Harvard Business Review - March/April 2025

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Welcome to my ‘Reading Insights‘ series. Here, is where I share simple takeaways and personal thoughts from articles, papers, and other readings that called my attention.

Together, we’ll explore ideas beyond the “Book Notes” series that help us to improve how we think about management, leadership, and personal growth.

So grab a cup of coffee, and let’s dive into some interesting insights!

And what are we reading today?

Today we will talk about the: Harvard Business Review magazine edition March/April 2025.

Whether it’s aligning your company’s strategy, leading with inspiration, or leveraging AI to stay ahead, the right insights can make a difference in your career and business with the Insights from Harvard Business Review.

The Harvard Business Review March–April 2025 edition is packed with lessons from industry leaders, researchers, and business strategists. These articles uncover what makes top companies succeed, how leaders inspire teams, and why some businesses thrive while others fail.

In this post, I’ve summarized 9 must-read articles, breaking down their core insights into actionable takeaways.

The Power of Strategic Fit – Darrell Rigby & Zach First
How Salespeople Game the System – Timothy M. Gardner, Colin Wong & Rick Butler
Precedents Thinking – Stefanos Zenios & Ken Favaro
Strategy in an Era of Abundant Expertise – Bobby Yerramilli-Rao, John Corwin, Yang Li & Karim R. Lakhani
The Secret to Cross-Cultural Negotiations – Horacio Falcão & Thomas Wiegelmann
The Secrets of Extraordinary Low-Cost Operators – Thomas Hout
The Uniqueness Trap – Bent Flyvbjerg, Alexander Budzier, M.D. Christodoulou & M. Zottoli
What Sets Inspirational Leaders Apart – Adam D. Galinsky
Who Are You as a Leader? – Paul Ingram

The Power of Strategic Fit

By Darrell Rigby & Zach First – full article

👉 The Big Idea: Financial success doesn’t guarantee long-term competitiveness—only true strategic fit does. Companies that fail to align their mission, culture, operations, and leadership often find themselves struggling, even when short-term financial results look good.

📌 The Summary: According to this Harvard Business Review article, many organizations rely on “spreadsheet strategies”—setting ambitious financial goals without ensuring their business model, culture, and operations are built to sustain them. This short-sighted approach can lead to employee burnout, stalled innovation, and eventual decline, even if the company initially hits its targets. Instead, businesses should focus on strategic fit, where every part of the organization—from leadership and incentives to customer experience—reinforces a unified vision. Companies that embrace this approach don’t just succeed in the short term—they build lasting, adaptable businesses.

💡 Key Takeaways:
✔ Short-term financial wins can mask long-term weaknesses—true success requires strategic alignment.
✔ “Spreadsheet strategy” leads to misalignment between financial targets and real capabilities.
✔ Companies that align mission, operations, and leadership create sustainable competitive advantages.

How Salespeople Game the System

By Timothy M. Gardner, Colin Wong & Rick Butler – full article

👉 The Big Idea: Sales incentive programs often encourage manipulation rather than genuine performance. Companies must design smarter, ethical compensation structures to prevent sales teams from gaming the system.

📌 The Summary: Salespeople are naturally driven by incentives, but when compensation plans are poorly designed, they often exploit loopholes to boost their earnings at the company’s expense. Tactics like sandbagging (delaying deals for higher commissions), inflating projections, or pushing unnecessary discounts are common. A study across 19 industries identified 64 ways salespeople manipulate their targets, often without technically breaking the rules. The problem isn’t individual dishonesty—it’s that many sales compensation structures unintentionally reward short-term gains over long-term success. Companies need to rethink their incentive models by balancing short-term results with sustainable, customer-focused behaviors. Regular audits, smarter performance tracking, and ethical leadership can prevent these issues while still motivating sales teams effectively.

💡 Key Takeaways:
✔ Poorly designed incentives encourage manipulation instead of true performance.
✔ Sales teams prioritize short-term wins if rewards are misaligned with company goals.
✔ Smarter compensation models prevent gaming while still driving motivation.

Precedents Thinking

By Stefanos Zenios & Ken Favaro – full article

👉 The Big Idea: Breakthrough innovations rarely come from scratch—they come from repurposing and recombining existing ideas in new ways.

📌 The Summary: Many believe innovation means creating something completely new, but history shows that the best ideas come from adapting proven concepts. Henry Ford’s assembly line was inspired by slaughterhouses, and Netflix’s subscription model came from gym memberships. The authors of this article from Harvard Business Review, introduce Precedents Thinking, a method that helps organizations systematically borrow, adapt, and reimagine ideas from different industries to drive innovation. By following a three-step process—framing the challenge, searching for past precedents, and creatively combining insights—companies can innovate more effectively and reduce risk. Businesses that embrace this approach are more likely to stay ahead of competitors by leveraging what already works rather than wasting resources reinventing the wheel.

💡 Key Takeaways:
✔ Innovation isn’t about originality—it’s about smart adaptation.
✔ Looking at solutions from other industries can accelerate breakthroughs.
✔ A structured approach to borrowing ideas reduces risk and increases success.

Strategy in an Era of Abundant Expertise

By Bobby Yerramilli-Rao, John Corwin, Yang Li & Karim R. Lakhani – full article

👉 The Big Idea: AI is making specialized knowledge more accessible, forcing companies to rethink what truly differentiates them.

