Effective People Think Simply

Stanford Graduate School of Business PhD alum Kathleen Eisenhardt, a professor at Stanford University’s School of Engineering, studied how product development teams burdened by a complicated set of rules frequently derail while teams with no rules at all never even get started.

A Big Data Approach to Public Speaking

Key takeaways from analyzing 100,000 presentations.

William P. Barnett

The conventional wisdom today is “let’s make it easier to start a business.” But what makes Silicon Valley great is not that it’s easy to start a business. It’s that it’s possible to start another one after you fail. That’s why the ones which succeed are so good.”

Robb Willer: What Makes People Do Good?

How external factors pressure people to cooperate.

Seven Myths of Boards of Directors

Should the chairman always be independent? Do CEOs actually make good directors?

How to Create a Better Board of Directors

A little more than two years ago, Stanford GSB lecturer and serial board member David Dodson conducted an informal survey of company board members. He queried CEOs as well as the members, and compiled a list of best practices for these advisory panels.

Great Leaders Understand the Fundamentals

Managers are often chosen for reasons other than competence.

Jesper Sørensen: How to Be a More Strategic Leader

A professor of organizational behavior explains why strategic thinking is key to taking an idea to the next level.

Sangick Jeon: How Do You Manage Diversity?

In Kenya, a Stanford researcher shows that ethnic diversity can spur productivity.

Oprah Winfrey

Failure is just that thing trying to move you in another direction.

George Foster: Are Startups Really Job Engines?

Entrepreneurship can be personally rewarding and good for the economy, if we wipe the stardust from our eyes.

Vinod Khosla: Be Wary of “Stupid Advice”

A Silicon Valley VC shares his thoughts on persistence, the importance of believing, and when to ignore the spreadsheet.

Conquering Complexity With Simple Rules

A Stanford professor offers a better way to make decisions.

Jeffrey Pfeffer

Why do traditional power structures have such staying power? One reason is that hierarchies still work. Jeffrey Pfeffer writes that “relationships with bosses still matter for people’s job tenure and opportunities, as do networking skills.” He notes that research shows hierarchies also deliver practical and psychological value, in part by fulfilling deep-seated needs for order and security. Another is that individuals who believe in their … [ Read more ]

Itamar Simonson and Emanuel Rosen

More decisions today are impacted by what we call O sources of information — “Other” information sources, such as user reviews, friend and expert opinions, price comparison tools, and emerging technologies or sources — whereas market research measures P sources — “Prior” preferences, beliefs and experiences. What market researchers often underestimate, though, is the degree to which consumers have difficulty imagining or anticipating a new … [ Read more ]

Bob Sutton

When we looked at cases where scaling failed, they seemed to have the trifecta of illusion, incompetence, and impatience; this idea of “We’re going to do it all at once, we don’t have time to slow down and do it right. But we’re so great, we can do it.”