To create long-term value, corporate boards must focus on managing talent, strategy, and risk. But they also have to satisfy their shareholders, who often have competing demands. Activists, for example, might press for short-term profits, while index funds and other long-term shareholders are more concerned with the company''s longevity. Drawing on years of work with boards, top executives, and the investment community and on interviews with .....more

The former Xerox CEO Ursula Burns, whose life journey began in a Manhattan tenement, is an outspoken champion of inclusive capitalism and racial equity--themes that animate her just-published memoir, "Where You Are Is Not Who You Are." In this conversation with HBR''s editor in chief, she talks about good leadership in a multistakeholder world, income inequality, battling an activist investor, how being both Black and female affected .....more

Brain scans are showing us in new detail exactly what entices readers. Scientists can see a group of midbrain neurons--the "reward circuit"--light up as people respond to everything from a simple metaphor to an unexpected story twist. The big takeaway? Whether you''re crafting an email to a colleague or an important report for the board, you can write in a way that delights readers on a primal level, releasing pleasure chemicals .....more

Vanir, a young community bank dedicated to serving small-business owners, prides itself on the personalized service it delivers to customers. That approach has helped it grow quickly, but now competitors are circling. A new system that uses algorithms to speed up decision-making is ready to go live, but employees are worried that it will destroy the bank''s special sauce. What should Vanir''s CEO do? This fictional case study by Leonard .....more

The former top editor of the Boston Globe and the Washington Post talks about the Globe''s investigation of the Catholic Church sex abuse scandal, attacks on the Post by President Trump, truth as a casualty of political polarization, and more.

Vanir, a young community bank dedicated to serving small-business owners, prides itself on the personalized service it delivers to customers. That approach has helped it grow quickly, but now competitors are circling. A new system that uses algorithms to speed up decision-making is ready to go live, but employees are worried that it will destroy the bank''s special sauce. What should Vanir''s CEO do? This fictional case study by Leonard .....more

Vanir, a young community bank dedicated to serving small-business owners, prides itself on the personalized service it delivers to customers. That approach has helped it grow quickly, but now competitors are circling. A new system that uses algorithms to speed up decision-making is ready to go live, but employees are worried that it will destroy the bank''s special sauce. What should Vanir''s CEO do? This fictional case study by Leonard .....more

Asset management firm Capital SAFI wanted to attract new strategic investors and expand to other countries. Having the right corporate governance in place was critical to achieve this goal.

In 2016, Akira Fukabori and Kevin Kajitani, aeronautical engineers at All Nippon Airways Co., Ltd., began to wonder why, in a world of accelerating globalization and digital connectivity, those who lived in far-remote villages or impoverished urban areas could not access high quality education or healthcare. They believed that with a faster, cheaper mode of transportation, they could democratize the world''s resources-bring the right people .....more

In 2016, Akira Fukabori and Kevin Kajitani, aeronautical engineers at All Nippon Airways Co., Ltd., began to wonder why, in a world of accelerating globalization and digital connectivity, those who lived in far-remote villages or impoverished urban areas could not access high quality education or healthcare. They believed that with a faster, cheaper mode of transportation, they could democratize the world''s resources-bring the right people .....more