HBR IdeaCast
1,701 episodes - English - Latest episode: 14 days ago - ★★★★ - 1.6K ratingsA weekly podcast featuring the leading thinkers in business and management.
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Episodes
Is Cynicism Ruining Your Organization?
August 02, 2022 14:00 - 29 minutes - 28.4 MBAround the world, we've become increasingly cynical about other people, public institutions, and corporations. In Edelman's 2022 Trust Barometer, nearly 60% of respondents across 27 countries reported that their default is to distrust. And that's very bad for business, says Stanford University associate professor of psychology Jamil Zaki. He says that cynics perform and feel worse, and in workplaces, they breed toxicity and lead to poor outcomes . He explains how to identify and change this k...
The Case for Embracing Uncertainty
July 26, 2022 14:00 - 28 minutes - 28.1 MBFor many of us, uncertainty is nerve-wracking. However, many of our best achievements and meaningful experiences come from a trying time of ambiguity. INSEAD professor Nathan Furr and entrepreneur Susannah Harmon Furr argue that uncertainty and possibility are two sides of the same coin. By learning to welcome and cope with the gray area, an individual can reach better outcomes. They reviewed research and interviewed innovators and changemakers to share best practices of stepping proactively ...
How the Unionization Trend is Changing Workplace Dynamics
July 19, 2022 14:00 - 33 minutes - 31.3 MBFor years, union membership has been shrinking in the United States and many other countries. But recently we've seen a resurgence, with employees in sectors like retail, hospitality, and media organizing to collectively bargain for better pay, benefits, and job flexibility. Thomas Kochan, a professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management, has long studied how unions affect individual, team, and corporate performance. He explains why some fears about them are overblown, how workers form succe...
Red Flags You Won’t See on a CEO’s Resume
July 12, 2022 14:00 - 22 minutes - 21.6 MBFor a long time, we have believed that strong corporate governance is enough to prevent CEO malfeasance. However, new research shows that the lifestyle behaviors of executives can spell trouble for companies, regardless of the guardrails in place. Aiyesha Dey, an associate professor at Harvard Business School, has investigated executives’ past criminal records and the cost of their homes and automobiles. Her research has linked an individual’s materialism and propensity for rule breaking to f...
Sad, Mad, Anxious? How to Work Through Your ‘Big Feelings’
July 05, 2022 16:21 - 29 minutes - 27.7 MBWhen things aren't going well -- in our own lives, our community, our country, or the world -- it's hard to be productive at work. Most of us also shy away from sharing what we're feeling with colleagues and bosses. But when strong emotions like anxiety, anger, and despair hit you -- due to problems at work or outside it -- it's important to recognize and thoughtfully address them. Liz Fosslien and Mollie West Duffy are coauthors of the book "Big Feelings: How to Be Okay When Things Are Not O...
Open Digital Platforms to Spur Innovation
June 28, 2022 14:00 - 23 minutes - 22.9 MBAs the novel coronavirus surfaced in Wuhan in 2019, Chinese officials called for mobile isolation wards. Haier Group partnered with suppliers to design and construct units quickly, thanks to the openness of the leading manufacturer’s digital platforms. Unlike Haier, many companies have tightly regulated, siloed platforms. Georgetown Professor Kasra Ferdows says more companies can unlock innovations by extending their platforms to facilitate a broader range of collaborations. He breaks down ho...
A Debate Champion on How to Have More Productive Disagreements at Work
June 21, 2022 15:26 - 28 minutes - 28.8 MBIn an ideal world, professional conflicts are settled with thoughtful discussion and collaborative decision-making. But that’s not usually how it works. More typically, you see leaders - or the loudest voices - win out, leaving others resentful. And sometimes people don’t even try to hash out differences of opinion; they’d prefer to avoid a fight. Bo Seo, two-time world champion debater, says we can learn to disagree in healthier, more effective ways that ultimately generate better outcomes f...
Fighting Bias and Inequality at the Team Level
June 14, 2022 14:00 - 28 minutes - 37.2 MBDespite the investments made in the last few years, many companies are falling short of their diversity, equity, and inclusion aims. Some firms have faced difficulty spreading their DEI efforts top-down throughout the organization. Trier Bryant, the cofounder and CEO of Just Work, details why and shares a framework that teams and individuals can use to fight bias on the day-to-day level at work.
