Shasta Nelson, relationship expert and author, says that work friendships are critical to individual and organizational success but acknowledges that it's not always easy to build these personal -- but still professional - connections, especially when work is virtual. She explains why consistency, vulnerability, and positivity are fundamental to friendship and offers specific suggestions for how to build those things with colleagues. Nelson is the author of the book "The Business of Friendship: Making the Most of Our Relationships Where We Spend Most of Our Time."

Bruce Tulgan, founder of the management training firm RainmakerThinking, says that the key to career success isn't only embracing opportunities; it's also declining projects, tasks, and requests for help so you create time for the most value-added work. He explains how to evaluate each ask, determine which you should prioritize, and deliver either a strategic "yes" or a well-thought-through no. Tulgan is the author of the HBR article "Learn When to Say No."

Roger Martin, professor emeritus at the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management, says that for decades the U.S. corporate system has been obsessed with eliminating inefficiencies. There's a point, his research shows, when these efficiency gains come with even greater social and economic costs. And he believes that the Covid-19 pandemic is increasingly exposing those weaknesses. He argues that leaders and CEOs should reassess and, in some ways, reverse course in their perpetual drive for efficiency. Martin is the author of the new book "When More Is Not Better: Overcoming America's Obsession with Economic Efficiency."

Ellen Ernst Kossek, management professor at Purdue University, is researching how the pandemic is putting an enormous strain on working parents and the new challenge that poses for their managers. She shares how supervisors can offer much-needed consistency and predictability for working parents on their teams. She also outlines specific ways to give working parents more flexibility while still holding them accountable. Kossek is the coauthor, with Kelly Schwind Wilson and Lindsay Mechem Rosokha, of the HBR article "What Working Parents Need from Their Managers."

Joseph Fuller, professor at Harvard Business School, and Allison Bailey, senior partner at Boston Consulting Group, say that the Covid-19 pandemic is only accelerating a recent trend of companies turning to digital talent platforms for highly skilled workers. The need for agility and specialized skills has more firms seeking help with projects. Meanwhile, more workers are joining these online marketplaces for the promise of greater flexibility and agency. Fuller and Bailey explain how organizations can strategically employ this on-demand workforce to unlock value. With HBS researcher Manjari Raman and BCG partner Nithya Vaduganathan, they wrote the HBR article "Rethinking the On-Demand Workforce."

Race at Work is an HBR Presents podcast hosted by Porter Braswell about the role race plays in our careers and lives. In this episode, he speaks with Donna Johnson, former chief diversity officer at Mastercard, about leading the charge on changing company culture and how diversity can drive real business results.

Marissa King, professor at Yale School of Management, has studied the strengths and weaknesses of different types of social networks. She argues that most of us have a natural style of networking: we favor tight social circles, or brokering across varied groups, or having an expansive list of contacts. But she says we can also tweak the way we build relationships to meet our changing needs. For example, widening our outreach to boost creativity and innovation or focusing on trusted friends and colleagues to increase trust and happiness. King is the author of the book "Social Chemistry: Decoding the Patterns of Human Connection.”

Josh Baron and Rob Lachenauer, cofounders of BanyanGlobal Family Business Advisors, say that a family-run company has more flexibility than its publicly-traded counterpart to build a legacy and grow sustainably for the long term. But making critical decisions when there are family dynamics can be extremely challenging. They offer approaches to understand the real impact of ownership and effectively manage conflict. Lachenauer and Baron wrote “The Harvard Business Review Family Business Handbook: How to Build and Sustain a Successful, Enduring Enterprise.”

Alison Dachner, management professor at John Carroll University, and Erin Makarius, management professor at the University of Akron, say that an organization can become more competitive by implementing a stronger offboarding process. Their research shows that similar to the way universities maintain alumni networks, an offboarding strategy keeps former employees networked, which leads to more employee referrals, new business, expert consulting, or even re-employment. Dachner and Makarius wrote the HBR article "Turn Departing Employees into Loyal Alumni."

