How to Quash Your Fear of Messing Up
Fear of messing up (FOMU) is a newly identified anxiety that drives excessive caution, especially among early‑career professionals and senior leaders who must take risks. Kellogg professor Ellen Taaffe explains that FOMU stems from self‑judgment and concerns about reputation, relationships, or identity, leading to risk‑aversion and stalled decisions. She outlines how personality types—perfectionists, people‑pleasers, and patient performers—manifest the fear differently and offers practical steps to adjust risk tolerance. Finally, Taaffe stresses owning mistakes and modeling vulnerability to create a culture that normalizes learning from failure.
The Slow Drip of Price Increases
Professor Suraj Malladi’s new economic model explains why many firms start with low prices and then raise them gradually. By treating the worst‑case demand scenario, the model shows that incremental price hikes maximize guaranteed profits when demand curves are stable...
The Recipe for Innovation? An Alliance Between Art and Science.
Julio M. Ottino argues that true innovation emerges when art and science intersect, citing origami‑inspired NASA hardware as a modern example. He frames creativity as "cloud" thinking and execution as "clock" thinking, urging leaders to bridge these modes. Ottino offers...
The Insightful Leader Live: Can Business Negotiation Strategies Work with Friends and Family?
Leigh Thompson, J. Jay Gerber Distinguished Professor at Kellogg, hosted a webinar exploring how business negotiation techniques can be applied to everyday interactions with friends and family. The session highlighted research on negotiation, creativity, virtual communication, and teamwork, offering practical frameworks for...
Take 5: We Can Work It Out
Kellogg faculty outline five common workplace conflict scenarios and evidence‑based tactics for leaders. They stress cultural awareness, preventing retaliation, exposing bias, transparent compensation, and leveraging knowledge of former teammates for competitive advantage. Real‑world examples—from a French hotel contract dispute to...