Blindspots aren’t occasional stumbles—they’re the default until you surface them. In this HBR Executive Masterclass, author and leadership psychologist Martin Dubin shows why even seasoned executives misread themselves more than the market—and what to do…

Misaligned communication habits—whether around response times, preferred channels, or writing style—can lead to missed deadlines, frustrated colleagues, and lost productivity. As digital tools proliferate and AI-generated writing becomes more common, it’s…

At the executive level, your words carry more weight and come with greater responsibility. That’s why strategic editing is a critical senior leadership skill. It’s knowing what to say (and what to leave out), how to say it, and when silence is more powerful.…

Ambitious entrepreneurs are increasingly turning to AI to drive growth, innovation, and efficiency. They have used AI to compete with major players, showing that small teams can achieve outsized impact. Entrepreneurs aiming to hire more than 20 employees…

Communication “leak points”—specific transition moments where critical meaning evaporates—require systematic intervention. There are three leak points that are most common in organizational messaging. The first leak point is where visionary thinking often…

Researchers at Vlerick Business School’s Centre for Financial Leadership and Digital Transformation have worked with CFOs and finance leaders to understand how finance can lead in the AI era. Their latest study, building on a 2023 digital-maturity diagnostic…

In this week’s edition of The HBR Executive Agenda, editor at large Adi Ignatius connects with Dambisa Moyo, an economist who sits on the boards of Chevron, Condé Nast, and Starbucks, about how AI could upend the global economy, and what boards need to understand…

To create top-performing teams, you need team emotional intelligence. Team EI is a set of habitual routines or norms that together meet the core social needs that are activated when people enter teams. These include the need to feel genuinely accepted, known…

The improv technique “Yes, and…” can be a powerful way to run more collaborative, creative, and productive meetings—when used intentionally. It works by validating a teammate’s contribution (“yes”) and building on it (“and”), helping teams generate ideas…

Companies aren’t generating ROI on their AI investments because they’re still thinking about AI as a siloed, piecemeal solution instead of the data, software and process foundation for a completely different way to power a business. It’s time to stop throwing…

A conversation with IMD’s Amit Joshi on weighing the risks and rewards of new technology.

Many professionals pursue success first, assuming happiness will follow. But research shows that this sequence is flawed: success alone rarely delivers lasting satisfaction. Instead, happiness is a strong predictor of success across work, relationships, and…

When a big decision must be made by multiple constituencies with different goals, it can often fall victim to challenges from drawn-out processes to data overload. But AI is helping. One field—city planning—is already applying its ability to analyze vast…

If you’re leading a growing organization but can’t justify the cost of full-time executives, there’s another way.

This collection of the 10 most-read HBR articles on gen AI in the first half of 2025 can help leaders engage with, and answer, some of today’s most pressing questions about the technology: What are the practical, real-life applications of gen AI? How do I…

Founders who tailor their pitch language to the strength of their evidence dramatically boost their odds of funding. When substantial resources are already in place—capital raised, partnerships secured, patents filed—high‑energy, passionate wording amplifies…

About a third of middle-market companies are owned by private equity, and many currently founder-led companies will have at least one phase of PE ownership eventually. A majority of PE deals result in the replacement of the CEO within two years. With that…

Research has shown that layoffs yield disengagement, turnover, and reduced productivity among remaining employees. As more and more CEOs talk about the potential for layoffs in the AI era, how executives communicate about layoffs to their staff can make a…

New research from BrightHire and Harvard Business School’s Managing the Future of Work project reveals that although interviews appear to cover most skills listed in job descriptions, they often fail to meaningfully assess them—especially technical and experience…

In the debate over whether it’s helpful or hurtful to share employee pay data, consider a new finding: When the SEC mandated CEO‐to‐median‐employee pay disclosures, the information didn’t erode morale—instead it raised average pay satisfaction by giving workers…