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Leadership transitions are challenging for both organizations and the leaders who must directly navigate them. But Michael Watkins says they’re also a time of incredible opportunity — especially for those leaders who understand how to handle this crucial period.

Watkins is a professor of leadership and organizational change at IMD Business School. He shares a framework for selecting a transition strategy that best matches the situation you’re facing — whether you’re building a new operation from scratch or trying to turnaround a business in crisis. Watkins also explains why it’s so important to effectively assess your new leadership context and not to rely only on transition strategies that have worked for you in the past.

Key episode topics include: strategy, strategic planning, leadership transitions.

HBR On Strategy curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock new ways of doing business. New episodes every week.

· Listen to the original HBR IdeaCast episode: Picking the Right Transition Strategy (2008)

· Find more episodes of HBR IdeaCast

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

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In 1992, Canada, Mexico, and the U.S. signed NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement, and the global business landscape began transforming.

Pankaj Ghemawat, a professor at NYU’s Stern School of Business, studies how companies have adjusted their strategies to that disruptive change — from rethinking their supply chains to learning to navigate unpredictable trade policy environments. He discusses how companies can plan for an evolving world of multi-country international supply chains and cross-border information flows.

Key episode topics include: strategy, competitive strategy, business history, globalization, technology and analytics.

HBR On Strategy curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock new ways of doing business. New episodes every week.

· Listen to the full HBR IdeaCast episode: Globalization: Myth and Reality (2017)

· Find more episodes of HBR IdeaCast

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

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Disruptive innovation has proven to be such a powerful idea that the word “innovation” is often equated with the broader idea of market disruption. But that’s not always the case.

INSEAD strategy professor Renée Mauborgne says there is a way to create new markets without destroying jobs, companies, and communities. She calls this idea: “nondisruptive creation.”

Mauborgne explains how some entrepreneurs and companies have been able to grow billion-dollar businesses by creating new markets rather than displacing existing ones. She points to Square, which enables credit card transactions with a mobile phone or tablet, as one prime example.

Mauborgne also breaks down the key operational advantages that come with nondisruptive creation and explains how to spot a nondisruptive market opportunity and evaluate its potential.

Key episode topics include: strategy, innovation, disruptive innovation, growth strategy, entrepreneurs and founders.

HBR On Strategy curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock new ways of doing business. New episodes every week.

· Listen to the full HBR IdeaCast episode: Disruption Isn’t the Only Path to Innovation (2023)

· Find more episodes of HBR IdeaCast

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

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Enel, Italy’s state-owned power company founded in 1962, was one of Europe’s largest coal users and polluters. Now it is recognized as a leader in renewable energy services and has integrated sustainability into its business model and operations.

In this episode, former Harvard Business School senior lecturer Mark Kramer explains how Enel made that enormous strategic change — from its long-range planning to how it tackled the dreaded “innovator’s dilemma.”

Kramer studied the company’s transformation into a renewable energy leader in his case, “Enel: The Future of Energy.”

Key episode topics include: strategy, change management, leadership and managing people.

HBR On Strategy curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock new ways of doing business. New episodes every week.

· Listen to the original Cold Call episode: How a Coal Polluter Became a Renewable Energy Leader (2018)

· Find more episodes of Cold Call

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

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Creating value is table stakes for any business. But is your organization also capturing the value you create?

IMD professor Stefan Michel says that many businesses don’t actually know how. “Many companies spend a lot of time on innovating, in a sense that they create more value for customers,” he argues. “What they often miss is to think about how to capture that value.”

Michel studies marketing and strategy at the Switzerland-based business school. Through his research, he created a framework for defining the value of your innovations.

In this episode, he explains how to apply his framework — whether you’re developing new business ideas or formulating a strategy to compete with a new entrant in your market. He also discusses how value-capture works in the real world — drawing on examples from companies like Nespresso and Google.

Key episode topics include: strategy, innovation, value-based pricing, pricing, value capture, Nespresso, Google, new revenue streams, growth strategy.

HBR On Strategy curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock new ways of doing business. New episodes every week.

· Listen to the original HBR IdeaCast episode: Focus More on Value Capture (2014)

· Find more episodes of HBR IdeaCast

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

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Climate change is causing severe weather, dangerously elevated temperatures, and water shortages around the world. Meanwhile, firms are struggling to reduce their carbon emissions while adapting their operations to these new conditions. To address both challenges at once, Harvard Business School professors Forest Reinhardt and Michael Toffel have proposed an unconventional path forward: learning from the climate change strategies of the U.S. Navy. They argue that the Navy’s scientific and sober view of the world’s changing climate offers insight that can also apply to the private sector. In this episode, you’ll learn how to balance mitigation activities in the shorter term with long-term investments that will help your organization adapt to future changes. You’ll also learn how climate change could shift demand in your markets and reshape shipping routes and affect your supply chains.

