MIT Sloan – Management Review

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 Many of us try to avoid workplace discussions about electoral politics — along with conversations about topics such as guns, climate change, abortion, and religion — to maintain our collegial relationships. Many people do this intuitively to keep the peace…

Topics Responsible AI The Responsible AI initiative looks at how organizations define and approach responsible AI practices, policies, and standards. Drawing on global executive surveys and smaller, curated expert panels, the program gathers perspectives from diverse sectors and geographies with the aim of delivering actionable insights on this nascent yet important focus area for leaders across industry. In collaboration with More in this series For the third year in a…

Topics Column Our expert columnists offer opinion and analysis on important issues facing modern businesses and managers. More in this series Carolyn Geason-Beissel/MIT SMR | Getty Images Slower promotions and a weaker job market have led to a lot of folks feeling stuck in a rut. The solution might be moving to a new role within your company — which can help you grow, stay engaged, and increase cross-functional connection.…

1. L. Bourton. “Shades of Intelligence: 83% of Creatives Are Already Using Machine Learning Tools — Is Now the Time to Get on Side With AI?” It’s Nice That, Nov. 15, 2023, www.itsnicethat.com; and K. Whiting, “This Is How AI Is Impacting — and Shaping — the Creative Industries, According to Experts at Davos,” World Economic Forum, Feb. 28, 2024, www.weforum.org. 2. A. Parshall, “How This AI Image Won a…

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 Saket Srivastava, CIO at work…

Carolyn Geason-Beissel/MIT SMR | Getty Images The transition to an economy with radically lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is not a matter of if but of when and how. Discussions with executive teams about how they are navigating sustainability issues, however, too often remain framed around the question of “Should my business become more sustainable?” rather than “How should my business become more sustainable — and what advantages might that…

Leaders building cyber resilience often overlook the need to develop a crisis communications plan. Here’s how to construct and practice a strong response before a hack. Kelly Miller and Keri Pearlson September 16, 2024 Reading Time: 18 min  Carolyn Geason-Beissel/MIT SMR | Getty Images Business and IT leaders have made large efforts to build cyber resilience, or the ability to respond to and bounce back after a cyber crisis such…

Magazine Fall 2024 Issue Research Feature Large organizations can move as fast as startups if leaders empower employees to act autonomously via well-defined constraints. Nick van der Meulen September 10, 2024 Reading Time: 17 min  Anuj Shrestha What does it take for a large, established business to be as responsive to changing market conditions as the startups in its industry are? That question is a vital one for leaders seeking…

Anuj Shrestha Leading organizational change according to the conventional management playbook is difficult and often frustrating, and such efforts rarely stay on track. Executives set out with the sound ambition to transform traditionally hierarchical and siloed organizations into more agile, collaborative, and innovative ones: They formulate a compelling vision, communicate it, and try to inspire employees to do what’s required to achieve it. But they often find that people resist…

Anuj Shrestha The Research Thomas Keil and Marianna Zangrillo conducted a 10-year research program that examined how new CEOs and executives succeed, including how they build strong leadership teams. They studied the appointment of over 100 CEOs and executives in Europe and the United States through interviews with these leaders, board members, subordinates, and executive recruiters who supported their hiring. Benedetto Vigna drew on insights from his experience as a…

Anuj Shrestha The Research The authors first studied openly accessible documents concerning the COVAX initiative to understand the organization’s functions, vaccine procurement process, and allocation framework. They then conducted semi-structured interviews online with representatives of COVAX stakeholders, including pharma companies, public health organizations, NGOs, and grant-making organizations. Informants were selected to mirror the diversity of stakeholder perspectives. Their media analysis used the Factiva database to better understand the timing of…

The Four Guardrails That Enable Agility Nick van der Meulen Key Insight: Defining constraints can help large companies foster employee autonomy and agility while maintaining organizational and strategic alignment. Top Takeaways: Organizational agility requires that employees be empowered to make fast decisions, take risks, and consider new ideas, but companies also need a certain level of coordination to reach their strategic goals. Creating an environment in which employees are empowered…

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 Business doesn’t operate in a vacuum. Sometimes external conditions exert a much larger force than usual. That is certainly the case today, with political and environmental change, economic uncertainty, regional conflicts, and population displacement happening around the world. As I write this, it’s just a few…

Radar Research finds that companies have been slow to adopt generative AI and that the technology’s labor impacts have not been widely felt. Kaushik Viswanath September 09, 2024 Reading Time: 2 min  Topics Data, AI, & Machine Learning AI & Machine Learning 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 Getty Images Since the…

