MIT SMR | Getty Images Summary: The rules of corporate influence in Washington are changing dramatically. In President Donald Trump’s second term, power has shifted from Congress to the White House, turning lobbying into a personalized game of presidential access. At the same time, the use of AI tools is transforming lobbying efforts and posing ethical dilemmas. As the lobbying landscape shifts, executives must deal with the current situation with…
Many CIOs lack the bandwidth and authority to solve the tough cultural and organizational change challenges that can block AI success. It’s time for an expanded leadership role. Faisal Hoque, Thomas H. Davenport, and Erik Nelson April 09, 2025 Reading Time: 11 min Andrew Baker/Ikon Images Summary: Artificial intelligence is changing how humans and machines work together. But most organizations still focus on the technical aspect of AI implementation because…
Topics Column Our expert columnists offer opinion and analysis on important issues facing modern businesses and managers. More in this series Subscribe Share Jamie Jones/Ikon Images Summary: As the return-to-office debate continues, many executives still think of culture as something that only happens inside office walls. But real culture is how we work. This includes everything from the dynamics of leaders and teams to the presence (or absence) of trust…
Topics Data, AI, & Machine Learning AI & Machine Learning Subscribe Share Summary: Leaders are struggling with shaping artificial intelligence strategy. After all, this work involves tackling tough topics like risk management and AI ethics, plus data management and culture challenges. Meanwhile, AI tools are continuously evolving. Here, we’ve gathered 10 of our most popular, valuable AI articles of recent months to share timely lessons on 10 pressing AI issues. “Despite…
Andrew Baker/Ikon Images Summary: Skills-focused hiring approaches need time to take root, given that any cultural transformation takes consistent effort over years, not months. Four key elements of successful skills-based talent practices are organizationwide buy-in, realigned incentives, ongoing training, and inclusive practices. Building a skills-based culture is a strategic investment that can deliver substantial benefits to both employers and workers. Skills-based hiring has, in some ways, become a victim of…
Topics Artificial Intelligence and Business Strategy The Artificial Intelligence and Business Strategy initiative explores the growing use of artificial intelligence in the business landscape. The exploration looks specifically at how AI is affecting the development and execution of strategy in organizations. In collaboration with More in this series Linda Yao, chief operating officer and head of strategy for Lenovo’s Strategy, Solutions, and Services Group and vice president of hybrid cloud…
Topics AI in Action This column series looks at the biggest data and analytics challenges facing modern companies and dives deep into successful use cases that can help other organizations accelerate their AI progress. More in this series Subscribe Share Carolyn Geason-Beissel/MIT SMR | Getty Images Summary: The first task for Ashok Srivastava, Intuit’s senior vice president and chief data officer, was to build a unified data platform for the…
Carolyn Geason-Beissel/MIT SMR | Getty Images Summary: You can’t approach AI ethics with only formal procedures, say leaders at global retailer H&M Group. So to help build its collective moral compass, the company has built a culture of AI ethics based on experimentation. Its AI ethics training emphasizes concrete business examples and principles that teach people what to ask. H&M Group’s example shows that organizations can practice AI ethics and…
Topics Column Our expert columnists offer opinion and analysis on important issues facing modern businesses and managers. More in this series Subscribe Share Nick Lowndes/Ikon Images Summary: As the four-day workweek evolves from experiment to reality at many organizations, some are thriving and reaping benefits like higher productivity, stronger engagement, and improved hiring and retention, while others are struggling with implementation. For business leaders, the challenge is executing the necessary…
Topics Data, AI, & Machine Learning AI & Machine Learning Column Our expert columnists offer opinion and analysis on important issues facing modern businesses and managers. More in this series Subscribe Share Carolyn Geason-Beissel/MIT SMR | Getty Images Summary: Leaders are often confused about when to use generative AI versus predictive AI (machine learning and deep learning) tools. The issue isn’t that one technology is superior: It’s about matching the…
