Harvard Business School

10/28/2026

🏎️ In early 2023, Tufan Erginbilgiç took over as CEO of the U.K.’s legendary jet engine and power systems giant Rolls-Royce. Despite its legacy and a culture steeped in engineering brilliance, Rolls-Royce had underperformed for more than a decade—so much so that when Erginbilgiç took over, he told employees that they were standing on a “burning platform.” Erginbilgiç endeavored to develop a transformation playbook, combining Rolls-Royce’s engineering-focused heritage with a high performing mindset, setting the company on a road to financial and operational health. Was his leadership style and plan enough for the new Rolls-Royce to thrive?

In this episode of Cold Call, HBS Professor and former dean Nitin Nohria and host Brian Kenny discuss the case “Tufan Erginbilgiç at Rolls-Royce” and the interconnected ideas explored in Nohria’s new book, The CEO: The Role, the Reality, the Responsibility.

🏎️ Tune in: https://hbs.me/56jbe5be

10/27/2026

Designing websites and merchandise for his high school band led Matt Hazelton to study graphic design, but an early opportunity led him down an unexpected career path. Today, he puts both his creative and analytical skills to work as Marketing and Communications' associate director of marketing and analytics.

We asked Matt about his path to HBS, what he calls being a “digital marketing plumber,” and his hopes of starting a band again someday.

Read more: https://hbs.me/bdfd28d4

10/27/2026

Avoiding candid conversations about succession and retirement can damage organizations, stall emerging leaders’ careers, and leave longtime executives unprepared for their next chapter.

In a Harvard Business Review article, HBS Senior Lecturer Christina Wing explains why these discussions should focus on performance and organizational needs rather than chronological age, while acknowledging the questions of identity and purpose that make stepping aside difficult.

She outlines four principles:

🗨️ Separate succession from assumptions about age
🗨️ Make it an ongoing dialogue
🗨️ Discuss what gives people meaning beyond work
🗨️ Frame transitions as a responsibility to the organization and its future leaders

Read more: https://hbs.me/yc6raw7n

10/26/2026

Fall has brought its own color palette to HBS. 🍁 We took a closer look at the leaves around campus and gave some of our favorite shades names of their own.

10/26/2026

AI can automate or augment 41 percent of work tasks, but companies have been slower to adopt the technology than expected.

HBS Professors Joseph Fuller and Raffaella Sadun explain why AI has yet to lead to widespread layoffs and how companies are approaching employee training and changing job roles.

Companies still need human expertise for now, though roles might soon change as artificial intelligence handles more tasks, say Joseph B. Fuller and Raffaella Sadun.

10/25/2026

What happens when a searcher doesn’t find a company to buy?

In this episode, HBS Professors Richard Ruback and Royce Yudkoff talk with Kristin Wihera, a Navy veteran and HBS graduate who spent nearly two years searching for a business to acquire before ultimately ending her search without a deal. Kristin reflects on the emotional highs and lows of searching, the challenges of cold outreach, and the tradeoffs of pursuing a funded search with investors who had particular expectations around company size, growth, and returns. She also discusses how her military background helped – and sometimes hindered – her efforts to establish credibility with sellers, why she ultimately expanded the search beyond her original industry focus, and which businesses she seriously considered as acquisition targets but ultimately did not close on. Her story, however, is not one of failure. After ending her search, Kristin found a role with a venture fund investing in early-stage, deep-tech companies in Utah, a job she believes she would not have qualified for without the skills, experience, and network she developed while searching.

Tune in:

What happens when a searcher doesn’t find a company to buy? In this episode, Rick and Royce talk with Kristin Wihera, a Navy veteran and HBS graduate who spent nearly two years searching for a business to acquire before ultimately ending her search without a deal. Kristin reflects on the emotional...

10/24/2026

As a Marine Corps tank officer, Luis Penichet (MBA 2026) recognized that leading meant more than being in charge—it meant building the trust that made people want to follow him. “I fell in love with leadership in a way that I never thought about before—the difference between being a leader and being a manager,” he says. “You are responsible for anywhere from 10 to 100 people, for millions of dollars’ worth of equipment, for human beings’ lives, and that changed everything for me. I went from thinking about a cushier corporate life to having an impact.”

Later, as a commercial banker at J.P. Morgan, Penichet began thinking about moving from advising businesses to running one. “Every time I met a CEO, I found myself saying, ‘Man, I really wish I was in your seat,’ and that’s because of the impact that they had,” he says. Penichet came to HBS to build the skills and judgment he would need to get there.

Today, as a CXO at Comfort Temp, an HVAC, mechanical, and plumbing contractor in Gainesville, Florida, he is learning how to operate a business with the long-term goal of becoming a CEO and owner.

Read more: https://hbs.me/sf55tzvs

10/23/2026

For years, lenders restricted credit access to low-earning partners in relationships, but a 2013 law change let them count household earnings, leading couples to spend more without falling behind on payments, according to forthcoming research in the Journal of Political Economy.

Prior to the change, in 41 states, “secondary earners” and stay-at-home parents in a partnership—mostly women—had trouble obtaining much credit because lenders were legally required to judge them on their own income, rather than the larger pool of shared wages couples brought in. That made it hard for these borrowers to independently obtain credit in their own names, often leaving them unable to make important financial decisions, HBS Assistant Professor Olivia Kim says.

The 2013 reversal of the Truth-in-Lending Act shifted that dynamic. “Policymakers realized that it was quite discriminatory because secondary earners and stay-at-home spouses are still predominantly women,” says Kim.

Having credit in their own name gives lower-earning spouses greater financial agency—and leads couples to spend more on family needs, says research by Olivia Kim.

10/22/2026

How does early family funding shape a startup’s direction?

In this week’s Research Spotlight, HBS Assistant Professor Brian K. Baik examined how family investment relates to early-stage innovation.

Family funding often arrives in the founding year. The research suggests it can help entrepreneurs launch startups, while independent innovation support may help family-backed ventures pursue new ideas.

Read more about their research here: https://hbs.me/2p95u7vp

10/21/2026

🗓️ Will the 2026 US midterm elections change the business climate?

If Republicans maintain control of the House and Senate, there may be very little change. But if Democrats gain control of at least one chamber, Congress could take a different approach to issues such as the cost of living, AI regulation, immigration, and trade.

Even with a shift in control, experts say major legislation is unlikely over the next two years because there is little agreement between the parties.

Institute for Business in Global Society (BiGS) spoke with almost two dozen experts across the country, including HBS faculty members Vincent Pons, Max J. Miller, Eugene F. Soltes, Ebehi Iyoha, Jaya Y. Wen, and Nien-hê Hsieh, and Harvard Kennedy School Professor Benjamin Schneer, to examine what might lie ahead.

How a shift in Congress could impact affordability, trade, ownership and AI regulation.