📌 The Summary: For centuries, expertise was a scarce and valuable resource—but AI is changing that. Tools like GitHub Copilot, Salesforce Einstein, and ChatGPT allow businesses to access high-level expertise without hiring specialists. This means companies must redefine their competitive advantages, as traditional expert-driven services become more automated.

Instead of relying on expertise alone, businesses should focus on trust, adaptability, and human-AI collaboration. Industries such as law, medicine, and consulting will need to evolve their strategies, ensuring that AI enhances decision-making rather than replacing the human touch that builds lasting customer relationships.

💡 Key Takeaways:
✔ AI is democratizing expertise, changing how businesses compete.
✔ Industries that rely on specialized knowledge must rethink their strategies.
✔ The future belongs to companies that blend AI with human strengths.

The Secret to Cross-Cultural Negotiations

By Horacio Falcão & Thomas Wiegelmann – full article

👉 The Big Idea: Successful negotiations aren’t about adapting to cultural stereotypes—they’re about understanding individual behaviors and setting shared norms.

📌 The Summary: According to this Harvard Business Review article, many cross-cultural negotiations fail because people rely too much on broad cultural assumptions instead of focusing on their counterpart’s unique behaviors and intentions. A German-Chinese business deal in the study broke down because both sides misinterpreted each other’s negotiation styles as dishonesty rather than different expectations. Instead of reacting to perceived cultural differences, effective negotiators establish shared ground rules, identify whether their counterpart is cooperative or exploitative, and leverage differences to create value rather than conflict.

💡 Key Takeaways:
✔ Cultural stereotypes can mislead—treat negotiators as individuals.
✔ Establishing shared norms prevents misunderstandings.
✔ Cultural differences can be an advantage, not a barrier.

The Secrets of Extraordinary Low-Cost Operators

By Thomas Hout – full article

👉 The Big Idea: Winning on cost isn’t just about cutting expenses—it’s about building a long-term culture of efficiency and smart investment.

📌 The Summary: Low-cost leaders like Toyota, Walmart, and IKEA succeed because they don’t just slash costs—they invest in process innovation, technology, and employee empowerment to drive sustainable efficiency. They decentralize decision-making, allowing teams on the ground to identify cost savings, while also ensuring customer value isn’t sacrificed. This strategy creates long-term advantages that competitors struggle to replicate, proving that cost leadership is about strategy, not shortcuts.

💡 Key Takeaways:
✔ Cost leadership requires smart investments, not just expense-cutting.
✔ Empowering employees leads to continuous cost innovation.
✔ The best low-cost companies focus on efficiency without hurting customer experience.

The Uniqueness Trap

By Bent Flyvbjerg, Alexander Budzier, M.D. Christodoulou & M. Zottoli – full article

👉 The Big Idea: Thinking your project is “one of a kind” can lead to poor decisions, budget overruns, and missed deadlines.

📌 The Summary: A study of 1,300+ IT projects on this Harvard Business Review article, found that managers who believe their projects are unique tend to ignore lessons from past experiences, underestimate risks, and overestimate their ability to control outcomes. This “uniqueness bias” leads to cost overruns and delays, as leaders fail to leverage existing best practices. The reality? Most projects share common challenges, and those who recognize this are better equipped to manage uncertainty and avoid costly mistakes.

💡 Key Takeaways:
✔ Most projects aren’t as unique as managers think.
✔ Ignoring past lessons increases risk and cost overruns.
✔ Recognizing patterns across projects leads to better decision-making.

What Sets Inspirational Leaders Apart

By Adam D. Galinsky – full article

👉 The Big Idea: Inspiration isn’t a personality trait—it’s a skill that leaders develop by mastering vision, example, and mentorship.

📌 The Summary: A global study shared in this Harvard Business Review article, found that the most inspiring leaders consistently embody three roles: visionary (painting a compelling future), exemplar (leading with integrity and passion), and mentor (supporting the growth of others). A CEO during the 2009 financial crisis demonstrated all three by taking a salary cut, reinforcing company values, and prioritizing employees’ well-being—turning a potential layoff crisis into a unifying moment. Leaders who intentionally cultivate these traits earn trust, motivate teams, and drive long-term impact.

💡 Key Takeaways:
✔ Inspiration is a skill, not an innate gift.
✔ Visionaries provide meaning and purpose.
✔ Exemplary leadership and mentorship strengthen teams.

Who Are You as a Leader?

By Paul Ingram – full article

👉 The Big Idea: The best leaders intentionally shape their identity to align with their values, strengths, and leadership style.

📌 The Summary: Self-awareness is at the heart of great leadership. The article introduces the Identity Map, a tool that helps leaders visualize their personal and professional qualities to guide their decision-making. Leaders who actively reflect on their values, strengths, and career goals build stronger trust with teams and make better choices. Successful professionals continuously refine their leadership identity to stay relevant, authentic, and effective in a rapidly evolving world.

✔ Self-awareness is the foundation of effective leadership.
✔ The Identity Map helps leaders align with their values.
✔ Great leaders evolve and refine their leadership identity over time.

These 9 articles from Harvard Business Review highlight one common theme: success comes from strategy, adaptability, and leadership that inspires action.

The biggest takeaway? Great leaders don’t just react—they anticipate and innovate. Businesses that align their strategies, invest in leadership development, and leverage technology wisely are the ones that will thrive in an increasingly competitive world according to this Harvard Business Review edition.

No matter where you are in your career, the insights from these articles from Harvard Business Review offer valuable lessons to help you think bigger, lead smarter, and execute better.

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