Articles

Building Your Company's Vision

Companies that enjoy enduring success have a core purpose and core values that remain fixed while their strategies and practices endlessly adapt to a changing world. The rare ability to balance continuity and change--requiring a consciously practiced...

3 Strategies to Help Employees Thrive in the New "Normal"

Start by recalibrating expectations.

Ask Sanyin: How Can We Shift the Return-to-Office Conversation?

Many companies insisting that employees return to work in corporate offices are sending the implicit message that they don't trust individuals to work without oversight. CEO coach Sanyin Siang suggests that managers who believe that more onsite work will...

Virtual Meetings and Your Brain: Four Ways to Refresh

"Virtual meeting fatigue" is no longer just a buzz phrase - it's a measurable neurological phenomenon. Brain- and heart-monitoring experiments have shown that video calls drain us more than face-to-face meetings do, but a few practical fixes can boost...

AI and Society: Key Challenges and Opportunities Ahead

In a wide-ranging interview, the director of MIT's Initiative on the Digital Economy, Sinan Aral, speaks with MIT Professors Michiel Bakker and Manish Raghavan about the role of AI in resolving conflicts, combating misinformation and advancing human...

Building Adaptive Excellence: Introducing the PULSE Framework

We live in a time of contradictions. The world is plagued by armed conflicts, geopolitical tensions and environmental threats; but at the same time, we are blessed with advancements in science, technological breakthroughs and transformative...

All the Lonely People: Work and Loneliness in a Complex World

High-quality social connections are essential to our mental and physical health and well-being. Unfortunately, loneliness is widespread, affecting an estimated one in four people. A large body of research shows that it has a serious impact on physical...

Difficult Conversations 3.0: How to Set Boundaries at Work

It is human nature to seek good relations with your work colleagues, especially your boss. But when your boundaries are pushed, failing to say something can ultimately do more harm than good. The author shows that figuring out where to selectively stand...

Data Readiness in the Age of GenAI: Six Essentials

Generative AI stands poised to help companies reinvent themselves - by streamlining operations, delivering better customer experiences and otherwise driving growth in many ways. Yet, when Accenture surveyed 2,000 CXOs in 2024, 48 per cent said their...

Lessons Learned From Outside Innovators

People from outside an organization can offer a unique perspective that challenges established norms and catalyzes innovation. But that won't happen if these unconventional thinkers find themselves in an environment where insiders don't value or support...

How Remote Work Changes Design Thinking

When designers are developing new product concepts, collaborating in person with product testers and other team members is often the best option. But using digital tools to collect people's input remotely might be a better alternative - sometimes...

The Hidden Battle for IP Protection in Alliances

Strategic alliances are crucial for accessing specialized resources and knowledge. But a partner may exploit proprietary information or use predatory means to access it, leading to intellectual property (IP) loss. To protect their IP, companies must...

The Way to Net Zero: Reducing Emissions Takes Teamwork

Reducing industrial greenhouse gas emissions to meet climate targets is a difficult challenge, but business transformations by chemical sector giants BASF and Henkel show that progress is possible. While both companies have separately made numerous...

Amid DEI Rollbacks, Champion Allyship

As businesses face pressure to roll back DEI initiatives, maintaining an inclusive workplace matters more than ever. Research points to practical ways in which leaders and managers can preserve inclusion, which can help companies stay competitive while...

More Human: A New Leadership Paradigm Emerges

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has placed leaders at the helm of a crucial decision: Will AI create an era of mechanical, impersonal efficiency or will it catalyze a human-centric renaissance, redefining leadership itself? The authors argue that this can...

Tariffs, Technology, and the New Geography of Manufacturing

How to know when-and where-to relocate production.

AI Ethics Strategy Lessons From H&M Group

You can't approach AI ethics with only formal procedures, say leaders at global retailer H&M Group. So to help build its collective moral compass, the company has built a culture of AI ethics based on experimentation. Its AI ethics training emphasizes...

Why the Law Against Business Bribes Is Good for Business

The Trump administration's suspension of enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act threatens a law that has protected U.S. businesses for nearly 50 years. Enacted with strong business support, the FCPA sets clear prohibitions against bribery and...

