Dear HBR:

By Harvard Business Review

Business Careers

What's Dear HBR: about?

Work can be frustrating. How can you get along with that maddening coworker? Figure out what your unapproachable boss really wants? Motivate your demoralized team? "Dear HBR:" is here to help. With empathy, experience, and humor, veteran Harvard Business Review editors and co-hosts Alison Beard and Dan McGinn explore solutions to your workplace dilemmas. Bolstered by insights from guests and academic research, they help you navigate thorny situations to find a better way forward.

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LAST EPISODE

Introducing New Here: Offic...

11.30.2023

While Dear HBR: is on hiatus, we want to introduce you to HBR’s podcast for young professionals, New Here, hosted by Elainy Mata. Whether it’s your first job or a fresh start, New Here will help you build a meaningful ...

Dear HBR: episodes:

11.30.2023 Introducing New Here: Office Etiquette While Dear HBR: is on hiatus, we want to introduce you to HBR’s podcast for young professionals, New Here, hosted by Elainy Mata. Whether it’s your first job or a fresh start, New Here will help you build a meaningful ...
02.04.2021 HBR Presents: Coaching Real Leaders This new podcast features real-life coaching sessions with leaders working to overcome professional challenges. In this episode, host Muriel Wilkins speaks with a woman who’s been walking a tightrope between addressing a superior’s microaggressions and making her team feel safe. ...
12.10.2020 New Chapters Is it time to do something different in your career? Dan and Alison answer your questions with the help of Bruce Feiler, a researcher and the author of Life Is in the Transitions. They talk through what to do when ...
11.25.2020 Remote Feedback Is it hard for you to give or get feedback virtually? Dan and Alison answer your questions with the help of Marcus Buckingham, a cohead of the ADP Research Institute and the author of Nine Lies about Work. They talk ...
11.12.2020 Commutes Is the pandemic making you rethink your commute? Dan and Alison answer your questions with the help of Ashley Whillans, a professor at Harvard Business School and the author of the new book Time Smart. They talk through what to ...
10.29.2020 Safe Workplaces What will it take for you to feel safe at work again? Dan and Alison answer your questions with the help of Ethan Bernstein, a professor at Harvard Business School. They talk through what to do when your essential employees ...
10.15.2020 Sexism Are you experiencing gender bias at work? Dan and Alison answer your questions with the help of Katie Coffman, a professor at Harvard Business School. They talk through what to do when you are held to a higher standard as ...
10.01.2020 Flawed Bosses Do you wish you could understand your boss better? Dan and Alison answer your questions with the help of Mimi Nicklin, a business coach and author. They talk through what to do when you have a boss who is unforgiving, ...
09.17.2020 Coaching Problem Employees Do you have a difficult subordinate who needs coaching? Dan and Alison answer your questions with the help of Melvin Smith, a professor at the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University. They talk through what to do ...
09.03.2020 Public Sector Careers Are your workplace dilemmas different because you’re in the public sector? Dan and Alison answer your questions with the help of Bernie Banks, a retired U.S. Army general and a professor at Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. They ...
08.20.2020 Covid and Kids Are you a working parent stressing over how to advance your career during the pandemic? Dan and Alison answer your questions with the help of Alyssa Westring, a professor at DePaul University’s Driehaus College of Business. They talk through what ...
08.06.2020 Management Material Do you have what it takes to be a manager? Dan and Alison answer your questions with the help of Ellen Van Oosten, a professor at the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University. They talk through what ...
07.23.2020 Start-Ups Are you struggling with start-up life? Dan and Alison answer your questions with the help of Dave Balter, an entrepreneur, CEO, and author. They talk through what to do when you’re burning out due to a frenzied workload, a key ...
07.09.2020 Frustrated Engineers As an engineer, do you feel you carry a bigger burden at work? Dan and Alison answer your questions with the help of Richard Sheridan, an engineer, CEO, and author. They talk through what to do when you want to ...
06.25.2020 Self-Promotion Are you unsure of when to toot your own horn? Dan and Alison answer your questions with the help of Meredith Fineman, a communication coach and author. They talk through what to do when your boss takes credit for your ...
06.11.2020 Tough Teams Is a team you manage keeping you up at night? Dan and Alison answer your questions with the help of Melanie Parish, a leadership coach and author. They talk through what to do when you lead a rogue team that ...
06.04.2020 Covid-Delayed Start (Bonus) Is your new employer pushing back your start date due to the pandemic? Dan and Alison answer your questions with the help of Moshe Cohen, a senior lecturer at Boston University’s Questrom School of Business. In this bonus episode, they ...
05.28.2020 Career Reinvention Are you contemplating a career change? Dan and Alison answer your questions with the help of Monica Higgins, a professor at Harvard Graduate School of Education. They talk through what to do when you’re having trouble breaking into a new ...
05.20.2020 Quitting Mid-Crisis (Bonus) Are you leaving your organization during a critical time? Dan and Alison answer your questions with the help of Shirli Kopelman, a negotiations professor at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business. In this bonus episode, they talk through ...
05.14.2020 Challenging the Boss Do you fear speaking frankly with your supervisor? Dan and Alison answer your questions with the help of Liz Kislik, a management consultant and executive coach. They talk through what to do when your boss micromanages your output, you want ...
05.07.2020 Pre-Pandemic Promises (Bonus) Is your organization breaking a promise to you and blaming Covid-19? Dan and Alison answer your questions with the help of Leigh Thompson, a negotiations professor at Kellogg School of Management. In this bonus episode, they talk through what to ...
04.30.2020 Coronavirus Career Limbo Is the Covid-19 pandemic messing up your career plans? Dan and Alison answer your questions with the help of Scott Galloway, a professor at NYU Stern School of Business. They talk through what to do when you’ve been laid off ...
04.23.2020 Onboarding Remotely (Bonus) Are you starting a new job during the coronavirus pandemic? Dan and Alison answer your questions with the help of Siobhan O’Mahony, a professor at Boston University Questrom School of Business. In this bonus episode, they talk through what to ...
