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.

Listen to the original HBR IdeaCast episode: Stop Neglecting Low-Wage Workers
Find more episodes of HBR Idea Cast
Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org

How to Prepare For—and Lead Through—a Crisis Mar 26, 2025

Show notes

Over her career, Simmons University President Lynn Perry Wooten has studied crisis leadership and managing uncertainty. Her most recent book, The Prepared Leader, breaks down successful strategies for navigating crises—whether it’s a pandemic or a viral customer complaint. She taught leaders how to deal with these predicaments during a masterclass at HBR’s Future of Business Conference in 2023.

Key episode topics include: crisis management, managing uncertainty, leadership qualities, leadership

HBR On Leadership curates the best conversations and case studies with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.

Learn more about HBR’s “Future of Business” virtual conference (November 2023)
Find more Harvard Business Review live events
Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org

How to Earn Respect as a First-Time Manager Mar 19, 2025

Show notes

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 easy to make missteps, like playing the part too much—acting the way you think a manager is supposed to act. On the other hand, you may feel you have nothing to offer your direct reports, some of whom may have more experience than you. You may even fall back too much on what you already know well. These are common challenges in anyone’s first rodeo as a manager. But bias can make overcoming them especially difficult for women.

In this 2023 episode of Women at Work, as part of the “How to Manage” series, McKinsey senior partner Lareina Yee discusses these challenges—and how to overcome them—with host Amy Bernstein and former HBR editor Kelsey Alpaio.

Key episode topics include: leadership, managing people, management, personal growth, resilience, communication, gender

HBR On Leadership curates the best conversations and case studies with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.

Listen to the original Women at Work episode: How to Manage: Being Taken Seriously
Find more episodes of Women at Work.
Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org.

Helena Rubinstein: A Pioneer of the Modern Beauty Industry Mar 12, 2025

Show notes

In the early 20th century, Helena Rubinstein defied gender, class, and cultural expectations to become one of the first pioneers of the modern beauty industry. Today, her namesake luxury cosmetics brand is worth more than $1 billion. Harvard Business School professor Geoff Jones wrote a case study about the visionary leader. He explored her journey—and the lasting impact she made on global beauty standards—on Cold Call in 2019 with host Brian Kenny.

Key episode topics include: gender, leadership, feminism, beauty industry, entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial business strategy, marketing

HBR On Leadership curates the best conversations and case studies with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.

Listen to the original Cold Call episode: How Helena Rubinstein Used Tall Tales to Turn Cosmetics into a Luxury Brand
Find more episodes of Cold Call
Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org

How CEOs Make or Break Sales Mar 05, 2025

Show notes

A CEO’s involvement in B2B sales deals, while often well-intentioned, can sometimes backfire.

INSEAD marketing professor Christoph Senn has spent years studying the role top leaders play in B2B relationships. In this episode, he shares the five archetypes of CEO behavior when it comes to sales, which ones are the most effective in closing a deal, and where they fall short.

You’ll learn what to do if your CEO is either overly involved—or not involved enough—in deals, and why knowing your CEO’s archetype can be helpful.

Senn is the coauthor, with Columbia Business School’s Noel Capon, of the HBR article “When CEOs Make Sales Calls.”

Key episode topics include: managing up, sales team management, client management, sales, leadership qualities, interpersonal communication,

HBR On Leadership curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.

Listen to the original HBR IdeaCast episode: How CEOs Can Drive Sales — or Kill Deals
Find more episodes of HBR IdeaCast
Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org

When Hiring, Emphasize Skills Over Degrees Feb 26, 2025

Show notes

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 Chairman and CEO of IBM, understands this deeply. She spearheaded a company-wide shift to skills-based hiring and development during her tenure.

In this episode, Rometty shares how her mother’s commitment to education helped her family overcome adversity and inspired her personal approach to talent management. She also discusses why a skills-first mindset is critical to building resilient teams and organizations.

Key episode topics include: upskilling, continuous learning, personal growth, organizational culture, talent development, hiring and recruitment, talent management, leadership

HBR On Leadership curates the best conversations and case studies with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.

Listen to the original HBR IdeaCast episode: IBM’s Ginni Rometty on Skill-Building and Success
Find more episodes of HBR IdeaCast
Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org

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