Julie Battilana, Professor at Harvard Business School and Harvard Kennedy School

Journey

Involved in the associative world from a young age, Julie Battilana is passionate about social justice issues.

After a preparatory class in humanities and social sciences (khâgne B/L), she joined ENS Paris-Saclay in 1997 in the Social Sciences department, where she studied sociology and economics, and HEC, where she studied management. This curriculum, anchored in both the world of research and practice, allowed her to be exposed to different perspectives on organizational and societal dynamics and to deepen her reflection on the conditions that facilitate social change.

In 2006, Julie Battilana defended her thesis entitled "Institutional Entrepreneurship: The Role of Individuals in Institutional Change Processes" based on fieldwork focusing on the implementation of changes aimed at improving patient care within the British healthcare system (National Health Service). She was jointly affiliated with INSEAD and ENS Paris-Saclay and always at the intersection of several disciplines and environments: sociology, economics, management, but also Europe and the Anglo-Saxon world.

Today, a professor at Harvard Business School and Harvard Kennedy School, Julie Battilana has created the Social Innovation and Change Initiative aimed at helping social innovators implement the social changes they advocate for.

She has also recently published, in collaboration with other researchers, the manifesto "Work: Democratizing, Decommodifying, Decarbonizing," which highlights the need to democratize the workplace, decommodify certain sectors of the economy, and decarbonize the environment. In 2021, she is set to publish another book aimed at deciphering power dynamics in organizations and society.

How did you become a professor at Harvard Business School? Is it a dream come true for you?

My decision to join Harvard Business School was motivated by the desire to explore a different environment both academically and culturally. My research showed that those exposed to different environments were more likely to innovate and implement changes divergent from existing norms.

It seemed to me that this experience in the United States would enrich both my reflections and my research work. When I joined Harvard Business School, I started teaching there as an Assistant Professor in the Organizational Behavior department.

I then discovered the American academic world, where I had to understand the codes. Ten years later, I obtained tenure at Harvard Business School and the Harvard Kennedy School of Government (HKS), which means I became a tenured professor in both schools. I now have a joint appointment in both schools, which is important to me because my research focuses on the development and implementation of changes addressing the social and economic problems we face. These change projects often involve actors from both the public and private sectors. Therefore, it seems important to teach and conduct research at the intersection of the Business School and the School of Government to support the promoters of these change projects.

Initiative: Social Innovation and Change Initiative

To better assist them, I also created an initiative at Harvard, the Social Innovation and Change Initiative, whose mission is to accompany social innovators in the implementation of their changes. We work with Harvard students, as well as social innovators worldwide.

Our goal is to help them better understand how power mechanisms work, which is essential to enable them to implement the social changes they advocate for.

What are your research and teaching themes at Harvard?

My research is dedicated to studying social change in organizations and society. Beyond analyzing the change processes led by social innovators in the field, my research also focuses on hybrid organizations, also called social enterprises, which combine commercial and social logics. These organizations pursue objectives that are both financial, social, and environmental. They are not new; some have existed for centuries, such as cooperatives, hospitals, and universities. The novelty is that in recent decades, they have gained prominence in all sectors, such as finance, with microcredit companies, or social action, with integration enterprises. Thus, we are witnessing a gradual hybridization movement in the economy, which blurs the boundaries between business and society and contributes to changing capitalism. However, this change, which breaks with the logic of maximizing value for shareholders, is more necessary than ever. If we continue as is, we risk not only exacerbating inequalities but also destroying our environment beyond the point of no return.

To participate in this change, both as an academic and as a citizen, I launched an initiative in May 2020, with Isabelle Ferraras and Dominique Méda. We co-signed an article published in 42 national publications in 23 countries to alert about the consequences of the covid 19 crisis on the world of work. We denounce the fact that the pandemic has exacerbated inequalities in access to care and wealth in many countries. Beyond this diagnosis, we highlight the need to democratize the workplace to involve employees more in its governance; to decommodify sectors of the economy that cannot be left to market laws alone; and to decarbonize the environment. This "Work Manifesto" has since garnered over 6,000 signatures from researchers worldwide in just a few weeks and led to the launch of the democratizingwork.com website. We also wrote a collective book with a group of twelve women academics to outline the changes we need to implement to democratize, decommodify, and decarbonize. This book, "The Work Manifesto: Democratizing, Decommodifying, Decarbonizing," was published by Editions du Seuil in October 2020.

In terms of teaching, I am fortunate to teach both Harvard Business School and Harvard Kennedy School students. My course, titled Power and Influence, aims to help students better understand power dynamics in the implementation of social change projects. Based on my research, I highlight three roles necessary for the success of collective efforts for change in society, namely the role of agitator, innovator, and orchestrator.

Finally, with the team of the Social Innovation and Change Initiative, we accompany social innovators from all over the world to provide them with the necessary tools to understand the essential power mechanisms to initiate and implement the social changes they advocate for. Each year, we select about twenty students at Harvard to join our flagship program, the New World Social Innovation Fellowship, an incubator that supports them, especially when the realization of their actions requires breaking with existing norms and hierarchies of power. Our alumni network (65 'Cheng Fellows' from 22 countries, http://sici.hks.harvard.edu/groups/alumni/) brings together fantastic individuals whose work inspires me daily.

What are your professional projects for the future?

I wish to continue developing my teaching and research activities while also assisting those working to implement social changes on the ground.

I am currently working on making the content I have developed to help people better understand power dynamics more accessible, including by putting some of my courses online.

I am also dedicated to writing. I am finishing a book that will summarize the essentials of my teaching and research on the theme of power in connection with social change. The goal of the book is to debunk misconceptions about power and enable everyone to better understand its dynamics. The book should be released in 2021.

I also intend to continue the work initiated with the publication of the Work Manifesto book. My colleagues and I will continue to participate in the debate on the necessary overhaul of our economic and social system. We hope to actively contribute to this transformation so that the pillars of democratization, decommodification, and decarbonization lead to the implementation of lasting changes.

Getting out of the posture of the researcher in their "ivory tower" to participate in this necessary reform movement is close to my heart. This involves forging partnerships with other experts as well as with entrepreneurs, innovators, representatives of public authorities, companies, associations, all those who are at the heart of city life and policy-making. My work at the Social Innovation and Change Initiative and within the movement launched around the Work Manifesto aims to facilitate such collaborations to better address the social problems we face.