The Pros and Cons of Our “Middleman Economy”
June 07, 2022 14:00 - 22 minutes - 23.1 MBKathryn Judge, a finance professor at Columbia Law School, is troubled by the rise of intermediary platforms between products and services and the customers who eventually purchase them. Thanks to technology and globalization, she shows how the importance of “middlemen” in the value chain has increased, along with the length of global supply chains. Judge details the downsides and risks of this trend. And she explains how customers and workers alike can lead to intermediaries offering more tr...
Immigration, Upward Mobility, and the U.S. Economy
May 31, 2022 14:00 - 28 minutes - 27.2 MBIn eras past, the United States welcomed immigrant laborers to build and support the country's infrastructure and innovators and entrepreneurs to advance its businesses and technology. And yet immigration is a hot-button issue today, with many saying it's a drain on the U.S. economy. Ran Abramitzky, a professor at Stanford University, and Leah Boustan, a professor at Princeton, looked at decades of data to understand the real impact that immigrants and their descendants have on America today....
Leadership Lessons from a Republican Governor in a Blue State
May 24, 2022 14:00 - 28 minutes - 26.9 MBUnderperforming state agencies, a natural disaster, and a pandemic are among the many challenges that faced Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker and his former Chief of Staff Steve Kadish. Looking back during the final year of the Baker Administration, they say running a government is very different and often much harder than leading a private-sector company. And they share their four-part framework for breaking down complicated problems with many stakeholders to get results. It’s valuable fo...
How Government and Business Can Tackle Big Global Crises Together
May 17, 2022 14:00 - 29 minutes - 28.5 MBIt feels like a moment of panic for many. While there were some success stories in how public and private sector leaders managed the global pandemic, it isn't over, and many more crises -- from political polarization to climate change to new technological threats -- loom. But one leading political scientist is hopeful that countries and corporations can find ways to overcome their divisions and better collaborate on our most pressing issues over next ten years. He points to historic precedent...
Comedian Sarah Cooper On Bringing Humor to Any Career
May 10, 2022 16:39 - 24 minutes - 24.7 MBIt's a cliche, but they say it's best to write what you know. That was the case for comedian Sarah Cooper, who rose to viral social media fame in the Trump era through her lip sync TikTok videos. She formerly worked at Yahoo and Google, and she found her way into comedy, in part, by looking at and pointing out the absurdities of corporate culture. She speaks about how humor helped her manage a team, why she took the big risk to quit her job, and how she's navigating the new work world of Holl...
3 Strategies for Dealing with Procrastination
May 03, 2022 14:00 - 24 minutes - 22.6 MBWe’re all prone to procrastinate. We feel guilty about it. And yet, we still do it. Alice Boyes, a former clinical psychologist and author, says breaking the habit is more than simply a matter of discipline. She explains the different causes of procrastination and shares three approaches to beat it: through habits, emotions, and thought patterns. Boyes wrote the book Stress-Free Productivity and the HBR article “How to Stop Procrastinating.”
Find Joy in Any Job: How Do I Get My Team to Love Work?
April 28, 2022 13:52 - 27 minutes - 25.3 MBNot everyone likes everything about their job all the time. But we know from research that people who are energized by at least parts of their work perform better – and feel a greater sense of well-being. So there’s a huge benefit when teams and organizations encourage employees to spend more of their work day focused on their strengths and passions. In this special series from HBR, we’re looking at how to figure out what you really love about work and craft your current job around that. In t...
Let’s Redefine the Role of Manager
April 26, 2022 14:00 - 24 minutes - 23.4 MBMost managers today are overwhelmed. Thanks to rapid technological change, flattening hierarchies, agile work, and new attitudes about talent, they have to do more than ever. Lynda Gratton, professor at London Business School and the founder of HSM, points to a few ways we can solve the problem: by training bosses to be people leaders, outsourcing some of their mundane management tasks, and even splitting the role so some oversee work and others focus on talent development. Gratton is the au...
Find Joy in Any Job: How Do I Improve the Role I Have?
