HBR IdeaCast

By Harvard Business Review

Business

What's HBR IdeaCast about?

A weekly podcast featuring the leading thinkers in business and management.

4.4

1,410 ratings

Download our free app to listen on your phone

LAST EPISODE

Advice from the CEO of an A...

09.27.2022

Most organizations have now accepted that the days of all their knowledge workers coming into the office full time are over. So what's next? Sid Sijbrandij, CEO and cofounder of Gitlab, thinks all-remote can be the answer. His open-source software ...

HBR IdeaCast episodes:

09.27.2022 Advice from the CEO of an All-Remote Company Most organizations have now accepted that the days of all their knowledge workers coming into the office full time are over. So what's next? Sid Sijbrandij, CEO and cofounder of Gitlab, thinks all-remote can be the answer. His open-source software ...
09.20.2022 It’s Time to Fine-Tune Performance Management Measuring a broad set of standards across the organization seems like a fair way to judge employees’ performance year over year. But Heidi Gardner, distinguished fellow at Harvard Law School, says performance management systems often incentivize employees to scramble to ...
09.13.2022 Rolling Stone’s Jann Wenner on Cultivating Creative Talent Rolling Stone launched in 1967 with a mission to not only redefine music journalism but also chronicle important societal changes. Under the leadership of founding editor and publisher Jann Wenner, it published work from some of the 20th century’s greatest ...
09.06.2022 Work-Life Supports That Truly Help Your Organization Work-life support programs have long been known to lower turnover and raise employee loyalty. But new research shows they also have a positive effect on promoting diversity among managers at those firms, an effect that’s even stronger than that of ...
08.30.2022 What Business Leaders Should Know Now About the Metaverse It might still seem like a buzzword, or something that only matters to tech CEOs. But Matthew Ball, CEO of Epyllion and the former global head of strategy for Amazon Studios, says the metaverse is the "new internet" – and ...
08.23.2022 Why Companies Decide to Sell on Amazon—or Not It's a dilemma facing more and more brands: should you sell your goods on Amazon? It's the most visited e-commerce platform in the U.S. and the dominant retailer in 28 other countries. But that reach comes at a price. There ...
08.16.2022 Strategies for Dealing with Difficult Coworkers Work is challenging for lots of reasons, but most of us have probably come to realize that what makes or break a professional experience is people - and sometimes we encounter a boss, peer, or direct report that isn’t at ...
08.09.2022 Decisions Don’t Have to Be Either-Or Making business decisions often means choosing one path over another. And psychology research shows that our brains are wired to make either-or choices. But Wendy Smith, management professor at the University of Delaware, and Marianne Lewis, dean of the University ...
08.02.2022 Is Cynicism Ruining Your Organization? Around the world, we've become increasingly cynical about other people, public institutions, and corporations. In Edelman's 2022 Trust Barometer, nearly 60% of respondents across 27 countries reported that their default is to distrust. And that's very bad for business, says ...
07.26.2022 The Case for Embracing Uncertainty For many of us, uncertainty is nerve-wracking. However, many of our best achievements and meaningful experiences come from a trying time of ambiguity. INSEAD professor Nathan Furr and entrepreneur Susannah Harmon Furr argue that uncertainty and possibility are two sides ...
07.19.2022 How the Unionization Trend is Changing Workplace Dynamics For years, union membership has been shrinking in the United States and many other countries. But recently we've seen a resurgence, with employees in sectors like retail, hospitality, and media organizing to collectively bargain for better pay, benefits, and job ...
07.12.2022 Red Flags You Won’t See on a CEO’s Resume For a long time, we have believed that strong corporate governance is enough to prevent CEO malfeasance. However, new research shows that the lifestyle behaviors of executives can spell trouble for companies, regardless of the guardrails in place. Aiyesha Dey, ...
07.05.2022 Sad, Mad, Anxious? How to Work Through Your ‘Big Feelings’ When things aren't going well -- in our own lives, our community, our country, or the world -- it's hard to be productive at work. Most of us also shy away from sharing what we're feeling with colleagues and bosses. ...
06.28.2022 Open Digital Platforms to Spur Innovation As the novel coronavirus surfaced in Wuhan in 2019, Chinese officials called for mobile isolation wards. Haier Group partnered with suppliers to design and construct units quickly, thanks to the openness of the leading manufacturer’s digital platforms. Unlike Haier, many ...
06.21.2022 A Debate Champion on How to Have More Productive Disagreements at Work In an ideal world, professional conflicts are settled with thoughtful discussion and collaborative decision-making. But that’s not usually how it works. More typically, you see leaders - or the loudest voices - win out, leaving others resentful. And sometimes people ...
