HBR On Leadership

Leslie K. John and Alison Wood Brooks, professors at Harvard Business School, say people in business can be more successful by asking more and better questions. They talk through what makes for a great question, whether you’re looking to get information or get someone to like you. They’re the coauthors of the article, “The Surprising Power of Questions,” in the May–June 2018 issue of Harvard Business Review.

Key episode topics include: business communication, persuasion, behavioral science, decision making and problem solving

• Listen to the original HBR IdeaCast episode: Ask Better Questions

Being on a board is a chance to grow—your mind, your skills, your network, your impact. It’s also another time commitment to fit in, and, for some women, another environment where they have to fight to be heard. So, is the payoff worth the effort?

Yes, according to the eight women who volunteered to speak about their experience serving on boards of companies, nonprofits, and schools. They share how they landed a seat, gained confidence in the role, and found unexpected personal and professional benefits in the work. We hope that their perspectives and advice will inspire you to consider trying it yourself some day.

Ellen Zane, who runs a Harvard workshop for women interested in board work, provides further insight based on her years of experience as a director for nonprofits and private and public companies.

Key episode topics include:

Do you need a career makeover? In this episode of HBR’s advice podcast, Dear HBR:, cohosts Alison Beard and Dan McGinn answer your questions with the help of Dorie Clark, the author of Reinventing You: Define Your Brand, Imagine Your Future. They talk through how to change your coworkers’ perception of you, transition to a role outside your area of expertise, or be seen as a leader.

Key episode topics include: career planning, managing yourself, professional networks

Mark Mortensen, a professor of organizational behavior at INSEAD, discusses the research on “multiteaming”—when employees work not only across multiple projects, but multiple teams. It has significant benefits at the individual, team, and organizational levels. Among them: multiteaming saves money. The cost—stretched employees—is hard to see. And that is where the tension, and the risk, lies. Mortensen is the co-author, with Heidi K. Gardner, of “The Overcommitted Organization” in the September–October 2017 issue of Harvard Business Review.

Key episode topics include: collaboration and teams, leading teams, business management, organizational restructuring

Changing jobs is hard. Changing sectors is daunting. You’ve built a network, a reputation, skills, expertise, a firm grasp of how that industry operates. Maybe you even got a related degree or two! And to just leave all that behind…except that, you really are stuck or unfulfilled or simply underpaid.

When it comes to shifting your career, the stakes are high, but so is your potential to succeed. Executive coach Nina Bowman regularly guides people through the process, with all of its uncertainty, time commitment, strategizing, and storytelling. Amy Bernstein speaks with her about making a bold mid-career leap, including how to identify a new path, build connections to land interviews, and tell the story of how you’ll find success in a completely different role.

Then, two listeners who made bold leaps themselves—one from academia to tech, the other from government to consulting—share their experiences and insights.

Key episode topics include: career transitions, career planning, professional networks

Imagine you’re leading a small organization, but you’re struggling to recruit and afford the senior talent you need to grow. You could hire a part-time executive. So-called “fractional leadership” is common in startups and is spreading to other businesses and nonprofits. But while a fast-growing number of senior leaders seek this work arrangement, many companies are unsure of how to go about it.

Tomoko Yokoi and Amy Bonsall are experts on the practice. Yokoi is a researcher at the TONOMUS Global Center for Digital and AI Transformation at IMD Business School. Bonsall is a former executive at IDEO and Old Navy who works as a part-time chief product officer with several organizations. They explain when and how fractional leadership works best—for the individual as well as the organization—and how to do it right. Yokoi and Bonsall wrote the HBR article “How Part-Time Senior Leaders Can Help Your Business.”

Key episode topics include: leadership, human resource management, hiring and recruitment, talent management, entrepreneurial management

No matter how ambitious and talented you are, rising up and out of mid-level management can be slow going for reasons beyond your control. Maybe it’s because your company doesn’t have a business need—or budget—to upgrade your job title and salary from senior to executive. Or maybe it’s because the person in the position you want has been there forever—and has no plans to leave any time soon.

Still, there are plenty of factors that you can control, and cohost Amy Bernstein and her three guests cover them in this episode. Leadership development coach Cynthia Pong first validates the challenges of scoring a position that’s scarce. Then, Lauren Reyes and Megan Bock, both COOs whose careers stagnated in mid-level management before accelerating again, recount the conversations, decisions, and networking that jump-started them

Key episode topics include: leadership, career planning, career transitions, networking, gender, personal growth and transformation

CEOs get a ton of credit or blame for a company’s performance. But the entire leadership team is vital to success, and any dysfunction is often overlooked. Sometimes the CEOs leading them don’t even see that they’re not working. Thomas Keil, management professor at the University of Zurich, and Marianna Zangrillo, a partner at The Next Advisors, have interviewed more than 100 CEOs and senior executives. Their research identifies three main types of failing leadership teams: shark tanks, petting zoos, and mediocracies. And they identify the pitfalls of each pattern and how to turn those teams around. Keil and Zangrillo wrote the HBR article “Why Leadership Teams Fail.”

Key episode topics include: leadership, teams, strategy execution, decision making and problem solving, managing people, change management

Does your organization lack quality leadership? In this episode of HBR’s advice podcast, Dear HBR:, cohosts Alison Beard and Dan McGinn answer your questions with the help of Peter Bregman, the CEO of Bregman Partners and author of the book Leading with Emotional Courage. They talk through what to do when your leaders are indecisive, unprofessional, or value the wrong things.

Key episode topics include: leadership, decision making and problem solving, organizational culture, emotional intelligence

Lots of people’s career timelines go something like this: graduate, get a job, get promoted, and keep climbing until you reach the top. Somewhere along the way, they go on autopilot—accepting each new role as it comes, without much thought. And before they know it, they’re positioned for the C-suite.

This is exactly what happened to Sarah, a woman who’s on the cusp of a C-level role. But like many leaders, she’s reached a point where the logical next step no longer aligns with what really motivates her. If you can relate, you’ll get a lot from this conversation on Coaching Real Leaders—where executive coach Muriel Wilkins helps Sarah figure out if the next step is truly right for her, or if it’s just the one she feels like she’s supposed to take.

Key episode topics include: career transitions, career coaching, leadership, CEOs, executives, promotions