April 21, 2022 17:04 - 27 minutes - 27.2 MBA lot of us are feeling unhappy and disengaged at work – and that started long before the pandemic. A big part of the problem, says Marcus Buckingham, is that we don’t take the initiative to do more of the tasks that we truly love. After identifying what most energizes and excites you about your current role or employer, you can try a host of strategies to shape your work around those things. In this special series from HBR, we’re looking at how to find love in your work. In this episode, we...
How Understanding Your Family Dynamics Can Improve Work
April 19, 2022 14:00 - 27 minutes - 25.9 MBDeborah Ancona, a professor at MIT Sloan School of Management, and Dennis Perkins, CEO of The Syncretics Group, have researched how family dynamics play out in the workplace. They say people often revert to childhood patterns at work. By applying a concept from psychology known as family systems theory, managers and leaders can come to understand how their past influences their behavior and thus can grow professionally. Ancona and Perkins wrote the HBR article "Family Ghosts in the Executive ...
Find Joy in Any Job: What Do I Really Love To Do?
April 14, 2022 14:00 - 30 minutes - 28.7 MBAt a time when 41% of us are considering quitting our jobs, it’s time for us to understand why and what we can do about it. In this special series from HBR, we’re looking at how to craft your current job around the work you really love. In this episode, we’ll explain how to identify which tasks fit that bill and can lead you to a more fulfilling and successful career. IdeaCast co-host Alison Beard speaks with Marcus Buckingham, head of research on people and performance at the ADP Research In...
How Political Polarization Is Changing Work
April 12, 2022 14:00 - 27 minutes - 25.9 MBPolitics has traditionally been a taboo topic to discuss on the job. But as people get more vocal about their views -- on everything from from climate change to racial justice, elections to invasions -- it's increasingly hard to keep debate out of the workplace. And that can lead to conflicts between colleagues. Julia Minson of the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and Francesca Gino of Harvard Business School have studied how political polarization is affecting organizations and have advi...
Find Joy in Any Job: Why Am I Unhappy at Work?
April 07, 2022 14:20 - 24 minutes - 22.5 MBThere’s been much talk about the Great Resignation and what’s driving it. The pandemic has exacerbated a long-term problem: many of us struggle to find any pleasure in our work. But quitting isn’t the only the solution. Often, it’s not feasible. In this special series from HBR, we look at a different path: figuring out what you really love and crafting your current role around that. In this episode, we dig into the data showing why people feel so disengaged and what they feel is missing from ...
Working with Colleagues: Should You Collaborate or Compete?
April 05, 2022 14:00 - 26 minutes - 25.9 MBRandall Peterson, founding director of the Leadership Institute at London Business School, studies coworker dynamics. He says lately, the idea of head-to-head competition for advancement has gone out of style in favor of a more cooperative ideal. In reality, he says, interpersonal relationships at work can be both. Sometimes you cooperate closely with colleagues. Sometimes you compete directly with them. And sometimes it’s most effective to work independently. He explains how to deal with eac...
Filmmaker Ken Burns on Lessons in Innovation and Collaboration
March 29, 2022 14:00 - 29 minutes - 28.2 MBAs the acclaimed documentarian releases a new two-part PBS series about Ben Franklin, he describes how the U.S. founding father transformed himself from teen runaway to newspaperman, then inventor, then political elder. He explains what current leaders can learn from how Franklin approached business, scientific discovery, and his fellow nation-builders. Ken Burns, whose films have covered everything from the Civil War to baseball, also shares insights on how he and his teammates get their own...
Breaking Free of the Cult of Productivity
March 22, 2022 14:00 - 24 minutes - 24 MBMadeleine Dore, an author and podcast host, offers a cure for “productivity guilt.” That’s the cycle of dejection she says many of us suffer from when we never reach the end of our lengthy to-do lists (even with modern technology to make us more efficient). Instead of trying to optimize our time, she suggests ways we can step back, listen to ourselves, and plan our days around delight. She offers tips and tricks to make this transition and explains why it can be good for business overall. Dor...
DEI Isn’t Enough; Companies Need Anti-Racist Leadership
March 15, 2022 14:00 - 29 minutes - 27.2 MBOver the past few years in the United States, we’ve seen some horrific examples of racism seize the public consciousness. Amid all these tragedies – and the protests that followed – U.S. business leaders promised they would do their part to fight the problem, making workplaces more diverse, equitable and inclusive. But now it's time to go a step further, say James White and Krista White, father-and-daughter authors of the new book, “Anti-Racist Leadership: How to Transform Corporate Culture i...
