Laura Findlay/Getty Images Have you ever questioned whether taking time off is worth it because the stress of preparing for a vacation is so high? If so, you’re not alone. Over half of Americans leave some vacation time on the table. Some of the reasons for the...

Laura Findlay/Getty Images Have you ever questioned whether taking time off is worth it because the stress of preparing for a vacation is so high? If so, you’re not alone. Over half of Americans leave some vacation time on the table. Some of the reasons for the...

Laura Findlay/Getty Images Have you ever questioned whether taking time off is worth it because the stress of preparing for a vacation is so high? If so, you’re not alone. Over half of Americans leave some vacation time on the table. Some of the reasons for the...

Shana Novak/Getty Images One question that has long plagued organizations is how to improve performance among frontline workers, the people who actually drive customer experience. Our work with hundreds of companies offers a clear and simple answer. To show how it...

Shana Novak/Getty Images One question that has long plagued organizations is how to improve performance among frontline workers, the people who actually drive customer experience. Our work with hundreds of companies offers a clear and simple answer. To show how it...

James Boast/Getty Images In August 2018 officials from Tokyo Medical University admitted to systematically altering medical school admission test scores to disadvantage female applicants. Since 2006 the university had been subtracting points from all exam scores, then...

CIOs and CEOs of large enterprises are faced with an overwhelming demand to transform their IT enterprise services and with a bewildering, often conflicting landscape of advice. IBM has transformed itself many times since its inception in the late 19th century...

Philippe Intraligi/Getty Images Many governments are currently rethinking their policies regarding cross-border data flows. Although cross-border data flows grew 45x between 2005 and 2014, according to a McKinsey analysis, events since 2014 have pushed the pendulum to...

Sarah Lawrence/Getty Images In the flurry of statistics that exist around personal productivity, there’s one I find especially alarming: The average person is distracted or interrupted every 40 seconds when working in front of their computer. In other words, we...

Sarah Lawrence/Getty Images In the flurry of statistics that exist around personal productivity, there’s one I find especially alarming: The average person is distracted or interrupted every 40 seconds when working in front of their computer. In other words, we...

Sarah Lawrence/Getty Images In the flurry of statistics that exist around personal productivity, there’s one I find especially alarming: The average person is distracted or interrupted every 40 seconds when working in front of their computer. In other words, we...

Sarah Lawrence/Getty Images In the flurry of statistics that exist around personal productivity, there’s one I find especially alarming: The average person is distracted or interrupted every 40 seconds when working in front of their computer. In other words, we...

JUSTIN TALLIS/Stringer/Getty Images Diverse networks can foster new ways of thinking by connecting you to people whose viewpoints, insights, resources, and lived experiences differ from your own. Consider a 1985 study by Carnegie Mellon researcher Robert Kelley and...

GrLb71/Getty Images It’s impossible to miss the simultaneous occurrence of two corporate trends. The first is the rise of the idea that to motivate employees you need to supply them with a “corporate purpose.” The second is the astronomical rise in...

Automation is helping a handful of companies accomplish what was once thought impossible: boosting financial performance while also aiding fast corporate transformation work. Recently, a financial services organization found $5 million in opportunities to optimize its...

Automation is helping a handful of companies accomplish what was once thought impossible: boosting financial performance while also aiding fast corporate transformation work. Recently, a financial services organization found $5 million in opportunities to optimize its...

anniepaddington/Getty Images Who wouldn’t want a meaningful career and better balance between work and home? For many of us, it’s finances that keep us from making a career change. Sure, our current job has lost its spark, but it’s stable....

Alice Mollon/Getty Images “Can you get that to me by the end of the day?” isn’t a request many employees like to hear. But for many people, having shorter deadlines instead of longer ones — “Do you think you can do that by the end of the...

Sunil Gupta, a professor at Harvard Business School, argues that many companies are still doing digital strategy wrong. Their leaders think of “going digital” as either a way to cut costs or to attract customers with a flashy new app. Gupta says successful...