Research: Women's Complaints of Workplace Abuse Get Ignored More Than Men's

And what companies can do to create more equitable and responsive reporting systems.

How to Strategize in an Out-of-Control World

Increasingly, politics is a generator of surprises that reverberate in boardrooms around the world. But political risk is a special kind of risk for business leaders to manage. This article explores the current realities of political risk, strategies...

Building One KPI to Rule Them All

Travel site Agoda set out to create a new key performance indicator that could help it monitor and align progress on its strategic goals. The KPI also needed to help the business development team make better decisions that factored in a large number of...

When Your Go-To Leadership Style Stops Working

How to maintain influence-and handle the inevitable growing pains.

The Power of Defining the Problem

Before you start solving a problem, you have to ask the right questions.

HBR's Best Practices for Supporting Employee Mental Health

Editor-curated strategies from the archive.

The Risks of Collecting Employees' Biometric Data

Companies use these programs to increase safety and productivity-but run the risk of harming employee engagement, trust, and mental health.

Great Leaders Make People Feel Noticed

Concrete steps to become better at seeing your team-and helping them do their best work.

To Create Value with AI, Improve the Quality of Your Unstructured Data

What to do with emails, contracts, forms, files, recordings of meetings, and other data created via work processes.

The Right Way to Implement Stretch Assignments

Make the value and rewards clear, consistent, and accessible.

How CEOs Can Build a Better Relationship with the Board

Avoid the pitfalls of badly timed interactions, poorly defined boundaries, and subtle but critical shifts in power.

AI Alone Won't Transform U.S. Healthcare

Broader systemic reform needs to happen first.

The U.S. Government Shouldn't Run the Country's 5G Network

Digital infrastructure is best left to the private sector.

How to Lead an All-Hands After Delivering Bad News

What you say (and how you say it) can either offer relief-or create more pressure.

Can AI Agents Be Trusted?

As these agents gain decision-making power, they also introduce significant risks.

How to Rescue a Failing Strategy

Four moves that will buy you time, create options, and protect you against the worst.

One Simple Way to Get Better at Reading Data

Always ask "What is the denominator?"

How to Delegate to Someone Who Doesn't Report to You

Get the help you need without overstepping.

Agentic AI Is Already Changing the Workforce

A guide to help leaders design, test, and scale their human-AI labor strategy.

How Gen AI Could Disrupt SaaS-and Change the Companies That Use It

Enterprise software defines how organizations function. What happens if gen AI supplants it?

When the Best Leadership Skill Is Just Being Present

Eye contact, body language, and inner stillness can be the key to making overwhelmed employees feel supported.

How Women in Leadership Can Shape How Others See Them

Strategies to subvert, counter, or sidestep assumptions and biases that may pose barriers to advancement.

Could the GPT Store Turn ChatGPT into a Platform Powerhouse?

The answer depends on its ability to harness network effects.

Boards Need a More Active Approach to Cybersecurity

Many boards overestimate their company's cyber-resilience-and underestimate their own role in shaping it.

A Guide to Building a Unified Culture After a Merger or Acquisition

Dont forget: the employees are a huge part of what made the company attractive in the first place.

To Survive Uncertainty, Companies Must Recommit to Identifying the Right Customers

Create value for the customers who will create value for you.

5 Questions to Ask Before Investing in Humanoid Robots

Robots arent for every company. Heres how to decide if theyre right for yours.

Don't Silence Your Inner Critic. Talk to It.

Self-doubt isn't necessarily a bad thing-if you know how to engage with it.

How U.S. Tariffs Stand to Impact Prescription Drugs

Branded and generic pharmaceuticals will likely be affected differently.

A New Framework for Going Viral

This research-backed roadmap can help brands proactively unpack, assess, and optimize their content's potential.

When Your Layoff Anxiety Won't Go Away

Advice from a clinical psychologist on coping with five common insecurities.

Why Global Sustainability Efforts Will Continue Despite Trump

In the U.S., cities and states will take the lead. Globally, China will drive new demand.

Research: Gen AI Makes People More Productive-and Less Motivated

Studies of more than 3,500 people reveal the hidden trade-off of collaborating with AI tools.