You’re Overlooking a Source of Diversity: Age
March 08, 2022 14:00 - 28 minutes - 26.9 MBMegan Gerhardt, management professor at Miami University, studies the impact of generational conflict on organizations. She says too many leaders see generational lines as a source of division that hurts productivity. But her research shows that age is often an untapped source of diversity. When age-diverse teams are managed well, members share more knowledge, skills, and networks with each other. To foster intergenerational collaboration, she lays out a four-part framework that starts with q...
Regrets Are Inevitable. Start Learning From Them.
March 01, 2022 14:00 - 27 minutes - 27.3 MB"No regrets" might be a popular modern-day mantra, but it's virtually impossible to live your life without wishing you could do certain things over. Some people try to ignore these feelings; others wallow in them. But author Dan Pink, who recently conducted large U.S. and global surveys on this phenomenon, says the right approach is to instead carefully consider what we regret and why so that we can either reverse course or make better decisions in the future, as well as putting them behind u...
Why Some Companies Thrived During the Pandemic
February 22, 2022 14:00 - 22 minutes - 20.6 MBKeith Ferrazzi, founder of the consulting firm Ferrazzi Greenlight, led a survey of more than 2,000 executives to study how they reengineered operations during the pandemic. The research identified a kind of extreme adaptability at the team and organizational levels that helped some companies come out on top. Ferrazzi argues that after months of ruthlessly adapting, leaders should continue on a path of resilience and agility to stay competitive in the post-Covid-19 world. And he offers concre...
Inside Companies that Get the Purpose-Profit Balance Right
February 15, 2022 14:00 - 28 minutes - 27.7 MBPurpose has become a corporate buzzword over the past decade. Leaders are embracing the idea that companies can’t just do well financially; they also have to do good for society. But how many organizations are really walking the talk? Ranjay Gulati, professor at Harvard Business School, has studied how dozens of purpose-driven companies -- from Etsy in the United States to Recruit in Japan -- simultaneously pursue profits. He argues that while we all want a win-win, leaders must also sometime...
The Positives—and Perils—of Storytelling
February 08, 2022 14:00 - 25 minutes - 25.2 MBJonathan Gottschall, a distinguished fellow at Washington & Jefferson College, has researched storytelling and its unique power to inspire. But as he spoke at business conferences and grew aware of the popularity of storytelling in the corporate world, he came to realize just how much stories can also manipulate and destroy. From addressing climate change to the Theranos scandal, he explains the ins and outs of stories and argues for establishing a culture of honest storytelling in business. ...
Need a Reset? Try This One Quick Meditation Session (Bonus)
February 03, 2022 17:12 - 15 minutes - 15.5 MBYou've probably heard about the benefits of mindfulness and how meditation can help you achieve it. But you still can't find the inclination to start or the time to practice regularly. In this short bonus episode, Rasmus Hougaard, the CEO of Potential Project and a meditation expert who has studied with the Dalai Lama, takes us through a short exercise and explains why mindfulness is a game-changer for our careers and well-being. Skeptics welcome!
No, Tech Start-ups Aren’t Taking Over the World
February 01, 2022 14:00 - 28 minutes - 27.3 MBLooking at business news and stock market coverage over the past decade (including a few HBR articles), you'd think that just about every traditional, old-economy company has fallen prey -- or will soon -- to tech-focused competitors. But London Business School's Julian Birkinshaw says that story of disruption and destruction is overblown. His research into Fortune 500 and Global 500 organizations shows that, despite the rise of a few tech giants like Amazon and Google, many industries haven'...
Why Companies Should Stop Political Spending Now
January 25, 2022 14:00 - 26 minutes - 25.8 MBA decade ago, the U.S. Supreme Court changed the rules on how businesses could donate to political campaigns. Since then, hundreds of millions of corporate dollars have been spent on local, state, and federal elections, often without transparency. Many CEOs and boards feel this is the only way they can curry favor with policymakers. Dorothy Lund, an associate professor of law at the University of Southern California, and Leo Strine Jr., counsel at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen, and Katz and a forme...
