Resignations are at an all-time high, and companies desperate to fill vacancies are trying everything from pay raises to trendy perks. But those interventions are falling short, because the real problem, as the author explains, is that so many jobs are stressful, meaningless, and unlovable. Buckingham''s data on what keeps employees engaged (from his work at ADP Research Institute) suggests that companies should change their approach to performance .....more

Despite substantial regulatory reform following the 2008 financial crisis, financial firms are still suffering from fraud and other forms of ethical misconduct. As a result, they have collectively paid out more than $400 billion in fines over the past 12 years. A 2019 Harvard Business School study found that among a sample of Fortune 500 companies, more than two instances of internally substantiated misconduct occur each week, on average. It''s .....more

Do you keep postponing work you need to do? The problem probably stems from one of three things: your habits and systems (or lack thereof), your desire to avoid negative emotions (like anxiety and boredom), or your own flawed thinking patterns (which can make a task seem harder than it is). Luckily, there are simple strategies for managing each. To develop good habits, for instance, do your important work in a consistent pattern daily: After I do .....more

A look at some new books exploring the topic of immigration, including " 8 Billion and Counting," by Jennifer D. Sciubba; "The Immigrant Superpower," by Tim Kane; "One Quarter of the Nation," by Nancy Foner; "Streets of Gold," by Ran Abramitzky and Leah Boustan; and "Crossing Borders," by Ali Noorani.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of "Interpreter of Maladies" talks about the surprising arc of that book, why she''s now writing in Italian, the writers who have most influenced her, and more.

A major home builder wishes to purchase lumber (Southern pine). The builder wants delivery in six months but prefers to lock-in the price near current rates. The lumber wholesaler must decide on a pricing and sourcing strategy. Examples include: 1) buy & hold, 2) wait and see, and 3) hedge with futures. There is no futures market in Southern pine, but there is a market in Hem-Fir (a somewhat similar wood). Data on historical spot and futures prices .....more

A young HBS graduate purchases a publisher of specialty magazines that advertises second hand cars, boats, trucks, etc. The magazines carry photographs and a brief description of each article for sale. The company faces the problem of deciding on how many magazines to drop off at each distribution point. Teaching objectives: relevant costs which are not always obvious, simple forecasting, and shortcomings of critical fractile analysis.

VH1, MTV, and LOGO were all popular television channels owned by the ViacomCBS television network. One of the most successful shows on LOGO was RuPaul''s Drag Race, a reality television show featuring drag queens. ViacomCBS was considering moving RuPaul''s Drag Race off LOGO to a different platform within the ViacomCBS portfolio in 2017. Before deciding where RuPaul''s Drag Race would air, ViacomCBS needed to determine whether .....more

In an effort to make compensation drive collaboration, Russell Reynolds Associates'' (RRA) CEO Clarke Murphy sought to re-engineer the bonus system for his executive search consultants in 2016. As his HR analytics guru, Kelly Smith, points out, that risks upsetting-and maybe even losing-some of the "big billers" (rainmakers) who were heavily rewarded under the current system that motivated individual, ''entrepreneurial'' .....more