If you’re a leader, you know how critical feedback is to your team’s success and growth. But giving the kind of feedback that motivates people to improve is harder than it may seem. In this episode, Therese Huston , a cognitive scientist at Seattle University who specializes in giving and receiving feedback, and Jessica Gomez , an elementary school principal whose job involves observing teachers and giving them feedback on their teaching, break down the art and science of giving effective feedba...
Jan 17, 2024•33 min
Do you have a culture of respect on your team? Kristie Rogers , an associate professor of management at Marquette University, has identified two types of respect that employees value: owed and earned. She says that owed respect refers to basic workplace civility whereas earned respect is related to an employee’s achievements. In this episode, you’ll learn how to practice both types of workplace respect, and what happens when their balance isn’t quite right. You’ll also learn how managers can unk...
Jan 10, 2024•24 min
When was the last time you practiced your active listening skills? HBR contributing editor Amy Gallo says it is a skill you need to practice. In this episode, you’ll learn how you can use listening skills to make other people feel heard and understood. Specifically, you’ll learn different styles of listening and how to use each one to fit your goals. You’ll also learn how to use thoughtful questions to deepen your conversation and make sure you’re getting the information you need. Gallo is an ex...
Jan 03, 2024•10 min
The business world is beginning to recognize the importance of mental health. That’s why writer, entrepreneur, and podcast host Morra Aarons-Mele says that the more we understand and talk about our own mental health, the better we are as managers and colleagues. In this episode, you’ll get tips on how to work with—and through—your anxiety. If you’re a senior leader or a human resources professional, you’ll also learn ways to help your organization prioritize employees’ mental health. This is the...
Dec 27, 2023•31 min
With the explosive growth of generative AI, businesses are beginning to integrate artificial intelligence into all aspects of their operations, products, and services. This shift is posing a particularly difficult challenge for leaders, who must quickly learn enough about this new technology to make sound decisions for their companies, in the short- and long-term. One key player in this transition is NVIDIA , the AI-driven computing company, which makes both hardware and software for a range of ...
Dec 20, 2023•25 min
From Microsoft to Google to Meta, many of the world’s biggest tech companies announced layoffs in 2023. But Harvard Business School professor Sandra Sucher , who has been studying layoffs for years, says that companies often overlook their hidden costs: lost institutional knowledge, weakened employee engagement, higher turnover, and lower innovation. She says that it can take years for companies to bounce back from these setbacks. In this episode, you’ll learn better ways to approach layoffs—wit...
Dec 13, 2023•31 min
Becoming a manager for the first time comes with many common challenges: balancing your time, managing team conflicts, and delegating work to direct reports. But leadership coach Jen Dary says there are also subtler challenges—like learning to actually see yourself as a leader. Assuming responsibility for other people’s professional development and personal happiness does change you. And the feelings can be mixed until you’re able to build your identity and confidence back up. In this episode, D...
Dec 06, 2023•41 min
Are leaders born or made? University of Michigan Ross School of Business professor Sue Ashford has studied leadership for decades—what makes people see themselves as leaders and how groups choose leaders among them. She says that leadership does come more easily to some than others, but that leadership is dynamic and only as real as a group decides. It’s a state that everyone can reach, whether they’re officially in charge or not. “People grant a leader identity by their willingness to follow so...
Nov 29, 2023•26 min
Do you trust the people you work with? Without trust, organizational psychologist Liane Davey says it’s hard to have the two key ingredients for any healthy team: effective communication and productive conflict. Davey takes questions from listeners who are struggling to build trust at work. She offers advice for what to do when your new boss doesn’t trust you, or when you want to earn the trust of people who work for you. Key episode topics include: leadership, emotional intelligence, managing p...
Nov 22, 2023•37 min
When you think of good leadership, what comes to mind? Rasmus Hougaard and Jacqueline Carter argue that good leadership isn’t rooted in power or public speaking skills. They say that, in fact, mindfulness, selflessness, and compassion are the key components. “If [you are] focused on things that are going to feed [your] ego, [you’re] not necessarily going to be doing the things that will be most helpful to other people,” Carter explains. “[And] what the research and our field work really showed u...