How Companies Reckon with Past Wrongdoing
January 18, 2022 14:00 - 22 minutes - 22.6 MBSarah Federman, assistant professor at the University of Baltimore, studies how companies handle their historical misdeeds and what that means for employees and customers. From insurance firms that backed slave owners to railroad companies that transported victims of the Holocaust, many legacy companies can find they played a role in past transgressions. Federman makes a moral and practical argument for uncovering and addressing these misdeeds, even though there may no longer be legal repercu...
To Get Ahead, You Need Both Ambition and Humility
January 11, 2022 14:00 - 25 minutes - 25 MBWe know that great leadership takes not just intelligence and drive but also the ability to get along well with and learn from others. The key, says Amer Kaissi, is to be both ambitious and humble throughout your career. He's studied how people succeed across diverse industries and offers advice of how to find a better balance between our desire to achieve and the qualities that earn more respect from colleagues. Kaissi is a professor of healthcare administration at Trinity University and the...
We’re Bad at Measuring Inequality—Here’s Why That Matters
January 04, 2022 14:00 - 22 minutes - 21.6 MBStefanie Stantcheva, economist at Harvard University, founded the Social Economics Lab to study inequality, our feelings about it, and how policies influence it. She says when we estimate how much money our colleagues make or how much taxes impact us, we are often very far off from the truth. Her research also shows that our misconceptions are often linked to political beliefs. She argues that we need to be more aware of the realities of inequality if we want to create better economic opportu...
Best of IdeaCast: What Sets Successful People Apart
December 28, 2021 14:00 - 19 minutes - 19.1 MBHeidi Grant, a motivational psychologist, has studied successful people and what makes them tick. In this classic episode, she and former host Sarah Green Carmichael discuss the behaviors of high achievers and how to incorporate them into your own life and work. Grant is the author of the HBR article and e-book "Nine Things Successful People Do Differently.”
There Still Aren’t Enough “Good Jobs”
December 21, 2021 14:00 - 27 minutes - 26.8 MBCompanies around the world are struggling to fill open positions, while millions of unemployed people look for work. What's going on? Zeynep Ton, professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management, says that organizations need to start offering better jobs. While old-school management thinking argued for paying workers only as much money as the market dictated and squeezing every last bit of efficiency out of them to maximize profits, the 21st century requires a new approach. This starts with hi...
Gaslighting at Work—and What to Do About It
December 14, 2021 14:20 - 19 minutes - 19.5 MBMita Mallick, head of inclusion, equity, and impact at the firm Carta, says gaslighting at the office is more common than many people realize. That's when a manager or coworker engages in behavior where one thing happens, and they try to convince the victim otherwise. Gaslighting can damage the victim’s well-being and performance as well as the company overall. She explains how to recognize the manipulative behavior, what to do about it in the moment, and how companies can respond. Mallick wr...
How to Use All Your Vacation — And Really Unplug
December 07, 2021 14:00 - 27 minutes - 26.8 MBWhen was the last time you really took a sustained break from work? No emails. No calls. No taking care of that one little thing. For most of us — particularly in the United States -- it's been too long. As we head into the end-of-year holidays, we asked University of Texas psychology professor Art Markman and Cornell University associate professor Kaitlin Wooley to explain why it's so important to take real vacations (or even staycations) and how individuals, bosses, and organizations can ...
One Way to Fight the Great Resignation? Re-recruit Your Current Employees.
November 30, 2021 14:00 - 26 minutes - 25.9 MBDebbie Cohen and Kate Roeske-Zummer, cofounders of HumanityWorks, are sounding an alarm bell for employee retention. Record numbers of people are quitting their jobs due to burnout and better opportunities. Those resignations leave their former colleagues burdened with even more work and a sense of despair. Cohen and Roeske-Zummer argue that employers should re-recruit their existing employees and even think of them as customers. And the two consultants outline steps managers can take to open...
One Way to Fight the Great Resignation? Re-recruit Your Current Employees
November 30, 2021 14:00 - 26 minutes - 26.5 MBDebbie Cohen and Kate Roeske-Zummer, cofounders of HumanityWorks, are sounding an alarm bell for employee retention. Record numbers of people are quitting their jobs due to burnout and better opportunities. Those resignations leave their former colleagues burdened with even more work and a sense of despair. Cohen and Roeske-Zummer argue that employers should re-recruit their existing employees and even think of them as customers. And the two consultants outline steps managers can take to open...