Gorick Ng, career advisor at Harvard, tried to learn about the world of work at an early age, helping his mother search job listings and send out resumes. To launch his own career, he studied hard in school, secured an Ivy League education, and landed a plum job. But he still found himself struggling - as many first-generation college graduates do - because he didn’t understand workplace norms in the way that his (mostly white, middle- to upper-class) peers did. While they'd been taught how to network, angle for promotions, and "speak the language," he was left to figure it out on his own. Now, Ng counsels young people on how to avoid those mistakes and take on their first job in a way that puts them on the fast-track to success. He's the author of the book "The Unspoken Rules: Secrets to Starting Your Career Off Right."

Mary Barra, chair and CEO of General Motors, says that electric vehicles are the future for the company and the automobile industry. GM has said it will phase out vehicles using internal combustion engines by 2035 and go carbon neutral at all of its facilities. Barra describes how she's executing on that plan as well as offering broader leadership lessons in an interview with HBR editor Amy Bernstein.

Ajay Banga, the executive chairman and former CEO of Mastercard, has spearheaded a strategy focused on serving the previously unbanked via new technologies. During his 11-year tenure as president and chief executive, the company tripled revenues, increased net income six-fold, and saw its market cap rise from below $30 billion to more than $300 billion. He attributes this growth to setting ambitious goals, planning for the long term, and ensuring that all employees and customers feel valued.

Daniel Kahneman, Nobel Prize winner and emeritus professor at Princeton University, and Olivier Sibony, professor of strategy at HEC, say that bias isn't the only thing that prevents people and organizations from making good choices. We’re also susceptible to something they call "noise" - variability in calls made by otherwise interchangeable professionals and even by the same person at a different time or day. But the solution isn’t necessarily taking humans out of the equation with artificial intelligence. There are ways to combat noise, and leaders should take steps to do so. Kahneman and Sibony are the coauthors, along with Cass Sunstein, of the book "Noise: A Flaw In Human Judgment."

When Japan's most famous CEO is suddenly arrested, conflicts are revealed in the Renault-Nissan Alliance he led for two decades. Then Carlos Ghosn jumps bail by stowing away in a private jet to Lebanon. Ghosn's daring escape raises new questions about his alleged financial misconduct — and the corporate system that kept him in power.

After Carlos Ghosn’s dramatic turnaround at Nissan, profits soar and Ghosnmania sweeps Japan. But signs of trouble emerge as Ghosn takes over as the CEO of both Renault and Nissan in 2005. Then Ghosn’s high pay creates controversy in Japan and France. This second episode of a four-part series explores Ghosn’s leadership style and how it contributes to his eventual downfall.

A decade into Ghosn’s tenure, Nissan starts missing his goals for growth, profits, and electric vehicle sales. Then a devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan and a self-made crisis at Renault in France test Ghosn’s leadership. Who is holding Ghosn accountable? This third episode of a four-part series explores the cracks that appear in Ghosn’s track record.

Suddenly powerless in Tokyo prison after his arrest, Carlos Ghosn plans an audacious escape and flees Japan while out on bail. Out of reach of Japanese authorities, the once celebrated CEO of Nissan and Renault defends his legacy as he faces new investigations by French and other authorities. This final episode of a special, four-part series features Ghosn himself and examines whether system failures contributed to his downfall. Who gave Carlos Ghosn such extraordinary power? What can we learn from his story?

Susan McPherson, communications consultant, says many people feel strange reconnecting in person with colleagues after an extended period working in physical isolation. To help shake off the rust, she offers simple tips in a “Gather, Ask, Do” method. It's not just about networking, she says, but about finding simple connection points with others that can truly help you succeed. McPherson is the author of the book "The Lost Art of Connecting."

Eva Ascarza, professor at Harvard Business School, studies customer analytics and finds that many companies investing in artificial intelligence fail to improve their marketing decisions. Why is AI falling flat when it comes to this key lever for profit? She says the main reasons are that organizations neglect to ask the right questions, weigh the value of being right with the cost of being wrong, and leverage the improving abilities of AI to change how companies make decisions overall. With London Business School’s Bruce G.S. Hardie and Michael Ross, Ascarza wrote the HBR article "Why You Aren’t Getting More from Your Marketing AI."

