Moving Beyond Either-Or Decision-Making

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1. 

   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.…

2. 

   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.

3. 

   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…

4. 

   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.

5. 

   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.

6. 

   E128 · 17 Sep 2025 · 22 min

   The Types of Questions Every Leader Should Ask

   Leslie K. John and Alison Wood Brooks, professors at Harvard Business School, say people in business can be more successful by asking more and better questions. They talk through what makes for a great question, whether you’re looking to get information or get someone to like you. They’re the coauthors of the article, “The Surprising Power of Questions,” in the May–June 2018 issue of Harvard Business Review.

7. 

   E127 · 10 Sep 2025 · 48 min

   What It Takes to Join Your First Board

   Eight women who’ve been on boards share how they landed a seat, gained confidence in the role, and found unexpected personal and professional benefits in the work. We hope their perspectives and advice will encourage you to consider trying it yourself some day. Ellen Zane, who runs a Harvard workshop for women interested in board work, gives further insight based on her deep experience as a director for nonprofits and private and public companies.

8. 

   E126 · 3 Sep 2025 · 32 min

   Change How Your Colleagues See You

   Do you need a career makeover? Dan and Alison answer your questions with the help of Dorie Clark, the author of Reinventing You: Define Your Brand, Imagine Your Future. They talk through how to change your coworkers’ perception of you, transition to a role outside your area of expertise, or be seen as a leader.

9. 

   E125 · 27 Aug 2025 · 25 min

   The Risks of Putting People on Too Many Project Teams

   Mark Mortensen, a professor of organizational behavior at INSEAD, discusses the research on “multiteaming”—when employees work not only across multiple projects, but multiple teams. It has significant benefits at the individual, team, and organizational levels. Among them: multiteaming saves money. The cost—stretched employees—is hard to see. And that is where the tension, and the risk, lies. Mortensen is the co-author, with Heidi K. Gardner, of “The Overcommitted Organization” in the September–October 2017 issue of Harvard Business Review.

10. 

    E124 · 20 Aug 2025 · 55 min

    Make a Mid-Career Industry Change with Confidence

    When you realize the line of work you’ve been in for years doesn’t interest you anymore or is in decline or won’t ever pay well enough, what’s your next move? Amy Bernstein speaks with executive coach Nina Bowman about the process of making a bold mid-career leap: how to identify a new path, build connections to land interviews, and tell the story of how you’ll succeed in a completely different role. Then, two listeners who made bold leaps themselves—one from academia to tech, the other from government to consulting—share their experiences and insights.