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Do you know the difference between accurate forecasting and effective forecasting?

Technology forecaster Paul Saffo says accurate forecasting is nearly impossible to do. But if you aim for effective forecasting, he notes, then at least you’re considering the full range of reasonable possibilities for the future, rather than jumping to one conclusion and preparing only for that outcome. “If you head straight towards accurate forecasting, you may end up in a much worse situation by overlooking things that eventually come to pass,” Saffo argues.

In this episode, he shares his six rules for effective forecasting—from visualizing future uncertainty to discerning patterns in past data—and explains why it’s important to be your own worst critic of your forecasts.

Key episode topics include: strategy, strategic planning, risk management, decision making and problem solving, forecasting, technology.

HBR On Strategy curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock new ways of doing business. New episodes every week.

· Listen to the full HBR IdeaCast episode: Six Rules for Effective Forecasting (2007)

· Find more episodes of HBR IdeaCast

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

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AptDeco, a peer-to-peer marketplace for used furniture, launched in New York City in 2014. Despite its complexity and high costs, the company grew quickly. Co-founders Reham Fagiri and Kalam Dennis considered several different options for scaling the business—from expanding into new markets to rebranding with a sustainability focus.

In this episode, Harvard Business School associate professor Ayelet Israeli and AptDeco co-founder Kalam Dennis discuss the path to scaling that AptDeco ultimately chose and what their experience can indicate about how to successfully scale a startup.

They focus on how to translate early failures into valuable information that can help your business move forward and grow in the long term. They also explain how to use data and analytics to improve your value proposition.

Key episode topics include: strategy, entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial business strategy, marketing, furniture, analytics, start-up, scaling, growth strategy.

HBR On Strategy curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock new ways of doing business. New episodes every week.

· Listen to the original HBR Cold Call episode: How to Scale a Startup Marketplace for Used Furniture (2022)

· Find more episodes of Cold Call

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

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Some managers develop strategy by focusing on problems in the present, and that’s especially true during a crisis.

But Mark Johnson, co-founder of the innovation consulting firm Innosight, argues that leaders should imagine the future and then work backward to build their organization for that new reality.

In this episode, he outlines the practical steps managers can take to look beyond the typical short-term planning horizon and help their teams grasp future opportunities. Johnson also shares real-world examples from Apple, Johnson & Johnson, and Intel to illustrate what can happen when leaders shift their strategic mindset to focus on the future.

Key episode topics include: strategy, innovation, decision making and problem solving, growth strategy, crisis leadership, managing teams.

HBR On Strategy curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock new ways of doing business. New episodes every week.

· Listen to the original HBR IdeaCast episode: To Build Strategy, Start with the Future (2020)

· Find more episodes of HBR IdeaCast

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

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Is your company’s existing growth formula finally reaching its limit?

Bain & Company partner Chris Zook says you may need to redefine your core business if you want to power new growth.

Zook was co-head of Bain’s Global Strategy practice for 20 years. He’s also a best-selling business author.

In this episode, he shares three warning signs that indicate your core business needs to be redefined, and he explains how to approach that transformation. In particular, he focuses on how to uncover what he calls “hidden assets” within your company that can offer future sources of growth.

Key episode topics include: strategy, competitive strategy, growth strategy, transformation.

HBR On Strategy curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock new ways of doing business. New episodes every week.

· Listen to the full HBR IdeaCast episode: Unleash Your Hidden Assets (2007)

· Find more episodes of HBR IdeaCast

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

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Many people aspire to entrepreneurship. But Bill Aulet, who has advised founders for decades, warns that it remains a high-risk endeavor.

In this episode, he outlines concrete steps anyone can take to get a new venture off the ground — including intrapreneurs within large organizations. He also breaks down some of the important trends he’s seeing in entrepreneurship, like the increasing commoditization of products and lower barriers to entry, due to technology.

Aulet is a professor of entrepreneurship at the Sloan School of Management at MIT. He’s also the author of the book Disciplined Entrepreneurship: 24 Steps to a Successful Startup.

Key episode topics include: strategy, entrepreneurship, entrepreneurs and founders, entrepreneurial business strategy, innovation, start-ups.

HBR On Strategy curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock new ways of doing business. New episodes every week.

· Listen to the full HBR IdeaCast episode: A Roadmap for Today’s Entrepreneurs (2024)

· Find more episodes of HBR IdeaCast

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

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