Why the Highest Paying Jobs So Rarely Go to Women
November 23, 2021 14:01 - 23 minutes - 23.3 MBCompanies pay disproportionately high salaries to CEOs and other high-powered professionals willing to live and breathe their jobs, on-call 24/7, ready to pick up and travel. It's a phenomenon Harvard historian and economist Claudia Goldin calls "greedy work" and she says it's a big reason why the pay gap between men and women persists -- because the people typically tasked with caring for kids, the house, or elderly parents simply can't put in as much time and energy at the office. However, ...
In a New Role? Here’s How to Hit the Ground Running
November 16, 2021 14:00 - 26 minutes - 25.2 MBRob Cross, management professor at Babson College, says people are changing jobs more than ever and too often falling short when they do. Surveys show nearly half of people promoted within their own companies are underperforming 18 months later. And up to half of executives in new roles are seen as eventual disappointments. Cross says research shows that’s because today’s hyper-collaborative workplaces demand new skills. He shares evidence-based practices to improve a role transition. Those i...
The Future of Work Is Projects—So You’ve Got to Get Them Right
November 09, 2021 14:00 - 23 minutes - 23.8 MBCompanies of every size in every industry and part of the world are basing more of their work around projects. And yet research shows that nearly two-thirds of those efforts fail. Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez, who has studied projects and project management for decades, explains how we can do better. He offers advice on the right way to frame projects, how to structure organizations around them, and pitfalls to avoid. Nieto-Rodriguez is the author of the Harvard Business Review Project Management ...
Anti-Bias Policies That Really Work in Customer Service
November 02, 2021 14:00 - 24 minutes - 23.7 MBAlexandra Feldberg and Tami Kim, assistant professors at Harvard Business School and the University of Virginia Darden School of Business, respectively, say companies are overlooking an important place to root out bias: on the front lines with customers. While many firms are promoting a more equitable workforce through their HR functions, too few firms even realize how costly bias can be in everyday interactions between workers and customers. The researchers explain how organizations can iden...
Find Focus in a Chaotic World
October 26, 2021 14:00 - 27 minutes - 26.6 MBIf you're feeling distracted, mentally fogged, and unable to pay attention to (or focus on if attention is in hed) the task at hand, you're not alone. The human brain is highly susceptible to often unproductive mind-wandering, and modern technology has only made the problem worse. But we all know that the best work comes when you're able to really zero in on an idea or problem for a sustained period of time. So we need better strategies for blocking out the external and internal noise. Dr. Am...
Algorithms Won’t Solve All Your Pricing Problems
October 19, 2021 14:00 - 26 minutes - 25.8 MBMarco Bertini, marketing professor at Esade Business School, says more and more companies are turning to pricing algorithms to maximize profits. But many are unaware of a big downside. The constant price shifts can hurt the perception of the brand and its products. He warns that overreliance on artificial intelligence and machine learning without considering human psychology can cause serious damage to the customer relationship. And he outlines steps managers should take, including implementi...
When Pricing Algorithms Hurt Customer Relationships
October 19, 2021 14:00 - 26 minutes - 24.4 MBMarco Bertini, marketing professor at Esade Business School, says more and more companies are turning to pricing algorithms to maximize profits. But many are unaware of a big downside. The constant price shifts can hurt the perception of the brand and its products. He warns that overreliance on artificial intelligence and machine learning without considering human psychology can cause serious damage to the customer relationship. And he outlines steps managers should take, including implementi...
Tech’s Exponential Growth – and How to Solve the Problems It’s Created
October 12, 2021 14:00 - 24 minutes - 23.6 MBTechnological development is happening faster than ever and changing our lives in fundamental ways. The companies behind all these new gadgets and services are no doubt the greatest corporate success stories of our age. But entrepreneur and investor Azeem Azhar worries that our public institutions haven't kept pace with the industry, which has created an exponential gap between digital haves and have nots. He offers recommendations on how bridge the divide and achieve growth with broader soci...