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Why Do Smart People Do Such Dumb Things?

Harvard Business Review

For years, those of us who study business innovation have been thrilled by the results and influence of Muhammad Yunus , Grameen Bank, and the idea that one powerful way to fight poverty is to make small loans to villagers (mainly women) who have tons of energy but no access to capital. has made the loans much less effective.".

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5 Questions to Ask About Corporate Culture to Get Beyond the Usual Meaningless Blather

Harvard Business Review

The true promise of a culture, argues influential venture capitalist Ben Horowitz , is to “be provocative enough to change what people do every day.” It’s a lot easier to maintain high levels of energy and morale at a company when sales are booming and the stock price is soaring.

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An Insider’s Account of the Yahoo-Alibaba Deal

Harvard Business Review

In hindsight, this thinking turned out to be far less important than what we learned about leadership, control, and trust, which ultimately were reflected in how each of the businesses was created, capitalized, and staffed. The company was owned by management, venture capitalists, and SoftBank.

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Why We Shouldn’t Worry About the Declining Number of Public Companies

Harvard Business Review

firms gravitate towards digital strategies, firms have less need for elaborate finance, marketing, production, distribution, accounting, and human resource departments. Chief finance officers increasingly question the ability of a day trader to value a digital company. retains its leadership in technological progress.

IPO 9
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An Entrepreneurial Society Needs an Entrepreneurial State

Harvard Business Review

Crucially, this will require public leadership, challenging the prevailing ideology which limits the role of public actors to simply de-risking or facilitating the real heroes — the private sector wealth creators, like risk-loving entrepreneurs — while waiting for the market to find solutions. billion in public support.