When it comes to work, it's easy to focus on the near term: the next meeting, project, promotion. The global pandemic pushed many of us even further into heads-down mode. But Dorie Clark, author of the book The Long Game: How to Be a Long-Term Thinker in a Short-term World, wants everyone to step back, take a breath, and start thinking longer term about what you really want to do and how to progress toward those goals. She offers advice on how to ignore social media distractions, balance priorities, cultivate patience, and make the right strategic decisions. Clark also wrote the HBR article "Feeling Stuck or Stymied."

Companies pay disproportionately high salaries to CEOs and other high-powered professionals willing to live and breathe their jobs, on-call 24/7, ready to pick up and travel. It's a phenomenon Harvard historian and economist Claudia Goldin calls "greedy work" and she says it's a big reason why the pay gap between men and women persists -- because the people typically tasked with caring for kids, the house, or elderly parents simply can't put in as much time and energy at the office. However, she notes, there are signs of change, with younger generations demanding better balance.

Companies around the world are struggling to fill open positions, while millions of unemployed people look for work. What's going on? Zeynep Ton, professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management, says that organizations need to start offering better jobs. While old-school management thinking argued for paying workers only as much money as the market dictated and squeezing every last bit of efficiency out of them to maximize profits, the 21st century requires a new approach. This starts with higher wages but also includes more predictability and flexibility. In the wake of the global pandemic that brought essential workers to the forefront, Ton explains what companies have done - and can do - to create more good jobs in society.

Heidi Grant, a motivational psychologist, has studied successful people and what makes them tick. In this classic episode, she and former host Sarah Green Carmichael discuss the behaviors of high achievers and how to incorporate them into your own life and work. Grant is the author of the HBR article and e-book "Nine Things Successful People Do Differently.”

Looking at business news and stock market coverage over the past decade (including a few HBR articles), you'd think that just about every traditional, old-economy company has fallen prey -- or will soon -- to tech-focused competitors. But London Business School's Julian Birkinshaw says that story of disruption and destruction is overblown. His research into Fortune 500 and Global 500 organizations shows that, despite the rise of a few tech giants like Amazon and Google, many industries haven't been radically remade and that many older incumbents are still standing strong. He outlines the strategies they've used to do so, from fighting back to reinvention. Birkinshaw is the author of the HBR article “How Incumbents Survive and Thrive.”

"No regrets" might be a popular modern-day mantra, but it's virtually impossible to live your life without wishing you could do certain things over. Some people try to ignore these feelings; others wallow in them. But author Dan Pink, who recently conducted large U.S. and global surveys on this phenomenon, says the right approach is to instead carefully consider what we regret and why so that we can either reverse course or make better decisions in the future, as well as putting them behind us. Whether you're frustrated by bad career moves you've made, business ideas you didn't pursue, or relationships you've let falter, these regrets can be useful tools for personal growth. Pink's new book is “The Power of Regret: How Looking Backward Moves Us Forward.”

Politics has traditionally been a taboo topic to discuss on the job. But as people get more vocal about their views -- on everything from from climate change to racial justice, elections to invasions -- it's increasingly hard to keep debate out of the workplace. And that can lead to conflicts between colleagues. Julia Minson of the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and Francesca Gino of Harvard Business School have studied how political polarization is affecting organizations and have advice on handling the challenges it presents. Together, they wrote the HBR article “Managing A Polarized Workforce: How to Foster Debate and Promote Trust.”

It's a cliche, but they say it's best to write what you know. That was the case for comedian Sarah Cooper, who rose to viral social media fame in the Trump era through her lip sync TikTok videos. She formerly worked at Yahoo and Google, and she found her way into comedy, in part, by looking at and pointing out the absurdities of corporate culture. She speaks about how humor helped her manage a team, why she took the big risk to quit her job, and how she's navigating the new work world of Hollywood. Cooper is the author of the forthcoming audio book "Let's Catch Up Soon: How I Won Friends and Influenced People Against My Will."

