HBR On Leadership How to Scale What’s Working at Your Company
113 snips
Nov 19, 2025 
Bob Sutton, an organizational psychologist and Stanford professor, joins to share insights on scaling success in organizations. He discusses how to transform local wins into company-wide practices using principles like emotional purpose and simplicity. Sutton warns against the dangers of complexity and emphasizes the need to eliminate bad behaviors before spreading good ones. He also highlights the importance of a strong onboarding process to maintain culture during rapid growth. Patience and ownership from leaders are crucial to successfully implement these strategies.
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Pair A Hot Cause With A Cool Solution
- Link an emotional, urgent cause to a clear, evidence-based solution to motivate adoption.
- Use stories and moral framing to create energy that drives people to sign up and act.
Reduce Cognitive Complexity
- Keep cognitive complexity low as you scale by minimizing unnecessary process and structure.
- Use hierarchy to remove obstacles and to build helpful bureaucracy, not to add red tape.
Give Slightly Less Structure Than Expected
- Give teams slightly less structure than you think they need so they must actively think and adapt.
- Avoid over-prescribing; too much process makes people feel like they're "walking in the muck."
