Our first pandemic podcast featuring Carin-Isabel Knoop, Executive Director of the Global Research Group at Harvard Business School.
First published at www.get5.io/podcast
Carin Knoop is the Executive Director of the Global Research Group / Case Research & Writing Group at Harvard Business School, supporting faculty research and the development of about one-third of the School’s case study output and other types of research. She is a published researcher and co-author of the book Compassionate Management of Mental Health in the Modern Workplace, published last year.
Carin started attending HBS in 1992 to study her MBA, moving 10 metres from her dorm room to her office when she stayed on as a research associate. She explains that she came to HBS because she was interested in how organisations work, but fell in love with the academic side of things and decided to stay.
On the question of who should be managing and measuring culture in an organisation, Carin argues that everyone in the company is responsible for this. Why? Every person in an organisation makes decisions based on the company’s culture, for instance whether they will leave the company or whether to reinforce behaviours they deem as productive, etc.
“It’s really important to create an environment at work where you can have an open conversation.”
Carin believes that, as s a manager, you should be making even more effort to ‘touch’ your employees — to make a difference in their lives and help them make a way through these difficult times.
“You need to change and think about how you’re going to build the culture.”
Carin had met Clayton Christensen, the HBS professor who developed the theory of disruptive innovation first described in his 1997 book, The Innovator’s Dilemma. He also developed the concept of the Job To Be Done, which is something Carin often thinks of in terms of education and what it needs to accomplish in the world today.
“It’s a time of amazing reinvention.”
Timestamp notes:
0.11 — Hilarious introduction
1.54 — Carin’s background and what she does at Harvard Business School
2.30 — The global impact of research at HBS
3.10 — Mental health in light of COVID-19
9.22 — Stressors in the workplace and the low-hanging fruit for managers to help
10.14 — What’s the culture like at Harvard Business School
11.40 — The impact of the pandemic on higher education
13.15 — Carin’s career & the HBS ecosystem
14.50 — Who should be managing & measuring culture in an organisation? What is culture?
16.29 — Is recognition & feedback important for teams working from home right now?
18.47 — Communication and inclusion in the remote workplace
22.38 — Clayton Christensen & his books
24.23 — An average day for Carin & her fave reading material
26.16 — How to reach Carin: LinkedIN, [email protected]
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