04.16.2020 Influencing Up Do you feel fake when you try to manage up? Dan and Alison answer your questions with the help of Nashater Deu Solheim, a leadership consultant and author. They talk through what to do when you want choice assignments, you ...
04.02.2020 Working While Distancing Are you suddenly working from home? Dan and Alison answer your questions with the help of Tsedal Neeley, a professor at Harvard Business School. They talk through how to be productive at home whether you’re alone or distracted by children, ...
03.19.2020 Stay or Go? When is the right time for a new job? Dan and Alison answer your questions with the help of Hal Gregersen, a senior lecturer at MIT Sloan School of Management. They talk through what to do when you’re advancing in ...
03.05.2020 Subversive Employees Do you have an employee working against you? Dan and Alison answer your questions with the help of Adrian Gostick, an executive coach and author. They talk through what to do when your direct report is creating problems only to ...
02.20.2020 Disagreeable Colleagues Is there someone you work with and wish you didn’t have to? Dan and Alison answer your questions with the help of Jennifer Goldman-Wetzler, an organizational psychologist and the author of Optimal Outcomes. They talk through what to do when ...
02.06.2020 Feeling Disrespected Do you deserve more respect for your role and contributions at work? Dan and Alison answer your questions with the help of Blair Decembrele, a career expert at LinkedIn. They talk through what to do when your direct report goes ...
01.23.2020 Internal Networks Do you wish you were more plugged-in at your organization? Dan and Alison answer your questions with the help of Robin Abrahams, a research associate at Harvard Business School. They talk through what to do when you want to network ...
01.09.2020 New Beginnings Do you want a fresh start to your work life? Dan and Alison answer your questions with the help of Wendy Wood, a social psychologist at USC Marshall School of Business. They talk through what to do when you’re bored ...
12.26.2019 Gender Equality Issues Are you being treated unfairly at work because of your gender? Dan and Alison answer your questions with the help of Michelle King, the director of inclusion at Netflix. They talk through what to do when you and other women ...
12.12.2019 Skills Gaps Are you underqualified for the job you want? Dan and Alison answer your questions with the help of Obed Louissaint, IBM’s head of talent. They talk through what to do when an MBA isn’t enough to get you into your ...
11.27.2019 Perfect Timing (Live) Is the right career move coming at the wrong time? Dan and Alison answer your questions with the help of Daniel Pink, the author of “When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing.” In front of a live audience, they talk ...
11.14.2019 Motivating Employees Has your team checked out? Dan and Alison answer your questions with the help of Richard Boyatzis, a management professor at Case Western Reserve University and coauthor of the book “Helping People Change.” They talk through what to do when ...
10.31.2019 Heavy Workloads Do you or your team have way too much to do? Dan and Alison answer your questions with the help of Amy Jen Su, an executive coach and author. They talk through what to do when you’re struggling to get ...
10.17.2019 Leaving Comfort Zones How do you feel when you have to do something new or difficult? Dan and Alison answer your questions with the help of Andy Molinsky, a professor at Brandeis International Business School and the author of "Reach". They talk through ...
10.03.2019 Regaining Confidence Are you struggling to recover from a setback? Dan and Alison answer your questions with the help of Neil Pasricha, a former Walmart executive and the author of You Are Awesome. They talk through what to do when your confidence ...
09.19.2019 Troublesome Teammates Is a coworker getting on your nerves? Dan and Alison answer your questions with the help of Amy Gallo, the author of the HBR Guide to Dealing with Conflict. They talk through what to do when a coworker acts like ...
09.05.2019 Navigating Change (Live) Is your organization going through some big shifts? Dan and Alison answer your questions with the help of Katie Burke, the chief people officer of HubSpot. They talk through what to do when you’re ready to move up but there’s ...
08.22.2019 Managing Older Workers Are you struggling to manage people who are older than you? Dan and Alison answer your questions with the help of workplace consultant Lindsey Pollak. They talk through what to do when you’ve been promoted above more experienced colleagues, you’re ...
08.08.2019 Workplace Culture Conflicts Are you at odds with your company’s culture? Dan and Alison answer your questions with the help of Alicia Tillman, the CMO of SAP. They talk through what to do when your company celebrates one kind of worker and ignores ...
07.25.2019 Client Troubles Are clients bringing you down? Dan and Alison answer your questions with the help of Diane Hessan, the founder and chair of the marketing technology agency C Space. They talk through what to do when you have a difficult client, ...
07.11.2019 Career Crossroads Are you weighing the trade-offs of a big career decision? Dan and Alison answer your questions with the help of Claudio Fernández-Aráoz, a senior adviser at the executive search firm Egon Zehnder. They talk through what to do when you ...
06.27.2019 Nonprofit Workplaces Does standard work advice not apply to you because you’re at a nonprofit? Dan and Alison answer your questions with the help of Joan Garry, a nonprofit leadership consultant and former executive director. They talk through what to do when ...
06.13.2019 Stretch Responsibilities Are you being pushed outside your comfort zone? Dan and Alison answer your questions with the help of Jerry Colonna, a professional coach and a former venture capitalist. They talk through what to do when you don't feel qualified for ...
05.30.2019 Unwanted Roles Is your job turning into something you don't want? Dan and Alison answer your questions with the help of Francesca Gino, a professor at Harvard Business School. They talk through what to do when your boss gives you duties you ...
05.16.2019 Executive Ambitions Do you want the corner office someday? Dan and Alison answer your questions with the help of Mike Troiano, a venture capitalist and former executive. They talk through what to do when you’re falling off the executive track, you're moving ...
05.02.2019 Leading Small Teams Do you have a hard time managing team dynamics? Dan and Alison answer your questions with the help of Facebook executive Julie Zhuo. They talk through what to do when your subordinate is bossing around others on the team, a ...
04.18.2019 Counteroffers Should you accept your boss's counteroffer to stay at the organization? Dan and Alison answer your questions with the help of Leigh Thompson, a negotiations professor at Kellogg School of Management. They talk through what to do when you’re presented ...