Nov 15, 2023•22 min
Are you struggling to motivate your team? Professor and author Richard Boyatzis says there’s a motivation crisis in workplaces. “And the responsibility for that lies with the managers and leaders—the people who are supposed to be energizing people and engaging them,” he argues. Boyatzis takes questions from listeners who are struggling to retain their employees and motivate their teams. Key episode topics include: leadership, developing employees, motivating people, organizational culture, psych...
Nov 08, 2023•31 min
As the head of science at NASA, Thomas Zurbuchen managed an $8.6 billion dollar budget. A typical Monday, for him, might have involved hitting an asteroid with a space craft or trying to launch a rocket. Zurbuchen left that role in 2022, but he’s still the longest continually serving head of science in NASA’s history. He and his team accomplished a lot in that time. In this episode, he shares what he learned about leading extremely technical, complex, and expensive projects with a high risk of f...
Nov 01, 2023•31 min
When was the last time you disagreed with your boss? Did you tell them you had a different opinion — or did you just let it go? HBR contributing editor Amy Gallo says it’s much easier to just agree with your boss. But sometimes it’s important to speak up. In this episode, you’ll learn how to weigh the risk of a negative reaction against the risk of not voicing your opinion: What could happen later if you don't raise this issue now? What do you stand to lose? What opportunities could you or your ...
Oct 25, 2023•10 min
Most of us think of mentoring a colleague as a one-way street—a gift of professional guidance and advice. But Sylvia Ann Hewlett says sponsorship needs to be a reciprocal relationship. “[T]he younger person has to display a great deal of value. And oftentimes the senior person is looking for a value add, a skill or an experience in the younger person that they don’t have themselves,” she explains. “So it’s very reciprocal…and it’s really about progression for both of the individuals.” Hewlett is...
Oct 18, 2023•26 min
When Rosalind Fox took over as manager of John Deere’s largest factory in Des Moines, Iowa, the plant employed 1,600 workers and included four major product lines. It was far bigger and more complex than the factory she’d been managing in North Carolina before her promotion. She had to shift from being a more operational, tactical manager to a more strategic role. But Fox was also the first Black female manager at the Iowa factory, and her employees there were mostly white men. So she also had t...
Oct 11, 2023•29 min
Management decisions almost always involve uncertainty. But what if you just can’t get the facts you need—or if your colleagues disagree about what you should decide? Harvard Business School professor Joseph Badaracco calls these “gray area problems.” He offers a framework for addressing these problems in his book, Managing in the Gray: Five Timeless Questions for Resolving Your Toughest Problems at Work . “Get expert advice. Look at options with other people, work the process. Be a good manager...
Oct 04, 2023•20 min
Delegating is an essential part of leadership. Without it, how can you rise above the tactical grind and focus on strategic thinking? But leadership coach Deborah Grayson Riegel says delegating effectively is harder than it may seem. “People delegate poorly defined tasks to other people where they’re not clear of the expectation. They’re not clear on the goal. They’re not clear on what success would look like, and they pass that on,” she explains. “And as you can imagine, it’s like a giant game ...
Sep 27, 2023•47 min
Some managers give meaningless positive feedback. Others are unreasonably critical. But Kim Scott , cofounder of the executive coaching firm Radical Candor, says good leaders can give honest feedback in the moment—as long as it’s rooted in a strong relationship. “You want to show that you care personally,” she tells IdeaCast host Curt Nickisch . “Your job as a leader is to paint a picture of what success looks like. You want to show what the possibilities are.” In this episode, Scott explains th...
Sep 20, 2023•27 min
Captain Michael Davidson, of the container ship SS El Faro, was determined to make his trip on time. But a hurricane was approaching, and Davidson and his fellow officers had to plot a new course to avoid the storm, in the face of conflicting weather reports from multiple sources and differing opinions among the officers about what to do. Over the 36-hour voyage, tensions rose as the ship got closer and closer to the storm. And there were other factors compounding the challenge. The El Faro was ...
Sep 13, 2023•38 min
How do you define authenticity, as a leader? If you associate it with what feels comfortable, you may be holding yourself back. Herminia Ibarra , a professor of organizational behavior at London Business School, says that if you want to grow as a leader, you must leave your comfort zone and try new behaviors. Eventually, she says, you’ll arrive at a more authentic version of yourself. “The paradox is that a lot of times in order to become more authentic, more fully yourself, but in a new capacit...
