HBR IdeaCast

Harvard Law School lecturer Heidi K. Gardner discusses how firms gain a competitive edge when specialists collaborate across functional boundaries. But it’s often difficult, expensive, and messy. The former McKinsey consultant is the author of the new book, “Smart Collaboration: How Professionals and Their Firms Succeed by Breaking Down Silos.”

Basecamp CEO Jason Fried says too many people find it difficult to get work done at the workplace. His company enforces quiet offices, fewer meetings, and different collaboration and communication practices. The goal is to give employees bigger blocks of time to be truly productive.

Thomas Wedell-Wedellsborg discusses a nimbler approach to diagnosing problems than existing frameworks: reframing. He’s the author of “Are You Solving the Right Problems?” in the January/February 2017 issue of Harvard Business Review.

Eddie Yoon, author of "Superconsumers" and growth strategy expert at The Cambridge Group, explains how companies can find their most passionate customers and use their invaluable insights to improve products and attract new customers.

Clayton Christensen, professor at Harvard Business School, builds upon the theory of disruptive innovation for which he is well-known. He speaks about his new book examining how successful companies know how to grow.

HBR contributing editor Amy Gallo discusses the best tactics to recognize, react to, and recover from stressful situations. She's a contributor to the "HBR Guide to Managing Stress at Work."

Bharat Anand, author of The Content Trap and professor at Harvard Business School, talks about the strategic challenges facing digital businesses, and explains how he and his colleagues wrestled with them when designing HBX, the school's online learning platform.

Joan C. Williams, distinguished professor and director of the Center for WorkLife Law at UC Hastings, discusses the white working class voters who helped elect Republican Donald Trump as U.S. President, and why Democrat Hillary Clinton did not connect with them.

Harvard Business School professor Nancy Koehn talks about the surprising election of businessman Donald Trump as U.S. president, and what leaders throughout history can tell us about bridging divides and leading in times of uncertainty.

Stephen Heidari-Robinson and Suzanne Heywood, authors of "ReOrg: How to Get It Right" explain how good planning and communication can help employees adapt.

Jeffrey Garten of Yale School of Management discusses how Genghis Khan, Mayer Amschel Rothschild, Margaret Thatcher, and others made the world more integrated. Garten is the author of "From Silk to Silicon: The Story of Globalization through Ten Extraordinary Lives".

Long-term thinking, short-term savvy, and relentless focus on employees.

Authority changes us all. Berkeley's Dacher Keltner, author of the HBR article "Don't Let Power Corrupt You" and the book "The Power Paradox" explains how to avoid succumbing to power's negative effects.

Cathy O'Neil, author of "Weapons of Math Destruction" on how data can lead us astray–from HR to Wall Street.

Tanya Menon, associate professor at Fisher College of Management, Ohio State University, explains how to recognize if your management style is too hands off. She's the co-author of "Stop Spending, Start Managing: Strategies to Transform Wasteful Habits."

Susan David, author of "Emotional Agility" and psychologist at Harvard Medical School, on learning to unhook from strong feelings.

Rob Cross, professor at the University of Virginia’s McIntire School of Commerce, explains how work became an exhausting marathon of group projects. He's the coauthor of the HBR article "Collaborative Overload."

Joseph Badaracco, Harvard Business School professor, explains what to do when no decision feels like a good decision. He is the author of "Managing in the Gray: Five Timeless Questions for Resolving Your Toughest Problems at Work."

David Burkus, author of "Under New Management", explains why some companies are taking extreme measures to limit electronic communication. Burkus is also a professor at Oral Roberts University and host of the podcast Radio Free Leader.

Bill von Hippel, professor at the University of Queensland, on how the ability to think and respond quickly makes someone seem more charismatic.

Moira Weigel explains how the changing nature of work has reshaped the way we meet, date, and fall in love. She's the author of "Labor of Love: The Invention of Dating" and is completing a Ph.D. at Yale University.

Leslie John, Harvard Business School professor, explains why you shouldn't waste time trying to detect your counterpart's lies; instead, use tactics drawn from psychology to get them to divulge the truth. She's the author of the HBR article "How to Negotiate with a Liar."

