When you’re in the middle of a conflict, it’s common to automatically enter fight-or-flight mode.

But HBR contributing editor and workplace conflict expert Amy Gallo says it’s possible to interrupt this response, stay calm, and find a path towards a more productive discussion. In this episode, you’ll learn some simple techniques that will help you manage your emotions when conflict arises at work.

First try to distance yourself from the negative emotion you’re feeling by labeling it. Then focus on your breath and your body. And if you need to — take a break and give yourself time to process your intense emotions.

Gallo also cohosts HBR’s Women at Work podcast, and her most recent book is Getting Along: How to Work with Anyone (Even Difficult People).

Key episode topics include: leadership, emotional intelligence, difficult conversations, managing yourself.

HBR On Leadership curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.

· Watch the original HBR Guide episode: How to Control Your Emotions During a Difficult Conversation: The Harvard Business Review Guide (2022)

· Find more episodes of the HBR Guide series on YouTube.

· Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org.

In early 1915, polar explorer Ernest Shackleton’s ship became trapped in ice, north of Antarctica. For almost two years, he and his crew braved those frozen expanses. Then, in December 1916, Shackleton led them all to safety.

Not a single life was lost, and Shackleton’s leadership has become one of the most famous case studies of all time.

In this episode, Harvard Business School professor and historian Nancy Koehn analyzes Shackleton’s leadership during those two fateful years that he and his men struggled to survive.

She explains how Shackleton carefully assembled a team capable of weathering a crisis and the important role empathy played in his day-to-day leadership. Koehn also shares the survival lessons that Shackleton learned from weak leaders he encountered early in his own career.

Key episode topics include: leadership, crisis management, motivating people, managing people.

HBR On Leadership curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.

· Listen to the original HBR IdeaCast episode: Real Leaders: Ernest Shackleton Leads a Harrowing Expedition (2020)

· Find more episodes of HBR IdeaCast

· Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org

Imagine you’re a new manager, and one of your team members consistently underperforms. But there’s a catch: your struggling employee is a personal friend of your CEO. When performance review time rolls around, should you be honest and give them a low rating?

There are no simple answers for the tough decisions that managers face. Harvard Business School professor Joe Badaracco says that hard and fast rules only go so far in these sorts of situations. Instead, managers must use their best judgement to find a solution.

Badaracco is a business ethics expert and the author of the book, Managing in the Gray: Five Timeless Questions for Resolving Your Toughest Problems at Work.

In this episode, he explains how to approach what he calls “gray-area decisions.” First, gather as much information as you can, taking different perspectives into account. Then, consider the consequences of the different possible actions you can take, the values of your organization, and your own personal values.

Key episode topics include: leadership, managing conflicts, dismissing employees, managing people, managing employees, tough calls,

HBR On Leadership curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.

· Listen to the original Cold Call episode: Managing in the Real World: How to Make Gray-Area Decisions (2016)

· Find more episodes of Cold Call

· Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org

Problem solving skills are invaluable in any job. But all too often, we jump to find solutions to a problem without taking time to really understand the dilemma we face, according to Thomas Wedell-Wedellsborg, an expert in innovation and the author of the book, What's Your Problem?: To Solve Your Toughest Problems, Change the Problems You Solve.

In this episode, you’ll learn how to reframe tough problems by asking questions that reveal all the factors and assumptions that contribute to the situation. You’ll also learn why searching for just one root cause can be misleading.

Key episode topics include: leadership, decision making and problem solving, power and influence, business management.

HBR On Leadership curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.

· Listen to the original HBR IdeaCast episode: The Secret to Better Problem Solving (2016)

· Find more episodes of HBR IdeaCast

· Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org

Notes (iTunes)

Would you promote an employee who’s a top performer, but mistreats their colleagues and disregards company values? It’s a dilemma that many managers face in their careers.

In this episode, the former dean of Harvard Business School Nitin Nohria discusses the classic case study, “Rob Parson at Morgan Stanley.” He breaks down the issues at the heart of the case—including the questions it raises about managers’ accountability for their employees’ behavior.

You’ll learn how to imagine multiple perspectives on this dilemma, so you can work through your decision making. You’ll also learn how managers should consider their own role in creating the incentives that motivate their employees.

Key episode topics include: leadership, talent management, employee performance management.

HBR On Leadership curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.

· Listen to the original Cold Call episode: Employee Performance vs. Company Values: A Manager’s Dilemma (2020)

· Find more episodes of Cold Call

· Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org

What should you do when you become the boss?

Many of us are promoted into people manager roles without any preparation for the complexities involved in that work. But Harvard Business School professor Alison Wood Brooks says there are some basics that will help you get started as a first-time boss.

Brooks is an expert in organizational behavior and the psychology of communication. She takes questions from listeners who are struggling as first-time bosses, and talks through what to do when your direct reports are older than you, how to be a likable leader, and what to say if you’re not ready to be in charge.

