Whether you're a boss, a colleague, or a friend, you can help the people around you make important life-enhancing changes. But the way to do that isn't by setting targets for them and fixing their problems; it's by coaching with compassion, an approach that involves focusing on their dreams and how they could achieve them. Instead of doling out advice, a good coach will ask exploratory, open-ended questions and listen with genuine care and concern. The idea is to have coachees envision an ideal self (who they wish to be and what they wish to do), explore the real self (not just the gaps they need to fill but the strengths that will help them do so), set a learning agenda, and then experiment with and practice new behaviors and roles. The coach is there to provide support as they strive to spot their learning opportunities, set the groundwork to achieve change, and then see things through.
The CEO of a fictional pharmaceutical marketing company in India has positioned the company as the ethical alternative to its competitors, going as far as to change the company's tagline from "Health for everyone" to "Health with integrity." So when he learns that the firm's star salesperson fudged the numbers on a recent report, the CEO has to decide whether or not to sack him. Is firing the salesperson the right thing to do or should he be given a second chance? This fictional case study by Sandeep Puri features commentary by Faiza Hughell & Mohammed Isaquddin Kureshi.
Head of a culinary empire that now includes 16 ventures, Boulud talks about his boyhood on the family farm, where "everything on [the] table was 95% grown, raised, or made by us"; key lessons from the chefs he trained with; and how he balances being an artistic chef with being a businessman.
The CEO of a fictional pharmaceutical marketing company in India has positioned the company as the ethical alternative to its competitors, going as far as to change the company's tagline from "Health for everyone" to "Health with integrity." So when he learns that the firm's star salesperson fudged the numbers on a recent report, the CEO has to decide whether or not to sack him. Is firing the salesperson the right thing to do or should he be given a second chance? This fictional case study by Sandeep Puri features commentary by Faiza Hughell & Mohammed Isaquddin Kureshi.
The CEO of a fictional pharmaceutical marketing company in India has positioned the company as the ethical alternative to its competitors, going as far as to change the company's tagline from "Health for everyone" to "Health with integrity." So when he learns that the firm's star salesperson fudged the numbers on a recent report, the CEO has to decide whether or not to sack him. Is firing the salesperson the right thing to do or should he be given a second chance? This fictional case study by Sandeep Puri features commentary by Faiza Hughell & Mohammed Isaquddin Kureshi.
The Chairman of Google's parent company, Alphabet has been called the Godfather of Silicon Valley. In a wide-ranging interview, he discusses his leadership style, his company's varied initiatives, the best approach to innovation, and why Google is so unbelievably successful. He also touches on the importance of addressing bias in AI and Google's bold plan to bring the benefits of AI to everyone, everywhere.
The legendary Harvard Business School Professor and disruptive innovation expert discusses the ideas in his latest book, The Prosperity Paradox: How Innovation Can Lift Nations Out of Poverty. He introduces the concept of 'market-creating innovations', which create new markets for people for whom either no products existed or existing products were unaffordable or inaccessible for a variety of reasons. These innovations transform complicated and expensive products into ones that are so much more affordable and accessible that many more people are able to buy and use them-and can transform communities. In the end, he shows that if you stay focused on serving 'non-consumers' with affordable solutions, opportunity will be vast.
New innovations today are likely to be more advantageous to college graduates than those who didn't finish high school. In an excerpt from their book, Innovation + Equality: How to Create a Future That Is More Star Trek Than Terminator, the authors argue that new technologies can worsen inequality, which in turn can create a backlash against innovation. To make sure the innovation engine keeps humming, it is vital to ensure that the fruits of growth are available to all.
The author argues that The best way for any organizaton to detect, define and share customer insights is hiding in plain sight: Your own employees can help you create an insight-driven organization. He shows how canvassing the thoughts, fears and experiences of customers with your own managers and employees has three key advantages: The 'researcher' knows the subject matter; he/she can be more creative than an outsider about designing the experience; and you can save untold market research budget dollars. In the end, he shows that in an era of Big Data, 'big qualitative insights' remain a powerful competitive weapon.
Are you ready to build a culture that drives innovation, where people can thrive and create? By embracing three principles (bold leadership, an empowering environment and comprehensive action), the authors show how an organization can prime itself to be more innovative than ever before. Their research at Accenture has found that a culture of equality-the same kind of workplace environment that helps everyone advance to higher positions-is a powerful multiplier of innovation and growth. They show that building a culture of equality is not just an ethical imperative, it is also a business priority. Put simply, if organizations want to innovate and thrive, they have to 'get to equal'.
