Business, Management, Marketing, Money, Tax, Law, People

History for Decades: The Present and Future of Sanctions Against Russia

On August 16, the Valdai Club hosted an expert discussion, “Sanctions against Russia – from here to eternity?” Moderator Ivan Timofeev noted that despite the legal possibility of lifting unilateral restrictive measures, the reasons for their introduction against Russia remain and are getting worse. Accordingly, he added, Russia will probably live under sanctions for decades.Dmitry Birichevsky, Director of the Department of Economic Cooperation of the Russian Foreign Ministry, emphasised that…

Continue ReadingHistory for Decades: The Present and Future of Sanctions Against Russia

From promising to productive: Real results from gen AI in services

Generative AI (gen AI) could provide the productivity boost operations leaders have hoped for, as well as a means to fight cost pressures—if only leaders could get going. McKinsey’s latest tech trends research finds that only 11 percent of companies worldwide are using gen AI at scale.Operations is a major gap: in a February 2024 survey of 150 executives at large North American and European companies, only 3 percent of respondents…

  • Post category:McKinsey & Company
  • Reading time:18 mins read
Continue ReadingFrom promising to productive: Real results from gen AI in services

Beyond the 100 Mile Rule: Court of Appeal Affirms District Court’s Power to Compel Attendance of Distant Witnesses and Unveil Hidden Parties In Litigation

Beyond the 100 Mile Rule: Court of Appeal Affirms District Court’s Power to Compel Attendance of Distant Witnesses and Unveil Hidden Parties In Litigation | Consumer Class Defense Blog Skip to content

  • Post category:Seyfarth Shaw LLP
  • Reading time:1 mins read
Continue ReadingBeyond the 100 Mile Rule: Court of Appeal Affirms District Court’s Power to Compel Attendance of Distant Witnesses and Unveil Hidden Parties In Litigation

More Bad News for the FTC: Federal Court in Florida Enjoins Enforcement of Non-Compete Ban

Yesterday, a third court weighed in on the FTC’s proposed ban on non-competes, set to go into effect on September 4, 2024. Judge Corrigan of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida granted the plaintiff Properties of the Villages, Inc.’s (“POV”) motion to stay the effective date of the rule and preliminarily enjoin its enforcement. Due to the looming effective date, the court opted to deliver…

  • Post category:Seyfarth Shaw LLP
  • Reading time:3 mins read
Continue ReadingMore Bad News for the FTC: Federal Court in Florida Enjoins Enforcement of Non-Compete Ban

Second Circuit Ruling Clarifies Reach of EFAA Under Continuing Violation Doctrine in Sexual Harassment Cases

Quick Hits The Second Circuit Court of Appeals held that for claims subject to the “continuing violation doctrine,” such as hostile work environment claims, accrual occurs with each new act that is part of the ongoing pattern of misconduct. Because the plaintiff alleged retaliatory acts occurring after March 3, 2022, her claims were found to have “accrued” after the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act’s effective…

  • Post category:Ogletree Deakins
  • Reading time:5 mins read
Continue ReadingSecond Circuit Ruling Clarifies Reach of EFAA Under Continuing Violation Doctrine in Sexual Harassment Cases

New Ruling Expands Trademark Owners’ Rights in Retail Space

Trademark lawyers are often asked: “What’s the difference between a trademark and a service mark?” In general, a trademark refers to a brand name used in connection with goods, while a service mark is one that is used in connection with the provision of services.  The services must be provided for the benefit of someone other than the mark owner. But the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (“TTAB”) ruled in…

  • Post category:Seyfarth Shaw LLP
  • Reading time:4 mins read
Continue ReadingNew Ruling Expands Trademark Owners’ Rights in Retail Space

Announcing mandatory multi-factor authentication for Azure sign-in

Learn how MFA can protect your data and identity, and get ready for the upcoming MFA requirement for Azure. Learn how multifactor authentication (MFA) can protect your data and identity and get ready for Azure’s upcoming MFA requirement.  As cyberattacks become increasingly frequent, sophisticated, and damaging, safeguarding your digital assets has never been more critical. As part of Microsoft’s $20 billion dollar investment in security over the next five years and…

  • Post category:Microsoft
  • Reading time:6 mins read
Continue ReadingAnnouncing mandatory multi-factor authentication for Azure sign-in

Election 2024: What’s at Stake for Business and the Workplace?

In a US presidential election year with more twists and turns than most in recent memory, many of the issues on the ballot impact business. And keeping politics in the workplace respectful is forefront on managers’ minds as a divided nation prepares for weeks of potentially rancorous discourse.Ahead of the Democratic National Convention, HBS Working Knowledge gathered insights from Harvard Business School faculty about what’s at stake for companies, and…

Continue ReadingElection 2024: What’s at Stake for Business and the Workplace?