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 Courtesy of Mathematica Akira Bell is senior vice president and CIO at Mathematica, a research and data analytics consultancy. Bell was a finalist for this year’s MIT Sloan CIO Leadership Award in recognition of her work at Mathematica to spearhead the launch…

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-icon Subscribe Share Carolyn Geason-Beissel/MIT SMR | Getty Images A Waste Connections garbage truck driver was making his rounds in a quiet neighborhood. He got out of his front-loading truck, picked up a few trash barrels, emptied them into the…

Research Feature To capitalize on emerging technologies while mitigating unanticipated consequences, innovation managers need to establish a systematic review process. Tania Bucic and Gina Colarelli O’Connor September 04, 2024 Reading Time: 20 min  Jedi Noordegraaf/Ikon Images The Research The authors interviewed five ethics and compliance executives about their companies’ ethical practices when commercializing emerging technologies. In a second round of interviews, 16 managers with roles in technology scouting, corporate venture…

Do your marketing metrics truly support your company’s strategic goals? If you’re puzzling over the right set of metrics, focus on continuous improvement. Rob Angell, Adam Sharp, and Tom Chapman September 03, 2024 Reading Time: 8 min  Carolyn Geason-Beissel/MIT SMR | Getty Images Successful marketers routinely capture key performance indicators, or metrics, to assess marketing performance within the allocated budget. This is known as a marketing performance measurement (MPM) system.…

Frontiers The intimate surveillance afforded by biometric technologies requires managers to consider negative impacts on privacy and human dignity. Andrew Park, Jayson Killoran, and Jan Kietzmann August 29, 2024 Reading Time: 9 min  Topics Frontiers An MIT SMR initiative exploring how technology is reshaping the practice of management. More in this series Gary Waters/Ikon Images In April, Colorado became the first state to mandate that companies protect the privacy of…

David Senior Every business experiences a life cycle, transitioning from a startup through growth and maturity, and eventually decline. While no leader wants to see their business in decline, the best response to aging as a business is to accept that it’s happening and run the company to reflect its age. There are several factors that induce companies to fight aging, sometimes with success. Some are rooted in psychology: Shrinking…

Frontiers OSHA’s longest-serving administrator identifies safety approaches that work — and those that don’t. David Michaels August 28, 2024 Reading Time: 10 min  Topics Frontiers An MIT SMR initiative exploring how technology is reshaping the practice of management. More in this series Neil Webb/theispot.com Chasing lower labor costs, most of the United States’ toy and game companies have relocated production outside the country, primarily to Asia. One of the only…

A hybrid approach that combines human knowledge and machine learning delivers better results for mission-critical simulations. Pushkar P. Apte and Costas J. Spanos August 27, 2024 Reading Time: 7 min  Carolyn Geason-Beissel/MIT SMR | Getty Images “OK, Houston, we’ve had a problem here,” said astronaut John Swigert in 1970, after an explosion disabled the Apollo 13 spacecraft on its way to the moon, 200,000 miles from Earth. Those iconic words…

Nick Lowndes/Ikon Images Many organizations around the world recognize psychological safety (PS) as being crucial for innovation, collaboration, and transformation. Briefly put, psychological safety describes an environment in which candor is expected and won’t be penalized. Although it’s often covered in leadership training, most organizations struggle to convert a theoretical understanding of PS into bottom-line results. We’ve found that this gap can be closed through skills training in the context…

Topics Frontiers An MIT SMR initiative exploring how technology is reshaping the practice of management. More in this series Kotryna Zukauskaite/theispot.com In today’s business environment, firms must navigate labor shortages, market shifts, geopolitical tensions that strain supply chains and manufacturing, and mandates to adopt sustainable practices. Meeting these demands will require innovation rooted in breakthrough science and engineering. Even companies in less R&D-intensive sectors will need to look to science-based…

For social media marketing, many companies gravitate to big-name endorsers. But there are good reasons to get “nano influencers” into the mix. Maximilian Beichert, Xiaoxi Zhang, Andreas Bayerl, Jacob Goldenberg, Xian Gu, P.K. Kannan, and Andreas Lanz August 22, 2024 Reading Time: 8 min  Carolyn Geason-Beissel/MIT SMR | Getty Images Sparkling water brand LaCroix has been available in the U.S. since 1981, but it took off to become a go-to…

