Leadership on Keisuke Hattori

When the Star Performer Becomes the Boss

Sun, 11 Oct 2026 10:20:00 +0900

Background

Putting a star performer in charge of a team or department seems a promising choice. Someone who excels at doing the work can take the lead on tasks and step in afterward to help with those the members leave undone. This paper examines theoretically how a star performer who becomes the boss and continues to take on much of the work can nevertheless reduce team output.

Why a Better AI Teammate Can Mean Lower Team Output

Mon, 05 Oct 2026 10:00:00 +0900

Background

Replacing a team member with AI that can do more work seems likely to increase the team’s output. At the very least, if AI does as much work as the person it replaces, we might expect total output to stay the same.

This paper examines theoretically how replacing a human with AI that contributes more can nevertheless reduce team output.

Why Do Teams Duplicate Work That Sharing Could Prevent?

Thu, 23 Jul 2026 03:00:00 +0900

Background

Anyone who works in a team has had the experience of discovering that a teammate has been doing the same work, without either of them knowing. The remedy is simple: say which task you intend to take on. Shared workspaces, project-management systems, and Slack are all available, and a single message reaches everyone. Yet sharing is still neglected, and duplicate work does not go away.

Does the Desire to Be Missed Make Teams Fragile?

Thu, 09 Jul 2026 03:00:00 +0900

Background

People often want to be the person an organization would struggle without. Managers and mentors encourage members with exactly this message: you are indispensable to this team. And it is true that feeling one’s work matters draws out effort. What this paper shows is that the same feeling may also leave the team fragile.

Does Teamwork Cure Procrastination, or Create It?

Fri, 26 Jun 2026 04:03:18 +0900

Background

Procrastination is usually thought of as an individual problem. You know the task should be done. There is a deadline. Your future self would clearly be better off if you got on with it. And yet, when the moment to start actually arrives, the immediate unpleasantness looms large and the task slides to tomorrow.

The Leader in the Glass Office: Why Promoting Your Best Worker Can Break Team Cooperation

Mon, 22 Jun 2026 04:03:18 +0900

Background

The word leadership brings to mind a leader guiding followers, or a leader monitoring how hard they work. Leaders set direction, motivate members, communicate information, supervise, and hold the team together. Leadership, on this understanding, is a device through which a leader influences other people.

This paper turns that view around. Is the leader really only on the disciplining side?

When Does Diversity Make a Team Stronger?

Thu, 18 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0900

Background

In firms, in schools, in sports, the diversity of a team’s members is said to matter a great deal. Are teams stronger when they bring different people together, or when their members resemble one another?