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The case addresses reforms to regulations in Israel's telecommunications industry initiated and implemented under the leadership of Minister of Communications Moshe Kahlon in 2009-2010. The case highlights the challenges faced by a politician attempting to institute regulatory and legislative reforms in the face of uncertainty and resistance from an incumbent oligopoly. When Kahlon entered office, three cellular companies, Pelephone, Cellcom, and Partner (the Big Three), dominated the market. Against Big Three opposition, Kahlon must decide whether to continue pushing changes to introduce new competitors in the industry, remove contract termination fees, and reduce the payment of inter-connection fees between cellular providers, which advantaged incumbent companies and drove up consumer prices. Kahlon applied a distinct political style that won him support from career civil servants within the ministry of communications and ministry of finance, from the press, and from the public.

In 2014, clothing retailer Gap Inc. rolled out a new performance management process for headquarters staff that did away with a traditional rating and ranking system. The new process involved informal monthly meetings between managers and their reports, and it more closely tied bonuses to business performance. Would it serve to motivate employees? Could its framework be used in Gap Inc.'s thousands of stores?

In April 2013, Ron Johnson (HBS '84) stepped down after just 18 months as CEO of J.C. Penney. In his brief tenure, Johnson, an acclaimed retailer respected for his innovation and success in shaping the retail image at Target and Apple, introduced dramatic departures from J.C. Penney's traditional retail approach and enacted changes quickly and simultaneously, with little market testing. Over Johnson's final 12 months as CEO, J.C. Penney shares dropped more than 50%. The case describes the environments at Target, Apple, and J.C. Penney during Johnson's tenure and how his experiences may have shaped the strategies that he implemented while CEO at J.C. Penney.

Travis Boersma, co-founder and President of the Dutch Bros. coffee chain, faces three operational decisions that will shape the company's growth trajectory and distinctive culture. First, should they offer a specialty coffee at a subset of their stores in one region where customers are clamoring for it, contrary to the company's commitment to a consistent experience across all stores? Second, as the company continues to expand, should they roll out an electronic point-of-sale system, which has interfered with customer service in prior pilot tests? Third, how can Dutch Bros. provide opportunities for their best employees, who aspire to own and operate their own franchise stores but often lack the expertise and funding to do so.

Seeking and giving advice are central to effective leadership and decision making, and they require emotional intelligence, self-awareness, restraint, diplomacy, and patience on both sides. But managers tend to view these competencies as "gifts" that one either has or lacks. The authors argue instead that they're practical skills you can learn and apply to great effect. They draw on a large body of research to identify the most common obstacles to effectively seeking and giving advice--such as thinking one already has the answers, defining the problem poorly, and overstepping boundaries--and offer practical guidelines for getting past them. The authors define the five stages of advising: (1) finding the right fit; (2) developing a shared understanding; (3) crafting alternatives; (4) converging on a decision; and (5) putting advice into action. Each stage includes suggestions for seekers and for advisers. Example: At stage 4, when it's time to narrow down the options, a seeker might review discarded or briefly considered ideas, and his adviser might play devil's advocate--to check for confirmation bias. Overall, the authors' guidelines amount to a fundamental shift in approach: a creative, collaborative way of understanding problems and crafting promising paths forward--which often requires an ongoing conversation.

Susie Mulder must decide how to lead NIC+ZOE-the women's apparel brand she had recently joined as CEO-from its start-up phase into a disciplined growth phase. With growing revenues, a successful product line, and savvy private equity investors, NIC+ZOE seems perfectly positioned for growth, but the company is struggling to execute efficiently, and senior managers are torn about a key decision: whether to go into e-commerce or not.

Part of a leader's job is to equip the organization to transform inputs into outputs by defining organizational strategy, shaping organizational identity, and then managing four organizational components-formal organizational structure, culture, people, and critical tasks-such that each component, and their interaction, aligns to produce performance. Substantial research has demonstrated that well-aligned organizations will be more capable of (1) attaining strategic goals, (2) efficiently utilizing resources to do so, and (3) adapting to unforeseen, future challenges. This short note walks through the Congruence Model, a simple yet powerful tool for achieving alignment in an organization.

This note examines the processes of seeking, receiving, and giving advice by drawing on both academic research and the lessons of skilled practitioners. It begins with a discussion of the potential benefits and costs of advice-seeking and advice-giving. The note then defines and distinguishes four related activities: advising, counseling, coaching and mentoring. Next, it describes the primary stages or steps in the advising process; each stage is examined from the perspective of both advice-seekers and advice-givers. The note concludes with recommendations for practice, listing a number of pitfalls to avoid when seeking, receiving, and giving advice as well as several guidelines and best practices.

