When Creating an AI Strategy, Don’t Overlook Employee Perception
Executives face a fork in AI strategy: automate to cut costs or augment to boost growth. Recent high‑profile moves—from Jack Dorsey’s mass layoffs to Fiverr’s call for employee upskilling—illustrate both paths. A survey of 1,294 desk workers across the U.S., Canada and the U.K. shows 62% believe their firms aim to augment, while 34% suspect automation motives, with perception varying by seniority and industry. The article argues that employee perception shapes adoption depth, well‑being, and long‑term performance, framing the choice through a productivity J‑curve lens.
Why Leaders Need “Power Skills”
Leaders are facing a widening gap as technical expertise alone no longer drives performance. The article argues that "power skills"—empathy, active listening, trust‑building—are essential to reverse declining engagement, talent loss, and stifled innovation. Practices such as empathy shadowing, listening tours,...
Should You Develop Your Leadership Strengths—Or Fix Your Weaknesses?
The article tackles the long‑standing debate of whether leaders should double‑down on their strengths or remediate their weaknesses. It proposes a four‑question diagnostic to map role requirements, manager expectations, personal capabilities, and development options. Based on that analysis, leaders should...
Our Favorite Management Tips on Organizational Change
Harvard Business Review’s latest management tips outline a disciplined playbook for leading organizational change. The guide stresses triaging change capacity, conducting a “do‑nothing” analysis, building a guiding coalition, and delivering early wins before launch. It also highlights empathy, transparent communication,...
The Challenges of Scaling a Technology for Social Good
The Harvard Business School case study on the Single User Reinvented Toilet (SURT) examines how a breakthrough off‑grid sanitation technology, funded by the Gates Foundation, struggles to move from prototype to market. Engineers and academics debate three commercialization routes—independent pilots, licensing to appliance...
In Winner-Take-All Markets, Diversification Is a Liability
The article argues that in winner‑take‑all markets, diversification can hinder performance rather than help. While diversified firms tout flexibility and the ability to shift resources across units, the authors contend that such breadth dilutes focus and slows the rapid scaling...
How to Convince Your Boss They Need a Coach
Senior leaders often lose candid feedback as they ascend, creating blind spots that can hinder strategy execution. Suggesting executive coaching to a boss can feel risky, but positioning it as a high‑performance tool aligned with the leader’s own challenges mitigates...
When You Start to Find Employee Requests Irritating
Leaders often feel disproportionate irritation when employees make routine requests, a reaction rooted in personal history rather than the request itself. Research cited in the article shows that childhood stress makes adults 2.6 times more likely to experience anxiety, while...
What’s Stopping the 4-Day Workweek?
The authors of *Do More in Four* argue that a four‑day workweek can boost employee wellbeing while preserving, or even enhancing, productivity, especially as AI tools improve efficiency. OpenAI’s recent policy paper recommends piloting a four‑day week as an “efficiency...
What the Best Private Equity-Backed CEOs Do Differently
Private‑equity‑backed CEOs operate under compressed timelines, yet more than half fail to meet value‑creation targets. A two‑year study of 75 interviews uncovered 53 “super‑performer” CEOs who delivered an average 6.2× multiple on invested capital—about double the industry norm. These leaders...
Is Your Company Suffering From Initiative Overload?
Harvard Business Review’s leadership podcast reveals that many firms are drowning in initiative overload as leaner staffing meets a surge of new projects. Executives launch signature initiatives to prove value, while functional silos prioritize independently, creating “impact blindness” for frontline...
How Integrated Wearable Technologies Are Shaping the Next Era of Health Care Innovation - SPONSOR CONTENT FROM MEDTRONIC
Hospitals face a projected 11 million health‑worker shortfall by 2030, prompting a shift from intermittent manual vital checks to continuous wearable monitoring. Integrated medical‑grade wearables provide real‑time data on heart rate, respiration, blood pressure, ECG and SpO₂, enabling predictive analytics and...
What AI Can’t Do: The New Job of Leadership
Harvard professor Arthur C. Brooks hosted an HBR Executive Masterclass on April 8, 2026, examining how AI reshapes senior leadership. The session argues that AI has already transformed work, shifting the leader’s role from problem‑solving to stewarding purpose, ethics, and human connection....
New Research on How Brand Associations Drive Customer Spending
New research with CVS Health links authentic brand associations to customer surplus value and future spending. By surveying over 9,000 pharmacy shoppers, the study shows that willingness to forgo the brand predicts roughly double future spend, while each positive association...
Managers and Executives Disagree on AI—And It’s Costing Companies
Since ChatGPT’s debut, most large U.S. firms have moved from AI curiosity to multi‑million‑dollar commitments, with 80% of leaders using generative tools weekly and 74% reporting early positive returns. Yet broader impact stalls: fewer than 10% of companies capture meaningful...