06.14.2022 Fighting Bias and Inequality at the Team Level Despite the investments made in the last few years, many companies are falling short of their diversity, equity, and inclusion aims. Some firms have faced difficulty spreading their DEI efforts top-down throughout the organization. Trier Bryant, the cofounder and CEO ...
06.07.2022 The Pros and Cons of Our “Middleman Economy” Kathryn Judge, a finance professor at Columbia Law School, is troubled by the rise of intermediary platforms between products and services and the customers who eventually purchase them. Thanks to technology and globalization, she shows how the importance of “middlemen” ...
05.31.2022 Immigration, Upward Mobility, and the U.S. Economy In eras past, the United States welcomed immigrant laborers to build and support the country's infrastructure and innovators and entrepreneurs to advance its businesses and technology. And yet immigration is a hot-button issue today, with many saying it's a drain ...
05.24.2022 Leadership Lessons from a Republican Governor in a Blue State Underperforming state agencies, a natural disaster, and a pandemic are among the many challenges that faced Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker and his former Chief of Staff Steve Kadish. Looking back during the final year of the Baker Administration, they say ...
05.17.2022 How Government and Business Can Tackle Big Global Crises Together It feels like a moment of panic for many. While there were some success stories in how public and private sector leaders managed the global pandemic, it isn't over, and many more crises -- from political polarization to climate change ...
05.10.2022 Comedian Sarah Cooper On Bringing Humor to Any Career It's a cliche, but they say it's best to write what you know. That was the case for comedian Sarah Cooper, who rose to viral social media fame in the Trump era through her lip sync TikTok videos. She formerly ...
05.03.2022 3 Strategies for Dealing with Procrastination We’re all prone to procrastinate. We feel guilty about it. And yet, we still do it. Alice Boyes, a former clinical psychologist and author, says breaking the habit is more than simply a matter of discipline. She explains the different ...
04.28.2022 Find Joy in Any Job: How Do I Get My Team to Love Work? Not everyone likes everything about their job all the time. But we know from research that people who are energized by at least parts of their work perform better – and feel a greater sense of well-being. So there’s a ...
04.26.2022 Let’s Redefine the Role of Manager Most managers today are overwhelmed. Thanks to rapid technological change, flattening hierarchies, agile work, and new attitudes about talent, they have to do more than ever. Lynda Gratton, professor at London Business School and the founder of HSM, points to ...
04.21.2022 Find Joy in Any Job: How Do I Improve the Role I Have? A lot of us are feeling unhappy and disengaged at work – and that started long before the pandemic. A big part of the problem, says Marcus Buckingham, is that we don’t take the initiative to do more of the ...
04.19.2022 How Understanding Your Family Dynamics Can Improve Work Deborah Ancona, a professor at MIT Sloan School of Management, and Dennis Perkins, CEO of The Syncretics Group, have researched how family dynamics play out in the workplace. They say people often revert to childhood patterns at work. By applying ...
04.14.2022 Find Joy in Any Job: What Do I Really Love To Do? At a time when 41% of us are considering quitting our jobs, it’s time for us to understand why and what we can do about it. In this special series from HBR, we’re looking at how to craft your current ...
04.12.2022 How Political Polarization Is Changing Work Politics has traditionally been a taboo topic to discuss on the job. But as people get more vocal about their views -- on everything from from climate change to racial justice, elections to invasions -- it's increasingly hard to keep ...
04.07.2022 Find Joy in Any Job: Why Am I Unhappy at Work? There’s been much talk about the Great Resignation and what’s driving it. The pandemic has exacerbated a long-term problem: many of us struggle to find any pleasure in our work. But quitting isn’t the only the solution. Often, it’s not ...
04.05.2022 Working with Colleagues: Should You Collaborate or Compete? Randall Peterson, founding director of the Leadership Institute at London Business School, studies coworker dynamics. He says lately, the idea of head-to-head competition for advancement has gone out of style in favor of a more cooperative ideal. In reality, he ...
03.29.2022 Filmmaker Ken Burns on Lessons in Innovation and Collaboration As the acclaimed documentarian releases a new two-part PBS series about Ben Franklin, he describes how the U.S. founding father transformed himself from teen runaway to newspaperman, then inventor, then political elder. He explains what current leaders can learn from ...
03.22.2022 Breaking Free of the Cult of Productivity Madeleine Dore, an author and podcast host, offers a cure for “productivity guilt.” That’s the cycle of dejection she says many of us suffer from when we never reach the end of our lengthy to-do lists (even with modern technology ...
03.15.2022 DEI Isn’t Enough; Companies Need Anti-Racist Leadership Over the past few years in the United States, we’ve seen some horrific examples of racism seize the public consciousness. Amid all these tragedies – and the protests that followed – U.S. business leaders promised they would do their part ...
