Most organizations struggle to kill initiatives, even those that no longer support their strategy. Leadership consultants Rose Hollister and Michael Watkins explore the problem of initiative overload and how it can trickle down to employees who are already dealing with more projects than they can handle or do well. They offer practical tips on how to truly prioritize your company’s most important initiatives—or risk losing top talent. Hollister and Watkins are the authors of the 2018 HBR article “Too Many Projects.”

Key episode topics include: leadership, leading teams, project management, time management, product management.

• Listen to the original HBR IdeaCast episode: Stop Initiative Overload

There’s nothing easy about being a manager today. But for team leaders who are feeling burnt out or overwhelmed with their job, workplace strategist Daisy Auger-Domínguez has advice on how to regain some of your joy at work. She recommends various techniques to incorporate optimism and well-being into your role. They include remembering your purpose, embracing a beginner’s mindset, keeping a folder of positive feedback as inspiration, and celebrating the contributions of team members. Auger-Domínguez is a workplace strategist, global people leader, and the author of the HBR article “Finding Joy as a Manager—Even on Bad Days.”

Key episode topics include: leadership, leading teams, motivation, managing yourself, stress management, personal resilience

• Listen to the original HBRIdeaCast episode: Here’s How Managers Can Rediscover Their Joy at Work

After running Yum! Brands, which includes well-known chains such as KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell, David Novak wanted to help others become better leaders. He believes the key is to put learning at the center of everything you do, whether you’re an entry-level worker or a C-suite executive. Novak outlines three main areas for learning and offers ideas on how the most effective leaders turn their learnings into action, something that takes insight and practice. Novak wrote the book How Leaders Learn: Master the Habits of the World’s Most Successful People.

Key episode topics include: leadership, leading teams, managing yourself, leadership development, strategic thinking, organizational learning

• Listen to the original HBR IdeaCast episode: Yum! Brands’ Former CEO on Why You Should Never Stop Learning

If a company starts to veer off track, whether amid technological change, marketplace conditions, or otherwise, it is daunting to get back on a path to growth. But big turnarounds are possible, provided you have the right team and mindset. When he was president and CEO of Marvel, Peter Cuneo oversaw the resurgence and sale of the media company, but even before that he had a long track record for turning around many types of consumer-facing businesses at brands from Clairol to Black & Decker. He shares the strategies that work best for shaking up organizations and teams and boosting their performance.

Key episode topics include: leadership, transformation, leading teams, strategy, change management, organizational restructuring

Listen to the original HBRIdeaCast episode: Lessons From a Turnaround Expert

Every company has an origin story, which goes on to inform its culture. Phil Knight, co-founder, former CEO, and Chairman Emeritus of Nike, recounts starting the sports apparel and equipment giant after taking an entrepreneurship class at Stanford and teaming up with his former track coach, Bill Bowerman. Together, they changed how running shoes are designed and made. In this conversation from 2017, Knight reflects on the company’s enduring culture of innovation, as well as the company’s succession process for the CEO role.

Key episode topics include: leadership and managing people, entrepreneurs and founders, innovation, organizational culture, corporate strategy, succession planning

● Listen to the original HBR IdeaCast episode: Nike’s Co-founder on Innovation, Culture, and Succession

Stories and storytelling are at the core of many aspects of the corporate world. Consider a great brand campaign or the ability to sell yourself in a job interview. It’s also an extremely important skill for managers who want to win support for new strategies and initiatives—or change their company’s culture.

Jay Barney, a professor at the University of Utah’s David Eccles School of Business, studied leaders who successfully led culture change and found one thing in common: they created and spread authentic and memorable stories. The new stories then emanated throughout the workforce and rewrote the old narrative. Barney explains the six rules leaders need to follow to drive cultural change with storytelling. He’s a coauthor, with Manoel Amorim and Carlos Júlio, of The Secret of Culture Change: How to Build Authentic Stories That Transform Your Organization and the 2023 HBR article “Create Stories That Change Your Company’s Culture.”

Key episode topics include: leadership and managing people, leading teams, change management, business communication, organizational culture, corporate strategy

● Listen to the original HBR IdeaCast episode: If You Want Culture Change, Create New Stories

Around the world, we’ve become increasingly cynical about other people, public institutions, and corporations. Back in 2022, Edelman’s Trust Barometer found that nearly 60% of respondents across 27 countries reported that their default is to distrust. And that’s bad for business, says Stanford University associate professor of psychology Jamil Zaki. He says that cynics damage trust, and in workplaces they breed toxicity and lead to poor outcomes. He explains how to identify and change this kind of behavior at your organization. Zaki wrote the HBR article, “Don’t Let Cynicism Undermine Your Workplace.”

Key episode topics include: leadership, managing yourself, leading teams, emotional intelligence

• Listen to the original HBRIdeaCast episode: Is Cynicism Ruining Your Organization?

Companies of every size in every industry and part of the world are basing more of their work around projects. And yet research shows that nearly two-thirds of those efforts fail. Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez, who has studied projects and project management for decades, explains how we can do better. He offers advice on the right way to frame projects, how to structure organizations around them, and pitfalls to avoid. Nieto-Rodriguez is the author of the Harvard Business Review Project Management Handbook and author of the article “The Project Economy Has Arrived.”

Key episode topics include: project management, operations strategy, organizational change

• Listen to the original HBR IdeaCast episode: The Future of Work Is Projects—So You’ve Got to Get Them Right

Wayne Baker, professor emeritus at the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan, has spent much of his career researching the best way to effectively ask for help at work. Whether you’re soliciting support on a tricky assignment or more resources for your team, it can feel uncomfortable to approach bosses and colleagues with hat in hand. But we rarely get what we need or want without asking for it. Baker highlights some of the most effective strategies for defining your goal, figuring out who to ask, and crafting your message so it will be positively received. He is also the author of the book All You Have to Do Is Ask: How to Master the Most Important Skill for Success.

Key episode topics include: emotional intelligence, power and influence, managing yourself

● Listen to the original HBR IdeaCast episode: The Art of Asking for (and Getting) Help

Eugene Soltes, professor at Harvard Business School, studies white-collar crime and has even interviewed convicts behind bars. While most people think of high-profile scandals like Enron, he says every sizable organization has lapses in integrity. He shares practical tools for managers to identify pockets of ethical violations to prevent them from ballooning into serious reputational and financial damage. Soltes is the author of the HBR article “Where Is Your Company Most Prone to Lapses in Integrity?”

Key episode topics include: business ethics, risk management, business management, cross-cultural management, organizational culture

● Listen to the original HBR IdeaCast episode: Stopping White-Collar Crime at Your Company