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Founded in 2006, Pacific Drilling was a fast-growing offshore drilling company. From the beginning, the company’s chief executive officer was determined to create a unique drilling company by focusing exclusively on ultra-deepwater drilling and technological innovation. By the end of 2014, the company had more than 1,600 employees and was generating US$1 billion in annual revenues. However, the company also faced several challenges, such as being overly reliant on one key customer (Chevron) and the high costs of differentiation. With oil prices plummeting, the company was struggling to acquire new customers. To what extent could the company rely on what it had successfully accomplished in the past, and to what extent would it need to create and adapt to a new strategy?

Saksham Wealth Solutions P. Ltd. (Saksham), founded in 2005, was an investment company that survived the challenges of the Indian wealth management industry and the ups and downs of the financial market. Saksham’s success was due in part to a strategy of building trust with clients and educating them about the nuances of creating wealth through various financial instruments. Transparency, assistance, timely advice, and a goal-oriented approach were considered the company’s essential services. In 2008, the company turned down a purchase proposal from top international bankers who valued Saksham at three times its annual profit. Ten years later, Saksham was four times bigger. If a similar offer were made, should Saksham take it?

Shree Balaji Alumnicast Pvt. Ltd. (SBA) was a successful Indian metal recycling company and a pioneer in creating sustainable customer value through its closed-loop supply chain. In 2009, its biggest customer demanded a 15 per cent price reduction on alloys and threatened to withdraw its entire business if SBA failed to meet its demand within a given time frame. This customer contributed a significant share of SBA’s revenue and was thus indispensable. SBA could not simultaneously offer a price discount and retain its margins, which were already declining, through its current business and manufacturing practices. The company needed to rethink its strategy in order to maintain its growth trajectory, and find a better way of managing costs.

The chief executive officer of Network for Information & Computer Technology (NICT), an information and communications technology implementation firm, had to consider a proposal from India Post in which the latter would leverage NICT’s franchisee-based last-mile customer service kiosks to offer banking solutions to rural areas in India. With the deal, the Post Bank of India would emerge as India’s largest commercial bank. NICT’s network of customer service kiosks was already used in a limited capacity by public-sector banks (the Bank of India and the State Bank of India). The India Post offer could stabilize the financial health of NICT and enable it to venture into new domains. However, its current partners might object to the relationship with India Post and withdraw from their partnership. While NICT had the competencies to serve its current clients, it would need to build new ones for India Post. The CEO had to choose between this emerging, possibly highly profitable opportunity and the existing but less profitable partners.

LifeCell International, a stem cell banking service in India, reduced its subscription pricing in 2013. The managing director and chief executive officer was considering the effects of this price differentiation strategy on his efforts to make regenerative health care affordable in India. He needed to address several critical issues, including improving awareness of regenerative therapies, disseminating product information, increasing market penetration, evaluating the new price structure, and continuing to support technological advancements.

Student spreadsheet for product 9B16M018.

The author's first overseas business assignment came when he was 29 and a sales manager at Xerox, running a team in New York City. The company sent him to Puerto Rico to turn around its failing business there. Because he didn't know the culture or the market, he arrived without an agenda and just listened to people for two weeks. He learned a few important phrases in Spanish so that he could relate to his new team. His experience there helped him later in his career, when he had to manage people across a variety of cultures. In 2002 SAP hired McDermott to head its North American business, which was struggling. He viewed the company's belief that it could simply transfer its strategies for the German market to the U.S. market as part of the problem. "Leading in any country is all about reading the room, respecting the culture, and understanding the nuances of how people perceive information," he writes. "You have to care about what the culture needs instead of just focusing on your agenda and how to get it done." In one illustration of that, although he and his wife have kept the family home in Philadelphia, he moved into a house in Heidelberg to demonstrate to his employees that being a part of the German culture is important to him.

This is a challenging time to be a CEO. Around the world, economic growth is slow, political uncertainty undermines attempts to develop long-term plans, and shareholder activists have become powerful critics of business leaders. These forces help explain why the C-suite sometimes appears to have a revolving door. Is it any wonder so many CEOs focus on the short term? Against this backdrop, it's heartening to see some top executives implement long-term strategies and establish lasting track records. HBR's ranking of the world's 100 best CEOs is intended to highlight these individuals. It's based on performance on both financial and ESG measures over leaders' entire time in office--which comes to 17 years, on average, for the CEOs on the 2016 list. This group has delivered impressive results, producing an overall financial return of 2,091%, on average. But as the variety of the people on the list shows, there is no single path to success. Consider the three men at the top of the ranking: Lars Rebien Sorensen studied forestry before he joined Novo Nordisk more than 30 years ago and climbed through various operational roles to become CEO. Martin Sorrell earned an MBA and spent a decade in the ad industry before buying a stake in a shell company and building WPP--now the world's largest marketing-services firm--through a series of acquisitions. Pablo Isla studied law and worked in Spain's treasury ministry before taking the helm of the fast-fashion retailer Inditex. In this issue we feature an interview HBR editor Adi Ignatius did with the three leaders in late summer, in which they explore what it takes to fight short-termism and lead with a long view in today's turbulent environment.

