HBR On Leadership

Over her career, Simmons University President Lynn Perry Wooten has studied crisis leadership and managing uncertainty. Her most recent book, The Prepared Leader, breaks down successful strategies for navigating crises—whether it’s a pandemic or a viral customer complaint. She taught leaders how to deal with these predicaments during a master class at HBR’s Future of Business Conference in 2023.

Key episode topics include: crisis management, managing uncertainty, leadership qualities, leadership

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

• Learn more about HBR’s “Future of Business” virtual conference (November 2023)
• Find more Harvard Business Review live events
• Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org.

Being the most knowledgeable and experienced person on your team can seem advantageous. However, Sydney Finkelstein, an expert in leadership and talent development, warns that expertise can lead you astray in two significant ways: it may stifle your curiosity about new developments and foster overconfidence in your problem-solving abilities.

In this episode, Finkelstein explores these pitfalls and proposes a crucial supplement to expertise: the importance of becoming more humble and open-minded. He also offers research-backed advice on how to cultivate these qualities as a leader.

Finkelstein is a professor at Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business and the author of the book Superbosses: How Exceptional Leaders Master the Flow of Talent.

Key episode topics include: leadership, leadership qualities, emotional intelligence, ambition, humility, listening skills, learning, Steve Jobs.

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.

· Listen to the original HBR IdeaCast episode: Avoiding the Expertise Trap (2019)

· Find more episodes of HBR IdeaCast.

· Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org.

How can you tell if you’re on your company’s leadership fast track?

Jay Conger, a leadership professor at Claremont McKenna College, notes that many organizations quietly maintain and update lists of high-potential employees.

In this episode, he offers advice for what to do if you suspect you’re on the list. In addition, Conger shares his research on the five critical “X factors” that distinguish high-potential employees. Discover what these traits are and how you can leverage them to enhance your career.

Key episode topics include: leadership, career planning, developing employees, leadership development, talent management.

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.

· Listen to the original HBR IdeaCast episode: Does Your Firm See You as a High Potential? (2018)

· Find more episodes of HBR IdeaCast.

· Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org.

Popular stereotypes of successful CEOs as charismatic white men with Ivy League degrees who never falter under pressure are often misleading.

“[T]he CEOs I get to know up close and personal really look nothing like this image of perfection. And so we decided to dig into this with the data,” says Elena Botelho, who co-leads the CEO Genome Project and advises top leaders.

Botelho tells IdeaCast host Sarah Green Carmichael that actual success in the C-suite has more to do with being decisive, staying adaptable, and delivering reliable results.

Key topics include: leadership development, leadership transitions, decisiveness, adaptability, and results.

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.

Listen to the original HBR IdeaCast episode: 4 Behaviors of Top-Performing CEOs (May 2017)

Find more episodes of HBR IdeaCast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/hbr-ideacast/id152022135?mt=2

Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more: https://hbr.org/

Do you have an employee who just gets on your nerves?

In this episode, Dear HBR cohosts Alison Beard and Dan McGinn answer listener questions with the help of Art Markman, former professor of psychology at the University of Texas at Austin and now the school’s Senior Vice Provost for Academic Affairs.

They talk through how to manage someone who is difficult, overly polite, or passive aggressive. Markman also offers advice for how to give your initial feedback and then follow up. He also has tips for coaching an employee who needs to improve their communication skills.

Key episode topics include: leadership, managing people, managing conflicts, 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.

· Listen to the original Dear HBR episode: Annoying Subordinates (2018)

· Find more episodes of Dear HBR.

· Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org.