Adam Grant, Wharton professor and author of "Originals", on the science of standing out.

Ethan Bernstein, Harvard Business School professor, and John Bunch, holacracy implementation lead at Zappos, discuss the online retailer's transition to a flat, self-managed organization. They are the coauthors of the HBR article "Beyond the Holacracy Hype."

More of us are working in organizations employing a mix of freelancers, contractors, consultants, and full-timers, explains Jonathan Younger, coauthor with Norm Smallwood of "Agile Talent: How to Source and Manage Outside Experts."

Anne-Marie Slaughter on (finally) bringing sanity to the work/life struggle.

Tim Brown, CEO and president of IDEO, on breakthrough problem-solving.

Mark Blyth of Brown University and Gianpiero Petriglieri of INSEAD discuss Britain's vote to leave the European Union.

Tim Sullivan, co-author with Ray Fisman of "The Inner Lives of Markets," on how we shape economic theory -- and how it shapes us.

The champion diver explains how visualization and ambitious goal-setting helped him achieve double gold medals in back-to-back Olympic Games and why he now serves as a mentor to younger athletes and a spokesman for LGBT causes.

Chris Zook of Bain explains the predictable crises of growth and how to overcome them. His new book is "The Founder's Mentality," coauthored with James Allen.

The research shows we shouldn't be afraid to ask for help. Francesca Gino and Alison Wood Brooks, both of Harvard Business School, explain.

The acclaimed cellist explains how he chooses and works with partners and shares advice on honing one's talent.

Managers play a huge role in their employees' personal lives, which in turn affects productivity, morale, and turnover at work. Professor Scott Behson, author of "The Working Dad's Survival Guide," and professor at Fairleigh Dickinson University, gives practical tips for being a leader who is flexible, fair, and effective.

Therese Huston, Ph.D. and author of "How Women Decide," offers research-based tips for both men and women on how to make high quality, defensible decisions -- and sell them to your team.

Robert Kegan and Lisa Lahey, both of Harvard, discuss what they've learned from studying radically transparent organizations where people at all levels of the hierarchy get candid feedback, show vulnerability, and grow on the job. Their book is "An Everyone Culture."

The bestselling author describes her creative process and explains why she was always determined to have a career.

Amy Bernstein, editor of HBR, offers executive summaries of the major features.

Darrell Rigby of Bain and Jeff Sutherland of Scrum explain the rise of lean, iterative management tactics, and how to implement them yourself.

Todd Rose, the Director of the Mind, Brain, & Education program at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and the author of "The End of Average: How to Succeed in a World That Values Sameness," explains why we should stop using averages to understand individuals.

Iconic relationship expert Dr. Ruth discusses what she's learned over a long career.

Karen Dillon, author of the "HBR Guide to Office Politics", explains how to gracefully decline excessive projects–and thankless tasks.

Amy Bernstein, editor of HBR, offers executive summaries of the major features.

There's a lot of crying and shouting both in politics and at the office. Gautam Mukunda of Harvard Business School and Gianpiero Petriglieri of INSEAD help us try to make sense of it all.

Pay transparency is actually a way better system than pay secrecy. David Burkus, professor at Oral Roberts University and author of "Under New Management," explains why.

Kira Hudson Banks, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the department of psychology at Saint Louis University, and a principal at consulting firm the Mouse and the Elephant. We spoke with her about why managers shouldn't wait for a controversy to start talking about race.

Job interviews can feel more like a stylized ritual than a normal conversation. Esquire writer and journalist Cal Fussman, who's interviewed scores of people from Mikhail Gorbachev to Jeff Bezos to Dr. Dre, gives us his advice, from how to build trust with a subject to getting an honest answer to a tough question.

Amy Bernstein, editor of HBR, offers executive summaries of the major features.

Paul Leinwand, co-author of the book "Strategy That Works," explains how successful companies solve this thorny problem.

Lorne Michaels, Bill Walsh, Alice Waters–all have had a disproportionate impact in their respective industries through their knack for collecting and inspiring great talent. We hear how they do it from Sydney Finkelstein, the Steven Roth Professor of Management in Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business and the author of "Superbosses: How Exceptional Leaders Manage the Flow of Talent".