Justin Case/Getty Images Back in 2006, McDonald’s saw its growth stall. The fast-food chain decided that the problem was its limited menu, so it tried out a great many new items and ended up doubling the offerings. But sales hardly budged. Finally, in 2016, it...

Jens Magnusson/Getty Images It was the last of three two-mile intervals, and I had one lap left. It was the point in a hard workout when the pain stops burning the legs and lungs and becomes a thick cloud of smoke behind the eyes. I saw my high school track coach...

Jens Magnusson/Getty Images It was the last of three two-mile intervals, and I had one lap left. It was the point in a hard workout when the pain stops burning the legs and lungs and becomes a thick cloud of smoke behind the eyes. I saw my high school track coach...

pchyburrs/Getty Images To get ahead in the workplace, you have to be seen. Being visible at work allows employees to demonstrate their skills, land prominent assignments, and build strategic relationships. For women, however, the importance of visibility creates a...

Are you feeling overwhelmed by your obligations at work and home? You are in good company. A majority of U.S. employees complain that they feel overwhelmed, according to surveys. As a coach and mentor focusing on productivity, I’ve heard this complaint hundreds...

Listen and subscribe to our podcast via Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | RSS Download this podcast Women at Work is back Sept. 17 with stories, conversations, and practical advice about women and work. Expect to hear from us every Monday for the...

Maguey Images/Getty Images Nearly 40% of Americans now have a “side hustle” or outside source of income beyond their day job, according to one recent survey, and many more are at least contemplating the possibility. Indeed, a Deloitte survey of millennial...

westend61/Getty Images Elon Musk recently tweeted that he intends to take Tesla private, that is, to take Tesla off U.S. stock exchanges. In a parallel development, the number of companies listed on U.S. stock exchanges has declined by almost 50% from its peak in...

maria freyenbacher/Getty Images As Shakespeare noted, “Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.” In contemporary language, the work of a leader is never done. Even if a leader has cleared her desk of all ongoing tasks for the day, the job is not over....

Eric Frommelt/Getty Images This week’s news that Microsoft, Facebook, FireEye, and Google disrupted ongoing Russian and Iranian influence campaigns should garner significant attention in corporate boardrooms. The revelation of this fresh round of foreign hacking...

David Lewis Taylor/Getty Images The best managers know they’re supposed to give the people they lead challenging assignments to keep them interested and engaged. But what do you do when someone you manage gets to the top of their learning curve — and...

pm images/Getty Images “You know, I believe that technology is the great leveler. Technology permits anybody to play. And in some ways, I think technology — it’s not only a great tool for democratization, but it’s a great tool for eliminating...

katie edwards/Getty Images Human beings crave coherence. We long to be true to ourselves and to act in a way that’s consistent with what we believe and value. We want to live and work authentically. This quest for coherence is hardwired; psychologists often...

Have you taken extended time off due to an illness? In this episode of HBR’s advice podcast, Dear HBR:, cohosts Alison Beard and Dan McGinn answer your questions with the help of Anne Sugar, a cancer survivor and an executive coach. They talk through what to do...

cintascotch/Getty Images Companies have been paying closer attention to work-family conflict and work-life balance over the last several decades. In many successful organizations, there is a heavy investment in offering programs that give employees more job-related...

D-BASE/Getty Images Nearly every business leader I meet fears being overcome by tech-savvy upstarts. That fear drives their companies to invest millions into coming up with breakthrough innovations. But a sickening number of those investments fail. Truth is, you can...

Jens Schlueter/Getty Images Recently, the United States marked a record seven-year stretch of continuous monthly job creation, resulting in a historically low unemployment rate of 4%. In addition to signaling a strong economy, a tight labor market typically improves...

Illustration by James Yang The flight attendant had to ask her twice, “Anything to drink, ma’am?” “Oh, sorry. Water, no ice, please,” said Noelle Freeman, the CFO of Franklin Climate Systems. Watching the clouds out her window at 30,000...

