Five leadership skills for the future

HERMINIA IBARRA Leadership WOL

Today, and even more so in the years ahead, we need leaders who can help transform their firms—so they become more agile, more innovative, more digitally savvy, more customer-centric, more inclusive, and more human. The problems to be solved—and opportunities to be seized—increasingly present what Harvard Kennedy School professor Ronald Heifetz calls “adaptive challenges,” complex situations in which there isn’t …

Why killing the office won’t close the gender gap

HERMINIA IBARRA Women & Work FC

Before this pandemic, research suggested women benefited more from working from home than men. But there are three factors that indicate women are going to be at a disadvantage if we continue to work remotely. Stay-at-home orders for the COVID-19 pandemic were put in place almost overnight, removing us from the office and abruptly transforming how most of us work. …

Why WFH Isn’t Necessarily Good for Women

HERMINIA IBARRA Women & Work HBR

By altering attitudes toward working from home (WFH), COVID-19 may have forever changed the way we work. According to a new MIT study, half of those who were employed before the pandemic are now working remotely. As company executives see for themselves that excellent work can be achieved, and productivity heightened, even in jobs that no one imagined could be done virtually, a …

Reinventing your career in the time of coronavirus

HERMINIA IBARRA Career Management HBR

Unexpected events or shocks disrupt our habitual routines, jolt us out of our comfort zones, and lead us to ask big questions about what matters and what is worth doing. It’s no wonder, then, that during the current pandemic, many people are rethinking their careers. But is this really the right time? Even for those of us lucky enough not …

The Leader as Coach

HERMINIA IBARRA Leadership HBR

Once upon a time, most people began successful careers by developing expertise in a technical, functional, or professional domain. Doing your job well meant having the right answers. If you could prove yourself that way, you’d rise up the ladder and eventually move into people management—at which point you had to ensure that your subordinates had those same answers. As …

Take a wrecking ball to those iconic practices

HERMINIA IBARRA Leadership SMR

Here’s what today’s leaders need to do to knock down obstacles to cultural change. Editor’s note: This article is part of a new MIT SMR series about how leadership is evolving in a digital world. Most leaders today are trying to do the same things: help their organizations become more agile, more innovative, more digitally savvy, and more customer-centric. Sooner or later, though, …

Leading law firms in the digital age

HEIDI K GARDNER AND HERMINIA IBARRA Leadership HBR

Law firm leaders must figure out how to guide their organisation through the inevitable process of digital transformation. Leveraging outsiders’ experiences, modernising systems and piloting new approaches, and instilling a learning culture are all essential – but not easy – steps for digital leaders. Artificial intelligence and other emerging digital technologies are undoubtedly poised to disrupt the business models of …

How a new mindset and a massive culture change made Microsoft number one again

HERMINIA IBARRA Leadership LBSR

It wasn’t all that long ago when tech giants like AOL, Yahoo and Blackberry seemed immortal. Today, of course, we remember them only as fallen giants – a fate Microsoft appeared to be headed toward less than a decade ago. That Microsoft was able to fully revive itself when other first-generation technology innovators couldn’t begs the big leadership questions: “What did …