Havard Management Tip of the Day

Without clear norms, communication can become a productivity killer. Messages get ignored, decisions are delayed, and burnout rises. If you want to build a high-performing team, you need to establish shared rules for how, when, and where information flows. Here’s how.  Clarify responsiveness expectations. Teams often misread urgency. Some reply instantly to casual emails; others […]

“Bring your whole self to work” may sound empowering, but in senior leadership, it can do more harm than good. Transparency is valuable—but only when it’s strategic. As a leader, your job isn’t to share everything; it’s to project clarity, earn trust, and foster stability. Here’s how to stay authentic without oversharing.  Curate, don’t conceal. […]

Yesterday we outlined three types of everyday courage, and how to develop them. Here are three more types of courage you can practice daily—especially when the stakes are high.   Intellectual courage: Question your own thinking. Model rethinking by saying, “Here’s my logic—what might I be missing?” Invite critique to normalize learning and adaptation. Don’t tie […]

Courage isn’t just for crisis moments—it’s a leadership skill you can build through consistent, values-aligned action. Start by focusing on these three types of everyday courage.  Moral courage: Act on your values. You can’t protect what you haven’t named. Identify your core values, define what they look like in practice, and communicate them clearly. Prepare […]

As you step into senior leadership, your communication style must evolve. What used to feel like transparency—casual updates, unfiltered thoughts, or constant idea sharing—can now create confusion, anxiety, or misalignment. At this level, your words carry greater weight, and your silence does too.  Recognize that less is often more. Offhand comments can shift strategy or […]

When the data runs out—or becomes overwhelming—your next move often depends on something harder to quantify: intuition. It’s not guesswork. It’s a skill built from experience, reflection, and pattern recognition. If you want to trust your gut more confidently as a leader, you need to train it.  Start with the “calm test.” Before acting on […]

If your team feels disconnected, a well-designed offsite can realign and reenergize them—but only if you go beyond logistics. Ask yourself these five questions to inform your planning and make the time count.  How do I want my team to feel? Design the day with emotional outcomes in mind. Whether it’s feeling valued, connected, or […]

As your visibility grows, so do the networking requests. Some are reasonable; others cross the line. While a strong network is built on mutual support, it shouldn’t leave you feeling depleted. Watch out for these red flags of needy networkers to protect your energy.   There’s always an ask. Look out for people who only reach […]

Most teams plan carefully for a project’s launch—but few bring that same discipline to its closure. Without a clear exit strategy, projects drag on, drain resources, and leave teams in limbo. Strategic leaders treat sunsetting as part of the value-creation cycle. Use this framework to do it the right way.  Retire with purpose. Close the […]

If your AI efforts aren’t paying off, it’s likely not a tech problem. The biggest barriers to success are often people and processes. To unlock real value from AI, your organization must build what experts call “change resilience”—the ability to adapt quickly and continuously as the technology evolves. Here’s how. Learn through hands-on experiments. Encourage […]

When uncertainty strikes, the default reaction is often to retreat. But courageous leaders don’t wait for clarity—they create it. Courage is not about being fearless; it’s about acting in service of a purpose, even when fear is present. And it’s a skill that can be developed. Here’s how. Reframe fear through story. Courage starts with […]

Want high-performing teams that collaborate, communicate, and stay engaged? Treat kindness as a core management responsibility—not a personal trait or optional extra. Here’s how to operationalize kindness on your team. Set clear expectations. Make kindness measurable by turning it into clear, behavioral standards. Define what respectful, inclusive, and supportive interactions look like. Use onboarding, performance […]

You probably know you should delegate more. The real challenge is figuring out what to delegate. Start with this four-step process. Track your time without judgment. Use a simple spreadsheet divided into 15- or 30-minute blocks. For two weeks, record everything: emails, meetings, reports, conversations. Update the log a few times a day to avoid […]

As a leader, you need visibility into your team’s work—what’s on track, what’s falling behind, and where support is needed. But too much oversight can breed distrust, especially among experienced team members. The key is to build a system that keeps you informed without getting in the way. Use a visibility grid. Map your team’s […]

Yesterday we listed five research-backed strategies that can lead to a happier life—even for busy professionals. Here are five more:  Act nicely. Agreeableness is consistently found to be highly and positively correlated with happiness, and it can be increased relatively easily.  Be generous. Behaving altruistically toward others rewards the brain with happiness-enhancing boosts of dopamine, […]

Want to live a happier life? Research points to 10 effective, practical strategies that can make all the difference, even for busy professionals. Here are the first five strategies—tune in tomorrow for the rest.   Invest in family and friends. The research is clear that though our natural impulse may be to buy stuff, we should […]

According to user data from Reclaim.ai, a calendar-app company, the average full-time white-collar professional in the U.S. spends 17.8 hours a week in meetings. If you want to be happier at work (or want your employees to be happier), you should fight against the scourge of time-consuming, unproductive meetings at every opportunity. Here are some […]

If you’re considering a job or career change, it’s normal to feel paralyzed by fear of the unknown. But research points to a few practical strategies that can help assuage your anxiety—while keeping you away from unrealistic wishes and rash decisions.   Manage your expectations. A job change might temporarily increase your satisfaction, but that can […]

For the sake of your happiness and productivity, it’s tempting to try to squeeze every second of distraction and leisure out of your days. But a better approach is to manage your time in accordance with your priorities by distinguishing between the activities you actually like and those you don’t—and then ridding yourself of the […]

Being promoted after a leader fails is a unique leadership challenge. You’re inheriting instability, not just a new title. If you’ve just stepped into such a role, here’s how to steady the ship and succeed where your predecessor didn’t.  Expect the unexpected. The underlying situation may be worse than you think. Broken systems, frayed trust, […]