Why Great Leaders Focus on the Details
Conventional wisdom says CEOs should focus on big picture strategy questions and not worry about the details of execution. But Scott Cook, cofounder of Inuit, says sometimes CEOs need to sweat the small stuff.
Listen to the full IdeaCast episode here: https://s.hbr.org/49a2aG0
Harvard Business Review
At Harvard Business Review, we believe in management. If the world’s organizations and institutions were run more effectively, if our leaders made better decisions, if people worked more productively, we believe that all of us — employees, bosses, custome...

Why Great Leaders Focus on the Details

Harvard Business Review

How to Boil Your Strategy Down to a Single, Clear Visualization

Harvard Business Review

Purpose-Driven Leadership in an Era of Polarization

Harvard Business Review

Steady Leadership in Tumultuous Times

Harvard Business Review

Leadership Requires Discomfort, But Our System Discourages It

Harvard Business Review

Masterclass: What's Blocking You from Scaling Up as a Leader?

Harvard Business Review

Walmart CEO Doug McMillon on Leading with Purpose in Uncertain Times

Harvard Business Review

Are Your Beliefs Holding You Back as a Leader?

Harvard Business Review

Is AI a Boom or a Bubble?

Harvard Business Review

Forget Perks—Here's What Makes Employees Happy

Harvard Business Review

Walmart's CEO Predicts AI Will Transform Every Job

Harvard Business Review

Have Leaders Abandoned Their Core Values?

Harvard Business Review

Your Team's Happiness Starts with You

Harvard Business Review

How Leaders Can Be Happier

Harvard Business Review

Are You Leading—or Just Reacting to Volatility?

Harvard Business Review

The Hidden Anxiety No One Talks About in Leadership

Harvard Business Review

Masterclass: How to Spark and Steer Disruptive Change

Harvard Business Review

6 Ways to Practice Everyday Courage

Harvard Business Review

To Lead Better, Shift the Beliefs That Hold You Back

Harvard Business Review

How to Determine Your Hidden Blockers

Harvard Business Review

Why Senior Leaders Should Stop Having So Many One-on-Ones

Harvard Business Review

Leading Is Emotionally Draining. Here’s How to Recover.

Harvard Business Review

The Evolving Role of the CFO

Harvard Business Review

Bozoma Saint John on the New Reality of Leadership

Harvard Business Review

AI-Generated “Workslop” Is Destroying Productivity

Harvard Business Review

The Story You Tell Yourself Creates Courage

Harvard Business Review

Jimmy Fallon and Bozoma Saint John on Building Brands People Love

Harvard Business Review

Walls and Moats Won't Save You. Innovation Will.

Harvard Business Review

Jimmy Fallon on Leading with Gratitude, Humor, and Heart

Harvard Business Review

Walls and Moats Won't Save You. Innovation Will.

Harvard Business Review

Don't Bring Your "Whole Self" to Work—Bring Your Best Self

Harvard Business Review

Leading with Courage in an Age of Uncertainty

Harvard Business Review

Mental Health in the C-Suite

Harvard Business Review

How Common Knowledge Shapes Culture and Markets

Harvard Business Review

HBR Executive Masterclass: Become a Better Negotiator

Harvard Business Review

Join Us on October 6th Live with Arthur C. Brooks

Harvard Business Review

Stop "Helping" in Ways That Hold Your Team Back

Harvard Business Review

Is Your Brand Optimized for AI Search?

Harvard Business Review

Steven Pinker on Speculative Bubbles and the Power of Public Signals

Harvard Business Review

A Smarter Way to Delegate: What to Keep vs. What to Hand Off

Harvard Business Review

From 'Epic Disruptions': 5 Lessons in Innovation from Julia Child

Harvard Business Review

Should Your Company License Content to AI?