Research Highlight Online meetings are still wearing us out. Neuroscience research shows that they are uniquely fatiguing, but there are ways to make them more manageable. Eoin Whelan, René Riedl, Markus Salo, and Henri Pirkkalainen March 20, 2025 Reading Time: 10 min Carolyn Geason-Beissel/MIT SMR | Getty Images Summary: “Virtual meeting fatigue” is no longer just a buzz phrase — it’s a measurable neurological phenomenon. Brain- and heart-monitoring experiments have…
subscribe-icon Subscribe Share Carolyn Geason-Beissel/MIT SMR | Getty Images Summary: Do your organization’s meetings continually drain people’s energy? Many leaders don’t know how to end the grind — and drive actual collaboration and results. Whether you’re looking to sharpen decision-making, spark real dialogue, or hold fewer (but better) meetings, use this expert advice to start down a more productive path. Meetings should be where work happens, not where productivity goes…
Topics Artificial Intelligence and Business Strategy The Artificial Intelligence and Business Strategy initiative explores the growing use of artificial intelligence in the business landscape. The exploration looks specifically at how AI is affecting the development and execution of strategy in organizations. In collaboration with More in this series Harvard Business School professor Raffaella Sadun’s research has historically focused on digital reskilling. Now, rapid technological changes — like AI — are…
subscribe-icon Subscribe Share Carolyn Geason-Beissel/MIT SMR Summary: In traditional market segmentation, unique populations of customers are segmented and targeted using differentiated products and services — be it a soup that is thicker or a bank that is friendlier. But in this article, drawn from the book Customer Portfolio Management: Creating Value with a Large Leaky Bucket of Customers, the authors make the case that the best way to start understanding…
The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act has served as a global standard against corruption for almost half a century. Suspending its enforcement harms both business and the rule of law. Michael H. Posner March 17, 2025 Reading Time: 7 min Carolyn Geason-Beissel/MIT SMR | Getty Images In February, the Trump administration announced that it was suspending enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), pending a six-month review. It is fair…
1. Office of Public Affairs, “Chinese Company Sinovel Wind Group Convicted of Theft of Trade Secrets,” U.S. Department of Justice, Jan. 24, 2018, www.justice.gov. 2. S. Bengali, “Fraud Charges, Lost Patents: How an LA Auto Legend’s China Venture Crashed,” Los Angeles Times, Aug. 13, 2020, www.latimes.com. 3. J.-C. Friedmann, D. Lavie, and L. Rademaker, “Does the Predator Become the Prey? Knowledge Spillover and Protection in Alliances,” Journal of Management, published…
subscribe-icon Subscribe Share Lessons Learned From Outside Innovators Simone Ferriani and Gino Cattani Key Insight: When creative thinkers bring fresh ideas to an organization, it can spark innovation — if they can find supportive allies. Top Takeaways: People from outside an organization can offer a unique perspective that challenges established norms and catalyzes innovation. But that won’t happen if these unconventional thinkers find themselves in an environment where insiders don’t…
Topics Column Our expert columnists offer opinion and analysis on important issues facing modern businesses and managers. More in this series subscribe-icon Subscribe Share In times of uncertainty, people seek the comfort of control. Compensatory control theory, developed by researchers in 2009, suggests that when people feel a lack of control in their environment, they often try to restore it “by imbuing their social, physical, and metaphysical environments with order…
Radar Here’s what recent research says about the impact of technology on mergers and acquisitions, and vice versa. Kaushik Viswanath March 10, 2025 Reading Time: 1 min Topics Radar Brief insights on emerging trends in management from the opening pages of MIT Sloan Management Review’s quarterly print magazine. More in this series subscribe-icon Subscribe Share Mergers and acquisitions are a key growth strategy for companies — and we may see…
Carolyn Geason-Beissel/MIT SMR | Getty Images During the past few years, company strategies have been disrupted repeatedly by major shocks like the COVID-19 pandemic, the outbreak of war in Ukraine and the Middle East, and breakthroughs in generative AI. In the first months of 2025, a stream of political surprises has been impacting company agendas — and further upheavals seem likely. This turbulence is having a real impact on business:…