Roland Birke/Getty Images Last December, Time magazine gave its award for person of the year to the “the silence breakers,” commemorating a broad societal awakening about the pervasiveness of sexual harassment in the workplace. As the #MeToo movement...

Roland Birke/Getty Images Last December, Time magazine gave its award for person of the year to the “the silence breakers,” commemorating a broad societal awakening about the pervasiveness of sexual harassment in the workplace. As the #MeToo movement...

Catherine Lane/Getty Images Sometimes it happens that a candidate who had the right credentials, seemed to fly through the interview process, and had lovely references turns out to be an unexpected problem after hiring. If it hasn’t happened to you yet, consider...

PM Images/Getty Images Robert didn’t know what to think. How could he have misjudged the situation so badly? He felt angry, sad, and betrayed. Because of his impending retirement, Robert had carefully groomed a successor to take over his key project. The...

MirageC/Getty Images Last week, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren announced that she’s about to propose the most significant change in U.S. corporate governance in 100 years. We don’t yet have the full details, but one reading of her piece is...

Rebecca Shambaugh, a leadership coach, says being too collaborative can actually hold you back at work. Instead of showing how well you build consensus and work with others, it can look like indecision or failure to prioritize. She explains what to do if you...

Tim Eillis/Getty Images Every manager knows the termination playbook: Be direct, keep it short, walk the employee out the door, shut down access to email, and so on. Having led three businesses, managed thousands of employees, and overseen hundreds of terminations, I...

Geri Lavrov/Getty Images Although the unemployment rate is currently at a historic low of 4%, economists are still struggling to understand why it remained so painfully high after the Great Recession—and why it took five years to return to its pre-recession...

Simon McGill/Getty Images Businesses understand the power of digital innovations to reshape industries and markets. Yet, time and again, they have struggled to innovate with new and disruptive technologies. Clayton Christensen and others argue that an...

Most organizations only focus on one. from HBR.org https://ift.tt/2BtDICN

Russ Widstrand/Getty Images As technology transforms our economy, one trend is getting more and more attention: the prospect that it will increasingly automate the work that we human beings do. And it’s not just low skilled, manual labor that’s at...

CSA Images/Colin McPherson/Getty Images NewTV, a new company focused on short-form video, just raised $1 billion dollars. That’s on top of the $750 million that its parent company, WndrCo, has raised for the venture. NewTV is the creation of Jeffrey Katzenberg,...

N Farnon/Getty Images Home is a sanctuary from work stress, right? Not always. Even if you are able to leave your projects and worries at the office, your spouse may have difficulty doing so — and that stress can rub off on you. How can you help your partner...

N Farnon/Getty Images Home is a sanctuary from work stress, right? Not always. Even if you are able to leave your projects and worries at the office, your spouse may have difficulty doing so — and that stress can rub off on you. How can you help your partner...

Andy Roberts/Getty Images Activist hedge funds have become capital market and financial media darlings. The Economist famously called them “capitalism’s unlikely heroes” in a cover story, and the FT published an article saying we “should...

Brigitte Blättler/Getty Images We all need time to unplug and recharge. Research shows that disconnecting — especially from email — can make us significantly less stressed and more productive. And yet, many of us are often hesitant to take the first...

Hayri Er/Getty Images The toll that the opioid epidemic has taken on the United States is undeniable. On average, 115 Americans die every day from a drug overdose involving an opioid, and even more suffer the debilitating effects of addiction. Despite state and...

CSA Images/Getty Images U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren has proposed a novel way to reform corporate governance. It would require companies with more than $1 billion in revenue to get a corporate charter from the federal government (rather than from an individual...

Steven Puetzer/Getty Images At some point in our careers, we find ourselves in need of help from others — whether it’s to make a direct connection to a hiring manager, to gather information on a prospective client company, or to get help in learning...

Adopt these mindsets and behaviors. from HBR.org https://ift.tt/2P95Ldq