Harvard Business Review

Research: The Hidden Penalty of Using AI at Work

Harvard Business Review

How Humor Makes Leaders More Effective

Harvard Business Review

The Case for Putting Down Your Phone

Harvard Business Review

How Disruption Really Happens: 5 Big Ideas

Harvard Business Review

To Connect at Work, Learn Your Team's Laugh Languages

Harvard Business Review

Leaders, Reduce Team Stress by Making One Simple Change

Harvard Business Review

Lean into Your Imposter Syndrome, Don't Give into It

Harvard Business Review

How to Stay on Top of Your Team's Projects (Without Micromanaging)

Harvard Business Review

Should You Use AI to Write Work Emails?

Harvard Business Review

Why Taylor Swift's Podcast Surprise Is a Masterclass in Marketing

Harvard Business Review

Why Imposter Syndrome Can Actually Be a Good Sign

Harvard Business Review

How to Tell the Difference Between a Strong Instinct and a Knee-Jerk Reaction

Harvard Business Review

Business Runs on Data. But What About Instinct?

Harvard Business Review

Identify Your Leadership Blindspots

Harvard Business Review

Imposter Syndrome Can Actually Be a Good Sign

Harvard Business Review

How Non-Profits Navigate Uncertainty: Lessons from Save the Children U.S.

Harvard Business Review

There Are 168 Hours in a Week. Are You Using Them Well?

Harvard Business Review

How to Turn Your Inner Critic into Your Ally

Harvard Business Review

Why You Need Joy Throughout Your Career

Harvard Business Review

Use Strategic Thinking to Create the Life You WAnt

Harvard Business Review

Research: When Extra Effort Makes You Worse at Your Job

Harvard Business Review

Introducing HBR Executive Masterclass: What We Get Wrong About Psychological Safety

Harvard Business Review

Building a Conflict-Intelligent Organization

Harvard Business Review

When Gratitude Gets in the Way of Growth

Harvard Business Review

Managing in the Age of Outrage

Harvard Business Review

How Amazon Uses Startup Thinking to Stay Fast and Focused

Harvard Business Review

How to Build Your Own AI Assistant

Harvard Business Review

Introducing HBR Executive

Harvard Business Review

How to Feel Okay After a Job Loss

Harvard Business Review

Amazon's Take on Return-to-Office

Harvard Business Review

The Economic Data Business Leaders Should Be Watching

Harvard Business Review

How Amazon Really Empowers Its Employees

Harvard Business Review

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy on Agility, AI Strategy, and the Changing Role of Managers

Harvard Business Review

The Power of Mattering at Work

Harvard Business Review

How to Ask Your (Unsupportive) Manager for Growth Opportunities

Harvard Business Review

The Genius Behind Taylor Swift's Longevity

Harvard Business Review

In a Slump at Work? Try This.

Harvard Business Review

How to Be Confident as a First-Time Manager

Harvard Business Review

What Business Leaders Can Learn from Taylor Swift's Productive Paranoia

Harvard Business Review

Reclaiming Your Ambition After Maternity Leave

Harvard Business Review

How Taylor Swift Handles Criticism

Harvard Business Review

Ask the Amys: Building Trust as a New Manager

Harvard Business Review

The Cost of Employee Disengagement

Harvard Business Review

The Real Meeting Happens Before the Meeting

Harvard Business Review

Use the STAR Interview Method to Land Your Next Job

Harvard Business Review

Is AI Driving Productivity or Fueling Burnout?

Harvard Business Review

3 Types of Overthinking—and How to Overcome Them

Harvard Business Review

Micro-Mindfulness Techniques

Harvard Business Review

What Comes After DEI

Harvard Business Review

How to Turn Down a Networking Request

Harvard Business Review

How to Jumpstart Creativity

Harvard Business Review

8 Leadership Skills to Develop

Harvard Business Review

Me in Severance Therapy

Harvard Business Review

Business Lessons from the Failure Museum

Harvard Business Review

Create an Effective Slide Deck

Harvard Business Review

How to Answer "Walk Me Through Your Resume"

Harvard Business Review

How to Make Your Team's Work More Visible

Harvard Business Review

5 Types of Smart, Strategic Questions

Harvard Business Review