Leadership & management

On Presidents Day, Darden Professor and Dean Emeritus Bob Bruner reflects on these leaders, and not just for a day; he’s formally researched their qualities and delved into one of the most interesting facets of their leadership: general, prevalent optimism.

More than 50 years after Stanley Milgram conducted his famous experiments on authority and obedience, Darden ethics professor Bobby Parmar sheds new light on how people defy corrupt authority.

In the Smart Machine Age, many of us will have to relearn the process of how to iteratively learn. And we will have to relearn how to be curious like a child and to be courageous like an explorer.

People can accumulate lots of sophisticated tools in an expensive, impressive-looking toolkit, and even know which tools are useful for addressing which kinds of managerial problems, but ultimately this won’t be worth much if they don’t have the courage to use those tools.

Darden Professor Peter Belmi's recent work found that class-based inequality persists not only because of external factors like bias and “glass ceilings,” but also because of structural factors that discourage relatively low-class people from seeking positions of power in the first place.

Darden Dean Scott C. Beardsley interviews Dr. Ulrich Bez, former CEO and current board member of Aston Martin and distinguished executive in residence at Darden.

If trust is vital to leadership, how do leaders — particularly new leaders — build it? Darden Professor Morela Hernandez advises demonstrating relational leadership first. That means showing you respect your team, will seek their input on important matters and will treat them fairly.

In the Smart Machine Age, human beings will be needed to do those tasks that technology won’t be able to do well. What type of leader is needed in that kind of environment? It won’t be a command-and-control, hierarchical leader.