What do you do when your rising professional career is cut short by an unexpected cancer diagnosis? Kathy Giusti shifted careers, built a new organization that transformed how cancer research is done, and now faces the challenge of sustaining the organization and its funding for its newest venture. Since she was first diagnosed with multiple myeloma (MM) in 1996, Giusti had led an effort to better understand and treat the disease. She had co-founded the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation (MMRF), helped form the Multiple Myeloma Research Consortium (MMRC), and brought together a diverse body of academics, researchers, pharmaceutical and biotech companies, physicians, and patients to combine their efforts around the disease. The MMRF had helped facilitate clinical trials for promising drugs, sponsored research, and raised a substantial amount of money for these purposes. In 2014, the MMRF was in the midst of its CoMMpass program; a multi-year effort to collect tissue samples from 1,000 patients at key junctures in their disease, sequence these samples to better understand the genetic underpinnings of MM and its many sub-types, and thus enable researchers to study a comprehensive sampling of patients. CoMMpass also had a patient-facing element which allowed the patient community to communicate with one another and with professional moderators. By mid-2014, some 550 patients were enrolled and 85 hospitals were participating. As a non-profit, the MMRF had historically relied on donations to fund its research operations. Giusti wanted to find a way to ensure a reliable revenue stream for the organization and give it greater financial stability. The MMRF had historically given away its resources and knowledge for free in order to speed research; Giusti worried if charging for some of its functions would be at odds with its mission and historical practices.

An up-and-coming entrepreneur, Gil Lehner is looking ahead and deciding on his next move. But Gil's situation is unusual: He was just diagnosed with small-cell lung cancer and his prognosis is not good. His chance of surviving longer than five years is only 18%. So what should he do with his last few years? Should he return to his home country of Israel and spend the time he has left with his family? Should he continue to work at the promising and possibly lucrative tech start-up that he joined last year? Or should he join two of his former classmates in establishing a nonprofit initiative to award prizes for innovative research on the illness he was just diagnosed with? Expert commentary for this fictional case study is provided by Ben Munoz and Avichai "Avi" Kremer.

An up-and-coming entrepreneur, Gil Lehner is looking ahead and deciding on his next move. But Gil's situation is unusual: He was just diagnosed with small-cell lung cancer and his prognosis is not good. His chance of surviving longer than five years is only 18%. So what should he do with his last few years? Should he return to his home country of Israel and spend the time he has left with his family? Should he continue to work at the promising and possibly lucrative tech start-up that he joined last year? Or should he join two of his former classmates in establishing a nonprofit initiative to award prizes for innovative research on the illness he was just diagnosed with? Expert commentary for this fictional case study is provided by Ben Munoz and Avichai "Avi" Kremer.

An up-and-coming entrepreneur, Gil Lehner is looking ahead and deciding on his next move. But Gil's situation is unusual: He was just diagnosed with small-cell lung cancer and his prognosis is not good. His chance of surviving longer than five years is only 18%. So what should he do with his last few years? Should he return to his home country of Israel and spend the time he has left with his family? Should he continue to work at the promising and possibly lucrative tech start-up that he joined last year? Or should he join two of his former classmates in establishing a nonprofit initiative to award prizes for innovative research on the illness he was just diagnosed with? Expert commentary for this fictional case study is provided by Ben Munoz and Avichai "Avi" Kremer.

Hamdi Ulukaya, CEO of the Greek yogurt company Chobani, Inc., was reflecting on what explained his young company's meteoric rise. The company held over half of the U.S. Greek yogurt market, and nearly 20% of the total yogurt market. The company's innovative approach to product design, sales, marketing, and communication had made its yogurt a hit with consumers, and its entrepreneurial and innovative culture made it popular with its employees. But by 2012, major food companies, such as General Mills and Groupe Danone among others, were beginning to aggressively promote their Greek yogurt. In addition, Chobani was rolling out innovative new products, and had to determine how to enter new markets. At the same time, Ulukaya was also focused on preserving the company's unique culture and approach to work as it grew.

Brooks and Tyler are first cousins who are running Erbe, a line of sustainably produced herb-infused vodkas. Brooks put up all his savings--$250,000--to get started, and just a month later Tyler quit a lucrative private equity job to join the new venture. The time has come to decide how to divide the remaining 90% stake in Erbe (the company's investors hold 10%). Brooks feels he's entitled to the lion's share; Tyler believes he should get half. With commentary from Courtney Reum, the founder of Veev Spirits (on which this case is based), and Jon Olinto, a cofounder of b.good, a chain of high-quality fast-food restaurants.

Brooks and Tyler are first cousins who are running Erbe, a line of sustainably produced herb-infused vodkas. Brooks put up all his savings--$250,000--to get started, and just a month later Tyler quit a lucrative private equity job to join the new venture. The time has come to decide how to divide the remaining 90% stake in Erbe (the company's investors hold 10%). Brooks feels he's entitled to the lion's share; Tyler believes he should get half. With commentary from Courtney Reum, the founder of Veev Spirits (on which this case is based), and Jon Olinto, a cofounder of b.good, a chain of high-quality fast-food restaurants.

Brooks and Tyler are first cousins who are running Erbe, a line of sustainably produced herb-infused vodkas. Brooks put up all his savings--$250,000--to get started, and just a month later Tyler quit a lucrative private equity job to join the new venture. The time has come to decide how to divide the remaining 90% stake in Erbe (the company's investors hold 10%). Brooks feels he's entitled to the lion's share; Tyler believes he should get half. With commentary from Courtney Reum, the founder of Veev Spirits (on which this case is based), and Jon Olinto, a cofounder of b.good, a chain of high-quality fast-food restaurants.

No abstract available.