Why do some transformative technologies dominate the market quickly, while others take decades to catch on? It's a function not just of the technologies themselves, say the authors, but also of their broader ecosystems (electric cars, for example, need a network of charging stations). The ecosystems of the legacy technologies matter too--they can sometimes be improved enough to prolong the life of the old technology. Analyzing the ecosystem dynamics in your industry can help you predict how quickly technological change will occur. For example, if the new technology is surrounded by viable complements and there's little room to improve the old technology's ecosystem, substitution is rapid ("creative destruction"). When the opposite conditions hold--the new technology's ecosystem needs work and the old technology can capitalize on improvements in the established ecosystem--the pace of substitution is very slow ("robust resilience"). The authors describe two other possible scenarios: "robust coexistence" of the two technologies, and the "illusion of resistance" (the old technology seems competitive for some time but quickly succumbs once the new technology's ecosystem is ready to roll). If you understand which scenario applies to you, you can better assess the threat of disruptive change--and use the authors' insights to respond effectively.

In the digital age, software has enabled innovators like Uber and Tesla to gather crucial data about customers and create revolutionary offerings to serve them. Meanwhile, many well-resourced incumbents struggle to develop extended digital relationships with customers. That's partly because it's hard for companies to change their established business models. But the authors point out another inhibitor--there are repercussions up and down the value chain. The authors explain that successful upstarts do not just capture and use new data effectively; they also break from traditional reliance on outside partners for sourcing inputs and distributing and servicing products. They keep more functions in-house--a necessary part of launching an innovation. But if incumbents do likewise in their own efforts to take advantage of digital technology, they risk upsetting longtime relationships with suppliers, distributors, and other collaborators. To navigate this new world, the authors advise managers in traditional companies to think about the macro trends that will shape their industry in the future, agree on a digital strategy to address customers' needs in the long term, and develop better metrics to monitor progress. Incumbents must also create new business opportunities for partners so that everyone benefits from the new ecosystem.

In an increasingly digital and connected environment, leaders of established companies frequently find themselves facing opportunities that they--or even their industries--cannot seize alone. Instead of relying on start-ups to create innovations and then buying in to them, organizations are taking part in a process that the authors call "ecosystem innovation," collaborating to develop and then commercialize new concepts. Cisco Hyperinnovation Living Labs (CHILL) differs from seemingly similar approaches, such as R&D alliances, because it focuses on the fast and agile commercialization of ideas without a complicated intellectual property agreement. It also differs from traditional partnership efforts, because it brings multiple partners together at a very early stage all at once. In this article the authors discuss how large companies can develop their own ecosystem innovation capabilities, using Cisco's process as an example. They describe the basic principles and the process, identify the most common traps, and explain how leaders can capture valuable opportunities. The process allows companies to bring extremely diverse ideas, skills, and resources together to solve ecosystem-level problems at an astonishing speed.

Chances are you've experienced at least one company reorganization. Reorgs can be a great way to unlock value: Two-thirds of them deliver at least some performance improvement, and with change accelerating in the business environment, they are becoming more and more common, the authors say. But most reorgs aren't entirely successful: According to a survey conducted at McKinsey, more than 80% fail to deliver the value they are supposed to in the time planned, while 10% cause real damage to the company involved. More important, they can be miserable experiences for employees. Research suggests that reorgs--and the accompanying uncertainty about what the future holds--may cause greater stress and anxiety than layoffs, leading to noticeably reduced productivity in about 60% of cases. That's because the leaders of reorgs don't specify their objectives clearly enough, miss some of the key actions (for example, focusing on reporting lines and forgetting processes and people), or do things in the wrong order (such as deciding on the way forward before assessing the strengths and weaknesses of what they have already). To help maximize the value and minimize the misery of reorgs, the authors have developed a simple five-step process for running them.

Stress is a fact of professional life, but extreme and unrelenting pressures can lead to the debilitating state we call burnout. Three symptoms characterize burnout: exhaustion; cynicism, or distancing oneself from work; and inefficacy, or feelings of incompetence and lack of achievement. Research has linked burnout to many health problems, including hypertension, sleep disturbances, depression, and substance abuse. Moreover, it can ruin relationships and jeopardize career prospects. Resolving burnout often requires changes at the job, team, or organizational level. But you can also take steps toward recovery and prevention on your own: Prioritize your health, shift your perspective to determine which aspects of your situation are fixed and which can be changed, reduce exposure to the most stressful activities and relationships, and seek out helpful interpersonal connections. It's important to ward off burnout on your team as well: Insist on time for rest and renewal, set realistic work limits, boost your team's sense of control, provide meaningful recognition, and ask people what help or training they need to succeed.

