Podcast · 80 episodes
HBR IdeaCast
by Harvard Business Review · English
A weekly podcast featuring the leading thinkers in business and management.
Latest episodes
What Retail Legend Ron Johnson Learned from Apple’s Success and JCPenney’s FailureRon Johnson (Apple Store architect and former JCPenney CEO) explains how Apple’s retail breakthrough succeeded by serving technology novices with instinct-driven bets, while JCPenney’s transformation…29 Sep 2026 · 33 min
How AI Is Changing Communication: Weighing Efficiency with EfficacyHow generative AI is changing workplace communication for leaders—balancing efficiency with efficacy, while preserving authenticity, empathy, judgment, and a distinctive human voice.24 Sep 2026 · 34 min
What New CEOs Get Wrong About the JobExpectations vs. reality when moving into the CEO role, based on Nitin Nohria’s decades studying CEOs and his book The CEO, The Role, The Reality, The Responsibility.22 Sep 2026 · 30 min
All episodes
What Retail Legend Ron Johnson Learned from Apple’s Success and JCPenney’s FailureRon Johnson (Apple Store architect and former JCPenney CEO) explains how Apple’s retail breakthrough succeeded by serving technology novices with instinct-driven bets, while JCPenney’s transformation…29 Sep 2026 · 33 min · 16 chapters
How AI Is Changing Communication: Weighing Efficiency with EfficacyHow generative AI is changing workplace communication for leaders—balancing efficiency with efficacy, while preserving authenticity, empathy, judgment, and a distinctive human voice.24 Sep 2026 · 34 min · 17 chapters
What New CEOs Get Wrong About the JobExpectations vs. reality when moving into the CEO role, based on Nitin Nohria’s decades studying CEOs and his book The CEO, The Role, The Reality, The Responsibility.22 Sep 2026 · 30 min · 15 chapters
How AI Is Changing Talent, Not Just Tasks: Rethinking Where Human Judgment Matters MostHow executives should redesign work and talent management for human-AI collaboration, shifting from “human in the loop” to “human at the helm,” and using AI to augment judgment, not just cut costs.17 Sep 2026 · 32 min · 15 chapters
What It Takes to Make Progress When the Future Feels Out of ControlHow to make progress when the future feels out of control, using the psychological concept of agency (efficacy, optimism, imagination) and practical organizational interventions.15 Sep 2026 · 25 min · 12 chapters
A Leading Restaurateur on What It Takes to Scale a Winning CultureHow Danny Meyer scaled a hospitality-driven culture from early restaurants to Shake Shack’s global growth, using “enlightened hospitality,” a “virtuous cycle” across stakeholders, and…8 Sep 2026 · 32 min · 15 chapters
Are Great Leaders Truly Great—or Just Lucky?Whether “great leaders” uniquely drive outcomes or whether context, timing, and alternatives explain success; includes Jared Diamond’s “Hamlet Test” and when CEOs can truly matter.1 Sep 2026 · 25 min · 11 chapters
How People Without Formal Power Gain InfluenceIndirect influence—how people without formal authority can persuade, marshal resources, and advance by reading power dynamics and managing psychological reactance in distributed, less-hierarchical…25 Aug 2026 · 21 min · 15 chapters
Living and Working in the Age of LongevityHow longer, healthier lives (potentially to 100) require people and organizations to rethink careers, retirement, and work design—shifting from a “career ladder” to “weaving” a multi-thread life with…18 Aug 2026 · 29 min · 13 chapters
The Innovation Strategy Most Companies MissGlobal by Design—how to create innovations with worldwide appeal by tackling emerging markets first, solving the hardest problems under constraints, and then scaling.11 Aug 2026 · 31 min · 14 chapters
Why Great Turnarounds Start with Culture, Not StrategyVerizon’s turnaround led by culture change—moving from risk-averse, hierarchical, inward focus to “play to win” customer obsession, then becoming AI-native.4 Aug 2026 · 33 min · 13 chapters
Introducing The Founder Mindset: Tim Ferriss on Experiments, Risk, and FreedomTim Ferriss discusses “calibrated risk” and “smart experiments” for founders—how to make decisions under uncertainty, reduce fear via “fear setting,” and avoid the “curse of optionality” by…30 Jul 2026 · 33 min · 13 chapters
What Makes Chinese Companies So Competitive?Why Chinese companies are unusually competitive, framed as an “engineering state” that prioritizes manufacturing, infrastructure, and process innovation, contrasted with the U.S.28 Jul 2026 · 26 min · 11 chapters
Leadership Summit 2026: Inspiring Grit and Growth Amid Unprecedented ChangeHow leaders and teams can use AI to accelerate learning and growth without undermining “grit” (long-term perseverance plus sustained passion for a top-level goal) amid rapid change.23 Jul 2026 · 29 min · 10 chapters
Why Great Leaders Need More Than Good JudgmentThe episode argues that leaders can’t rely on their own judgment in fast-changing, uncertain environments.21 Jul 2026 · 29 min · 17 chapters
Leadership Summit 2026: AT&T CEO John Stankey on Developing Technology and Talent in the AI EraAT&T CEO John Stankey discusses how to lead a legacy telecom through strategic and cultural change in the AI era—especially aligning talent decisions, customer/market focus, and infrastructure for…16 Jul 2026 · 31 min · 12 chapters
The New Rules for Becoming an Enterprise LeaderHow leaders transition from functional managers to enterprise-ready executives amid AI, geopolitical turbulence, and compressed leadership pipelines; includes seven transition shifts and what…14 Jul 2026 · 31 min · 16 chapters
Leadership Summit 2026: Honest Company CEO Carla Vernón on Leading with Focus in Turbulent TimesHonest Company CEO Carla Vernón discusses how she led a turnaround after taking over in 2023, when the company had less than a quarter of cash, declining gross margins, and flat sales.9 Jul 2026 · 29 min · 16 chapters
How Leaders Can Use AI to Solve Real Business ProblemsHow leaders should use AI as a tool to solve specific business problems, avoiding hype, unrealistic expectations, and “AI drunk” rollouts; also how to manage resistance and talent.7 Jul 2026 · 27 min · 13 chapters
Leadership Summit 2026: Mattel’s CEO on Driving Consumer Engagement and Cultural ImpactMattel CEO Inan Kraiz discusses Mattel’s leadership-driven transformation from a toy manufacturer into an IP-driven family entertainment company, how to redesign talent/organization, execute with…2 Jul 2026 · 28 min · 11 chapters
How Top World Cup, NBA, and NFL Coaches Make Better Decisions Under PressureHow elite coaches in the FIFA World Cup, NBA, and NFL make better high-pressure decisions, framed as “before, during, after,” and what business leaders can copy.30 Jun 2026 · 31 min · 14 chapters
Creating Products with Curiosity, Humility, and PlayHow senior leaders and product teams can “inject play” into work to build products people love, using curiosity, humility, and experimentation rather than ego or originality-for-its-own-sake.23 Jun 2026 · 28 min · 14 chapters
The Right Way to Manage Rule BreakersHow leaders should manage rule breaking by diagnosing motivations rather than defaulting to punishment; includes steps to gather information, spot patterns, and decide between enforcement,…16 Jun 2026 · 21 min · 11 chapters
We All Hate Meetings—Here’s How to Make Them WorkWhy meetings waste time and morale, how to redesign meeting culture for faster decisions and better relationships, and what specific companies do differently (e.g., Amazon’s memo-first approach,…9 Jun 2026 · 26 min · 14 chapters