When do consumers decide to buy something? Why and how do they shop in the first place? Over the past 20 years, a number of macro shifts have drastically altered shopping patterns and buying decisions - presenting new opportunities and challenges for marketers to persuade consumers to spend money and encourage repeat purchases. The author describes her recent research, indicating 12 particular shopper archetypes. She also introduces The Needs Adaptive Shopper Journey Model, which integrates firm actions, technology, peer-to-peer/social and shopper psychology to address shopper well-being.
If it hasn't happened yet, it is only a matter of time before your organization has a 'cyber incident'. The FBI estimates that a cyber incident will occur every 14 seconds this year, ranging from minor, accidental disclosures of sensitive information to a major theft of data and other valuable assets by criminals, state-sponsored actors, or terrorists. The authors show that cyber threats are the result of three interrelated characteristics: those who engage in cyber attacks, or the Threat Actors; the value they expect to extract from the Targets they attack; and the 'Attack Vectors' they will use to attack your organization. Understanding how these three elements interact is critical for every modern leader.
When it comes to problem-solving, the questions we ask often undermine our desire to uncover novel insights. The author describes 'quicksand questions' and the four traps they get us into. He then presents his 'Unstuck Minds Compass', which asks four questions of the individual encountering a complex challenge: Do you want information about the big picture (contextual inquiry) or data about the nature of the problem (critical inquiry)? Should you seek out the perspectives of others (collaborative inquiry) or start by questioning the assumptions behind the framing of the challenge (creative inquiry)? In the end, he shows that diversifying our approach to complex problems by embracing these four types of inquiry can help us become more adaptable and less likely to get stuck.
Despite its overall prosperity and booming economy, King County in Washington state faced persistent inequities in poverty, homelessness, and unemployment based on race and place. This case covers the period 2014 to 2019, during which the county developed and implemented new equity- and outcome-driven approaches to address these problems. Starting in 2014, the county began shifting its orientation and operations to focus more on preventive social service programs. The county shifted from a traditional procurement model for social services, in which it assessed contract service providers' performance at the end of a contract, to "active contract management," in which the county worked closely with service providers throughout the contract period to achieve specific outcomes that both parties agreed upon in advance. Renewal of a provider's contract depended on whether the service provider met those outcomes. The case highlights how public organizations, such as county governments, develop and implement innovations. This process includes leadership and operational risks; creating theories of change; evaluating outcomes; effective use of data; relationships with outside organizations like service contractors; and resource requirements and constraints. The county's first and flagship innovative initiative was Best Starts for Kids (BSK), a comprehensive suite of programs that focused on early childhood and youth development. In 2016, the county funded BSK via a $65 million annual voter-approved tax levy. The first BSK initiative, launched in 2017, was the Youth and Family Homelessness Prevention Initiative (YFHPI). It was novel because the county was contracting with 25 smaller community organizations to reach communities with persistent rates of poverty and higher likelihoods of entering homelessness. The case, set in 2019, details the opportunities, successes, and challenges of both YFHPI and the county's cultural and operational shifts so far.
This case considers the buyout of Panera Bread from the perspective of a private equity fund. In early 2017, KLG Managing Director Tom Denning is considering a leveraged buyout of Panera Bread, a rapidly growing fast-casual restaurant company. A surprising Bloomberg News story signals that the deal process is broadening and KLG will have to act quickly if it hopes to buy Panera Bread. Students assume the role of Tom Denning as he prepares an investment recommendation for KLG's investment committee. In doing so, students are required to consider a very large and expensive investment. Students are challenged to create an investment recommendation by performing due diligence, determining additional questions to ask, and pricing a buyout bid that incorporates an optimal capital structure and meets KLG's return requirements. The Panera Bread case is designed to give students insight into the private equity investment process.
This Overview case summarizes the story and development of the LKK food and health products company, from its origins as a small provider of oyster sauce, to a thriving multinational firm in the early 21st Century. Since 1980 it had grown from a small specialist provider of oyster sauce with just 25 employees to a large multinational firm offering a wide range of food brands and health products. There was a particular focus on governance reform, ownership strategies, and the values and disciplines needed for long-term resilience. A challenge of passing on ownership to members of the fifth generation, a group of 14 cousins, was being met at the time of writing. Reforms of the early 21st Century to strengthen family relationships, governance and strategy were proving successful. There was also a strong humanitarian emphasis, with the establishment of enlightened or 'autopilot' leadership, placing collective need ahead of individual ego, and establishment of the Happiness Index, measured internally at the company, and the subject of a centre the family funded at Harvard University. The family faced new challenges. It was considering the establishment of a separate Owners Board - a function that had been carried out in effect by the Family Council. The case summarizes four previous case studies, the (A), (B), (C) and (D) cases, dating from 2002.