Cold Call

How do you manage a community, grow it, and sustain it? Threadless has done it since 2007 by crowdsourcing its T-shirt designs and selling the best ones. Harvard Business School professor Karim Lakhani talks about the challenges, exciting moments, and ultimate dilemma in the case: When do you grow the community vs. when do you go national and make the big money? Many companies consider how to bring elements of community into their companies. Learn more about this fascinating journey from Lakhani’s case, “Threadless: The Business of Community.”

Ron Johnson’s career path has featured stops at some of the world’s largest and most innovative retailers, including Target, Apple, and J.C. Penney. At each stop, Johnson learned invaluable lessons, like how to build on success, how to keep growing as an individual, and how to embrace missteps. Harvard Business School professor Das Narayandas examines Johnson’s career trajectory and discusses the importance of personal accountability and creative planning in the rapidly-changing world of retail. Narayandas is the author of the case entitled “Ron Johnson: Retail at Target, Apple, and J.C. Penney.”

Harvard Business School professor Rohit Deshpande discusses lessons for leaders from the heroic and selfless acts of the Taj Palace staff during the 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai. Deshpande is the author of the case study entitled “Terror at the Taj Bombay: Customer-Centric Leadership.”

In the hundred-plus years since journalist Upton Sinclair shined a light on the deplorable conditions in the U.S. meat packing industry in his groundbreaking exposé, The Jungle, per capita meat consumption for Americans has increased 63%. Can the world continue to feed its growing meat-eating population? New technologies have the potential to revolutionize the meat industry by growing tissue culture beef… but, how do you market against the “yuck” factor? Harvard Business School professor Jose Alvarez discusses his case study, “Disrupting the Meat Industry: Tissue Culture Beef.”

Today’s NFL is fast-paced and hard-hitting. Though players are well-compensated, many wonder about the long-term cost of those violent collisions on the athletes, the league, and culture at large. Harvard Business School professor Richard Hamermesh discusses those implications and his case “The National Football League and Brain Injuries.”

Are people better off as a result of your presence? Harvard Business School professor Frances Frei discusses her case “Discovering Hidden Gems: The Story of Daryl Morey, Shane Battier, and the Houston Rockets” — leadership lessons from basketball, the ultimate team sport.

There are no grade levels, no official start times, and teachers get stock options. Is AltSchool the school of the future? Harvard Business School professor John Kim discusses his case entitled “AltSchool: School Reimagined.”

Cynthia Carroll’s breathtaking story about taking decisive action in the face of a complex and dangerous situation. Harvard Business School professor Gautam Mukunda discusses his case entitled, “Cynthia Carroll at Anglo American.”

With her unique leadership style and innovative approach to green fashion, Stella McCartney shows that a luxury brand can be sustainable. Harvard Business School professor Anat Keinan discusses her case, entitled “Stella McCartney.”

Host Brian Kenny introduces Cold Call, the official podcast of the Harvard Business School. Cold Call distills the Business School’s legendary case studies into podcast form. The podcast airs every two weeks and features HBS faculty discussing cases they’ve written and the lessons they impart.