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Nancy Koehn

Author, 'Forged In Crisis'

Nancy Koehn is a historian at the Harvard Business School where she holds the James E. Robison chair of Business Administration. Koehn's research focuses on how leaders, past and present, craft lives of purpose, worth, and impact.

Her new book, Forged in Crisis: The Power of Courageous Leadership in Turbulent Times is an enthralling historical narrative filled with critical leadership insights that will be of interest to a wide range of readers—including those in government, business, education, and the arts—Forged in Crisis spotlights five masters of crisis: polar explorer Ernest Shackleton; President Abraham Lincoln; legendary abolitionist Frederick Douglass; Nazi-resisting clergyman Dietrich Bonhoeffer; and environmental crusader Rachel Carson.

Koehn is the author of numerous books, articles, and Harvard Business School cases. She writes frequently for the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Harvard Business Review Online. She is also a weekly commentator on National Public Radio and has appeared on many national television programs. She has spoken at the World Economic Forum in Davos, the Aspen Ideas Festival, and in many other venues.

A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Stanford University, Koehn earned a Master of Public Policy from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government before taking her MA and PhD in History from Harvard. She lives outside Boston and is a dedicated equestrian.

A broken heart lollipop on a blue background.

How to master antifragility for a happier life

“Resilience” is being able to withstand hardship; “antifragility” goes one step further.

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These 5 great historical leaders had this one trait in common

History’s most remarkable leaders had this one trait in common. We can harness it too.

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Resilience won’t just be there when you need it. You have to train it.

Grit is something you can’t learn in schools, but can only learn in the real world. Or, by watching this video. From Harvard historian Nancy Koehn, here’s what great leaders throughout history can tell you about resilience.

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Focus, Simplicity, Integrity: How History’s Greatest Leaders Achieved Success

Digital disruptions have never been more intrusive, making concentration and focus more important than ever. Learning to say “no” to distractions has a good historical track record.

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A lesson in power, significance, and influence from Abraham Lincoln

It wasn’t until after President Lincoln’s death that we would discover one of his most important lessons, hidden in his desk drawer.

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Lessons from Lincoln: Adversity as a Fantastic Conscious Classroom

Lincoln’s emotional awareness, that kind of explicit, reflective, conversation with himself is how he used all the adverse classrooms, from his mother’s death when he was nine to all those lost elections, to suicidal depressions.

In Life, Ride the Path, Not the Jumps

The first thing I’ve learned about leading an extraordinary life is you don’t ride the jumps in your path, you ride the path itself.

Staying on Brand: My Life is My Message

I think the more transparent that the world gets, enabled largely by technology, the more important it is that you are what you appear to be.

The Arrogance of “Unlimited” Growth

Big companies start off with verve and energy and aspiration and incredible values outside the marketplace that fuel their growth, the grow to the point that they’re no longer in […]

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Technology & Innovation

Shakespeare’s Tough Leadership Lessons

Shakespeare’s Henry V is a play full of great motivational speeches and inspiring leadership. Based on actual historical events of the 15th century, the play centers around the climactic Battle […]

Shakespeare’s Tough Lessons on Leadership

How does a leader decide whether to be lenient or to set an example? Nancy Koehn presents this question by drawing from a harrowing scene in Shakespeare’s Henry V.

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Millennials: They Know What They Don’t Want

Nancy Koehn, historian at Harvard Business School, thinks it’s a generation that, before this recession, had not experienced failure.

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Nancy Koehn on Harnessing the Power of Technology

How can we harness the power of technology?

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Nancy Koehn On Finding Time for Civic Duty

The amount of time Americans devote to their communities is decreasing, says Koehn.

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The world needs to breathe.

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How will this age be remembered?

An anxious age in constant motion.

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Nancy Koehn On Harvard Business School

HBS has some great leaders marinating.

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What should be the major issues of the 2008 Election?

We should be talking about inequality, says Nancy Koehn.

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Where is business headed?

Koehn marvels at the new possibilities for business.

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What is America’s place in the world?

The U.S. is not picking up the gauntlet of leadership.

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Nancy Koehn Discusses The Evolution of Capitalism

Nancy Koehn discusses the next stage of economic progress.

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What is the measure of a good life?

To die well.

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Nancy Koehn’s List of Great Books

Shakespeare and Middlemarch.

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What inspires you?

A good sermon by Rev. Peter Gomes.

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What do you believe?

Nancy Koehn sees life as a London sidewalk more than an MIT blackboard.

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What needs to change in business?

Businesses need to figure out how to keep their female talent.

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Nancy Koehn On Great Leaders

Koehn admires Nelson Mandela and Bono.

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What makes a great leader?

Using your strengths and your weaknesses.

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Nancy Koehn on the Lessons of Lincoln

Harvard Business School Professor Nancy Koehn discusses the value of reconstructing Lincoln’s stumbles.

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Nancy Koehn On The Entrepreneurial Greats

Koehn on Wedgewood and Hershey.

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