January–February 2026

A Better Way to Manage Internal Talent Markets

Internal talent markets offer employees the opportunity to choose their next assignments, and companies often launch them to boost employee engagement and retention. However, balancing worker preferences with organizational productivity presents challenges. Employees may prioritize skill development over what the company needs, for example. Researchers studied this trade-off at a large company and found that firm-assigned roles resulted in 33% higher productivity. But employee-preference matches, which were only 5% more productive than random ones, were 38% more satisfying for workers.

To combat this paradox, the researchers suggest building a hybrid selection system that allows workers to express preferences while letting firms influence or override matches. To balance worker choice and company needs, the internal talent market should focus on providing applicants with better information about their strengths and the task requirements; offer incentives (and disincentives) to encourage appropriate task-matching; and coordinate match decisions to distribute talent across the company.

READ FULL ARTICLE

• Save
• Share

“We Want to Make Ourselves Better”

Since becoming the global managing partner of McKinsey & Company in 2021, Bob Sternfels has had to navigate a series of thorny challenges. He has taken steps to restore the consulting firm’s reputation after several high-profile scandals, most notably its role in the U.S. opioid crisis. He’s trying to tighten the rules on client selection and governance without alienating the firm’s partners. And he’s driving an organizational transformation to set McKinsey up for the AI era. In this wide-ranging conversation with HBR’s editor at large, Sternfels reflects on McKinsey’s 100-year history and how the role of consultants is changing: “We’re moving away from an advisory model. Today about a third of our revenue comes from underwriting outcomes.” He talks about the impact of AI, what McKinsey looks for in new hires, and which issues are top of mind for CEOs these days.

READ FULL ARTICLE

• Save
• Share

Get Off the Transformation Treadmill

Many organizations stumble into cycles of repeated transformations—bold restructurings meant to fix deep problems but instead sap morale, unsettle customers and investors, and consume leadership energy. True transformations are sometimes necessary to reposition companies facing major industry shifts. But when they become routine responses to poor performance, they leave the business weaker.

Research and case studies show that the most successful leaders avoid chronic upheaval by continuously strengthening their business systems. These leaders sense emerging realities before crises force radical change and foster agility to keep problems small. They also ground every decision in creating net value for all stakeholders, resisting the temptation to shift costs from one group to another. Companies such as Boston Scientific illustrate how steady, integrated adjustments compound progress over time.

READ FULL ARTICLE

• Save
• Share

Leading After the Founder

Founder transitions are pivotal moments that can either propel a company into its next phase of growth or stall its momentum altogether. Research shows that founder-CEO handovers are significantly more prone to failure than other leadership transitions. Drawing on their advisory experience, dozens of in-depth interviews, and client case studies, the authors explore why founders often remain so influential—and how that influence can complicate succession.

The article outlines clear, practical steps that founders, incoming CEOs, boards, and investors can take to navigate the transition successfully. Key themes include deciding when to begin transition conversations, designing an appropriate ongoing role for the founder, ensuring that a successor is truly set up to lead, and asking the right strategic and cultural questions along the way. By following these guidelines, companies can transform an emotionally charged and potentially fraught handoff into a catalyst for sustained performance and healthy evolution.

READ FULL ARTICLE

• Save
• Share

A Systematic Approach to Experimenting with Gen AI

Gen AI tools offer unprecedented opportunities, but organizations adopting them often experience an initial dip in productivity before seeing sustained gains. This “productivity J-curve” reflects the growing pains of integrating new systems, reorganizing workflows, and investing in complementary capabilities. To bridge the gap between adoption and measurable impact, some smart companies are taking a disciplined approach: organizational experimentation.

By designing targeted experiments and using scientific methods to test, refine, and scale promising solutions, firms such as Siemens, Procter & Gamble, and Google are reducing risk while accelerating learning. The path to gen-AI-driven value is neither quick nor linear, but organizations that invest in experimentation will ultimately navigate uncertainty more successfully and turn potential into real performance gains.

READ FULL ARTICLE

• Save
• Share

Why Big Companies Struggle to Negotiate Great Deals

Enterprise negotiations often falter not because the negotiators lack skill but because they’re constrained by two structural problems: agency and alignment. Frontline negotiators are typically incentivized to close deals (the agency problem) and are bound by narrow mandates and preapproved terms (the alignment problem). Success requires a fundamental shift in how these negotiators are managed: Dealmakers should be empowered as problem-solvers without commitment authority so that they can explore solutions rather than defend fixed positions. Organizations must decide which deals and issues are truly worth negotiating, integrate ongoing stakeholder engagement instead of relying on early consensus, and replace traditional deal review boards with proactive deal value boards. Done well, this approach results in shortened deal cycles, greater leverage in complex deals, and more-valuable outcomes.

