Career and Workplace

Sharpening Your Skills: New Insights into Career Development

When is a job promotion a bad thing? Does networking leave an oily substance on your clothing? From our archives we look at career change in the twenty-first century, where researchers are offering fresh insights into our dynamic workplaces.

Harvard Business School researchers are offering unique insights into our workplaces and careers. In this world, taking a pay cut can help a career, promotions aren't always good things, and networking may send you to the nearest tub for cleansing.

Is it Worth a Pay Cut to Work for a Great Manager?

Few of us want to take less money to move to another organization, but Boris Groysberg and Abhijit Naik point to research that shows hooking up with the right manager—whether in sports or business—can quickly increase your value even if your pay is less.

The Promotion That Makes You Feel Bad

Receiving an unexpected professional status bump doesn't always feel good, especially if it wasn't really earned. Companies need to be aware of potential problems with unearned status gain, and be ready with solutions, says Tsedal Neeley.

‘Humblebragging’ is a Bad Strategy, Especially in a Job Interview

While humblebragging runs rampant on Twitter, it's a lousy self-promotion tactic that usually backfires according to recent research by Ovul Sezer, Francesca Gino, and Michael Norton.

Professional Networking Makes People Feel Dirty

Francesca Gino and colleagues find that people avoid professional networking—even though it's good for their careers—because it makes them feel physically dirty.

To Read More:ARTICLES What Will It Take to Achieve Gender Equality in Leadership?

James Heskett's readers question the meaning of "gender equality."

The Business of Life

Professor Clayton M. Christensen discusses economic theory and personal happiness.

WORKING PAPERS Looking Up and Looking Out: Career Mobility Effects of Demographic Similarity among Professionals

Kathleen L. McGinn and Katherine L. Milkman study processes of cohesion, competition, and comparison by looking at career mobility in a single up-or-out professional service organization.

Unfinished Business: The Impact of Race on Understanding Mentoring

This paper by David Thomas and colleagues in 2006 discusses why race and mentoring are important, how race has been studied or omitted in research to date, and what is known about the intersection of mentoring and race in organizations.

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