HBR On Leadership

Do people see your leadership potential?

Suzanne Peterson says many talented professionals miss out on leadership roles for relatively intangible reasons. But she argues that aspiring leaders can learn to alter their everyday interactions in small ways to have a big influence on their professional reputation.

Peterson is an associate professor of leadership at Thunderbird School of Global Management at Arizona State University, and the coauthor of the HBR article “How to Develop Your Leadership Style: Concrete Advice for a Squishy Challenge.”

In this episode, she explains how to adopt markers of different leadership styles, so that you can be seen as both influential and likable. She also discusses why it’s important to focus on relationship building as you progress in your career. As she says, “Mid-career and rising senior level, now it’s all about the relationships. It’s all about how you’re perceived.”

Key episode topics include: leadership, leadership development, managing yourself, power and influence, leadership style, reputation management, aspiring leaders, careers.

HBR On Leadership curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.

· Listen to the original HBR IdeaCast episode: Defining and Adapting Your Leadership Style (2020)

· Find more episodes of HBR IdeaCast.

· Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org.

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Managing difficult personalities, stalled productivity, and conflict are inevitable parts of leading a team. But how do you know if your leadership is part of the problem?

Melanie Parish says that many leaders see problems on their team as external without considering the impact of their own behavior on team dynamics. As she says, “There are so many different challenges. They circle. You have one challenge one week, and another challenge another week. That’s the work of leadership.”

Parish is a leadership coach and the author of the book, The Experimental Leader: Be a New Kind of Boss to Cultivate an Organization of Innovators.

She takes questions from listeners who are struggling to manage tough teams and offers advice for what to do when you lead a team that refuses to follow company processes or when your growing team of managers is clamoring to weigh in on key decisions. She also has suggestions for how to improve morale if your team is frustrated.

Key episode topics include: leadership, leading teams, managing people, collaboration and teams, organizational culture.

HBR On Leadership curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.

· Listen to the original Dear HBR episode: Tough Teams (2020)

· Find more episodes of Dear HBR.

· Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org.

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Managing difficult personalities, stalled productivity, and conflict are inevitable parts of leading a team. But how do you know if your leadership is part of the problem?

Melanie Parish says that many leaders see problems on their team as external without considering the impact of their own behavior on team dynamics. As she says, “There are so many different challenges. They circle. You have one challenge one week, and another challenge another week. That’s the work of leadership.”

Parish is a leadership coach and the author of the book, The Experimental Leader: Be a New Kind of Boss to Cultivate an Organization of Innovators.

She takes questions from listeners who are struggling to manage tough teams and offers advice for what to do when you lead a team that refuses to follow company processes or when your growing team of managers is clamoring to weigh in on key decisions. She also has suggestions for how to improve morale if your team is frustrated.

Key episode topics include: leadership, leading teams, managing people, collaboration and teams, organizational culture.

HBR On Leadership curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.

· Listen to the original Dear HBR episode: Tough Teams (2020)

· Find more episodes of Dear HBR.

· Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org.

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Do you know how to influence people who don’t report to you? That might include your boss, clients, or even your peers.

Nashater Deu Solheim argues that there are proven techniques to help you understand your colleagues’ thinking and win their respect—even in virtual work settings.

Solheim is a forensic psychologist and a leadership coach who studies how people gain influence within organizations.

In this episode, she explains that the key to influencing others is understanding them, and she offers a three-part framework to help you do just that. She refers to it as ABC: advanced preparation, body language, and conversation.

Key episode topics include: leadership, business communication, power and influence, managing up, persuasion.

HBR On Leadership curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.

· Listen to the original HBR IdeaCast episode: Better Ways to Manage Up and Out (2020)

· Find more episodes of HBR IdeaCast.

· Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org.

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Do you know how to influence people who don’t report to you? That might include your boss, clients, or even your peers.

Nashater Deu Solheim argues that there are proven techniques to help you understand your colleagues’ thinking and win their respect—even in virtual work settings.

Solheim is a forensic psychologist and a leadership coach who studies how people gain influence within organizations.

In this episode, she explains that the key to influencing others is understanding them, and she offers a three-part framework to help you do just that. She refers to it as ABC: advanced preparation, body language, and conversation.

Key episode topics include: leadership, business communication, power and influence, managing up, persuasion.

HBR On Leadership curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.

· Listen to the original HBR IdeaCast episode: Better Ways to Manage Up and Out (2020)

· Find more episodes of HBR IdeaCast.

· Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org.

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If you’ve invested in someone you manage, it’s natural to feel hurt when that person tells you they’re leaving—especially if they’re a strong contributor.

