HBR IdeaCast

HBR IdeaCast

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

Episodes

July 16, 2026 31 mins
How do you reinvigorate a legacy company without losing what made it great? In this special episode, as part of the recent HBR Leadership Summit 2026, AT&T CEO John Stankey shares how he refocused AT&T's strategy on connectivity and simultaneously transformed its culture. He explains how he encouraged team members to adopt a more customer-led, market-driven mindset, integrate AI to reshape their products and performance, an...
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What does it take to succeed in an enterprise-level leadership role today? Michael Watkins, professor at IMD and author of the book The First 90 Days, says that the leap from functional or business line manager to a more senior position is tricker than ever owing to three factors: AI, geopolitical complexity, and compressed leadership pipelines. He explains what that means for executives aspiring to make the transition and outline...
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How do you take a young, purpose-led company to the next level? In this special episode, as part of the recent HBR Leadership Summit 2026, The Honest Company CEO Carla Vernón shares how she leveraged the powerful reputation and loyal customers of the mission-driven consumer brand to turn the company around. Facing shrinking margins, limited cash, and growing pressure from Wall Street to consistently profit, Vernón worked to build t...
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Many organizations are investing heavily in AI, but too few are asking the most important question: What problem are we actually trying to solve? Journalist and author Josh Tyrangiel argues that successful AI adoption has far less to do with choosing the right model and far more to do with identifying the right business challenge—and following through. He shares why executives should resist the pressure to become "AI-native" ...
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How do you reinvent an 80-year-old company without losing what made it successful in the first place? In this special episode, as part of the recent HBR Leadership Summit 2026, Mattel CEO Ynon Kreiz explains how he transformed the iconic toy maker into an IP-driven entertainment company that creates movies, games, live experiences, and digital products alongside its toys. He shares how simplifying strategy, reshaping talent, and fo...
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When the stakes are high and the clock is ticking, how do great leaders make the right call? Sports performance consultant Alan McCall and sports scientist Johann Bilsborough say that leaders can improve decision-making before, during, and after critical moments, based on lessons they've learned from elite sports coaches. They share research on why preparation matters more than instinct, how to filter signal from noise, and why tru...
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Most leaders know they need to innovate, but many take a strong instinct and hold too tightly to an idea, rather than testing, experimenting, and playing to find the best solution. Mark Pincus, founder of Zynga, argues that by approaching product development with more curiosity, humility, and experimentation, leaders can improve their odds of building something people truly love. He shares lessons from launching hit products, scali...
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June 16, 2026 20 mins
Most leaders assume that when employees break rules, punishment is the answer. But according to researcher Michael Gill, associate professor at the University of Oxford Saïd Business School, that mindset overlooks a crucial reality: not all rule breaking is self-serving, and some of it may actually help organizations perform better. He explains his research synthesizing more than 250 studies and details the four main motivations be...
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Meetings are one of the biggest drains on time, energy, and morale at work, yet most managers are never actually taught how to run them well. Paul English, cofounder of Kayak, argues that organizations underestimate just how costly bad meetings can be. He says meeting culture is one of the most overlooked drivers of productivity, morale, and organizational effectiveness. Drawing on lessons from companies like Amazon, LinkedIn, Airb...
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What does it take to manage a complex global institution when change is constant and resources are scarce? For Kelly T. Clements, Deputy High Commissioner at the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), it's about building resilient teams, partnering across sectors, and balancing operational efficiency with humanity. In her more than a decade with the agency, Clements has helped steer key reforms in challenging circumstances, and she shares less...
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Why do so many organizations lose their way as they grow? Eric Ries, entrepreneur and author, says that corruption inside companies rarely begins with bad people or dramatic scandals. More often, it emerges slowly, through broken incentives, unchecked bureaucracy, and systems that reward the wrong behaviors. He explains why even successful organizations drift from their values, and what companies can do to stay adaptable, trustwort...
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Why do we replay cryptic emails, small workplace slights, and past business decisions over and over in our heads? Science journalist Donna Jackson Nakazawa has looked deep into the research and discovered the hidden brain mechanisms that get us into these loops. She explains why a need for achievement, as well as modern work culture, make the problem worse. And she shares practical techniques for recognizing when reflection has cro...
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Why do so many organizational change efforts stall or flat out fail? Julia Dhar, managing director and partner at Boston Consulting Group, says the problem often isn’t strategy, it’s behavior. Leaders spend enormous time designing change, but far less understanding whether employees are willing, motivated, and equipped to adopt it. She shares research around how leaders can create genuine alignment, and what it takes to...
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What if the biggest barrier to change isn’t resistance—but the way we’ve been taught to lead? Nilofer Merchant, an author and leadership expert, says a number of habits are holding organizations of all sizes back. She walks through behaviors to adapt and not just survive but thrive in a world of continuous change, including normalizing discomfort, not overlooking your best ideas, and separating confidence from com...
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Many senior leaders say they want an organization filled with psychological safety and candor, but they often act in ways that are counterproductive to that goal. Charles Duhigg, an author and researcher, has looked deeply into the secrets of good communication, and says there are specific things leaders can do to improve their relationships at work, and thus the culture of the organization. He shares practical, research-backed str...
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A small percentage of teams perform exceptionally well and have fun while doing it. And the secret to their success isn't innate talent. It's the way they work together. Ron Friedman, psychologist and the founder of Superteams, Inc., has studied the data on these high-performing groups across industries and identified the key leadership behaviors that drive sustained outperformance--from asking questions people often avoid to creat...
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Companies that spend their energy on incremental improvements to products, services, and even employee experience might just be spinning their wheels. Author Marcus Buckingham argues that data show that the only way to truly make an impact on performance is to make sure customers don't just like - but love - whatever you are selling them. He shares why extreme positive experiences are so important, companies that are getting it rig...
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Are you a morning type, a night owl, or somewhere in between? And what about the people on your team? When do they feel most energized and productive? Stefan Volk, professor of management at the University of Sydney Business School, says that leaders need to pay more attention to their own and employees’ circadian rhythms because they have a big impact on performance. While forcing everyone into the same schedule can lead to ...
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Artificial intelligence is advancing quickly, but its real impact on productivity, jobs, and competitive advantage is still uncertain. In this four-part special series, we'll share conversations from the recent HBR Strategy Summit to help you get ahead. In this episode, Andrew McAfee, principal research scientist at MIT and cofounder and codirector of the MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy at the MIT Sloan School of Management, ...
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For sustainability to be a core part of your business model, you might need to rethink how and why you incorporate sustainable policies and products. That's according to IMD Business School professor Goutam Challagalla, who explains that many customers don't want to pay a premium for sustainability. Instead, he argues that good intentions around sustainability can often lead to weak strategy and wasted investment. He explains how i...
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