Getting a rocket into space is complicated business. In addition to expertise in physics, materials science, and electronics, you need the business savvy to create a sustainable company in an industry replete with flameouts.
 

Market volatility has been at near-record levels in recent months, as investors respond to the uncertainty in Europe. Roger Ibbotson takes a historical perspective and argues that volatility, while frightening for individuals, can play an important role in the economy.

Decisions made by those at the top of major companies, nonprofits, and government organizations can affect millions of lives. Yale’s president and SOM’s current and future deans discuss how business schools can train leaders with the long-term perspective and sense of integrity to create durable value in their organizations.

Should you take charge? Should you work to build consensus? Victor Vroom argues that effective leaders are sensitive to the nuances of their organizations, cultural environments, and short- and long-term objectives.

Combat leadership involves making countless decisions, with imited information, shifting variables, and extreme time constraints. Colonel Rich Morales ’99 and soldiers from his battalion describe their 15-month deployment in Iraq.

“It is necessary for a prince wishing to hold his own to know how to do wrong.” Advice like this, offered by Niccolò Machiavelli in The Prince, made its author’s name synonymous with the ruthless use of power. But Robert Harrison suggests you should be careful before looking for leadership lessons in The Prince.

All cultures and all eras have their heroes—individuals who set out on a quest and overcome great adversity to attain a glorious end. Jeffrey Sonnenfeld suggests that CEOs today are living out this age-old narrative. He explains why society is looking for its heroes in the corner office.

Are there leaders in everyday life? A long body of literature argues that a small number of individuals have an outsize influence on what the rest of us buy, wear, and consume. But marketing professionals and scholars have been debating how to make use of these opinion leaders.

Cade Massey and a former student, Rufus Peabody, developed a new way to calculate power rankings for NFL teams. Massey discusses the importance of clean, bias-free statistical analysis, and considers how a study of leadership in athletics might be applied to the business world.

In globalized, multicultural organizations, leaders need to learn to create value out of diversity. Five experts discuss what it takes to make this happen.