The classic management advice is: Don’t take it personally. Be professional. But it’s important to acknowledge your feelings and work through them—for yourself and with your team.

In this episode, three HBR leaders join managers drawn from the Women at Work audience to share their experiences losing team members. They discuss how to manage your emotions in the moment and how to look for learnings that will help you move forward. They also offer ideas for how to share the news with your boss and the rest of your team.

Key episode topics include: leadership, managing people, gender, employee retention, staff transitions, staffing, managing emotions, difficult conversations.

HBR On Leadership curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.

· Listen to the original Women at Work episode: Dealing with the Feels After an Employee Quits (October 2021)

· Find more episodes of Women at Work.

· Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org.

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Some leaders are too comfortable talking about themselves — and others — at work. Their teams may struggle to trust them because they have no boundaries . Other leaders are reluctant to share anything at all, and risk coming across as remote and inaccessible.

But Lisa Rosh says that when you get self-disclosure just right, it can build greater trust on your team. Rosh is an assistant professor of management at the Sy Syms School of Business at Yeshiva University.

In this episode, you’ll learn how to think about the timing, the substance, and the process for sharing personal information with your team. You’ll also learn why it’s important to avoid using self-disclosure to seek approval from others or to promote yourself. As Rosh says, “Be yourself, but be it very carefully.”

Key episode topics include: leadership, organizational culture, business communication, interpersonal communication, authenticity.

HBR On Leadership curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.

· Listen to the original HBR IdeaCast episode: Lead Authentically, Without Oversharing (2013)

· Find more episodes of HBR IdeaCast

· Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org

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When you’re in the middle of a conflict, it’s common to automatically enter fight-or-flight mode.

But HBR contributing editor and workplace conflict expert Amy Gallo says it’s possible to interrupt this response, stay calm, and find a path towards a more productive discussion. In this episode, you’ll learn some simple techniques that will help you manage your emotions when conflict arises at work.

First try to distance yourself from the negative emotion you’re feeling by labeling it. Then focus on your breath and your body. And if you need to — take a break and give yourself time to process your intense emotions.

Gallo also cohosts HBR’s Women at Work podcast, and her most recent book is Getting Along: How to Work with Anyone (Even Difficult People).

Key episode topics include: leadership, emotional intelligence, difficult conversations, managing yourself.

HBR On Leadership curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.

· Watch the original HBR Guide episode: How to Control Your Emotions During a Difficult Conversation: The Harvard Business Review Guide (2022)

· Find more episodes of the HBR Guide series on YouTube.

· Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org.

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In early 1915, polar explorer Ernest Shackleton’s ship became trapped in ice, north of Antarctica. For almost two years, he and his crew braved those frozen expanses. Then, in December 1916, Shackleton led them all to safety.

Not a single life was lost, and Shackleton’s leadership has become one of the most famous case studies of all time.

In this episode, Harvard Business School professor and historian Nancy Koehn analyzes Shackleton’s leadership during those two fateful years that he and his men struggled to survive.

She explains how Shackleton carefully assembled a team capable of weathering a crisis and the important role empathy played in his day-to-day leadership. Koehn also shares the survival lessons that Shackleton learned from weak leaders he encountered early in his own career.

Key episode topics include: leadership, crisis management, motivating people, managing people.

HBR On Leadership curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.

· Listen to the original HBR IdeaCast episode: Real Leaders: Ernest Shackleton Leads a Harrowing Expedition (2020)

· Find more episodes of HBR IdeaCast

· Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org

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Imagine you’re a new manager, and one of your team members consistently underperforms. But there’s a catch: your struggling employee is a personal friend of your CEO. When performance review time rolls around, should you be honest and give them a low rating?

There are no simple answers for the tough decisions that managers face. Harvard Business School professor Joe Badaracco says that hard and fast rules only go so far in these sorts of situations. Instead, managers must use their best judgement to find a solution.

Badaracco is a business ethics expert and the author of the book, Managing in the Gray: Five Timeless Questions for Resolving Your Toughest Problems at Work.

In this episode, he explains how to approach what he calls “gray-area decisions.” First, gather as much information as you can, taking different perspectives into account. Then, consider the consequences of the different possible actions you can take, the values of your organization, and your own personal values.

Key episode topics include: leadership, managing conflicts, dismissing employees, managing people, managing employees, tough calls,

HBR On Leadership curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.

· Listen to the original Cold Call episode: Managing in the Real World: How to Make Gray-Area Decisions (2016)

· Find more episodes of Cold Call

· Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org

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