Topics Column Our expert columnists offer opinion and analysis on important issues facing modern businesses and managers. More in this series Patrick George/Ikon Images Purposeful play is a critical behavior for executives facing disruptive change. In good old-fashioned play, the goal isn’t to win or lose. It isn’t to achieve…
What You Need to Know: Governor Newsom recently signed new laws – SB 1105 and AB 2499 – which extend and clarify employees’ available reasons for use of California paid sick leave (PSL). The changes go into effect on January 1, 2025. As we previously detailed, at the end of…
Quick Hits As Election Day—Tuesday, November 5, 2024—draws near, employers are considering their leave obligations. Various state, local, and municipal election-related laws have implications for multistate employers’ compliance plans. Notice posting and political speech laws also have implications for employers’ compliance plans. Leave Obligations There are three key issues employers…
To grasp the future of business, look to AI-native organizations: from processes to products, these companies are infusing every facet of their operations with AI. In a previous newsletter, I wrote about common ways that AI natives work differently. Today I’m zooming in on one company I find particularly compelling:…
Millions of Americans, from hourly retail staffers to corporate vice presidents, wrestle with the demands of work while parenting young children, caring for a sick spouse or aging parent—or both.That juggling act is made even tougher by rigid practices and rules set by employers, such as inflexible or unpredictable work…
This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.What keeps capital project leaders awake? Ishaan Nangia: What we hear consistently from capital project leaders is that there is a huge amount of value attached to their capital management system. Between 2022 and 2027, about $130 trillion of capital will be spent,…
Thirty years ago, I graduated from college, got my first job in software sales and was given three things: a $1 million quota, a CRM and a (desk) phone. Fast forward to 2024, that same new graduate entering software sales would get the same $1M quota. But he’d also get…
A review of the last few quarters, in which economic activity has slowed while continuing to grow Economic activity continued to grow in France in second-quarter 2024 but slowed slightly, up 0.2% in volume (qoq) after a 0.3% increase in the first quarter. However, the drivers of this growth proved…
Political and business media, pundits, and experts continue to cite prediction market odds as a credible forecast for the upcoming presidential election, regularly pointing to betting odds on prediction markets such as Polymarket, Kalshi, PredictIt, and Interactive Brokers as a guide to who is up and down in the horse…
Philip G. Zimbardo, one of the world’s most renowned psychologists, died Oct. 14 in his home in San Francisco. He was 91. Broadly, Zimbardo’s research explored how environments influence behavior. He is most known for his controversial 1971 study, the Stanford Prison Experiment, with W. Curtis Banks, Craig Haney, and…
24 October 2024By Matthias RumpfPeople have tended to be quite hesitant to trust banks abroad. That seems to be changing. In a post featuring interactive charts for you to explore, The ECB Blog shows that cross-border bank deposits of private households have picked up recently. To what extent are euro…
Latest research has revealed a “positive association” between the number of properties listed as Airbnb rentals and police-reported robberies and violent crimes in thousands of London neighbourhoods between 2015 and 2018.In fact, the study led by the University of Cambridge suggests that a 10% increase in active Airbnb rentals in…
Rising uncertainty surrounding future electricity demand could affect Europe’s energy transition and power infrastructure investment plans. Governments and system operators have projected that power demand in major European countries could increase by as much as 7 percent per year to 2030 after two decades of relative stagnation. In McKinsey’s Global…
Two incidents involving the detonation of communication devices, the liquidation of the Hezbollah Secretary General, and the IDF's operation Northern Arrows most aptly reflect the situation on the Lebanese-Israeli border over a period of just over a month. Against this background, the "historic" agreement on the demarcation of the maritime…
At a glance Arenas are a unique category of industries defined by two characteristics: high growth and dynamism. They capture an outsize share of the economy’s growth, and the market shares of players within them change to an outsize degree. We have identified 18 potential arenas of the future that…
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 Carolyn Geason-Beissel/MIT SMR | Getty Images USAA, a 102-year-old financial services company…
Quick Hits On November 1 and November 2, Mexico celebrates Día de Muertos, but this festivity is not considered under the FLL as a mandatory holiday. Under certain circumstances, November 1 and/or November 2 can be deemed as mandatory rest days. Día de Muertos Is Not a Mandatory Holiday As…
Writing in the journal Science Robotics, the research team, led by the University of Cambridge, outline how ‘palaeo-inspired robotics’ could provide a valuable experimental approach to studying how the pectoral and pelvic fins of ancient fish evolved to support weight on land.“Since fossil evidence is limited, we have an incomplete…
If you’ve ever been bothered by the feeling that your friends have more robust social lives than you do, you’re not alone. Lots of people feel that way, and, mostly, they—and you—are right. For decades, social scientists have recognized what’s known as the friendship paradox, which says that on average,…
Quick Hits Key steps for managing a data breach incident include understanding what constitutes an incident, applying the organization’s framework and policies, and effectively communicating with the organization’s privacy officer and employees. Additional measures include promptly and proactively managing data breaches and reviewing and updating policies. The effectiveness of HR’s…
