Cold Call

Threadless has built its sizeable t-shirt retailing business by enabling its users to both design and purchase its products. But its greatest strength once presented its biggest challenge: how do you manage an online community that is 500,000-strong? Professor Karim Lakhani discusses the difficulty of hosting a city’s worth of virtual users and designers, the importance of transparency, and the lessons the Threadless case has to offer on enabling (and funding) innovation.

How do you build on success in your career? How do you expand and grow as an individual? How do you avoid (or embrace) missteps? Professor Das Narayandas examines the retail career of Ron Johnson at Target, Apple, and J.C. Penney for some answers.

Lessons for leaders from the heroic and selfless acts of the Taj Palace staff during the 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai.

Revolutionizing the meat industry by growing beef… but, how do you market against the “yuck factor?”

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” on the latest episode of Cold Call.

Are people better off as a result of your presence? Leadership lessons from basketball, the ultimate team sport.

There are no grade levels, no official start time, and teachers get stock options. Is AltSchool the school of the future?

Cynthia Carroll’s breathtaking story about taking decisive action in the face of a complex and dangerous situation.

With her unique leadership style and innovative approach to green fashion, Stella McCartney shows that a luxury brand can be sustainable.