The Future of Weather Forecasting, and Why It Matters

Predicting the weather—especially in this age of climate change—is big business. Today, the market for weather-forecasting services is $10 billion in the U.S., where an estimated one-third of the economy is exposed to weather and climate. Industries ranging from agriculture to commerce to the military are key consumers of weather-forecasting technology, most of which is based on information provided by large, national weather services. But today, exciting new technologies are…

  • Post category:Battery Ventures
  • Reading time:9 mins read
Continue ReadingThe Future of Weather Forecasting, and Why It Matters

220 Seyfarth Attorneys Chosen as Leaders in Their Fields by Best Lawyers in America 2025

(August 14, 2024) - 220 individual Seyfarth attorneys were selected by their peers as leaders in their fields, covering 46 different practice areas, in the 2025 edition of The Best Lawyers in America. Lawyers from all 13 of Seyfarth’s US offices were honored. Two Seyfarth lawyers (William B. Hill, Jr. and Richard Morvillo) were each recognized in five separate practice areas. Three other attorneys (Jeffrey Berman, Douglas Mancino, and Gregory…

  • Post category:Seyfarth Shaw LLP
  • Reading time:3 mins read
Continue Reading220 Seyfarth Attorneys Chosen as Leaders in Their Fields by Best Lawyers in America 2025

Prudential embraces customer centricity: An interview with Priscilla Ng

As Prudential plc embraces digital transformation, the 176-year-old insurance company finds itself navigating a delicate balancing act: harmonizing the power of AI with a human touch, essential to delivering exceptional customer experiences. Prudential prioritizes data-driven insights to offer customers more-personalized, proactive, and efficient services and drive sustainable growth across global markets while preserving the personal connections that insurance customers value. Joe Ngai, chairman of McKinsey, Greater China, and a senior…

  • Post category:McKinsey & Company
  • Reading time:12 mins read
Continue ReadingPrudential embraces customer centricity: An interview with Priscilla Ng

What’s Next for the FTC’s Ban on Noncompetes?

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 —…

Continue ReadingWhat’s Next for the FTC’s Ban on Noncompetes?

Breaking Down the Mars Kellanova Merger

The year’s largest merger is here: the Mars Kellanova Merger. If you have never heard of Kellanova, you’ve likely heard of the company it was recently formed out of – Kellogg. Kellanova was launched in 2023 (that’s right, exactly 317 days from this announcement to be precise), as a carveout from Kellogg with the aim to separate the faster growing convenience foods from the slower growth cereal business.  The legacy…

Continue ReadingBreaking Down the Mars Kellanova Merger

New study shows improved scores by students using Reading Progress

Fresno Unified School District launched a literary initiative to help get students reading on grade level by the end of first grade. Learn about the results. Early literacy is the cornerstone of academic success. Researchers at the University of Chicago and other institutions highlight a crucial shift: Up to the end of third grade, most students are “learning to read” while from fourth grade on, they’re “reading to learn.” With…

  • Post category:Microsoft
  • Reading time:12 mins read
Continue ReadingNew study shows improved scores by students using Reading Progress

Post-CrowdStrike, Six Questions to Test Your Company’s Operational Resilience

When cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike distributed a faulty software update in July, it impacted a staggering 8.5 million devices. The crisis rippled through commercial airline operations, package delivery logistics, ecommerce, and health care, to name a few.This incident serves as a stark reminder that business disruptions are not just potential threats, but common occurrences that demand immediate attention from CEOs, C-suite teams, and boards. It's time for leaders to take stock…

Continue ReadingPost-CrowdStrike, Six Questions to Test Your Company’s Operational Resilience

AI and the Voices Behind the Music

AI has progressed within the last several years to do remarkable things. In February of this year, OpenAI unveiled Sora, an impressive text-to-video AI generator that produces high quality videos. This new generative AI innovation uses basic text prompts to generate up to 60-second videos. Like all generative AI tools, there are concerns about how the model is trained and the composition of the training data. The potential ethical and societal…

Continue ReadingAI and the Voices Behind the Music

Shiny objects: Insurance productivity in an era of AI and automation

The emergence of AI and generative AI (gen AI) has brought new energy to the age-old conversation about productivity. In this episode of the McKinsey on Insurance podcast, McKinsey senior partner Jörg Mußhoff sits down with partners Elena Pizzocaro and Selim Sulos to discuss why revisiting insurance productivity is at the top of CEOs’ agendas, how the most successful transformations use an end-to-end redesign approach, and why CEOs shouldn’t get distracted by…