Many consider Sir David Attenborough to be a national treasure, loved for his engaging nature documentaries. Unfortunately, criminals exploited his popularity when they used his likeness to promote an investment scam. According to NatWest, an image of Attenborough appeared on a social media advert, claiming that he earned £125,000 every…
Brazil is hosting the G20 Summit for the first time this year, a role that will allow it to lead the discussion on critical global issues. High on the agenda at this year’s summit, held in Rio de Janeiro on November 18 and 19, is the challenge of climate change…
What is BRICS? In terms of ‘what it is’, Russia has demonstrated consistency in its rhetoric over the years, only refining the descriptive vocabulary it uses but not the definition itself. From its start in 2009 until 2023, BRICS has been presented as a natural and organic manifestation of the…
Leading a global organization in today’s fragmented world is difficult—perhaps more difficult than ever. Since the outbreak of COVID-19 and the acceleration of geopolitical tensions, leadership teams have faced an increasing number of uncertainties and disruptions. These include the sudden emergence of upending technologies, such as generative AI; the energy…
Jing Jing Tsong/theispot.com It’s been said that we hire for competence and fire for character. Consider Boeing, which has been brought low by poor leadership decisions that have severely compromised its planes’ quality and safety, and hence public trust, forcing its CEO to announce a year-end departure. And yet the…
Quick Hits The November 2024 Visa Bulletin shows no change from last month’s bulletin for employment-based categories for both final action dates and dates for filing, except for fourth preference for Certain Religious Workers. USCIS will honor dates for filing for I-485 Adjustment of Status applications filed in November 2024.…
Learn how using Azure OpenAI Service in higher education can help leaders reimagine learning models and reduce administrative burdens. Imagine a future where every student has a personalized learning path, where faculty can focus on teaching instead of administrative tasks, and where academic research accelerates breakthrough discoveries. This is not…
In this episode of The Committed Innovator, McKinsey innovation leader Erik Roth speaks with the founder, president, and medical director of the Child Mind Institute in New York City, Dr. Harold Koplewicz. At a time of increasing concerns globally about child and adolescent mental health, the organization is working to…
Quick Hits The Maryland Department of Labor released FAQs regarding the state’s Wage Range Transparency Act, which took effect on October 1, 2024. The law applies to remote jobs for companies headquartered elsewhere if the employer seeks workers based in Maryland. Employers that do not handle their own job postings…
The expansion of BRICS in 2024 has undoubtedly increased Africa’s weight in international affairs and contributed to the ongoing discussion on the complexities of multipolarity. The development of strategic and commercial ties between BRICS and Africa also reflects the pragmatic interest in the continent on the part of major powers…
1. K.E. Brink and R.D. Costigan, “Oral Communication Skills: Are the Priorities of the Workplace and AACSB-Accredited Business Programs Aligned?” Academy of Management Learning & Education 14, no. 2 (June 2015): 205-221. 2. K.E. Brink and R.D. Costigan, “Development of Listening Competence in Business Education,” Current Opinion in Psychology 50…
Our first Pulse Report In the rapidly evolving landscape of Generative AI (GenAI), businesses are eager to harness its potential, with bold ambitions to scale alongside advancing technologies. But the question remains: can organisations keep pace with their own aspirations? Download the full report below. Reading time: 2 minutes Our…
Quick Hits Effective October 10, 2024, private employers must comply with the county’s Fair Chance Ordinance, which restricts the timing and use of criminal history in employment decisions. The ordinance applies to positions that involve performing at least two hours of work on average each week within the unincorporated areas…
1 Internal CSS experiment conducted by Microsoft; 600 participants using Copilot Q&A function, Azure Core team; Nov. - Dec. 2023. These results are statistically significant at the 95th percent confidence interval. 2 Internal Microsoft sales team data based on 687 sellers of Microsoft 365 Copilot from Jan. - June 2024, as compared with…
When science fiction writer Neal Stephenson dreamed of the metaverse—a term he coined in his 1992 novel Snow Crash—he envisioned a long city street that’s “always garish and brilliant, like Las Vegas freed from constraints of physics and finance.”While Las Vegas certainly isn’t known for its constraints, Stephenson believed a…
It is difficult to find any similarities between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris in this heated electoral race. But there is one area in which there is a surprising amount of agreement: the need for the federal government to play an active role in encouraging investment in U.S. manufacturing. This…
Positive news is emerging from various sources, suggesting the global economy might be turning a corner, though substantial risks remain. Central banks face a challenging balancing act between managing inflation and promoting growth, which led to divergent actions this month. Several banks cut rates to boost the economy in September,…
International politics seems to finally have lost its ability to pursue linear development. This, of course, is extremely sad from the point of view of the average person. However, if we look at what is happening beyond our expectations, whether they are genuine or not, then what is happening can…
The 21st Annual Meeting of the Valdai Discussion Club will be held on November 4–7, 2024 in Sochi, at the Polyana 1389 hotel complex. The name of this year’s event is “Lasting Peace on What Basis? Common Security and Equal Opportunities for Development in the 21st Century”. According to the…
The goal of the conference, which will bring together 140 participants from 50 countries, is to offer non-Western ideas for solving global problems, to make it clear that the leading developed countries do not have a monopoly on formulating the goals and methods of development. The discussions will cover all…