Harvard Business Review Special Issues Spring 2022

THE MOST SUCCESSFUL leaders and businesses adapt to new realities swiftly. Say your company has invested in a new technology—but suddenly it’s rendered obsolete by a new entrant. The world seems ready to open up—but then another Covid variant hits. You’re starting to excel on the career path you’ve built—when suddenly you’re confronted with an unexpected layoff. (Any of these sound familiar?) To thrive in the face of crises like these, you need to be nimble and adaptable, and your teams must respond efficiently to new information. This is hard enough on a personal level. In the face of ongoing unexpected change, it’s natural for our brains to freeze up in a state of what INSEAD strategy professor Nathan Furr calls unproductive uncertainty. This issue highlights some of the best ways to break…

IN 1974 a young Kodak engineer named Steven Sasson was assigned a seemingly low-stakes task: to see if there was any practical use for a recent invention capable of turning light into data. He built a device that could capture images and digitally display them on a screen and eagerly presented it to his bosses. But he made a tactical blunder: He billed the new technology as “filmless photography.” That positioning clashed with the very raison d’être of his audience—executives whose careers depended on the sale and processing of film—all but guaranteeing a tepid response. Instead of seizing an advantage in the consumer market, Kodak held off for nearly two decades, by which time several competitors were contesting the market space. Why did Sasson make such a deeply flawed pitch? He…

THE PROBLEM The very traits essential to creativity, like confidence and optimism, can derail the execution of a new idea when taken to an extreme. Furthermore, emotions such as fear, doubt, regret, and frustration, which are typical when trying something new, can too easily frustrate entrepreneurial efforts. THE PATH FORWARD To address fear and conservatism, project into the future to anticipate how you will feel if you play it safe. To recover from the frustration of setbacks and failures, dissect what went wrong and reframe the rejection in a way that it opens opportunities. To keep your creativity from getting in the way of implementation, limit your involvement in the execution phase. Finally, to avoid being swept away from potentially exhausting unbounded drive, identify what’s most important and schedule and commit to breaks…

DENISE WANG FELT settled in her life in London. She had a great job as the divisional marketing chief at a UK-based consumer goods company; a supportive husband, Phil, who was a partner in an international consultancy; and two daughters, eight and 10, who had for the previous three years attended the same school in their neighborhood. The family had good friends and an excellent au pair, and Phil’s Belgian parents were able to visit, and host them, frequently. But then Denise (whose name was changed to protect her privacy) heard some news that disrupted that idyll. Her company was looking for someone to lead its expanding Singapore office. It was the type of role she had always wanted. She’d worked in the Asian city-state for 12 years— that’s where she…

THE CHALLENGE While researchers have provided plentiful guidance on how companies can best manage organizational change, there is no blueprint for success when it comes to navigating personal transitions. PLATFORM FOR SUCCESS How professionals think about career change helps determine how well they navigate through it. Think about the Seven C’s when beginning a career or personal transition: 1. Complexity—consider all the factors and circumstances 2. Clarity—understand and prioritize those factors 3. Confidence—believe the change will be a success 4. Creativity—brainstorm innovative solutions to problems 5. Commitment—implement the change 6. Consolidation—leave the previous identity behind to adopt a new one 7. Change—live out the change THE WAY FORWARD The best way to move through the Seven C’s? You’ll want to move as quickly as possible while taking take as long as needed to make a successful transition. The bottom line: stick to…

SIXTEEN THOUSAND—that’s how many words we speak, on average, each day. So imagine how many unspoken ones course through our minds. Most of them are not facts but evaluations and judgments entwined with emotions—some positive and helpful (I’ve worked hard and I can ace this presentation; This issue is worth speaking up about; The new VP seems approachable), others negative and less so (He’s purposely ignoring me; I’m going to make a fool of myself; I’m a fake). The prevailing wisdom says that difficult thoughts and feelings have no place at the office: Executives, and particularly leaders, should be either stoic or cheerful; they must project confidence and damp down any negativity bubbling up inside them. But that goes against basic biology. All healthy human beings have an inner stream of…