Continue ReadingShiny objects: Insurance productivity in an era of AI and automation

The Genius of PostHog Marketing

Starting my career in political communication taught me a lot, but one of the most important lessons was this: Know, and never underestimate, your audience. It’s easier said than done. After my pivot into the software world, I’ve experienced firsthand how challenging it can be to explain a complex technology in accessible language or reach a niche buyer audience. Good software marketing is hard, but excellent marketing is extremely hard—to…

  • Post category:Battery Ventures
  • Reading time:10 mins read
Continue ReadingThe Genius of PostHog Marketing

New way to extend ‘shelf life’ of blood stem cells will improve gene therapy

Researchers have identified a drug already used for cancer patients, that, when applied to current gene therapy protocols can improve blood stem cell function threefold.One trillion blood cells are produced every day in humans, and blood stem cells are the only cell types in our body capable of producing all blood cell types over our lifespan, giving them immense regenerative potential. Blood stem cell gene therapy is a ground-breaking treatment…

Continue ReadingNew way to extend ‘shelf life’ of blood stem cells will improve gene therapy

How to Turn Professional Services Into Products

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…

Continue ReadingHow to Turn Professional Services Into Products

U.S. Department of Education Attempts to Clarify Scope of Injunctions Barring Enforcement of 2024 Title IX Regulations

Quick Hits At least six federal courts have issued injunctions barring enforcement of the U.S. Department of Education’s 2024 Title IX rule, which applies to complaints of sex discrimination occurring on or after August 1, 2024. Many of the injunctions lack clarity as to which institutions are covered. The Department issued guidance specifying the states and schools subject to the enforcement injunction due to a student or parent’s membership in…

  • Post category:Ogletree Deakins
  • Reading time:5 mins read
Continue ReadingU.S. Department of Education Attempts to Clarify Scope of Injunctions Barring Enforcement of 2024 Title IX Regulations

Khanmigo for Teachers: Free AI-powered teaching tool now available

Imagine having a teaching tool that’s always ready to help you with brainstorming, creating, and innovating. Meet Khanmigo for Teachers. Imagine having a teaching tool that’s always ready to help you with brainstorming, creating, and innovating. Meet Khanmigo for Teachers. Created by Khan Academy and powered by Azure OpenAI Service, Khanmigo for Teachers is available for free in English across 49 countries in partnership with Microsoft. Keep reading to find…

  • Post category:Microsoft
  • Reading time:10 mins read
Continue ReadingKhanmigo for Teachers: Free AI-powered teaching tool now available

Case Study: HR’s Pleas Are Heard, Resulting in Positive Culture Change

HR professionals often find themselves fighting an uphill battle to create a positive and safe workplace. Not to rub it in, but we thought we’d share a case study of what could be when the opposite occurs. Read on and see what happens when leadership listens to HR, as Rainbow Municipal Water District (RMWD) is a shining example of how HR can have a significant impact on workplace culture transformation…

  • Post category:Civility Partners
  • Reading time:3 mins read
Continue ReadingCase Study: HR’s Pleas Are Heard, Resulting in Positive Culture Change

Dynamics of Dissent: The Western ‘Rules-Based Order’ and the Quest of the Global South

Recently, the West convened the so-called “Ukraine Peace Summit” in Switzerland. The event intended to address internal and external issues, but failed on both fronts due to its reliance on an escalation strategy. Internally, the summit aimed to function as a form of "collective catharsis," placing blame on Moscow for the problems faced by Western countries. This was an attempt to justify socio-economic difficulties to their citizens, such as rising…

Continue ReadingDynamics of Dissent: The Western ‘Rules-Based Order’ and the Quest of the Global South

Rate hikes: How financial knowledge affects people’s reactions

15 August 2024By Evangelos Charalambakis, Omiros Kouvavas and Pedro NevesHow quickly do consumers react to rate hikes? The answer depends in part on how much they know about financial matters. This ECB Blog post shows that the better informed they are, the quicker their reaction.When central banks raise interest rates they aim to dampen demand in the economy, which ultimately helps keep inflation at bay. Consumers are key for that.…

Continue ReadingRate hikes: How financial knowledge affects people’s reactions

Seven Truths About Hybrid Work and Productivity

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…

Continue ReadingSeven Truths About Hybrid Work and Productivity

Explore new AI features in Learning Accelerators to empower your classroom

Discover new AI features in Learning Accelerators, designed to help you save time, create impactful content, and deepen your students' learning experiences. As educators, you know how important it is to help your students develop the skills they need for academic success. But sometimes, it can be challenging to find the right tools and resources to support them along the way. That’s why we’re excited to highlight the new AI…

