Why Purpose Is Foundational in Leadership

More from HBR On Leadership All episodes →

1. 

   E140 · 10 Dec 2025 · 58 min

   Setting Goals for Your Team When the Path Isn’t Clear

   In this Coaching Real Leaders session, a leader who has worked in the higher education sector for decades seeks guidance on how to set direction and maintain momentum for her team when so much of their long-term work depends on shifting priorities and partners outside her control. As she steps into her first role managing managers, she’s unsure how fast to push, how to divide her time, and how to judge progress when the path ahead isn’t fully defined. Host Muriel Wilkins helps her sort through those questions, identify what she can move forward now, and build confidence in her ability to…

2. 

   E139 · 3 Dec 2025 · 20 min

   Bring More Discipline to Your Decision-Making

   Corey Phelps, the dean of Penn State’s Smeal College of Business, says great problem solvers are hard to find. Even seasoned professionals at the highest levels of organizations regularly fail to identify the real problem and instead jump to exploring solutions. Phelps identifies the common traps and outlines a research-proven method to solve problems effectively. He’s the coauthor of the book “Cracked It! How to Solve Big Problems and Sell Solutions Like Top Strategy Consultants.”

3. 

   E138 · 26 Nov 2025 · 35 min

   Communicating Clearly When You’re Under Stress

   Leadership development coach Muriel Wilkins talks us through communication techniques that meet you where you’re at mentally and emotionally so that you can rise to the moment (even when you’re worried you can’t).

4. 

   E137 · 19 Nov 2025 · 15 min

   How to Scale What’s Working at Your Company

   Stanford professor Bob Sutton, coauthor of Scaling Up Excellence, explains how leaders can expand what’s working in their organizations without letting growth dilute their success. He also shares the patterns that separate those who scale successfully from those whose early wins never catch on.

5. 

   E136 · 12 Nov 2025 · 33 min

   The “Hidden Blockers” That Are Limiting Your Leadership Potential

   Many of us have internal beliefs—I need it done now, I know I’m right, I need to be involved—that feel like truth but actually hold us back as leaders. Executive coach Muriel Wilkins calls these counterproductive beliefs “hidden blockers,” and she talks Women at Work hosts Amy Gallo and Amy Bernstein through the process of identifying theirs and then reframing them. They also look at how blockers show up in team and organizational behavior, like when lack of trust results in too many meetings, and discuss how leaders can shift culture by first examining and adjusting their own assumptions.

6. 

   E134 · 29 Oct 2025 · 26 min

   How Design Thinking Unlocks Creativity

   For business leaders, the struggle between efficiency and innovation is constant. How do businesses meet their customers’ needs while also developing new and improved products and services? In the article “Why Design Thinking Works” from the September-October 2018 issue of Harvard Business Review, author Jeanne Liedtka of the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business writes “the structure of design thinking creates a natural flow from research to rollout.” She explains how this clear process helps teams break free of a variety of human tendencies that get in the way of innovation.…

7. 

   E133 · 22 Oct 2025 · 24 min

   How Business Leaders Can Help Solve the World’s Toughest Problems

   Rosabeth Moss Kanter, professor at Harvard Business School, believes the world demands a new kind of business leader. She says so-called “advanced leaders” work inside and outside their companies to tackle big issues such as climate change, public health, and social inequality. She gives real-life examples and explains how business leaders can harness their experience, networks, innovative approaches, and the power of their organizations to solve challenging problems.

8. 

   E132 · 15 Oct 2025 · 22 min

   How Better Contracts Can Strengthen Strategic Partnerships

   Even the most carefully worded and meticiously reviewed contracts can fall apart once they hit the reality of modern business dynamics. Oliver Hart, Nobel-winning Harvard economist, and Kate Vitasek, faculty at the University of Tennessee, argue that, when it comes to contracts, one side often ends up feeling like they’re getting a bad deal, and it can spiral into a tit for tat battle. Hart and Vitasek say that companies should instead consider so-called relational contracts. Their research shows that creating a general playbook built around principles like fairness and reciprocity offers…

9. 

   E131 · 8 Oct 2025 · 51 min

   Leading a Team When the Strategy Keeps Changing

   It's tough to keep a team motivated when the strategy from the top keeps shifting. That's the challenge facing a leader in a large global organization. He’s been getting positive feedback on his work, but he’s having trouble leading his team amid conflicting priorities and without direction from his senior leaders. Host Muriel Wilkins coaches him through how he can help his team have organizational impact, with or without more clarity from above.

10. 

    E130 · 1 Oct 2025 · 25 min

    Cultivating an Experimental Mindset in Your Organization

    Harvard Business School’s Stefan Thomke says running experiments can give companies tremendous value, but too often business leaders still make decisions based on intuition. With the right approach, even small firms can get a competitive advantage from the right kinds of tests.