HBR Guide to Dealing with Conflict (HBR Guide Series)

Preface

by Linda Hill

Years ago, a colleague and I got into a fight. I had been selected to lead a cross-functional task force to review a portion of our MBA curricula. This was a diverse group of people—a few fellow junior faculty, people from other departments, and professors who had been at the school for decades, including my senior colleague and friend, whom I’ll call Elizabeth. I was a brand-new tenured professor, and although I was surprised that I’d been picked to lead the team, I was also honored. And I was glad that I would be able to rely on Elizabeth for her expertise. After all, she had much more experience than I did.

Yet each time the group met, Elizabeth wasn’t participating. She sat silently and rarely, if ever, had anything ...