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Research shows servant leadership has a strong positive impact on employees and the businesses they run. More than 300 peer-reviewed articles support the myriad benefits, including increased profit, improved work climate, and enhanced employee well-being and productivity. Servant leaders are knowledgeable, ethical people who bring value to organizations and the people they serve by developing followers via prioritizing work needs, valuing growth, empowering employees, and being sensitive to personal concerns. By doing this, servant leaders encourage followers to contribute to organizational goals, develop a sense of belonging, and increase confidence in their work and leadership skills, increasing happiness, health, and productivity. Servant leadership also uniquely involves a concern for the community. Our research shows that leaders have the least confidence in this most distinguishing aspect of servant leadership. We offer 32 practical ideas on implementing servant leadership with special attention to the community component to help leaders develop this valuable leadership style.

Susan DeLuca, the chief executive officer of Eurostar Pictures (Eurostar), was under pressure from her board to define a new direct-to-consumer strategy for the company’s video properties. Complicating this decision was the uncertain state of the streaming video on demand (SVOD) industry in 2023. DeLuca charged her team to consider two questions: (1) What was the future of the video streaming business, including new services (potentially spearheaded by Eurostar) that might disrupt the industry? and (2) How could Eurostar most strategically leverage its video assets to maximize revenue going forward?

Yup Kim, the Head of Investments, Private Equity at the California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS), reflected on the pension fund's private equity strategy. In July of 2022, the fund was in the midst of a multi-year turnaround strategy with the goal to "consistently deploy capital at scale in order to build a diversified, cost-efficient portfolio of high-conviction investments that outperform [its] PE policy benchmark." CalPERS had also recently increased the overall allocation to private equity from 8% to 13%, making it even more critical that Kim and the private equity team achieve their goals. Moreover, CalPERS faced a global economy seemingly headed into a recession and changes within the private equity industry as a whole. Kim needed to decide if they had the right strategy in place to achieve their long-term vision. This case also explores the U.S. public pension system and private equity co-investments.

J.M. Huber, one of the largest and oldest family-held companies in the US, had strategically repositioned itself several times since it was founded in 1883 as a dry-color business. Visionary family leaders and a committed senior management team had transformed the group into an international player with operations in more than 20 countries and about half of its 4,000 employees based outside North America. A portfolio management company (PMC), J.M. Huber became one of the key players in hydrocolloids, specialty chemicals and minerals, and engineered woods, and in 2017 it booked sales of US$2.3 billion. In 1993, Peter T. Francis, a fourth-generation family member, became chairman and CEO. For the fifth time in J.M. Huber's history, the family took complete leadership of the company. The years ahead were not always kind. In 2004 the firm had levered up its balance sheet to complete the largest acquisition in its history. Then, 2006 brought the collapse of the US housing market, and the economic crisis of 2007 hit many of J.M. Huber's key markets hard, putting the group under pressure. In the midst of the crisis, the company faced another significant milestone in its long history: Peter T. Francis had already announced in 2004 that he planned to retire in 2009. He was well aware that leadership succession was one of the most delicate moments for a family business, even in the best of times. How did the family and the board of directors support Peter T. Francis's decision to step down from his dual leadership function in the middle of the global recession? How was the succession engineered? What came first: CEO succession or chairman succession? Who was chosen for the CEO and the chairman positions: internal or external candidates, family or non-family members?

US-based lingerie retailer Victoria's Secret Stores Brand Management, LLC (Victoria's Secret) was started by a man who had been embarrassed to shop for lingerie for his wife and aimed to make the lingerie purchasing experience more comfortable for men. In 2020, after struggling to adapt to changing consumer habits and tastes and suffering from decreasing quality in its products and increasing competition from online retailers, the company faced a final blow from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Revenue streams were drying up, stores were closing, and the company was struggling with a tarnished image resulting from its links to the Jeffrey Epstein scandal. Its parent company's top management team and board of directors now faced a critical decision: Should they attempt to repair Victoria's Secret's brand image and fight to strengthen sales, sell the Victoria's Secret brand, or spin off the brand?

Proponents of the subscription model argue that it offers customers a better user experience and a lower barrier to access, while providers gain predictability and ease of communication with customers. But the risks of supply chain disruption and inflation are calling into question vendors' ability to fulfill their service commitments to customers and retain them over the long term.

This case is about designing and scaling up an innovative business model that leverages technology to solve the age-old Indian problem of expensive, unreliable, and unresponsive rural distribution of consumer goods. It explores an important decision concerning the growth path of a digital native, unicorn organization, ElasticRun, via exploit-led or explore-led strategy. The case is an inspiration to managers to take on yet-unsolved problems by leveraging the potential of crowdsourcing and technology.

In July 2021, Scarlett Johansson, the star of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) film Black Widow, sued The Walt Disney Company (Disney), the producer of the film, for breach of contract when it simultaneously released the movie in theatres and on Disney+, the company’s streaming platform, which resulted in a reduction of her compensation. The film saw a sharp drop in ticket sales in weeks two and three and ended its theatrical run with a much lower box-office take than many of the other MCU films. The lawsuit alleged that Disney’s vertical integration into streaming had caused a conflict of interest that had adverse consequences for talent compensation. Disney’s chief executive officer, Bob Chapek, was faced with the difficult decision of how to address talent compensation in light of streaming’s growing popularity, as Disney+ competed on the quality and availability of content.