Research Feature Here’s how an online travel company set out to develop a complex metric to keep decisions made by the business development team aligned with strategy. Omri Morgenshtern and Tarik Fadil March 05, 2025 Reading Time: 20 min Klaus Meinhardt/Ikon Images Key performance indicators are critical tools for evaluating how effectively a company is executing strategy and for making optimal decisions. When KPIs are well chosen and well defined,…
Roy Scott/Ikon Images The Analysis This article emerged from discussions in the Corporate Growth and International Management Working Group of the Schmalenbach-Gesellschaft, a German association that brings together corporate practitioners and business scholars. Authors Martin Glaum and Ralph Schweens head the working group; Alexander Gerybadze and Thomas Müller-Kirschbaum are members. Whether driven by regulation or by conscience, many large companies have made commitments to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions as…
Topics Innovation Disruption Column Our expert columnists offer opinion and analysis on important issues facing modern businesses and managers. More in this series subscribe-icon Subscribe Share Alice Mollon/Ikon Images Wave after wave of disruption promises continual changes to the global economy. Historians will be able to look back and draw lines between before and after disruptive events, but living in the middle is messy. One critical skill in the face…
Abandoning DEI initiatives can harm both performance and workplace culture. Research shows that inclusive workplaces are better for all of us — and for our businesses. Meg A. Warren March 05, 2025 Reading Time: 5 min Carolyn Geason-Beissel/MIT SMR | Getty Images Many U.S. businesses are feeling pressured to retreat from years of effort they’ve spent creating welcoming and inclusive workplaces, in response to the Trump administration’s anti-DEI stance. But…
Topics Artificial Intelligence and Business Strategy The Artificial Intelligence and Business Strategy initiative explores the growing use of artificial intelligence in the business landscape. The exploration looks specifically at how AI is affecting the development and execution of strategy in organizations. In collaboration with More in this series Today’s episode is a bonus drop from our friends over at the MIT CSAIL Alliances podcast. We’ll back in two weeks for…
Coaching for the Future-Forward Leader A productivity focus in RTO mandates tells workers they aren’t trusted. Leaders must instead emphasize connection. Sanyin Siang March 04, 2025 Reading Time: 2 min Topics Coaching for the Future-Forward Leader Leadership roles come with new personal and professional challenges — and Sanyin Siang, board and CEO coach, adviser, and author, is here to help with an advice column for top managers. More in this…
Topics Column Our expert columnists offer opinion and analysis on important issues facing modern businesses and managers. More in this series subscribe-icon Subscribe Share Carolyn Geason-Beissel/MIT SMR | Getty Images What matters more at the end of the workday: actual results, or all of the sensory cues from people actively scurrying about? That’s the essential question that lies behind the gap in the adoption of flexible work practices such as…
Leaders who understand how to manage the emotional discomfort of uncertainty are better equipped to make level-headed decisions. Concentrate on five specific areas to improve your ability to be decisive. David Tuckett February 27, 2025 Reading Time: 8 min Topics Leadership Leadership Skills Carolyn Geason-Beissel/MIT SMR | Getty Images You may feel that this is a time of radical uncertainty, when past patterns no longer reliably predict the future. Uncertainty…
1. S. Feuerriegel, Y.R. Shrestha, G. von Krogh, et al., “Bringing Artificial Intelligence to Business Management,” Nature Machine Intelligence 4, no. 7 (July 2022): 611-613; and P. Hünermund, J. Kaminski, and C. Schmitt, “Causal Machine Learning and Business Decision-Making,” SSRN, updated Feb. 19, 2022, https://ssrn.com. 2. S. Feuerriegel, D. Frauen, V. Melnychuk, et al., “Causal Machine Learning for Predicting Treatment Outcomes,” Nature Medicine 30 (April 2024): 958-968; V. Chernozhukov, C.…
Gary Waters/Ikon Images Managers who recognize the importance of innovation to their organization are likely to urge employees to bring them fresh, creative ideas. Yet, many employees grouse that their best ideas are frequently overlooked, dismissed, or misunderstood by those very same managers. Ironically, managers themselves may be a serious impediment to innovation. Deeply rooted in their own domains of expertise, managers often struggle to recognize the value of novel…