03.08.2022 You’re Overlooking a Source of Diversity: Age Megan Gerhardt, management professor at Miami University, studies the impact of generational conflict on organizations. She says too many leaders see generational lines as a source of division that hurts productivity. But her research shows that age is often an ...
03.01.2022 Regrets Are Inevitable. Start Learning From Them. "No regrets" might be a popular modern-day mantra, but it's virtually impossible to live your life without wishing you could do certain things over. Some people try to ignore these feelings; others wallow in them. But author Dan Pink, who ...
02.22.2022 Why Some Companies Thrived During the Pandemic Keith Ferrazzi, founder of the consulting firm Ferrazzi Greenlight, led a survey of more than 2,000 executives to study how they reengineered operations during the pandemic. The research identified a kind of extreme adaptability at the team and organizational levels ...
02.15.2022 Inside Companies that Get the Purpose-Profit Balance Right Purpose has become a corporate buzzword over the past decade. Leaders are embracing the idea that companies can’t just do well financially; they also have to do good for society. But how many organizations are really walking the talk? Ranjay ...
02.08.2022 The Positives—and Perils—of Storytelling Jonathan Gottschall, a distinguished fellow at Washington & Jefferson College, has researched storytelling and its unique power to inspire. But as he spoke at business conferences and grew aware of the popularity of storytelling in the corporate world, he came ...
02.03.2022 Need a Reset? Try This One Quick Meditation Session (Bonus) You've probably heard about the benefits of mindfulness and how meditation can help you achieve it. But you still can't find the inclination to start or the time to practice regularly. In this short bonus episode, Rasmus Hougaard, the CEO ...
02.01.2022 No, Tech Start-ups Aren’t Taking Over the World Looking at business news and stock market coverage over the past decade (including a few HBR articles), you'd think that just about every traditional, old-economy company has fallen prey -- or will soon -- to tech-focused competitors. But London Business ...
01.25.2022 Why Companies Should Stop Political Spending Now A decade ago, the U.S. Supreme Court changed the rules on how businesses could donate to political campaigns. Since then, hundreds of millions of corporate dollars have been spent on local, state, and federal elections, often without transparency. Many CEOs ...
01.18.2022 How Companies Reckon with Past Wrongdoing Sarah Federman, assistant professor at the University of Baltimore, studies how companies handle their historical misdeeds and what that means for employees and customers. From insurance firms that backed slave owners to railroad companies that transported victims of the Holocaust, ...
01.11.2022 To Get Ahead, You Need Both Ambition and Humility We know that great leadership takes not just intelligence and drive but also the ability to get along well with and learn from others. The key, says Amer Kaissi, is to be both ambitious and humble throughout your career. He's ...
01.04.2022 We’re Bad at Measuring Inequality—Here’s Why That Matters Stefanie Stantcheva, economist at Harvard University, founded the Social Economics Lab to study inequality, our feelings about it, and how policies influence it. She says when we estimate how much money our colleagues make or how much taxes impact us, ...
12.28.2021 Best of IdeaCast: What Sets Successful People Apart Heidi Grant, a motivational psychologist, has studied successful people and what makes them tick. In this classic episode, she and former host Sarah Green Carmichael discuss the behaviors of high achievers and how to incorporate them into your own life ...
12.21.2021 There Still Aren’t Enough “Good Jobs” Companies around the world are struggling to fill open positions, while millions of unemployed people look for work. What's going on? Zeynep Ton, professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management, says that organizations need to start offering better jobs. ...
12.14.2021 Gaslighting at Work—and What to Do About It Mita Mallick, head of inclusion, equity, and impact at the firm Carta, says gaslighting at the office is more common than many people realize. That's when a manager or coworker engages in behavior where one thing happens, and they try ...
12.07.2021 How to Use All Your Vacation — And Really Unplug When was the last time you really took a sustained break from work? No emails. No calls. No taking care of that one little thing. For most of us — particularly in the United States -- it's been too long. ...
11.30.2021 One Way to Fight the Great Resignation? Re-recruit Your Current Employees Debbie Cohen and Kate Roeske-Zummer, cofounders of HumanityWorks, are sounding an alarm bell for employee retention. Record numbers of people are quitting their jobs due to burnout and better opportunities. Those resignations leave their former colleagues burdened with even more ...
11.23.2021 Why the Highest Paying Jobs So Rarely Go to Women Companies pay disproportionately high salaries to CEOs and other high-powered professionals willing to live and breathe their jobs, on-call 24/7, ready to pick up and travel. It's a phenomenon Harvard historian and economist Claudia Goldin calls "greedy work" and she ...

