Edge - Turning Adversity into Advantage

Laura Huang, an award-winning Harvard Business School professor, shows that success is about gaining an edge: that elusive quality that gives you an upper hand and attracts attention and support. Some people seem to naturally have it. Now, Huang teaches the rest of us how to create our own—by turning the very challenges and biases that hold us back into advantages.

How do you find a competitive edge when the obstacles feel insurmountable? How do you get people to take you seriously when they’re predisposed not to, and perhaps have already written you off?

In Edge: Turning Adversity into Advantage, Huang draws on her groundbreaking research on entrepreneurial intuition, persuasion, and implicit decision-making, to impart her profound findings and share stories of previously-overlooked Olympians, assistants-turned-executives, and flailing companies that made momentous turnarounds. Her framework, EDGE, reveals how to:

Enrich: Recognize and communicate the unique value you bring—your “basic goods.” Delight: Create unexpected moments that surprise others and open doors. Guide: Shape and redirect how others perceive you, turning stereotypes into strengths. Effort: Channel your hard work where it matters most, so it works harder for you.
Huang shows that success is rarely just about ideas, credentials, and skills, or our effort. Instead, it’s about strategically shaping how others perceive your value—and using authenticity and creativity to make even your weaknesses work in your favor