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Comp Targets That Work
Gopalan, Radhakrishnan; Horn, John; Milbourn, Todd T.Article HBS-R1705H-ELeadership and People ManagementMost companies struggle with setting executive performance targets. From 2006 to 2014, almost all of the 1,000 largest U.S. firms completely changed their CEOs' performance metrics at least once, and almost 60% changed them multiple times. The problems with such targets are well known: They often encourage managers to sacrifice a firm's long-term health or to manipulate their numbers in order to make their bonuses. What companies need is an incen...Starting at €6.75
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Happiness Traps
McKee, AnnieArticle HBS-R1705D-ENumerous studies show that close to two-thirds of U.S. employees are bored, detached, or jaded and ready to sabotage plans, projects, and other people. Why so much unhappiness among professionals who have the capacity to shape their work lives? The author highlights three of the most common reasons--ambition, doing what's expected of us, and overwork--which seem productive on the surface but are harmful when taken to the extreme. To break free of...Starting at €6.75
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The Overcommitted Organization
Mortensen, Mark; Gardner, Heidi K.Article HBS-R1705C-EBy assigning people to multiple teams at once, organizations can make more-efficient use of time and brainpower and do a better job of solving complex problems and sharing knowledge across groups. But competing priorities and other conflicts can make it hard for teams with overlapping membership to stay on track. Group cohesion often suffers, and people serving on several teams concurrently may experience burnout. Through extensive research and c...Starting at €6.75
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Souq.com's CEO on Building an E-Commerce Powerhouse in the Middle East
Mouchawar, RonaldoArticle HBS-R1705A-EEntrepreneurshipIn 2005, when Souq.com was founded, the Middle East had tremendous potential for e-commerce: Its total population was more than 350 million, half of whom were younger than 25. But the region was highly fragmented in terms of laws and customs, logistics, and payment infrastructure. Mouchawar tells how Souq grew from auction website to B2C-only business by enabling alternative payment methods and managing delivery in a region where basic logistics ...Starting at €6.75
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Follow Dubious Orders or Speak Up (Commentary for HBR Case Study)
Sucher, Sandra J.; Preble, MatthewArticle HBS-R1704Z-EA summer intern isn't sure how to respond to a request that she misrepresent herself in collecting competitive intelligence for her company. One of her primary duties is to assist with market research by calling direct competitors and asking for sensitive information. Her manager wants her to tell these contacts that she's a student working on a project. She needs the internship and the money, but she also doesn't want to start her career in this...Starting at €6.75
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The Science of Pep Talks
McGinn, DanielArticle HBS-R1704L-EThe ability to deliver an energizing pep talk is a prerequisite for any business leader. But few managers receive formal training in how to give one. Instead, they learn mostly by emulating inspirational bosses, coaches, or even fictional characters. However, research shows there is a science to psyching people up for better performance. According to motivating language theory, most winning formulas include three key elements: direction giving, o...Starting at €6.75
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"Don't Try to Protect the Past"
Rometty, Ginni; Ignatius, AdiArticle HBS-R1704K-EGinni Rometty has spent 36 years at IBM, where she now serves as president, CEO, and chairman of the board. She is on a protracted mission to reinvent the company as a cloud-based "solutions" business. That transformation involves moving into areas that have higher value and shedding ones that don't. IBM's new businesses around cloud, data, and security account for almost $34 billion in revenue. They're growing by more than 13% a year and constit...Starting at €6.75
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Managing Climate Change: Lessons from the U.S. Navy
Reinhardt, Forest L.; Toffel, Michael W.Article HBS-R1704H-EThe U.S. Navy operates on the front lines of climate change. It manages tens of billions of dollars of assets on every continent and on every ocean, which take many years to design and build and then have decades of useful life. This means that it needs to understand now what sorts of missions it may be required to perform in 10, 20, or 30 years and what assets and infrastructure it will need to carry them out. Put another way, it needs to plan f...Starting at €6.75
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Finding the Platform in Your Product
Hagiu, Andrei; Altman, Elizabeth J.Article HBS-R1704G-EStrategyFive of the 10 most valuable companies in the world today--Apple, Alphabet, Amazon, Facebook, and Microsoft--derive much of their worth from their multisided platforms, which facilitate interactions or transactions between parties. Many MSPs are more valuable than companies in the same industries that provide only products or services: For instance, Airbnb is now worth more than Marriott, the world's largest hotel chain. However, companies that w...Starting at €6.75
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Decoding CEO Pay*
Pozen, Robert C.; Kothari, S.P.Article HBS-R1704E-ELeadership and People ManagementEach year most public companies issue reports describing the pay packages of their CEOs. In them compensation committees attempt to explain the rationale behind the pay figures to the shareholders, who often must vote to approve them. The issue is, in their reports many committees adjust performance numbers in obscure and inappropriate ways that lead to overly generous CEO pay. And they do so using nonstandard criteria that are difficult for even...Starting at €6.75