How can business leaders respond to the growing uncertainty? How can they make decisions and act? Darden Professor Saras Sarasvathy, one of the world’s leading authorities on entrepreneurial decision-making, shares tips on how to thrive amid unpredictability.
Topic
Leadership & Management
Practical research for leading teams, organizations, culture, and change. Darden thought leadership explores how managers build trust, make difficult decisions, communicate purpose, develop talent, and guide people through uncertainty while sustaining performance and strengthening the human systems that make organizations work.
The Jefferson Scholars Foundation has established the Horniman Prize in honor of late Darden professor Alexander B. “Alec” Horniman, recognizing lives and work marked by teaching, leadership, mentorship and service.
A new technical note by Professor Kim Whitler explores how technology company Publicis Sapient moved beyond deploying AI tools and instead redesigned marketing work itself—unlocking growth without increasing headcount. Its five-step framework offers lessons for any organization struggling to incorporate new technologies at a time of rapid change.
It was just after midnight on a Tuesday in Tanzania. Ryder Sadler, Elena Céspedes Subirá, Max Strasser and Jack Horan (all MBA ’26) had been pushing through freezing temperatures and a pitch-black sky toward the 19,341-foot summit of Mount Kilimanjaro. They’d been on the mountain for nearly a week. This was the hardest part by far.
A new two-part case from UVA Darden Professor Allison Elias explores track and field Olympic champion Allyson Felix’s contract negotiations with Nike — and the lessons that apply in the world of work.
Darden has appointed technology strategist and alumnus Patrick Higgins (MBA ’16) as managing director of the LaCross Institute for Ethical AI in Business, effective 1 June 2026.
Madelyn Merchant (MBA ’25) reflects on Darden’s Board Fellows Program, her successful efforts to expand it with the help of a gift from Golub Capital and the ongoing impact of the program and her Darden experience.
On a trip this spring to Omaha for the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting, a financial pilgrimage famously dubbed the “Woodstock for Capitalists,” Darden students were immersed in a weekend of long-term investing.
When ChatGPT confidently produced the same wrong answer many MBA students selected on a strategy quiz, Darden faculty saw a larger lesson emerging about AI, judgment and the future of management education.
Citing his holistic teaching approach, research with real-world application, and pioneering work to develop Darden’s healthcare offerings, Poets & Quants named Christoph Herpfer to its list of the Best 40 Under 40 MBA Professors for 2026.
