Rachel Drew was the founder and CEO of Cadence, a technology startup that aimed to transform the chaos of estate administration into a grief-informed, compassionate process. Cadence had grown from Drew’s personal experience managing her mother’s estate. She had faced an overwhelming administrative burden and identified how a fragmented, non-user-friendly system for estate settlement forced grieving family members into essentially taking on a “part-time .....more

A manager witnessed first-hand a customer call in which her employee was unable to answer the customer's routine questions and was slurring her speech. The manager supervised 10 customer service specialists at NorthPath, a software company based in Madison, Wisconsin. NorthPath was a high-growth software firm with a team of 100+ professionals who supported digital transformation for their clients in the health care industry. The employee, a non-exempt .....more

On August 22, 2024, a transaction advisory consultant completed three years of fixed-term employment with Adair and Boyd Consultants in London, UK. The next successive renewal of her contract would have entitled her to permanent employee status, but her reporting supervisor postponed the contract renewal review meeting until the term’s last moment. During the meeting, the manager rebuked the employee for taking monthly leaves of absence and informed .....more

Yisi Changtian (Nanjing) Digital Intelligence Technology Co. Ltd. was an artificial intelligence (AI) start-up in Nanjing, China, focused on automated machine learning. By March 2025, it had validated demand through its consumer-end (C-end) software-as-a-service (SaaS) product and attracted early adopters through content-led community operations. Meanwhile, business-end (B-end) inquiries were increasing, including requests for private deployment, .....more

In July 2025, EEVengers, a start-up in the test and measurement industry, was preparing to ship its first product, the ThunderScope, an open-source computer-based oscilloscope. The founder aimed to build the company’s reputation as a reliable, high-quality brand while generating $300,000 in revenue and $35,000 in profit by January 2026. To achieve these goals, the founder needed to develop a focused marketing plan that included decisions on target .....more

In 2019, EY needed to decide how to move forward with its neurodiversity employment initiative. Demand for the services provided by the company’s Neuro-Diverse Centers of Excellence (NCoEs) exceeded supply, and decisions about priorities and work assignments were being made on too much of an ad hoc basis. Hiren Shukla, the director of the NCoEs, and Jamell Mitchell, the NCoE Strategic Ecosystems Leader, needed to determine how to 1) allocate the existing .....more

On March 31, 2020, at the onset of the COVID-19 global pandemic, one of Canada’s most visible Indigenous spokespersons on “economic reconciliation,” JP Gladu, faced an unexpected inflection point in his leadership trajectory. In following Gladu’s journey, this two-part case reveals how discontinuous transitions can motivate leaders to redefine their purpose and strengthen specific dimensions of their character. It also guides learners through an important .....more

Supplement for product W46529.

In 2015, the United Nations outlined its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), to be achieved by 2030. In October 2024, Kristian Mjoen, the founder of Norsk Barekraftsenter (NB), a sustainability consultancy, wondered how to implement these SDGs in his progressive country, Norway. He created a methodology to systematically deliver localized, data-driven sustainability solutions to local governments and institutions in Norway. Although NB had managed .....more

In early 2025, Melo Interiors (Melo), a boutique interior design firm in Kerala, India, faced growing strain after building a premium reputation for its personal touch. Rapid referrals, celebrity visibility, and client expectations brought success but also financial stress, rework, and dependence on the founders’ constant oversight. As co-founder Lekshmi Gayathri prepared to relocate to Bengaluru, she had to decide if Melo could pursue growth through .....more