In February 2020, Peter Maxwell received his share from the sale of the Australian property development company he had co-founded in 2002: US$115 million. He began organizing his reflections on four of the most significant company decisions that had occurred at the company in recent years and how they had impacted the business. They focused on installing effective board governance; rejecting a move into resort development; maintaining ownership and control; and considering the personal health of the senior executives. Having been invited to speak at his alma mater, Maxwell was planning to ask the students to rank these decisions in terms of importance.

Organizations' corporate social responsibility efforts are facing closer scrutiny today than ever before. In recent years, a new reputation management strategy has emerged: the confession. The authors describe a study in which companies that confessed their inadequacy in confronting racial inequity were rated as more socially responsible than organizations that did not issue such statements. Thus, a proactive approach can be more effective than a reactive strategy for building stakeholder trust.

Frida Jassan Haber, second-generation Chief Financial Officer of Haber Holdings, deliberated over the right family office solution for their family's needs. After years of working with trusted private bankers, the family had decided to pursue other options that offered tailored solutions for the family's specific needs. Specifically, they considered joining an established MFO with years of experience, engaging an experienced family office principle to establish a single-family office, or hiring a young finance professional to build a new family office from the ground up. Looking over the family's menu of options, she discussed the various tradeoffs of each solution with her siblings and many members of the next generation, and their implications for the family's long-term financial, succession, and legacy goals.

In February 2022, Spotify Technology SA (Spotify), a global music and podcast enterprise headquartered in Sweden, reached an inflection point. Six weeks prior, the company had uploaded a routine podcast by Joe Rogan, one of its celebrity content creators. During that podcast, a virologist Rogan had invited to the show made controversial remarks on the way policy-makers worldwide had been handling the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. The virologist also made medically false statements about COVID-19 vaccines. Outrage from the scientific community followed in the form of an open letter, with multiple battlefronts quickly unfolding thereafter. How would Spotify deal with the situation in the immediate term and plan a strategy for the long term? Could Spotify convert the crisis into an opportunity?

Supplements "Peloton Interactive (A)" (HBS No. 323-005), describing company restructuring and changes to management and the board of directors between February 8 and early October 2022.

In February 2022, Spotify Technology SA (Spotify), a global music and podcast enterprise headquartered in Sweden, reached an inflection point. Six weeks prior, the company had uploaded a routine podcast by Joe Rogan, one of its celebrity content creators. During that podcast, a virologist Rogan had invited to the show made controversial remarks on the way policy-makers worldwide had been handling the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. The virologist also made medically false statements about COVID-19 vaccines. Outrage from the scientific community followed in the form of an open letter, with multiple battlefronts quickly unfolding thereafter. How would Spotify deal with the situation in the immediate term and plan a strategy for the long term? Could Spotify convert the crisis into an opportunity?

Because of the way raw materials such as iron ore, copper, and aluminum are produced and sold, most consumer-facing manufacturers don't know much about the provenance of what goes into their products. What's needed is a market for responsibly produced commodities akin to the already robust systems in place for coffee and chocolate. The tools exist to build such a market, which would reward transparency and encourage environmental justice.

Spreadsheet Supplement for Technical note UV7432

In 2021, the US grocery industry had been undergoing several changes. The competitive landscape had changed significantly since the first decade of the twenty-first century. Walmart Inc. (Walmart) had emerged as the dominant retailer in all markets leading to bankruptcies and mergers with erstwhile market leaders. However, mistakes made by Walmart in that same period allowed ALDI SÜD Dienstleistungs-SE & Co. (Aldi) to make its presence felt with Walmart’s customers. Aldi was gaining its advantage through rapid expansion, with an increasingly broader assortment of products meant to attract upscale customers. Walmart initially tried to respond by opening small-format stores. Walmart had to decide whether this was the right approach to use to fight Aldi, or whether it was even a worthwhile fight. On the other hand, Aldi needed to be careful with how fast and far it should deviate from the core business model that had been instrumental in its success. Finally, the grocery business model had a growing online component that became more prominent during the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, Aldi and Walmart also had essential decisions to incorporate these online aspects into their respective business models.

In June 2021, the chief executive officer of Hallmark Cards Inc., a leading US greeting cards and gifts company, faced challenges as the digitalization of cards was gaining pace. This growing trend forced the company to overhaul its operations. Although it tried to cope with the changing business environment, the company suffered both in revenue and profit marking. The chief executive officer took efficiency-increasing measures and laid off employees from the greeting cards division, retail business, and corporate support functions. He also invested in greeting card digitalization and innovation efforts, but was wondering if he should focus more on efficiency or innovation measures to achieve turnaround for the company’s operations. What innovation strategies should he pursue to make Hallmark Cards Inc. relevant to changing consumer preferences?

Early in February 2022, the board of Peloton Interactive faced some knotty challenges. Immense pandemic demand for its stationary exercise bicycles and treadmills had prompted the firm to scale up production rapidly. But as gyms reopened and the virulence of the virus ebbed, demand had ebbed too, leaving Peloton with unsold inventory, an unsustainable cost structure, and Nasdaq's worst-performing stock for 2021. Activist shareholders were calling on the board to remove the founder CEO, who was board chair and a controlling shareholder through a dual-class share structure, and sell the company to a strategic investor. Complicating external pressure for change was a dual-class share structure that gave insiders a high degree of control over governance.