In eras past, the United States welcomed immigrant laborers to build and support the country's infrastructure and innovators and entrepreneurs to advance its businesses and technology. And yet immigration is a hot-button issue today, with many saying it's a drain on the U.S. economy. Ran Abramitzky, a professor at Stanford University, and Leah Boustan, a professor at Princeton, looked at decades of data to understand the real impact that immigrants and their descendants have on America today. Their findings dispel several modern-day myths and suggest that not just political but also corporate leaders need to push for more rational rhetoric and policies. Abramitzky and Boustan are the authors of "Streets of Gold: America's Untold Story of Immigrant Success."

No industry has had more impact than technology over the past few decades. Tech companies have changed the way we live, work, and interact with each other. They’ve helped us in a lot of ways, but they’ve also created some big problems. Kara Swisher is a journalist, entrepreneur, and host of the podcast On with Kara Swisher. She’s had a front row seat to the tech industry’s evolution and interviewed all of its biggest players. She speaks with us about key trends — past, present, and future — and the lessons she’s learned as not just an observer but also a media entrepreneur herself along the way.

In 2021, the U.S. space agency NASA launched a spacecraft toward a pair of asteroids more than 11 million kilometers away. The target? The smaller of the two asteroids, just 170 meters wide. The success of the $300 million, seven-year project demanded careful coordination of scientists, engineers, and project managers across different national space agencies. It also required strong leadership from NASA's head of science, Thomas Zurbuchen. He shares his path to an executive role at NASA, his management philosophies, and how he oversees trailblazing space missions with high risk of failure.

The idea that maximizing shareholder value takes legal and practical precedence above all else first came to prominence in the 1970s. The person who arguably did the most to advance the idea was the business school professor Michael Jensen, who wrote in Harvard Business Review and elsewhere that CEOs pursue their own interests at the expense of shareholders' interests. Among other things, he argued for stock-based incentives that would neatly align CEO and shareholder interests. Shareholder primacy rapidly became business orthodoxy. It dramatically changed how and how much executives are compensated. And it arguably distorted capitalism for a generation or more. Critics have long charged that maximizing shareholder value ultimately just encourages CEOs and shareholders to feather their own nests at the expense of everything else: jobs, wages and benefits, communities, and the environment. The past few years have seen a backlash against shareholder capitalism and the rise of so-called stakeholder capitalism. After reigning supreme for half a century, is shareholder value maximization on its way out? 4 Business Ideas That Changed the World is a special series from HBR IdeaCast. Each week, an HBR editor talks to world-class scholars and experts on the most influential ideas of HBR’s first 100 years, such as disruptive innovation, scientific management, and emotional intelligence. Discussing shareholder value with HBR editor in chief Adi Ignatius are: Lynn Paine, professor at Harvard Business School Mihir Desai, professor at Harvard Business School Carola Frydman, professor at Kellogg School of Management Further reading: HBR: CEO Incentives—It’s Not How Much You Pay, But How, by Michael C. Jensen and Kevin J. Murphy New York Times: A Friedman doctrine‐- The Social Responsibility Of Business Is to Increase Its Profits, by Milton Friedman HBR: The Error at the Heart of Corporate Leadership, by Joseph L. Bower and Lynn S. Paine U.S. Business Roundtable: Statement on the Purpose of a Corporation, 2019

Managing rapid growth is a huge challenge for young businesses. Even start-ups with glowing reviews and skyrocketing sales can fail. That’s because new ventures and corporate initiatives alike have to sustain profitability at scale, according to Harvard Business School senior lecturer Jeffrey Rayport. He has researched some of the biggest stumbling blocks to long-lasting success and explains how to make the tricky transition out of the start-up phase successfully. With professors Davide Sola and Martin Kupp of ESCP Business School, Rayport cowrote the HBR article “The Overlooked Key to a Successful Scale-Up.”

For decades, actor-producer-director Ron Howard has made popular and critically acclaimed movies while also maintaining a reputation for being one of the nicest guys in Hollywood. He explains how he turned early TV gigs into long-term success and why he often involves his cast and crew members in creative decisions. His latest film is Thirteen Lives.

Whether you're someone who enjoys ruffling feathers or the type of person who'd like to challenge the status quo but shies away, you'll benefit from understanding the best, research--backed ways to practice disagreement - even insubordination - while holding onto others' respect at work. Todd Kashdan is a psychology professor at George Mason University and the author of the book The Art of Insubordination: How to Dissent and Defy Effectively. He explains how contrarians, and those with ideas that run counter to the mainstream, can pick their battles, articulate their arguments, and gain allies along the way.

