HBR IdeaCast

Mar 18 2025 650 ep. 23 mins 183.3k

HBR IdeaCast Podcast artwork

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

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When Sales Incentives Backfire

Mar 18 2025 24 mins

Sales commissions act as a crucial lever to increase revenue and customers. But sometimes those incentives bring unintended consequences. New research identifies eight ways that salespeople across industries cheat or bend the rules to maximize their gain—often at the expense of the company's bottom line and customer loyalty. Huntsman School of Business professor Timothy Gardner a

Are You an Inspirational Leader?

Mar 11 2025 24 mins

What does it take to really energize people and motivate them toward a goal? Inspirational leadership might seem idiosyncratic and hard to quantify, but, according to Adam Galinsky, professor at Columbia Business School, it involves three key elements: having a vision, setting an example, and mentoring. His research shows this is true across industries and geographies, and he offer

Stop Multitasking and Try Timeboxing

Mar 04 2025 24 mins

There are all kinds of productivity tools out there promising to help you make the most of your day. Some people swear by timeboxing: the method of reserving time on your calendar each day for each task you want to get done, and then truly focusing on that one thing at a time. The return on merging your to-do list with your calendar like this, says Marc Zao-Sanders, is higher produ

How Leaders Can Encourage Learning

Feb 25 2025 27 mins

In an age of rapidly changing technology, it’s more important than ever for organizations to effectively support employee learning. Gianpiero Petriglieri, associate professor at INSEAD, has studied leaders who do this well and says they fall into three categories: custodians, challengers, or connectors. He explains which type of learning leader works best in which contexts and ho

The Consumer Psychology of Adopting AI

Feb 18 2025 27 mins

Despite all the ways that artificial intelligence promises to improve our lives, many consumers feel anxious and are averse to AI-powered products and services. For marketers and product managers, it’s vital to understand what is driving that resistance to adoption. Julian De Freitas is an assistant professor in the marketing unit at Harvard Business School. He has identified fiv

If DEI Programs Aren’t Effective, What Is?

Feb 11 2025 29 mins

Amid the backlash against diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in the United States and elsewhere, leaders in both the public and private sectors are reevaluating their organizations' policies and goals. While many employers and employees still value and support DEI, a growing chorus argues that such programs run counter to meritocratic ideals. Iris Bohnet and Siri Ch

What the EV Industry’s Challenges Reveal About Innovation and Regulation

Feb 04 2025 26 mins

Many consumers are buying electric vehicles, thanks to sportscar-like performance, government incentives, and personal motivations to minimize climate change. But the EV industry overall has revved and sputtered in unpredictable ways and offers a case study in managing innovation, regulation, and competition. Mike Colias, deputy bureau chief at The Wall Street Journal, explains the

Employment Is Changing Forever

Jan 28 2025 29 mins

As organizations and workers face a new wave of technological change, Deborah Perry Piscione argues that we're at a pivot point where old models of employment will be replaced by entirely new ones. Get ready for GenAI-assisted, decentralized, sometimes autonomous workforces, and “jobs” that span gigs, companies, industries, geographies, and the metaverse. Piscione describes thi

To Fix Broken Work Systems, You Need to Reset

Jan 21 2025 30 mins

If you've ever tried to change things at work, you know the headwinds you face. Teams and processes are often trapped in longstanding, ineffective patterns that are hard to budge. Dan Heath, senior fellow at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, explains proven techniques to reset. Those include making the problem visible, jolting incremental progress to start gaining tract

How to Get Better at Saying No

Jan 14 2025 27 mins

Our families, schools, and workplaces often train us to comply: taking on additional work when asked, agreeing with the group's consensus, and going along to get along with our bosses and colleagues. So, even when we're told to "think different" and "embrace conflict," we often hold ourselves back. But when individuals learn to say no more often, it can have huge benefits for their