What distinguishes a leader? How do you know if you’re ready to lead? And how do you make the transition into a leadership role?

The shift from being part of a team to leading one isn’t like flipping a switch. It’s a process, and it can be awkward. It can be especially difficult your identity differs from other leaders in your organization — for example, if you’re a young leader in an organization dominated by older leaders, or a woman in a male-dominated organization.

In this episode, two leadership coaches, Amy Su and Muriel Wilkins of Paravis Partners, explain how to develop a leadership presence that’s both authentic to you and resonates with others. You’ll also learn some deeper questions to ask yourself during your transition into leadership.

Key episode topics include: leadership, gender, authenticity, leadership presence, transitions, influencing others, leadership style, leadership journey.

HBR On Leadership curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.

In early 2003, the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated as it re-entered the earth’s atmosphere. All seven astronauts on board were killed.

This was not the first NASA mission to end in disaster, and it inspired Harvard Business School professor Amy Edmondson to write a business case about what went wrong.

Edmondson studies psychological safety and organizational learning. Her most recent book is Right Kind of Wrong: The Science of Failing Well.

In this episode, she breaks down the organizational challenges within NASA that contributed to the Columbia tragedy, offering a window into the organization’s leadership. Edmondson also shares lessons for all leaders about the dangers of unyielding hierarchy and of failing to listen to dissenting voices.

Key episode topics include: leadership, managing people, organizational culture, operations and supply chain management, NASA, hierarchy, science.

HBR On Leadership curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.

In 1863, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln wrote a scathing letter to his top Union general, who had squandered an opportunity to end the American Civil War. Then Lincoln folded it up and tucked it away in his desk.

The letter was never signed and sent—just one example of how Lincoln’s legendary emotional discipline enabled him to rise above mundane arguments and focus on a larger mission.

In this episode, Harvard Business School professor and historian Nancy Koehn analyzes Lincoln’s leadership both before and during America’s greatest crisis.

You’ll learn how emotional self-control can impact your day-to-day leadership as well as your long-term legacy.

Key episode topics include: leadership, crisis management, decision making and problem solving, government, American history, emotional discipline, communication.

HBR On Leadership curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.

Growing up in the heart of the Confederacy, Maggie Lena Walker started work as a laundress at age nine. At the urging of her mother and mentors, she turned to education, and used it to propel her life forward — graduating high school at 16, working as a teacher, and learning accounting.

Those experiences, coupled with her strong work ethic, culminated in Walker rising to lead the Independent Order of St. Luke and found several other businesses, all of which created jobs and opportunities for many women and Blacks people where there had been none before.

In this episode, Harvard Business School senior lecturer Tony Mayo traces Walker’s approach to leadership on her journey to becoming the first female bank president in America.

You’ll learn how she led the turnaround of the Order of St. Luke starting in 1899 by cutting costs, increasing membership, and launching new businesses that catered to unmet needs in Richmond’s Black community. You’ll also learn how Walker relied on her personal networks and deep local roots to overcome challenges rooted in systemic racism throughout her career.

Key episode topics include: leadership, managing people, entrepreneurship, race, gender, Independent Order of St. Luke. 

HBR On Leadership curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.

Most of us can point to a few key people who have made a real difference in our lives and careers—the coach who pushed you to outperform, the teacher whose passion for a subject inspired your own, or the boss who showed you what it is to be a leader at work.

In this episode, NBA star Chris Paul shares how his own mentors guided him through the early years of his professional basketball career and helped him develop his leadership skills on and off the court.

Paul is regarded as one of the best point guards of all time and led the National Basketball Players Association from 2013 to 2021. He shares what he’s learned about mentorship and leadership—and the important role communication skills play in enabling both. He also explains how to communicate with colleagues in a high-pressure situation and why it’s so important to listen to the people you lead. 

Key episode topics include: leadership, teams, power and influence, leading teams, organizational culture, basketball, sports. 

HBR On Leadership curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.

Do you have a difficult employee on your team— someone who might be underperforming or resistant to taking feedback? Do you know how to help them?

Melvin Smith says that coaching can be harder than you realize. First you must figure out which approach will work well for that specific employee. But you also need to know how to measure the success of your coaching and when it’s time to move on to other options—like performance management.

In this episode, he takes questions from listeners who are struggling to coach some of their employees. He offers advice for what to do when your new employee is slacking off, or when they’re struggling to adjust to your organization’s culture and communication style. He also has suggestions for coaching two direct reports who are in conflict with each other.

Smith is a professor at the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University and coauthor of the book Helping People Change: Coaching with Compassion for Lifelong Learning and Growth.

Key episode topics include: leadership, careers, career coaching, managing people, organizational culture, difficult conversations.

HBR On Leadership curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.

Making business decisions often means choosing one path over another—but that doesn’t always need to be the case. Wendy Smith and Marianne Lewis argue that leaders should move beyond “either/or” choices and try to come up with solutions that embrace ambiguity and paradox.

In this episode, you’ll learn how to reframe the question you’re asking in order to get more creative answers. You’ll also learn how to shift your own internal thinking away from oppositional relationships and instead focus on interdependencies.

Smith is a management professor at the University of Delaware, and Lewis is dean of the University of Cincinnati Lindner College of Business. Together they’re coauthors of the book Both/And Thinking: Embracing Creative Tensions to Solve Your Toughest Problems.

Key episode topics include: leadership, decision making and problem solving, tradeoffs, reframing.

HBR On Leadership curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.

You’re probably familiar with the term “psychological safety.” But do you know what it really means?

HBR contributing editor and workplace conflict expert Amy Gallo says both the idea and the value of psychological safety are commonly misunderstood. Gallo cohosts HBR’s Women at Work podcast, and her most recent book is Getting Along: How to Work with Anyone (Even Difficult People).

In this episode, you’ll learn how to define psychological safety, how to figure out if your team has it, and what to do if it doesn’t.

Key episode topics include: leadership, organizational culture, psychology, teams, leading teams, psychological safety, emotional intelligence. 

HBR On Leadership curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.

Many of us manage projects—even if “project manager” isn’t in our official job title. We try to learn the basics as we go: how to manage multiple stakeholders, adapt as circumstances change, and set realistic deadlines. It’s not easy, and it’s no wonder that people get certified in project management: it’s a discipline that’s surprisingly deep, from planning to close-out.

In this episode, you’ll hear from a former clinical social worker who recently pivoted to project management and has already experienced several of the most common challenges, including uncertainty, interpersonal conflict, and lack of responsiveness from the team. She talks with Tamara McLemore, an experienced project manager who shares tips for motivating and influencing others, communicating effectively, and solving problems.

You’ll also learn how to use some essential project managements tools, like a project charter and a work breakdown structure, as well as how to divide any project into four core phases and then work through them effectively.

Key episode topics include: leadership, project management, leading teams, motivating people, agile, communication, collaboration.

HBR On Leadership curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.

Mountains are often used as metaphors for the challenges that arise in business and leadership. But when Rick Ridgeway compares mountaineering to risk management, he’s speaking from deep experience navigating both the boardroom and some of the world’s highest slopes.

Ridgeway is an outdoor adventurer, writer, and advocate for sustainability and conservation initiatives. He’s also the former vice president of environmental initiatives at Patagonia.

In this episode, Ridgeway explains why good communication, ambitious goal setting, and meticulous planning are essential in both mountaineering and business. He also emphasizes the importance of recruiting a strong team — whether you’re leading an uphill battle to make apparel manufacturing more sustainable or summiting K2. (Spoiler alert: Ridgeway has done both.)

Key episode topics include: leadership, sustainable business, environmental sustainability.

HBR On Leadership curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.