Unless you're famous - or want to be - you might not think of yourself as a brand. But whether you're in a meeting or on social media, interviewing for a job or asking for a promotion, the way you carry yourself conveys a certain image to the people around you. Jill Avery studies marketing and is a senior lecturer at Harvard Business School, and Rachel Greenwald is a professional matchmaker and dating coach. Together, they explain why a strong personal brand is important for professional success. They walk us through how to think about reputation, identify core values, and project our authentic selves. Avery and Greenwald wrote the HBR article “A New Approach to Building Your Personal Brand.”

The use of artificial intelligence and specifically generative AI is growing rapidly, and tech giants like Google have an important role to play in how that technology gets adopted and developed. Sundar Pichai is the CEO of Google as well as its parent company Alphabet, which he's led as an AI-first company for several years. He speaks with HBR editor in chief Adi Ignatius about shaping Google's AI strategy, putting safeguards in place, and how work and leadership will change as AI advances.

Most of us can point to a few key people who have made a real difference in our lives and careers - a family member, a coach, a boss. And many who get that kind of mentoring build on the lessons they learn to become leaders and role models themselves. Basketball star Chris Paul is a prime example. He had the support of a tight-knit family growing up, was mentored by a great coach in college, and as an NBA rookie looked to league veterans for guidance. Now, at age 38, he's the seasoned vet, a perennial All-Star across multiple teams who led the National Basketball Players Association from 2013 through the 2020 Covid-19 crisis and racial reckoning in the United States and is widely regarded as one of the best point guards of all time. Paul's new book is "Sixty-One: Life Lessons from Papa, On and Off the Court." Note: This episode was taped before the start of the 2023 NBA playoffs.

Companies plan for crises and aim to be resilient and adaptive in the face of all kinds of risks, but it’s always easier said than done. And perhaps none of these threats is as serious as war. That’s what Roman Rodomansky had to prepare his company for. He’s the cofounder and COO at Ralabs, a Ukrainian software development company. As Russia prepared to invade his home country, Rodomansky and his leadership team crafted a plan to survive and keep serving clients. He shares how his firm put people first, communicated with customers, and managed to become resilient. Rodomansky wrote the HBR article “A Cofounder of Ralabs on Leading a Ukrainian Start-Up Through a Year of War.”

It is now accepted wisdom that increasing the diversity of your workforce in any dimension can improve both organizational culture and performance. But one group — people living with intellectual, developmental, and physical disabilities — continues to be overlooked by many companies. Luisa Alemany, associate professor at London Business School, has studied workplaces that do recruit and hire employees with disabilities and found that it can be a true source of competitive advantage. She explains four main ways this talent strategy benefits the firm. She’s the coauthor, along with Freek Vermeulen, of the HBR article “Disability as a Source of Competitive Advantage.”

For a long time, conventional wisdom ruled that companies should avoid reselling their own products in used condition. There’s the threat of cannibalization, marketing confusion, and tricky logistics that can erase margins. But more name-brand retailers are jumping into resale, says Wharton marketing professor Tom Robertson. Thanks in part to Gen Z with its zeal for sustainability, he says consumer demand is rising fast for reused goods. He sees a revolution where brands cash in on resale, knowing that if they don’t own those customer relationships and sales, others will. Robertson wrote the HBR article “The Resale Revolution.”

A growing number of companies are mandating office time for employees and structuring hybrid work under broad, rigid rules. But pushing people into the office is a mistake, argues Kimberly Shells, a senior director in the Gartner HR practice. She shares research showing how much flexibility and autonomy and belonging workers want. And Shells says organizations can still foster those qualities in an in-person office culture that also improves productivity and collaboration. She explains that companies should follow through on a clear purpose and craft policies that allow for options, flexibility, offsite team-building events, and support services such as on-site childcare. Shells cowrote the HBR article “Return-to-Office Plans Don’t Have to Undermine Employee Autonomy.”

