Leading in Times of Trauma. The managerial handbooks fail us when disaster strikes. After all, you can’t eliminate personal suffering, nor can you ask employees who are dealing with crises to check their emotions at the door. But you can facilitate healing by unleashing organizational compassion, spreading it to every corner, and managing its impact.

Inside Microsoft: Balancing Creativity and Discipline. Can a company maintain its freewheeling and innovative culture while standardizing its business practices? Absolutely, says Microsoft’s former COO, Robert Herbold. He describes the operational mess Microsoft was in when he arrived and Bill Gates’s exasperation with the company’s sorry state. He also offers practical guidance for increasing efficiency and profitability

Turn customer input into innovation. It’s hard to find a company that doesn’t strive to give customers the products and services they ask for. Unfortunately, most go about it all wrong. A new methodology for capturing customer input promises to galvanize the innovation process.