In a revealing study over a 10-year period, 1993-2003, authors Heike Bruch and Sumantra Ghoshal tracked behaviors of managers in a wide variety of industries (A Bias for Action: How Effective Managers Harness Their Willpower, Achieve Results, and Stop Wasting Time, Harvard Business School Press, 2004).

They found that over 90 percent of managers fail to act purposefully in their everyday work. Bruch’s and Ghoshal’s study identifies four profiles of managerial behavior, as charted in a grid measuring focus and energy. Managers were charted as being high or low in focus, and they were charted as being high or low in energy.

High focus, high energy managers were described as Purposeful.
High focus, low energy managers were seen as Detached.
Low focus, high energy managers were described as Frenzied.
Low focus, low energy managers were seen as Procrastinators.

The Frenzied: Forty percent of managers are distracted by the overwhelming tasks that face them each day. They are highly energetic, but unfocused. But “the need for speed” prompts them to be unreflective. They could achieve more if they consciously concentrate their efforts on what really matters.

The Procrastinators: Thirty percent of managers procrastinate on doing their organizations’ most important work. They lack both energy and focus, spending their time handling minor details in lieu of what could make a real difference to their organizations.

The Detached: Twenty percent of managers are disengaged or detached from their work. They can be focused, but have no energy. They seem aloof, tense and apathetic.

The Purposeful: Only ten percent get the job done. They are highly focused, energetic, and come across as reflective and calm amid chaos.

The costs of unproductive busyness take a toll on both managers and their companies. Continual unreflective activity has a direct effect on an organization’s profits and managerial morale, as it’s ineffective and ultimately unsatisfying.

For example, frenzied managers often act in extremely shortsighted ways. Under extreme time constraints and the need to do more with fewer resources, they become adept at finding short-term solutions. As a consequence, they seldom take time to reflect, and neglect long-term issues. Frenzied managers demonstrate a well-intentioned, but desperate, need to do something-anything-which makes them potentially destructive.

Chronic procrastinators are generally recovering frenzied managers. Once they have learned that frantic, desperate actions are unsatisfying, many lapse into procrastination, losing energy and focus. It becomes all too easy for them to put off action altogether.

What distinguishes managers who take purposeful action from those who do not?

Willpower, discipline and clarity of purpose fuel the force behind energy and focus, enabling managers to execute action and to ignore distractions. Even when uninspired by the work and tempted by other opportunities, purposeful managers maintain energy and focus through will power, determination and clarity of purpose.

Next time you evaluate your managers’ performance, place them on the low/high Focus/Energy grid. Find out who fits the descriptions of Detached, Frenzied, Procrastinator, or Purposeful manager. Then see whether it is focus or energy that can be improved. Busyness for the sake of being busy without regard for results can lead to false assumptions.

Harvard Business School Press is actually a large corporation that encompasses the group that publishes books often used in the Harvard Business School itself.  The sole shareholder of HBSP is the Dean of Harvard Business School.

Harvard Business School Press was founded in 1984, 76 years after the establishment of Harvard Business School.  Its main purpose is to publish and provide business books not only to its students but also to entrepreneurs and organizations.  Due to the high quality of its publications and the stringent standards it has maintained over the years, Harvard Business School Press has become a very influential force in the business world.  It is touted as one of the best sources of business ideas and has been involved in the implementation of many of the most prevalent business concepts today.

Mission and values

Harvard Business School Press aims to contribute to the improvement of management and business practices by developing media services and products that provide organizations and individuals with valuable ideas and concepts.  Their goal is to become the top choice as a publisher by content providers, experts and authors who provide influential ideas in both business and management.

A meticulous process of editing

Harvard Business School Press is highly distinguished in the field of publishing due in part to its exacting editorial process and practices.  In order for a manuscript to see print, it is reviewed, assessed and edited by some of the industry’s most respected experts and peers.  Only the best and most reliable publications are then released for distribution.

Key publications of Harvard Business School Press

Harvard Business School Press is the publisher of the preeminent Harvard Business Review.  This publication is one of the top magazines on general management that provides research-based articles and information.  It has one of the largest readerships in the industry and is well-respected by business experts and academics.  To date, its circulation is about 240,000 (for the English language publication) and has 11 editions licensed, including releases in German, Portuguese and Chinese.

This is the same publication responsible for introducing certain business terms to the lexicon, such as: ‘glass ceiling’, ‘re-engineering’, ‘globalization’, ‘core competence’ and ‘strategic intent’, among others.

Some of its leading titles include: Michael Watkins’ ‘The First 90 Days: Critical Success Strategies for New Leaders at All Levels’, Huselid, Becker and Beatty’s ‘The Workforce Scorecard: Managing Human Capital to Execute Strategy’, Robert Kaplan and David Norton’s ‘The Strategy-Focused Organization’ and ‘Strategy Maps’ and ‘How Customers Think: Essential Insights Into the Mind of the Market’.

Harvard Business School Press also publishes works by its faculty, including books, manuals, working papers, published articles, case studies, course notes and teaching notes.  The Press also accepts manuscripts from other writers and academics outside its educational system and also allows requests and offers to translate any of its publications.  Case studies may be requested from the Press’ case collection but they are strictly for educational purposes only and will not be released for research or media distribution.

Harvard Business School Press has approximately 400 book titles already in print.

Nowadays, brand recognition is very important in differentiating your product from the rest; this is where Harvard Business School Press change branding comes in. This organization can offer advices on how a business can establish a brand to have a great impact on the consciousness of the customers.

Choosing the suitable media from a variety of available mediums is very essential because right now, most customers already have an affinity to the brand they are using. If you are one of those brands, it is important for you to maintain this affinity even though you intend to change your corporate or product branding. On the other hand, if you are only starting out or if the company you work for is not that popular, it is important for you to change your image; one of your choices is to change your brand.

There are some companies that use the long-tail and user-generated strategy to build brand recognition and brand loyalty even while they are changing their brand image. Take the example of Dove; they used to have the Campaign for Real Beauty where women were told to embrace their differences from other women, in short, to embrace their imperfections. Now, Dove is known as the soap which has one-fourth moisturizer content. So while this campaign does nothing to strengthen this feature, women still became loyal to the brand because of what it stood for.

Whether this brand strategy will prove to be successful over the long term still remains to be seen. But if they decide to consult with an established organization such as the Harvard Business School, they will have a greater chance to know the kind of campaign they should launch. Students at the Harvard Business School will likewise know a lot because of the various materials that will be provided for them later on. This adds to their knowledge so they can become effective and highly successful when they enter the business world in the future.

Companies should look into consulting with experts in the academia because they have a practical and theoretical experience with an unbiased opinion that can help propel a company to success. As you can expect, having an outsiders view is an essential aspect in conducting business. This is because often, most people involved in the company get so caught up with issues and concern for the company that they can no longer judge their brand or their product positioning for the market accurately. Right now, the Harvard Business School change branding service is one of the most effective ways for a company to gather information that will enable them to launch a specific campaign for an effective brand development.

Companies who decide to take advantage of the services provided by the Harvard Business School will surely not regret it. The kind of service and advice they can expect from this organization is worth every penny they shell out. With this in mind, it is no wonder that the Harvard Business School is experiencing growth in this area.

The Harvard Business School is certainly an organization you can trust to provide up-to-date and reliable information and advice about today’s business environment and market trends. Most companies can expect profitability if they take advantage of the change branding services that can be given by the school.