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Muhammad Yunus, founder of Grameen Bank, on the power of social enterprise to solve the world's problems.

The critically admired author of 16 novels talks about the silence and mental rambling out of which his ideas emerge. "Characters walk to you as through a mist," he says. He values hesitation, loves solitude, and thinks one of the most potent forms of satisfaction available is achieving total absorption in something that interests and challenges him.

The entertainment icon discusses work-life balance, overcoming stage fright, and working in the nonprofit sector.

The first American woman astronaut in space and the founder of Sally Ride Science on becoming an astronaut and role model, collaborating in tight quarters, remembering the lessons of the Challenger disaster, and driving innovation in K-12 education. She died shortly after this interview took place, at age 61.

The famed gymnastics coach on identifying Olympic-level aptitude, changing his style to suit different athletes, and working his way back up in the United States after defecting from Romania.

Although the first ship he ever commanded crashed into a buoy, Mullen rose through the ranks to serve two presidents as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff--a job he says was the hardest of his life.

Award-winning foreign correspondent Christiane Amanpour shares her insights on leadership, ambition, and the female advantage.

James Patterson, one of the world's most popular and prolific novelists, discusses creative problem solving, collaboration, and productivity.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, one of the most celebrated centers in basketball history, has evolved into a successful writer, historian, and filmmaker.

HBR interviews fashion designer Kenneth Cole on a career that has combined work, family, and community activism.

Excellence in community engagement, labor relations, environmental protection, corporate governance, and supply chain accountability isn't easy to achieve. But in the long run, top performance in those areas strengthens an organization, as the five companies profiled in this article demonstrate. They prove that doing the right thing isn't at odds at all with building the bottom line, and in fact it can be integral to a firm's economic logic. Dutch chemical maker Royal DSM, for instance, not only specializes in nutritional and environmental products but gives them away to people in need. That unconventional move is helping DSM win the talent war and crack critical markets. Southwest has become America's largest domestic airline by committing to employee happiness. China's Broad Group has won industrial customers worldwide with its energy-efficient air conditioning and filtration systems and is now moving into sustainable building construction. PotashCorp, a Canadian fertilizer company, has raised the bar on transparency in governance-and is reaping the reputational rewards. And Unilever has proved that it is possible to make your supply chain more sustainable, even if you sell 170 billion products across 180 countries a year and run 250 factories.

The famed filmmaker talks about getting the best out of people, how to reignite creativity, and the benefits of going it alone.

Adria, the head chef of elBulli-a Spanish restaurant regularly ranked the world's best-on efficient service culture, the best way to nurture talent, and the creative inspiration behind new foods like sea urchin foam and curry ice cream.

In 1999, Mei Zhang quit her lucrative consulting job to launch WildChina, a small travel company in her native China. Nearly four years later, the SARS outbreak hit Asia, battering a travel industry still recovering from the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Faced with this crisis, Zhang opted for drastic measures: WildChina ceased operations, she and the COO suspended their incomes, and all other employees went on vacation at 25% pay. These were prudent moves, but Zhang was still unprepared for the challenges of restarting her company once business picked up again. Employees she had trusted were not committed to the company, and WildChina needed to rebuild its client base. But Zhang revived the company, which is now a leader in its field. Looking back, Zhang sees that her first big move turned her into an entrepreneur, but it was the SARS experience, and the lessons she learned from it, that taught her how to be a CEO.

Mikhail Baryshnikov on reinvention, effective mentorship, and teamwork.

Comedian Ricky Gervais on office dysfunction, creative control, his controversial comedy and why the greatest failure in life is not enjoying what you do.

One of the world's most celebrated architects talks about inspiration, teamwork, and the importance of good workplace design.

Within a period of 23 months, Lois Quam found herself with a dizzying level of responsibility, both at work-as research director at UnitedHealthcare and head of the company's public-sector services division-and at home, with newborn twins and a toddler. But rather than bend under the weight of either pressure, Quam found ways to thrive in both areas of her life. Namely, she focused on big-picture goals, doing what was required to be the kind of mother and manager she wanted to be. She wasn't shy about letting her worlds overlap, taking her children to work and even allowing their visibility to work in her favor as she advocated for affordable health care for families. Now head of her own successful company, Quam carved out a place for herself as a successful working mother before work/life balance was a corporate buzzword.

The celebrated shoe designer talks about how and why he started to "do shoes," some factors in his success, balancing art and commerce, and why he's stayed independent.

Michael Mack was a prototypical success story-after getting his Harvard MBA, he worked for a top-tier consulting firm and next made a move into entrepreneurship as the owner of a growing restaurant chain. Then, to his shock, his board fired him. That setback sent him on a personal journey that made him a much wiser leader.