Most good bosses know that they should schedule regular one-on-ones with each of their team members. But fewer know exactly how to manage these meetings well, in part because organizations rarely offer relevant training. Steven Rogelberg, Chancellor's Professor at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, has spent years researching the best way to prepare for, structure, engage in, and follow up on one-on-ones. He says they're a key way to boost performance, and offers tips for ensuring that we all get more out of them. Rogelberg is author of the book Glad We Met: The Art and Science of 1:1 Meetings.

Research shows that happiness bottoms out for people in their mid to late 40s. We might struggle with mid-career slumps, caring for both children and aging parents, and existential questions about whether everything has turned out as we'd planned. But Chip Conley says we can approach this phase of our personal and profesional lives with a different perspective. He's a former hospitality industry CEO and founder of the Modern Elder Academy, and he explains how to reframe our thinking about middle age, find new energy, and become more fulfilled and successful people at work and home. Conley wrote the book Learning to Love Midlife: 12 Reasons Why Life Gets Better with Age.

Organizations too often subject their employees and customers to unnecessary friction that creates inefficiency and causes frustration. But, in some situations, friction can be a positive force, spurring more innovation and better decision-making. So how do you reduce the bad kind and embrace the good?  Stanford professors Bob Sutton and Huggy Rao have studied this problem for seven years and offer strategies for leaders at every level to help them recognize when friction is needed or not and then add or subtract accordingly. They share ample examples of people and companies getting it right. Sutton and Rao are the authors of The Friction Project: How Smart Leaders Make the Right Things Easier and the Wrong Things Harder, as well as the HBR article, "Rid Your Organization of Obstacles that Infuriate Everyone."

The coauthor of the classic book Getting to Yes has new advice on how to negotiate, designed for a world that feels more conflicted than ever. William Ury, cofounder of Harvard’s Program on Negotiation, has come to learn that the biggest obstacle in a negotiation is often yourself—not your opponent. Ury, who also coined the term BATNA, explains the latest thinking from his research and consulting. He shares his tried-and-true methods for overcoming yourself to negotiate better outcomes at work and in life. Ury wrote the new book Possible: How We Survive (and Thrive) in an Age of Conflict.

Few leaders have been trained to ask great questions. That might explain why they tend to be good at certain kinds of questions, and less effective at other kinds. Unfortunately, that hurts their ability to pursue strategic priorities. Arnaud Chevallier, strategy professor at IMD Business School, explains how leaders can break out of that rut and systematically ask five kinds of questions: investigative, speculative, productive, interpretive, and subjective. He shares real-life examples of how asking the right sort of question at a key time can unlock value and propel your organization. With his IMD colleagues Frédéric Dalsace and Jean-Louis Barsoux, Chevallier wrote the HBR article "The Art of Asking Smarter Questions."

Managing technology has never been more challenging. HBR IdeaCast’s new special series, Tech at Work, offers research, stories, and advice to make technology work for you and your team. This week: how digital marketers are preparing for the end of third-party cookies—and what this change means for the open Internet.

Disruption and transformation at the new normal in nearly every industry. So how do you stay ahead of the curve?  Over the past four decades, Bonnie Hammer  successfully adapted to massive changes in the media industry, rising from production assistant to leadership roles in broadcast, cable, and streaming. Now vice chair of NBCUniversal, she has advice on how to get noticed, acquire the right skillsets, make smart decisions, and adjust to shifting corporate and market dynamics. She's the author of the book 15 Lies Women Are Told at Work: ...and the Truth We Need to Succeed.

After 15 years leading the parent company of 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 multinational executive. Novak outlines three main areas for learning: from your own life experiences, from the people and situations available right now, and from the habit of curiosity. Above all, he says the most effective leaders turn their learnings into action, something that takes insight and practice. Novak’s new book is How Leaders Learn: Master the Habits of the World's Most Successful People.

Darius Rucker has reached the top of the music charts in not just one but two genres: first as the lead singer of the 1990s band Hootie and the Blowfish, then in a second act as a solo country star. He shares lessons on following your passion, staying humble, working your way up, and defying stereotypes and expectations. He's the author of a new memoir Life's Too Short.