READ FULL ARTICLE

• Save
• Share

The Project-Driven Organization

In an era when adaptability and innovation are paramount, organizations are recognizing the pivotal role of projects in driving success. In fact, we’ve already arrived at a moment when projects, not operations, are the primary engines of value creation. That shift has been underway for years, but it was catalyzed by the Covid pandemic, which compelled companies to set up new digital infrastructures, reconfigure supply chains, and offer new services at an unprecedented pace.

This new project-centered reality will require leaders to fundamentally shift how they think about leadership and organizational design. They’ll have to break down silos, actively sponsor strategic initiatives, empower teams to make decisions, and ensure that resources and support are aligned with project priorities.

To do that, they’ll need to pull eight key levers, which in combination will enable them to make the transition from a static, operations-centric model to a dynamic, project-powered one.

READ FULL ARTICLE

• Save
• Share

Marketing at the Speed of Culture

In today’s hyperconnected world, the public conversation moves quickly, and traditional advertising cycles can’t keep up. Fastvertising—rapid-response, culturally relevant ads—offers brands a way to not only capture attention but also build authentic connections with audiences. When done well, fastvertising can earn disproportionate returns. Take Oreo’s iconic “dunk in the dark” tweet, Aviation Gin’s riff on Peloton’s controversial ad, and IKEA’s playful nod to Game of Thrones, which all demonstrate how speed and relevance can outweigh production polish.

Success requires more than wit, however. It demands cross-functional teams empowered to act quickly, streamlined governance to cut through red tape, and an awareness of tone that distinguishes humor from insensitivity. Gen AI can speed up content production, but human judgment remains indispensable. Ultimately, fastvertising is not just about being fast—it’s about showing up with humility, humor, and humanity in the cultural moments that matter most.

READ FULL ARTICLE

• Save
• Share

Match Your AI Strategy to Your Organization’s Reality

Artificial intelligence is often hailed as a game changer, but too many firms discover that their bold AI pilots collapse when their operating models can’t support them.

In this article the authors argue that AI success depends less on the algorithms than on the fit between a company’s ambitions and its organizational reality. Drawing on research and using company examples across industries, they introduce a framework built on two dimensions—value-chain control (the degree of influence a company has over the journey from idea to market) and technological breadth (the range and interdependence of the technologies a company must integrate to compete). They examine the four resulting strategies companies can use to turn AI’s potential into performance: focused differentiation, vertical integration, collaborative ecosystem, and platform leadership.

READ FULL ARTICLE

• Save
• Share

How to Stand Out to C‑Suite Recruiters

Professional recruiters are playing a larger role in C-suite hiring processes. Candidates vying for senior roles can prepare using five key strategies: (1) Adopt a development mindset—embracing the evaluation process as a learning opportunity can help you better understand your strengths and weaknesses and help your career growth. (2) Craft a bold vision memo that addresses critical business challenges and demonstrates strategic thinking. (3) Anticipate every assessment, from psychometric tests to case study simulations to proprietary leadership diagnostics. (4) Delve deep for interviews, understanding the stories from your past that highlight your suitability for the job. Finally, (5) line up strong references, building a credible network of advocates who can speak to your most relevant capabilities.

READ FULL ARTICLE

• Save
• Share

The Founder and CEO of Prologis on Staying Ahead of Disruptive Change

Over the past four decades, Prologis has grown into the world’s largest real estate investment trust (REIT), with $215 billion in assets under management and 6,000 properties.

A core driver of that success has been the company’s ability to anticipate change, from the rise of e-commerce and automation in the early 2000s to increasing demands for services, energy, and data centers more recently. To do that, Prologis has followed a simple playbook: Listen to customers, position yourself to act, experiment, and then invest.

READ FULL ARTICLE

• Save
• Share

Case Study: When High-Tech Beauty Marketing Harms Teen Health

Maya Tran, CEO of Maxinq Beauty, weighs the runaway success of the company’s augmented reality tool, Maxinq Mirror, against emerging ethical concerns. While the app, which allows people to visualize how their faces would look with different cosmetics products applied, has driven record digital revenue and captured a loyal user base, patterns of compulsive use among some young consumers are raising concerns about body image, mental health, and addictive behaviors. Maya convenes her leadership team and advisory board to debate whether Maxinq is “winning the wrong way.” The dilemma forces her to consider how the company should balance rapid growth and investor expectations with consumer well-being and the company’s long-term reputation.

READ FULL ARTICLE

• Save
• Share

Life’s Work: An Interview with Gayle King

The longtime CBS Mornings anchor talks about why she chose journalism as a profession, how she decides which stories to cover (and persuades producers that she’s right), her decades-long friendship and professional partnership with Oprah Winfrey, and the advice she’d give to young professionals starting out today.

READ FULL ARTICLE

• Save
• Share