Coaching for the Future-Forward Leader When you just don’t get along with a colleague, reset the relationship by focusing on trust. Sanyin Siang August 21, 2024 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 Leadership Talent Management Carolyn Geason-Beissel/MIT SMR | Getty Images This past April, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a rule barring most businesses from entering into and enforcing noncompete clauses against their workers, declaring such provisions to be an unfair method of competition. If the FTC has its way and the rule takes effect — which seems unlikely, in view of a recent court decision discussed below —…

David Plunkert/theispot.com Product management is one of the fastest-growing roles in business, having gained increased scope and importance in Silicon Valley. While product managers used to be hired almost exclusively by technology companies, they are now being recruited in growing numbers by service-oriented businesses as well, with firms such as Accenture, Chase, JPMorgan, Optum, and Vanguard adding product management functions in the past few years. Why are services companies looking…

Topics Column Our expert columnists offer opinion and analysis on important issues facing modern businesses and managers. More in this series Carolyn Geason-Beissel/MIT SMR | Getty Images Our collective experience of the pandemic enabled us to conduct endless experiments with work. Initially, the experiments were about where work took place (the home becoming a viable option), and soon they became about when work took place (the rigors of nine-to-five morphing…

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 When you have the opportunity to connect with an audience, stating fact after fact is not the way to go. You have an opportunity to connect more deeply than you can with just facts. Granted, some presentations are solely to…

More than ever, companies need supply chains that are resilient to disruptions, whether the cause is a natural disaster, an infrastructure failure, labor actions, or a global pandemic. Yet the conventional approach to resilience is seriously flawed. Many companies follow a boom-and-bust pattern, making big investments in resilience after a supply chain disruption and then paying little attention to the issue until the next crisis.This reactive way of protecting supply…

Matt Chinworth/theispot.com In the rapidly evolving landscape of artificial intelligence, organizations are grappling with how best to harness its transformative power. Some are choosing to create a new senior management position with enterprisewide oversight of AI activities. In March 2024, for example, the Biden administration mandated that all U.S. federal agencies appoint a chief AI officer (CAIO) to oversee AI activities and minimize related risks. An August 2023 survey of…

Carolyn Geason-Beissel/MIT SMR | Getty Images Many companies have yet to tap into the growing “longevity economy” — the economic value of the over-50 population as consumers and workers. Businesses often overlook this demographic even though it holds about 80% of U.S. household wealth and is responsible for half of consumer spending.1 People who are 50-plus contribute $8.3 trillion annually to the U.S. economy, and that figure is expected to…

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 Contrapower harassment, a seldom-discussed form of workplace harassment, turns traditional power dynamics on its head. This scenario, in which individuals with less authority target those in higher positions, challenges the notion that only those in power can be harassers and…

What does Gen Z really want from hybrid work? This brief video shares advice for leaders on how to turn Gen Z’s preferences into overall culture improvements. MIT Sloan Management Review August 06, 2024 Reading Time: 1 min  subscribe-icon Subscribe Share [embedded content] Many stereotypes and anecdotes surround Generation Z’s supposed work styles: Maybe you’ve heard “They don’t like to work very hard” or “They don’t want to come into…

Topics Frontiers An MIT SMR initiative exploring how technology is reshaping the practice of management. More in this series Andrew Baker/Ikon Images When I was managing director of the German subsidiary of U.S.-headquartered SC Johnson, I witnessed “not invented here” (NIH) syndrome in action. The larger company paid scant attention to an innovative air freshener product successfully launched by an Asian subsidiary, apparently due in part to bias toward innovations…

Neil Webb/Ikon Images Harvard Business School professor Theodore Leavitt emphasized the customer impact of benefits when he famously argued that people don’t want to buy a quarter-inch drill; they want a quarter-inch hole.1 Although his idea is straightforward, many companies still fail to appreciate how embracing a benefits-driven approach can help them unlock new opportunities — for innovation, customer satisfaction, and sustainable growth. Benefits are the desirable outcomes that customers…

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 As hybrid work programs continue to grow in popularity and full-time office work declines, many leaders and companies are still struggling with a tough question: What are the right patterns for getting people together? Free-for-all approaches that depend on individuals…

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 does it take to produce an award-winning AI initiative? Scotiabank — officially the Bank of Nova Scotia, and one of Canada’s largest banks — recently won two awards for AI at one event. DataIQ gave the bank a Most…

Nick Purser/Ikon Images Recent pushback against diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives has caused many leaders to focus on the broader topic of allyship. These leaders want to be better allies and encourage their teams to do the same. In politically charged environments, however, leaders may find the mountain of advice on how to be an effective ally conflicting, confusing, polarizing, or overwhelming to apply. Without a clear decision-making framework,…