The Inner Life of Leaders

To what extent does a leader's inner life affect his or her behavior and actions toward other people? HBS professor emeritus Abraham Zaleznik, skilled in the practice of psychoanalysis and an admirer of the insights of Sigmund Freud, is well positioned to study the question. Zaleznik has authored or coauthored 15 books as well as the now-classic 1977 Harvard Business Review article "Managers and Leaders: Are They Different?" His latest book, Hedgehogs and Foxes: Character, Leadership, and Command in Organizations, explores motivation, decision making, and leadership skills as they progress in life and in business.

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Harvard Business School Discusses Future of the MBA

For the school that so boldly launched the MBA 100 years ago and went on to become the bluest of blue-chip brands in business education, it seemed only fitting that Harvard Business School should mark its centennial year by examining the future of the degree it invented. "It was our view that you need to think critically about what you are doing every 100 years or so, whether you need to or not," Dean Jay Light wryly observed in opening remarks to an unprecedented campus gathering last March of business school deans, corporate recruiters, and executives. It was a welcome moment of levity given the seriousness of the topic at hand. Some of the schools represented had already implemented major MBA program reforms. Others were considering them. But everyone had one thing in common: Each had assisted HBS professors Srikant Datar and David Garvin in their painstaking research to render the most complete contemporary picture of MBA education.

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Steve Jobs and Jeff Bezos meet "Ginger"

Steve Kemper was given complete behind-the-scenes access to Dean Kamen and the Segway design team during development of the much-hyped "human transporter." The result: A new book, Code Name Ginger. Here's an excerpt

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Why Don't Managers Think Deeply?

Jeffrey Immelt, GE's CEO, has received a lot of publicity recently for fostering "imagination breakthroughs" by encouraging managers to think deeply about innovations that will ensure GE's longer-term success. He has vowed that he will protect those working on the breakthroughs from the "budget slashers" focused on short-term success. Questions that this effort raises include: (1) Why so much publicity? (2) Isn't "deep thinking" what leaders are paid to do? and (3) Why do these kinds of effort require so much protection? In their new book, Marketing Metaphoria, Gerald and Lindsay Zaltman suggest some answers to the questions.

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The Seven Things That Surprise New CEOs

Most new chief executives are taken aback by the unexpected and unfamiliar new roles, the time and information limitations, and the altered professional relationships they run up against. Here are the common surprises new CEOs face, and here's how to tell when adjustments are necessary. Surprise One: You Can't Run the Company

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