Podcast
HBR IdeaCast
Hosted by Ameer Mavia · EN
A weekly podcast featuring the leading thinkers in business and management.
23episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
How Top World Cup, NBA, and NFL Coaches Make Better Decisions Under Pressure
Jun 3000:31:25Tap to summarizeWhen the stakes are high and the clock is ticking, how do great leaders make the right call? Sports performance consultant Alan McCall and sports scientist Johann Bilsborough say that leaders can improve decision-making before, during, and after critical moments, based on lessons they've learned from elite sports coaches. They share research on why preparation matters more than instinct, how to filter signal from noise, and why trust and relationships often determine the quality of decisions long before a crisis occurs. McCall and Bilsborough are coauthors, along with Adrian Wolfberg and Ricard Pruna, of the HBR article "How Elite Sports Coaches Make High-Pressure Decisions."
Transcribe →Creating Products with Curiosity, Humility, and Play
Jun 2300:28:08Tap to summarizeMost leaders know they need to innovate, but many take a strong instinct and hold too tightly to an idea, rather than testing, experimenting, and playing to find the best solution. Mark Pincus, founder of Zynga, argues that by approaching product development with more curiosity, humility, and experimentation, leaders can improve their odds of building something people truly love. He shares lessons from launching hit products, scaling a fast-growing company, and creating a culture where play, rather than perfectionism, drives innovation. He explains why leaders should focus less on originality and more on understanding what already works and how to identify breakthrough opportunities. Pincus is the author of Life at the Speed of Play: Launch Products People Love.
Transcribe →The Right Way to Manage Rule Breakers
Jun 1600:20:51Tap to summarizeMost leaders assume that when employees break rules, punishment is the answer. But according to researcher Michael Gill, associate professor at the University of Oxford Saïd Business School, that mindset overlooks a crucial reality: not all rule breaking is self-serving, and some of it may actually help organizations perform better. He explains his research synthesizing more than 250 studies and details the four main motivations behind why people break rules, why repeated violations may signal deeper organizational problems, and how leaders can distinguish harmful misconduct from employees trying to help customers, colleagues, or the business itself. Learn more in the HBR article How the Best Leaders Respond to Rule Breaking.
Transcribe →We All Hate Meetings—Here's How to Make Them Work
Jun 900:26:30Tap to summarizeMeetings are one of the biggest drains on time, energy, and morale at work, yet most managers are never actually taught how to run them well. Paul English, cofounder of Kayak, argues that organizations underestimate just how costly bad meetings can be. He says meeting culture is one of the most overlooked drivers of productivity, morale, and organizational effectiveness. Drawing on lessons from companies like Amazon, LinkedIn, Airbnb, and Shopify, as well as his own experience building high-performing teams, he explains how leaders can run meetings that create clarity, energy, and better decisions instead of frustration and fatigue. English is the author of the book The Meeting Book: How the Best Companies Meet Better.
Transcribe →Reinventing an Organization to Do More With Less
Jun 200:27:59Tap to summarizeWhat does it take to manage a complex global institution when change is constant and resources are scarce? For Kelly T. Clements, Deputy High Commissioner at the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), it's about building resilient teams, partnering across sectors, and balancing operational efficiency with humanity. In her more than a decade with the agency, Clements has helped steer key reforms in challenging circumstances, and she shares lessons for both public and private sector leaders about how to modernize systems, decentralize decision-making, and embrace innovation.
Transcribe →What Leads Companies to Betray Their Own Principles
May 2600:29:13Tap to summarizeWhy do so many organizations lose their way as they grow? Eric Ries, entrepreneur and author, says that corruption inside companies rarely begins with bad people or dramatic scandals. More often, it emerges slowly, through broken incentives, unchecked bureaucracy, and systems that reward the wrong behaviors. He explains why even successful organizations drift from their values, and what companies can do to stay adaptable, trustworthy, and mission-driven as they scale. Ries wrote the book Incorruptible: Why Good Companies Go Bad... and How Great Companies Stay Great.
Transcribe →How Immigrant Entrepreneurs Build Lasting Businesses
Apr 22, 2025Tap to summarizeIt's a common story: an immigrant arrives in a new country, sees a need, and works hard to build a successful business around it. Think of Chobani, Google, or Tesla. Indeed, 45 percent of Fortune 500 companies had immigrant founders. While most research focuses on why these people launched their businesses, perhaps more interesting is how they achieved lasting success. Neri Karra Sillaman is an entrepreneurship expert at Oxford University and the founder of luxury leather goods company Neri Karra. She's studied these entrepreneurs and shares her findings, which offer lessons for anyone in the corporate world. Sillaman wrote the book Pioneers: Eight Principles of Business Longevity from Immigrant Entrepreneurs.
Transcribe →The Hidden Burden of Long Covid and What Companies Can Do
May 14, 2024Tap to summarizeAround 18 million adults in the U.S. alone suffer from long Covid, a chronic illness with a wide range of symptoms and severity. With approved therapies a long way off, workers with long Covid often struggle in silence. And most companies have neither a good understanding of the situation nor effective policies in place, say MIT research scientist Beth Pollack and Vanguard University professor Ludmila Praslova. They share the conditions associated with long Covid, what life is like for those workers, and the accommodations and flexibility they recommend HR leaders and organizations implement. Pollack and Praslova are coauthors with researcher Katie Bach of the HBR Big Idea article “Long Covid at Work: A Manager's Guide.”
Transcribe →How Companies Can Recommit to Their DEI Goals
Sep 19, 2023Tap to summarizeAfter the summer of 2020 in the United States, many organizations made a big push to increase diversity, equity, and inclusion in their ranks and operations. But now, many fear that that momentum is slipping, especially in the face of economic headwinds. Laura Morgan Roberts, organizational psychologist and professor at the University of Virginia Darden School of Business, says it is time to recommit to these efforts by creating the conditions for all workers to flourish. She explains four freedoms that organizations can foster to allow employees to become their best selves — and even be able to fade into the background when they choose. Roberts wrote the HBR Big Idea article “Where Does DEI Go From Here?”
Transcribe →Let's Protect Our Frontline Workers from Rude Customers
Nov 22, 2022Tap to summarizeFrom videos of drunk and disorderly airline passengers to stories of hospital visitors angrily refusing to wear masks, customer-facing work seems to have gotten a lot more difficult – even dangerous -- over the past few years. It's important that organizations understand the experience of frontline workers now, and help to better protect their employees, says Christine Porath, professor of management at Georgetown University. She's studied incivility for 20 years, and has spoken to workers in many industries in the last few years about what it's like working with customers today - with stress, anger, and incivility seemingly on the rise. And she has advice for managers and leaders. Porath is the author of the HBR Big Idea article "Frontline Work When Everyone Is Angry."
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