Sep 06, 2023•17 min
Are you struggling to give and receive feedback at work? Executive coach and organizational consultant Ben Dattner says giving good feedback is really about how you deliver it. “I think what good bosses do is they let their employees know…the reason I’m giving you this feedback is to help you be more successful,” he tells Dear HBR hosts Alison Beard and Dan McGinn . “This is not adversarial. This is the two of us together trying to make something better.” Dattner takes questions from Dear HBR li...
Aug 30, 2023•35 min
Generational differences may get laughs online. (Remember “OK boomer”?) But in the workplace, productivity can suffer when older and younger workers struggle to communicate and find common ground. Mimi Nicklin, a business coach and advertising executive, argues that older managers should spend less time forcing their Millennial and Gen Z employees to conform to company culture and more time listening. But Nicklin says listening isn’t enough. Practicing empathy across generational divides is key ...
Aug 23, 2023•25 min
Fabricio Bloisi was just 21 years old when he founded Movile as a small start-up in a garage, in the late 1990s. At the time, the company specialized in building text messaging apps and selling them to telecom providers in Brazil. The company is now a global technology player, serving more than more than 150 million mobile customers worldwide. But Harvard Business School professor emeritus Lynda Applegate says that to scale the company successfully, Bloisi had to evolve his leadership away from ...
Aug 16, 2023•13 min
If you’re leading a team, you know how hard it is to facilitate collaboration – especially when they don’t know each other well or may never meet in person. When people struggle to work together, it can harm productivity, morale, and talent retention. But New York Times bestselling author Marcus Buckingham argues that you can improve your team dynamics if you understand the people you manage: how they learn, what they love, and how to bring out their strengths. “[W]hen you first join, [Lululemon...
Aug 09, 2023•29 min
In our leader-focused society, how often do we consider the role of followers? Barbara Kellerman studies the relationship between leaders and followers at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Center for Public Leadership, where she was a member of the faculty for more than 20 years. She explains that there’s a word that describes the powerful, emotional bond that exists between leaders and followers: charisma. “We all tend to fixate on the leader,” Kellerman says. “But the genuine leadership is best und...
Aug 02, 2023•12 min
Megan Rapinoe is known for her ability to perform under pressure on the soccer field. In 2019, she led the U.S. women’s team to the World Cup Championship. But Rapinoe’s leadership extends beyond making big goals in high-stakes games. She has embraced her role as team captain and as an advocate for causes she believes in — like gender pay equity. “I’ve always been a team-first kind of player. I’ve never been the best player, but I certainly carry a lot of weight,” she tells IdeaCast host Alison ...
Jul 26, 2023•27 min
Being a great manager isn't enough to lead others to success. You also need to deeply understand your organization's core business. Amanda Goodall studies the relationship between leaders and organizational performance. She argues that the best leaders are technical experts — for example, doctors who head up hospitals or all-star basketball players who go on to manage teams. “We find that if your boss understands the nature of the work, then they can actually help you,” says Goodall, a professor...
Jul 19, 2023•22 min
If uncertainty and turbulence are the new normal, how does that change the way we lead? LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman explains how ongoing volatility can be transformed into an opportunity for innovation. He also discusses why it’s important to align the social impact of your innovative activity with your business mission, and why your talent is the true differentiator that will make or break your team’s success.
Jul 12, 2023•38 min
We all have preconceived notions about which personality types are associated with good leadership — like confidence or emotional intelligence. But what about shyness? If you’re more reserved but truly competent, can you become a leader? In this episode, an emerging leader speaks candidly about how her introversion affects her ability to lead. Then author and former clinical psychologist Alice Boyes explains why being shy and being a leader aren’t always in conflict.
Jul 05, 2023•42 min
Is your job pushing you outside your comfort zone? Executive coach and former venture capitalist Jerry Colonna has coached leaders through that journey. He takes questions from Dear HBR listeners about what to do when you don’t feel qualified for your new responsibilities. He also offers advice for leading a team without formal power.
Jun 28, 2023•37 min
