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At least for a while, this will be the final posted episode of Agility at Work. More about that in a moment. No matter what unfolds, quite conveniently our conversation today with Rob Garris bridges Kim’s world of agile leadership and Mike’s jazz of negotiation domain. Rob is the Managing Director of Leadership Development at … Continue reading 43. Agile Leadership and Nimble Negotiation for Social Equity →

The guest in this episode of Agility at Work is our friend and colleague Bob Bordone. Bob taught negotiation and conflict resolution for many years at Harvard Law School. He also founded a clinic here to give students firsthand experience in settling disputes. That program is still going strong. Bob has now moved into multi-faceted … Continue reading 42. Conflict Resilience in Contentious Times →

Our guest this episode, in an encore appearance, is our friend and HBS colleague Christine Exley. Back in Episode 10 we discussed her on-going research on gender inequality and how to address it. This time we learned about her work on charitable giving—why we sometimes say yes and other times no. Most of us are … Continue reading 41. The Power of a Surprise Ask →

Our guest for this episode, Mike Beer, is back with us for an encore. He spoke with us a year ago about his latest book, Fit to Compete: Why Honest Conversations about Your Company’s Capabilities are the Key to a Winning Strategy. Mike joins us now to discuss the distinction between top-down leadership and leadership … Continue reading 40. Collaborative Leadership →

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the publication of Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In by Roger Fisher and William Ury, with Bruce Patton coming on board for subsequent editions. It remains by far the best seller in the field and has been translated into dozens of languages. William, our guest in … Continue reading 39. Getting to Yes Turns 40 →

In these turbulent times, business as usual is a recipe for failure. In our work—and in our lives more broadly—we need to challenge the status quo and find new ways to overcome obstacles and capitalize on unexpected opportunities. Our guest in this episode is our Harvard Business School colleague, Francesca Gino. She’s the author of … Continue reading 38. Rebel Talent →

Imagine you’re emailing back and forth with someone trying to resolve a problem. What if you had an app that would track your words and coach you on how to engage more effectively? Or, for that matter, say you’re conversing on Zoom or in-person. Would you use an ear bud that would give you real-time … Continue reading 37. Getting a Bad Conversation Back on Track →

Richard Shell, who teaches negotiation at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, is our guest in this episode. His new book, just published this summer, is The Conscience Code: Lead with Your Values, Advance Your Career. It addresses challenging moral issues that arise in negotiation and in leadership, as well. What do we owe others … Continue reading 36. The Conscience Code →

The top-down, command-and-control model of leadership has fallen out of fashion in today’s complex and fast-paced world. Our guest in this episode, Rob Wilkinson, provides an agile alternative that he and Kim Leary (co-host here) presented in their recent Harvard Kennedy School working paper, Leading with Intentionality: The 4P Framework for Strategic Leadership. The heart … Continue reading 35. The Four P’s of Adaptive Leadership →

That’s the name of a book by our HBS colleague Deepak Malhotra, the guest in this episode. The book’s subtitle is How to Break Deadlocks and Resolve Ugly Conflicts (without Money or Muscle). The cover shows a bomb shaped like a cannonball. Its short fuse is lit and sparking. Deepak is drawn to dangerous problems … Continue reading 34. Negotiating the Impossible →

Our guest in this episode is Joe Badaracco from the Harvard Business School. Decades ago, he designed a literature-based course for MBA students to enable them to explore deeply the moral issues that they may well encounter in their professional lives. One of us (Mike) taught a section of this course at HBS for several … Continue reading 33. The Moral Leader →

Greetings from Kim Leary and Mike Wheeler, co-hosts of Agility at Work. And for our latest episode, we’re co-authors of this description of our latest episode. It’s Kim here at the top, introducing our guest Sheila Heen, who teaches negotiation at Harvard Law School, and offers training and consulting through Triad Consulting Group. This is … Continue reading 32. Prepping for Difficult Conversations →

We have two guests in this episode. That’s a first for us! They’re Noah Susskind and Samantha Stephens, colleagues at McKinsey, the global consulting company. Noah is deeply into cybersecurity. He shares some of his experiences in our four-way conversation and will come back soon to say more. The focus here is on Samantha’s work … Continue reading 31. Agile Leadership in a Time of Rapid Change →

Our guest for this episode of Agility at Work is Erin Egan. She does business development for Amazon—acquiring technology, partnering with other companies, and sometimes taking a leading role in buying them. She previously did this sort of work for Microsoft and, in France, with Airbus. In short, Erin is a full-time negotiator. And she … Continue reading 30. Reading the Room →

Lots has been written about negotiating transactions—exchanges where I grant you something, in return for something else that you’ll turn over to me. I give you money (not too much, I hope) for your truck. You then use some of that to pay your piano teacher for your kids. And so on. But what about … Continue reading 29. Negotiating Creative Differences →

When the pandemic finally gets under control—soon we hope—work for many people will not go back to the way it was before. Some people may go back to their offices but not necessarily every day. Others, who’ve moved to places where housing is cheaper and life less hectic, will engage with colleagues only remotely, just … Continue reading 28. The Vanishing Workplace →

Our friend and colleague Josh Weiss is our guest in this episode. He’s the author of Real World Negotiation: Successful Strategy from Business, Government, and Daily Life. As you’ll hear, Josh’s book draws important general lessons from seemingly very different kinds of cases (most of them far from our own experience). But Josh knows that … Continue reading 27. The Art—and Importance—of Telling Stories When You Negotiate →

Two episodes ago, we heard our friend and HBS colleague Joe Badaracco suggest that we give ourselves permission to step back and reflect, at least for a few minutes every day. Turn away from the computer screen, he said. Put your smart phone away. Simply look out the window at the clouds passing by. Let … Continue reading 26. Learning Outside of Class →

Our guest in this episode in Peter Sawyer, a New York-based agent who negotiates for a living. Peter has represented Hollywood stars and Broadway actors, along with authors and pro athletes. He seemingly relishes the process of negotiation as much as the result. From where we sit, it looks like a juggling act: setting realistic … Continue reading 25. The Upside of Being Brash: Lessons from an Agent →

Our guest in this episode is HBS Professor Joe Badaracco. His latest book is Step Back: Bringing Reflection Back into Your Life. Joe begins with a story about a private equity guy who invests in start-ups and sits on their boards. He always tells young CEOs that if he ever walks into their office and finds them … Continue reading 24. Gaze Out the Window →