Key episode topics include: leadership, leading teams, managing people.

HBR On Leadership curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.

· Listen to the original Dear HBR episode: First-time Bosses (2018)

· Find more episodes of Dear HBR.

· Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org.

If you’re a leader, you need to know how to influence people. Maybe you’re trying to get clients to buy into your idea, trust your expertise, or sign on with your company. Or perhaps you want to convince colleagues to start a new initiative or kill one you think is doomed to fail.

In this episode, Vanessa Bohns, a professor of organizational behavior at Cornell University, and Raven Hoffman, who works in a construction role that involves recruiting new clients to her firm, break down how to build influence at work.

They discuss which persuasion tactics are most effective and how to tell if someone is being swayed by your reasoning. And if you’ve failed to persuade someone but still believe in the cause, they offer smart tactics for trying again.

Key episode topics include: leadership, persuasion, power and influence, business communication, industrial sector, construction and engineering, education institutions.

HBR On Leadership curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.

· Listen to the original Women at Work episode: The Essentials: Persuading People (2022)

· Find more episodes of Women at Work.

· Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org.

Some leaders spend their careers honing their relationships with employees. But Harvard Business School professor Boris Groysberg and corporate communications expert Michael Slind argue that leaders are at their best when they simply talk with their teams.

In this episode, you’ll learn how to be more intentional about your conversations with employees—to ensure that you’re cultivating appropriate intimacy, inviting meaningful interaction, and including everyone. You’ll also learn how to make your conversations open, but not aimless.

Key episode topics include: leadership, business communication, organizational culture, teams, relationship building, conversation.

HBR On Leadership curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.

· Listen to the original HBR IdeaCast episode: How Effective Leaders Talk (and Listen) (2012)

· Find more episodes of HBR IdeaCast

· Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org

Etsy, the online seller of handmade and vintage goods, was founded as an alternative to mass-manufactured products. The company grew substantially in its first decade but remained unprofitable.

When Etsy went public, stakeholders demanded a new level of financial returns and accountability. But the company continued to struggle to contain costs—until a new CEO arrived with a plan for a purpose-driven turnaround.

In this episode, Harvard Business School professor Ranjay Gulati discusses his case, “Etsy: Crafting a Turnaround to Save the Business and Its Soul,” which explores how CEO Josh Silverman made Etsy profitable by rediscovering the company’s commitment to social and environmental sustainability.

Gulati discusses the difficult choices Silverman made in the early days of his tenure, like laying off employees for the first time ever at Etsy, and how he worked to regain trust with employees. He also explains why Silverman prioritized improving the user experience for buyers on Etsy’s website.

Gulati is the author of the book Deep Purpose: The Heart and Soul of High-Performance Companies.

Key episode topics include: leadership, change management, organizational culture, organizational transformation, strategy, retail and consumer goods, online retail, purpose, sustainability.

HBR On Leadership curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.

· Listen to the original Cold Call episode: How Etsy Found Its Purpose and Crafted a Turnaround (2022)

· Find more episodes of Cold Call

· Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org

The key to success as a leader is to strike a careful balance between ambition and humility. But how do you stay humble while also proving your worth? And how do you advance without showing too much ambition?

In this episode, Amer Kaissi offers advice on how to find a better balance between our desire to achieve and the qualities that earn more respect from colleagues. As he says, “humility keeps our feet on the ground by allowing us to have an accurate assessment of our own abilities, by understanding our strengths and our weaknesses.” And “ambition is about making us reach for the stars by believing in our own greatness, but also in the greatness of the people who work with us.”

Kaissi is a professor of health care administration at Trinity University in Texas and an executive coach. He’s the author of the book Humbitious: The Power of Low-Ego, High-Drive Leadership.

Key episode topics include: leadership, leadership qualities, emotional intelligence, ambition, humility, listening skills, learning, Steve Jobs.

HBR On Leadership curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.

· Listen to the original HBR IdeaCast episode: To Get Ahead, You Need Both Ambition and Humility (2022)

· Find more episodes of HBR IdeaCast.

· Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org.

If you’re leading innovation, you need very specific leadership skills.

Harvard Business School professor Linda Hill has studied leadership and innovation for decades and is the coauthor of Collective Genius: The Art and Practice of Leading Innovation. She says that leaders who shepherd innovation can’t rely on formal authority. Instead, they need to understand how to get people to co-create with them, which requires mastering three key roles —architect, bridger, and catalyst—or the ABCs of innovation.

In this episode, you’ll learn how to fill each of these roles—from how to assemble the right team to how to build real connections and mutual commitment. As Hill says, “You cannot tell people to innovate. You can only invite them.”

Key episode topics include: leadership, innovation, power, commitment, talent management, resources, teams, collaboration.

HBR On Leadership curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.

· Watch the original HBR Quick Study episode: What Makes a Great Leader? (2022)

· Find more episodes of the HBR Quick Study series on YouTube.

· Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org.