Older episodes

Dear HBR:

What's Dear HBR: about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

Dear HBR: episodes:

Introducing New Here: Office Etiquette

HBR Presents: Coaching Real Leaders

New Chapters

Remote Feedback

Commutes

Safe Workplaces

Sexism

Flawed Bosses

Coaching Problem Employees

Public Sector Careers

Covid and Kids

Management Material

Start-Ups

Frustrated Engineers

Self-Promotion

Tough Teams

Covid-Delayed Start (Bonus)

Career Reinvention

Quitting Mid-Crisis (Bonus)

Challenging the Boss

Pre-Pandemic Promises (Bonus)

Coronavirus Career Limbo

Onboarding Remotely (Bonus)

Influencing Up

Working While Distancing

Stay or Go?

Subversive Employees

Disagreeable Colleagues

Feeling Disrespected

Internal Networks

New Beginnings

Gender Equality Issues

Skills Gaps

Perfect Timing (Live)

Motivating Employees

Heavy Workloads

Leaving Comfort Zones

Regaining Confidence

Troublesome Teammates

Navigating Change (Live)

Managing Older Workers

Workplace Culture Conflicts

Client Troubles

Career Crossroads

Nonprofit Workplaces

Stretch Responsibilities

Unwanted Roles

Executive Ambitions

Leading Small Teams

Counteroffers

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