Marina Abramovic has for decades pushed the boundaries of performance art--hurling herself against walls, cutting herself with razor blades, sitting motionless for 750 hours. Although she started with fringe shows, she eventually worked her way up to performances and exhibitions at premier venues, such as the Venice Biennale and New York's Museum of Modern Art.

Canara Bank has been one of the top five public sector banks in India since its founding in 1906. After lagging behind its competitors for some years, it has finally started to recover from non-performing assets and low profitability. Its new chief executive officer has brought vision, strategic direction, and motivation to achieve a remarkable turnaround in 2013/14, but now he faces several key questions. Should the bank launch an ambitious expansion of its branches, online services, information technology, and human resources, based solely on the recent encouraging results? Is the management committee’s optimism justified, given that several new initiatives are still at various stages of implementation? Will this growth overstretch Canara Bank’s already constrained resources? In order to regain its position and improve reach and profitability in a highly competitive market, an expansion program has to be launched or an opportunity will be missed.

15fen (15分) was the name Henry He (贺鸿鸣) gave his first business venture - a neighborhood store (社区店) in Guangdong province, China, which promised home delivery of a grocer order within 15 minutes. His inaugural slogan was, "Staple Food & Seasoning, Everything At Your Doorstep in 15 Minutes". A first time entrepreneur, he was imbued with optimism towards internet retailing, and convinced that home delivery within 15 minutes was an unbeatable proposition. In no time, he learned the realities of the grocery business - low margin and hard labor - carrying bags of rice and tins of cooking oil from door to door. Back in 2012, China's internet retailing was dominated by Consumer Electronics, Apparel and Footwear and Consumer Appliances. Fresh Food was tipped to be the next big driver for e-commerce. Headlines such as "Fresh Food e-commerce will be the next blue ocean" were commonplace in the media, and they captured the imagination of aspiring entrepreneurs like Henry He. He was determined to ride this e-retailing wave to create his blue ocean in Fresh Food. But first, he must learn how to swim.

In 2003, the All India Artisans and Craftworkers Welfare Association (AIACA) was launched to explore new and commercially sustainable models of livelihood promotion for India’s vulnerable communities of craftworkers. The Indian handlooms and handicrafts, collectively referred to as the craft sector, symbolized the rich historical and cultural diversity that distinguished India from the rest of the world. The sector provided low-cost, “green” livelihood opportunities to millions of Indian families, supplementing their incomes in seasons of agrarian distress, checking migration, and preserving traditional economic relationships. The sector represented the economic lifeline of the most vulnerable sections of Indian society. AIACA took a unique approach towards stakeholder engagement by establishing partnerships with local non-governmental organizations, business enterprises, individual craftworkers, self-help groups, and government agencies. This level of co-operation produced effective advocacy and high-impact developmental work through multiplicative strategies, and the results were scalable and replicable in the context of informal sectors in transitioning economies. AIACA had spent a decade successfully designing and implementing livelihood interventions to help small-scale, family-managed businesses evolve into sustainable enterprises and innovative networks. The organization now needed to re-examine its approach and look for ways to deliver a deeper developmental impact.

In August 2011, the newly hired chief executive officer of the Indian firm Headstart Industries Ltd. (HIL) faced a dilemma over whether or not to allot funds for a new project of a business unit that had poor performance over several years and had affected the company's overall profitability. The chief executive officer was faced with a tough choice between acting against the dominant culture of HIL by refusing to fund the new project or displeasing the board members who had hired him to bring about organizational change. He was well aware of the board members’ belief that the division in question was a burden on HIL's resources and should be closed down. Should he appease the culture, or should he accept the risks and approve the funding?

In June 2015, two entrepreneurs launched HeyTaxi!, a start-up venture that used motorbike and scooter taxis in Mumbai. The goal was to reduce the time, effort, and money spent by citizens on commuting. But the entrepreneurs faced a problem of survival and sustainability: the government authorities refused to issue a licence for the bike-taxi service. The venture was favoured by citizens who used its services, but HeyTaxi! was limited to marketing its service not as a legitimate taxi service but as a ride-sharing service. HeyTaxi! was fulfilling a social need, and customer loyalty was fuelling the venture’s journey, but the absence of regulatory permits put the longevity of HeyTaxi! at risk. Concerns about HeyTaxi!’s future needed to be addressed to ensure the venture’s survival, scalability, and sustainability.

Amarnath Gupta and Sons was a distributor of lubricants and owner of a petrol pump based in Alwar, Rajasthan, India. The business was originally set up as a family-owned single petrol pump in 1953. The family member currently in charge of daily operations had expanded the business significantly, especially since the entry of new multinational players in the Indian lubricant market. In 2013, this owner-partner was looking at ways to involve his children—one of whom had finished college (a son), one of whom was in college (a daughter), and one of whom was about to start college (a son)—in the family business. Should three businesses be established for each of the three children, or should they all be part of the same business? How could the next generation enter the business successfully? This case won the 2015 ISB-Ivey Global Case Competition in the entrepreneurship category. The ISB-Ivey case competition was sponsored by ISB.