HBR IdeaCast
Navigating the Hybrid Work Dilemma
Many organizational leaders believe remote work is here to stay. Others are requiring employees return to the workplace. But Prithriwaj “Raj” Choudhury, an associate professor at Harvard Business School, says it’s not a simple managerial choice between two options. He explains three main variations of hybrid work: quarterly, monthly, and weekly. And he shares three key challenges to remote work: isolation, communication, and socialization. And he breaks down the specific management practices necessary to make those hybrid arrangements succeed most effectively, adding that AI is making some of those practices easier and cheaper than ever. Choudhury’s new book is The World Is Your Office: How Work from Anywhere Boosts Talent, Productivity, and Innovation.
1 अप्रैल 2025 - 30 min 05 sec
The Keys to Great Conversation
Whether we’re interacting with colleagues, clients, friends, family members or strangers, conversations are the way most of us build — or break — relationships. And yet we don’t often think deeply about how to approach this type of casual communication. Alison Wood Brooks, associate professor at Harvard Business School, has studied what it takes to create a great conversation and offers research-backed tips for improving your skills. Brooks is the author of the book Talk: The Science of Conversation and the Art of Being Ourselves.
25 मार्च 2025 - 32 min 19 sec
When Sales Incentives Backfire
Sales commissions act as a crucial lever to increase revenue and customers. But sometimes those incentives bring unintended consequences. New research identifies eight ways that salespeople across industries cheat or bend the rules to maximize their gain—often at the expense of the company's bottom line and customer loyalty. Huntsman School of Business professor Timothy Gardner and consultant Colin Wong explain these tactics, like sandbagging, falsifying data, and giving excessive discounts to close deals. The researchers also share how company leaders can audit, correct, and monitor an incentive program—and when they should let some practices slide to maintain productivity and motivation. Gardner and Wong are coauthors of the HBR article “How Salespeople Game the System.”
18 मार्च 2025 - 24 min 46 sec
Are You an Inspirational Leader?
What does it take to really energize people and motivate them toward a goal? Inspirational leadership might seem idiosyncratic and hard to quantify, but, according to Adam Galinsky, professor at Columbia Business School, it involves three key elements: having a vision, setting an example, and mentoring. His research shows this is true across industries and geographies, and he offers advice on how to improve in each area. He's author of the book Inspire: The Universal Path for Leading Yourself and Others as well as the HBR article “What Sets Inspirational Leaders Apart”.
11 मार्च 2025 - 24 min 29 sec
Stop Multitasking and Try Timeboxing
There are all kinds of productivity tools out there promising to help you make the most of your day. Some people swear by timeboxing: the method of reserving time on your calendar each day for each task you want to get done, and then truly focusing on that one thing at a time. The return on merging your to-do list with your calendar like this, says Marc Zao-Sanders, is higher productivity, better collaboration, and less distraction and anxiety. He explains how try to the method yourself and the how your team and organization benefit from it, not just you. Zao-Sanders is author of the book "Timeboxing: The Power of Doing One Thing at a Time."
4 मार्च 2025 - 24 min 57 sec
How Leaders Can Encourage Learning
In an age of rapidly changing technology, it’s more important than ever for organizations to effectively support employee learning. Gianpiero Petriglieri, associate professor at INSEAD, has studied leaders who do this well and says they fall into three categories: custodians, challengers, or connectors. He explains which type of learning leader works best in which contexts and how all three approaches can help individuals and teams reach the next level. Petriglieri is author of the HBR article "Three Ways to Lead Learning."
25 फ़र 2025 - 27 min 49 sec
The Consumer Psychology of Adopting AI
Despite all the ways that artificial intelligence promises to improve our lives, many consumers feel anxious and are averse to AI-powered products and services. For marketers and product managers, it’s vital to understand what is driving that resistance to adoption. Julian De Freitas is an assistant professor in the marketing unit at Harvard Business School. He has identified five main ways people see artificial intelligence negatively: that AI is opaque, emotionless, inflexible, autonomous, and not human enough. Through real-life cases and the latest research, he explains how companies can soothe anxieties and encourage consumer adoption. De Freitas the author of the HBR article "Why People Resist Embracing AI."
18 फ़र 2025 - 27 min 23 sec
If DEI Programs Aren’t Effective, What Is?
Amid the backlash against diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in the United States and elsewhere, leaders in both the public and private sectors are reevaluating their organizations' policies and goals. While many employers and employees still value and support DEI, a growing chorus argues that such programs run counter to meritocratic ideals. Iris Bohnet and Siri Chilazi of the Harvard Kennedy School think there's one principle everyone should be able to agree on -- fairness -- and argue for a data-driven approach to measuring it. They share their research on how to make workplace systems more fair and offer cases we can all learn from. They wrote the book Make Work Fair: Data-Driven Design for Real Results.
11 फ़र 2025 - 29 min 23 sec
What the EV Industry’s Challenges Reveal About Innovation and Regulation
Many consumers are buying electric vehicles, thanks to sportscar-like performance, government incentives, and personal motivations to minimize climate change. But the EV industry overall has revved and sputtered in unpredictable ways and offers a case study in managing innovation, regulation, and competition. Mike Colias, deputy bureau chief at The Wall Street Journal, explains the complex landscape that incumbents such as GM and Ford and start-ups like Tesla find themselves in. Through stories of iconic industry executives and bold competitive moves, he shares insights that leaders in every industry can learn from. Colias wrote the new book Inevitable: Inside the Messy, Unstoppable Transition to Electric Vehicles.
4 फ़र 2025 - 26 min 23 sec
Employment Is Changing Forever
As organizations and workers face a new wave of technological change, Deborah Perry Piscione argues that we're at a pivot point where old models of employment will be replaced by entirely new ones. Get ready for GenAI-assisted, decentralized, sometimes autonomous workforces, and “jobs” that span gigs, companies, industries, geographies, and the metaverse. Piscione describes this new reality and how mindset shifts and upskilling can help us prepare. She's the coauthor, along with Josh Drean, of the book Employment is Dead: How Disruptive Technologies are Revolutionizing the Way We Work.
28 जन 2025 - 29 min 56 sec