Older episodes

HBR IdeaCast

What's HBR IdeaCast about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

HBR IdeaCast episodes:

Advice from the CEO of an All-Remote Company

It’s Time to Fine-Tune Performance Management

Rolling Stone’s Jann Wenner on Cultivating Creative Talent

Work-Life Supports That Truly Help Your Organization

What Business Leaders Should Know Now About the Metaverse

Why Companies Decide to Sell on Amazon—or Not

Strategies for Dealing with Difficult Coworkers

Decisions Don’t Have to Be Either-Or

Is Cynicism Ruining Your Organization?

The Case for Embracing Uncertainty

How the Unionization Trend is Changing Workplace Dynamics

Red Flags You Won’t See on a CEO’s Resume

Sad, Mad, Anxious? How to Work Through Your ‘Big Feelings’

Open Digital Platforms to Spur Innovation

A Debate Champion on How to Have More Productive Disagreements at Work

Fighting Bias and Inequality at the Team Level

The Pros and Cons of Our “Middleman Economy”

Immigration, Upward Mobility, and the U.S. Economy

Leadership Lessons from a Republican Governor in a Blue State

How Government and Business Can Tackle Big Global Crises Together

Comedian Sarah Cooper On Bringing Humor to Any Career

3 Strategies for Dealing with Procrastination

Find Joy in Any Job: How Do I Get My Team to Love Work?

Let’s Redefine the Role of Manager

Find Joy in Any Job: How Do I Improve the Role I Have?

How Understanding Your Family Dynamics Can Improve Work

Find Joy in Any Job: What Do I Really Love To Do?

How Political Polarization Is Changing Work

Find Joy in Any Job: Why Am I Unhappy at Work?

Working with Colleagues: Should You Collaborate or Compete?

Filmmaker Ken Burns on Lessons in Innovation and Collaboration

Breaking Free of the Cult of Productivity

DEI Isn’t Enough; Companies Need Anti-Racist Leadership

You’re Overlooking a Source of Diversity: Age

Regrets Are Inevitable. Start Learning From Them.

Why Some Companies Thrived During the Pandemic

Inside Companies that Get the Purpose-Profit Balance Right

The Positives—and Perils—of Storytelling

Need a Reset? Try This One Quick Meditation Session (Bonus)

No, Tech Start-ups Aren’t Taking Over the World

Why Companies Should Stop Political Spending Now

How Companies Reckon with Past Wrongdoing

To Get Ahead, You Need Both Ambition and Humility

We’re Bad at Measuring Inequality—Here’s Why That Matters

Best of IdeaCast: What Sets Successful People Apart

There Still Aren’t Enough “Good Jobs”

Gaslighting at Work—and What to Do About It

How to Use All Your Vacation — And Really Unplug

One Way to Fight the Great Resignation? Re-recruit Your Current Employees

Why the Highest Paying Jobs So Rarely Go to Women

Other shows like HBR IdeaCast: