HBR Blog Network

In previous posts, we discussed the common challenges that entrepreneurs face — from those in the garage to innovators inside large companies. In order to tell if we're making progress, we turned our attention from the outputs of models — from things like gross revenues and profits — to the inputs, insisting that the path to successful innovation is to prove the viability of the concept in micro-scale. The idea is simple. Establish baseline metrics... More »

What drives a leader to make the kind of creative, game-changing decision that New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton came up with in the locker room last night while The Who were cranking out 12 minutes of the same-old, same-old during the Super Bowl half time show? It's hard to be sure in Payton's case, but, strangely enough, ambivalence may play a key role. As in: The greater a leader's ambivalence toward a strategic situation,... More »

While the earthquake in Haiti has brought indescribable devastation and horror, it has also reminded us of the incredible ability and willingness of individuals and organizations to respond to a crisis. What is it about a crisis that causes people and organizations to step up to new levels of performance? Having looked at crisis situations for many years, there are three factors that are always present in the human response to them: Urgency, empathy, and... More »

That crashing sound you hear is not an accident caused by sudden acceleration of your hybrid car; it is the continuing toppling of idols, such as hybrid car companies, off their pedestals. Listen hard, lest you be next. Toyota, the world's leading auto company, faces a series of product problems causing a $2 billion recall, an investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and a galling loss of face for a company from face-conscious... More »

Featured Guest: Nathan Myhrvold, CEO of Intellectual Ventures and author of the HBR article Funding Eureka.... More »

There's something very different about the investment banking business. Conflicts of interest that would be out of bounds for lawyers, accountants, used-car dealers and even journalists are everyday occurrences for the Morgan Stanleys and Goldman Sachses of the world. For example, here's a little news item from 2005: The New York Stock Exchange, partly owned by Goldman Sachs and headed by a former Goldman president, announced in late April that it was merging with electronic-trading... More »

This is the first in a series of stories from CEOs of their most life-changing day in their careers. Sometimes the result was promotion to the upper reaches of business, and sometimes a steep fall from grace. But good or bad, the events of these days represent defining moments in their lives and characters and serve as lessons to the rest of us who rarely, if ever, get to see what the view is like... More »

Almost 50 years ago, FCC Commissioner Newton Minow suggested that the then-new medium of television was becoming a "vast wasteland." One could argue that the same fate is befalling social media. It's been a few months since I last fulminated on this issue. So it's time for another curmudgeonly post. A couple of recent studies suggest that the content of social media is trivial at best. An analysis of over 100 million tweets thus far... More »

When you target customers, it helps to know if they're "dark green", "light green" or "basic brown" in their attitudes, but, with so many green issues, products, and labels out there, it may be more relevant to your branding and communications to understand their personal green interests. Ask: To which environmental organizations do members of our target audience belong (The Appalachian Mountain Club or Greenpeace)? Which types of vacations do they take (hiking or the... More »

The recent Toyota brake pedal disaster is an example of a massive failure in product design magnified by supply chain lead time. Current cost estimates total at least two billion dollars, not including future lost sales from the damage to consumer confidence. When quality problems like this occur, supply chain lead time often determines the time required to resolve the problem. The cycle times in a vast global supply chain like that of Toyota further... More »

Over the course of his long career, Peter Drucker headlined countless conferences and huddled with untold groups of executives — corporate chiefs, nonprofit leaders, and government officials who hung on his every word. But he would have been the first to question whether any of these gatherings amounted to much in the end. "One either meets or one works," Drucker wrote — an observation that seems particularly timely following last week's World Economic Forum in... More »

The unprecedented integration of the global markets has fostered a transnational community of like-minded professionals who talk in one universal language. Some call it Marketinguese, the language of successful marketers that everyone can use and employ. It speaks of megatrends, micro segmentation, and brand personality. It certainly makes for easy analysis and communication — seemingly nothing gets lost in translation. But, as scores of companies have found out, Marketing 101 may not travel so well... More »

Who's the better quarterback, Drew Brees or Peyton Manning? Perhaps a more compelling question for you, the developing leader, is this: How did these guys — and all the great performers you might admire — get to be so good at what they do? A healthy dose of natural talent, of course — but talent only gets you so far. They also had real passion for the game, and coaching support that enabled them to... More »

Companies say they treat men and women equally — but in reality, they don't. Our recent gender-parity survey of more than 1,800 business people worldwide, conducted in association with HBR.org, shows that in fact, employees are disappointed with the way their company handles the issue of gender parity — the attempt to treat men and women equally in the workforce. Nearly 80 percent of women and men say they are convinced of the benefits of... More »

It has been fascinating to watch the unfolding competition around tablet-style devices such as the Kindle, Barnes & Noble's Nook, and, of course, now the iPad. Pundits of all kinds have been quick to question whether the iPad, positioned as a convergence device that will replace several other devices, has a chance. Even long-time Apple fans scoff a bit at it — Where would I use it? What would I do with it? Indeed, one... More »