CDOs are under fire due to ROI pressures, evolving operating models, and GenAI disruption — and must brace for change in their role. Ryan den Rooijen, Wade Munsie, and Randy Bean February 24, 2025 Reading Time: 13 min Carolyn Geason-Beissel/MIT SMR | Getty Images The rise of generative AI has inspired a wave of transformation ambitions as organizations seek to reimagine everything from customer engagement to operational efficiency. The evidence…
Research Highlight Leaders must find ways to execute on sustainability aspirations throughout the organization, including prioritizing investments and optimizing operating plans. Stuart L. Hart February 20, 2025 Reading Time: 21 min subscribe-icon Subscribe Share Aad Goudappel/theispot.com Thoughtful business leaders today recognize that the social and environmental challenges the world now faces require nothing short of a fundamental reorientation of the company. Business purpose must flip from maximizing short-term profit to…
Topics Culture Champions Building a healthy culture is one of the most important — and hardest — leadership jobs. These articles, based on a webinar series and research by Donald Sull and CultureX, share actionable advice from leaders whose cultures produced exceptional business results and a world-class employee experience. More in this series subscribe-icon Subscribe Share Aleksandar Savic Most companies espouse an official corporate culture. We studied nearly 700 large…
Topics Artificial Intelligence and Business Strategy The Artificial Intelligence and Business Strategy initiative explores the growing use of artificial intelligence in the business landscape. The exploration looks specifically at how AI is affecting the development and execution of strategy in organizations. In collaboration with More in this series Get updates by email Please enter a valid email address Thank you for signing up Privacy Policy Barbara (Barb) Wixom, principal research…
Topics Workplace, Teams, & Culture Performance Management Dan Bejar/theispot.com Since managers started managing, they have questioned how to motivate employees to be productive and do good work — and, for most, their answers are still shaped by assumptions formed long ago. While modern leaders understand that the best performance comes from intrinsically motivated, highly engaged employees, many still use traditional management practices that assume people won’t work hard unless they…
Carolyn Geason-Beissel/MIT SMR | Getty Images Technical debt is an anchor, dragging down business leaders’ efforts to run a tight ship. The accumulated costs and effort from IT development shortcuts, outdated applications, and aging infrastructure sap a company’s ability to innovate, compete, and grow. A degree of technical debt is inevitable. To remain agile, businesses often choose to deploy new technologies as quickly as possible, knowing that they may have…
Depending how it’s done, comparing oneself to colleagues can be either motivating or demoralizing. Consider these tips on making productive comparisons. Michael Matthews, Thomas Kelemen, and Mark Bolino February 12, 2025 Reading Time: 5 min Carolyn Geason-Beissel/MIT SMR | Getty Images As social animals, we constantly compare ourselves with other people. We compare our houses, our ideas, our successes. Naturally, the workplace is no exception to this pattern, and emerging…
Frontiers Risk management in many organizations is hampered by disparate teams that don’t collaborate or share technology. Richard Chambers February 11, 2025 Reading Time: 8 min Topics Frontiers An MIT SMR initiative exploring how technology is reshaping the practice of management. More in this series A. Richard Allen/theispot.com Companies today must manage an increasingly complex array of risks, including cybersecurity threats, the impact of geopolitical tensions and major weather events…
Frontiers Research Highlight More complex hierarchies can lead to overconfidence that exacerbates risk. Andrew Flostrand, Andrew Park, Dionysios Demetis, Jan Kietzmann, Leyland Pitt, and Ian McCarthy February 10, 2025 Reading Time: 7 min Topics Frontiers An MIT SMR initiative exploring how technology is reshaping the practice of management. More in this series Matt Lyon/Ikon Images Few would expect that adding resources to a critical operational area could compromise its effectiveness.…
Frontiers Research Highlight Manufacturers must begin to design for repairability and prepare for a more competitive services aftermarket. Jan Recker and Gerald C. Kane February 06, 2025 Reading Time: 5 min Topics Frontiers An MIT SMR initiative exploring how technology is reshaping the practice of management. More in this series Adam Howling/Ikon Images Vendors of software-infused goods have increasingly used digital control over their products to capture additional post-sales value…