  • Post category:Microsoft
  • Reading time:7 mins read
Continue ReadingExplore new AI features in Learning Accelerators to empower your classroom

A Strategist’s Take on Shareholder Activism

Who really controls public companies? Some might say it’s the CEO and other top executives. Others may argue it’s the board of directors. Still others may mention the shareholders, to whom the C-suite occupants must ultimately answer, via the value of the firm’s shares. All those answers are correct, but there’s one cohort missing, and it has become increasingly influential over the past decade: activist shareholders. Tuck professor Mark DesJardine’s…

Continue ReadingA Strategist’s Take on Shareholder Activism

One in four patients in vegetative or minimally conscious state able to perform cognitive tasks, study finds

Severe brain injury can leave individuals unable to respond to commands physically, but in some cases they are still able to activate areas of the brain that would ordinarily play a role in movement. This phenomenon is known as ‘cognitive motor dissociation’.To determine what proportion of patients in so-called ‘disorders of consciousness’ experience this phenomenon – and help inform clinical practice – researchers across Europe and North America recruited a…

Continue ReadingOne in four patients in vegetative or minimally conscious state able to perform cognitive tasks, study finds

How innovation can accelerate industry momentum

People often speak of industry momentum as if it were a force of nature independent of individual companies’ actions—like the mysterious “ether” scientists once believed filled the universe and allowed light to travel. While demographics and macroeconomic factors outside organizations’ control do contribute to momentum, the trajectory and pace of industry growth very much rely on the innovation efforts of a sector’s constituent businesses. By harnessing technology and creating new…

  • Post category:McKinsey & Company
  • Reading time:11 mins read
Continue ReadingHow innovation can accelerate industry momentum

Why Companies Shouldn’t Delay Software Updates—Even After CrowdStrike’s Flaw

The CrowdStrike tech security outage in July revealed the true interdependence—and fragility—of global computer systems. Following several high-profile data breaches, policymakers are calling on businesses to do more to fix code weaknesses and protect systems from cyber criminals.A new study highlights one simple change companies could make: updating software sooner after improved versions hit the market. The research finds that some 60 percent of US organizations continued to use a…

Continue ReadingWhy Companies Shouldn’t Delay Software Updates—Even After CrowdStrike’s Flaw

Voting for Political Influence

One of the realities of today’s financial markets is the outsized shareholder voting power held by the leading mutual funds. In 2021, the top three asset management companies (BlackRock, State Street and Vanguard) owned around 23 percent of S&P 500 firms. This made them the largest shareholders in 88 percent of the leading United States-based companies. Worryingly, it seems that these mutual funds are quite happy to use that shareholder voting…

  • Post category:INSEAD Knowledge
  • Reading time:5 mins read
Continue ReadingVoting for Political Influence

The hard stuff: Navigating the physical realities of the energy transition

At a glance The energy transition is in its early stages, with about 10 percent of required deployment of low-emissions technologies by 2050 achieved in most areas. Optimized over centuries, today’s energy system has many advantages, but the production and consumption of energy accounts for more than 85 percent of global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Creating a low-emissions system, even while expanding energy access globally, would require deploying millions of…

  • Post category:McKinsey & Company
  • Reading time:24 mins read
Continue ReadingThe hard stuff: Navigating the physical realities of the energy transition

The Value of Trust in World Politics

In this case, the relations of the same states may change as a result of the change of their representatives in negotiations. With one president (or minister), the factor of personal trust contributes to the success of negotiations, while with another leader of the same country, personal distrust undermines this. As an example, Donald Trump’s famous phrase “I had no wars. I’m the only president in 72 years, I didn’t…

Continue ReadingThe Value of Trust in World Politics

How to Mitigate Resentment in Your Team

When conflicts in a team – no matter how minor – are left unresolved, it can eventually breed resentment. If unaddressed, this could lead to cynicism and distrust, as well as harm individual and team performance. How should leaders deal with this? The intuitive answer might involve orchestrating frank, albeit difficult, conversations between the discordant parties. But such conversations are unlikely to lead to the desired reconciliation without a baseline of…

  • Post category:INSEAD Knowledge
  • Reading time:10 mins read
Continue ReadingHow to Mitigate Resentment in Your Team

Are Your Presentations Too Emotional — or Too Analytical?

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…

Continue ReadingAre Your Presentations Too Emotional — or Too Analytical?

In defence of non-disclosure agreements

Non-disclosure agreements (NDAs or confidentiality agreements) have come under fire in recent years due to concerns that they silence victims, conceal unlawful behaviour and prevent companies and regulators from understanding the full scope of systemic problems. These are all valid concerns. However, the part that often gets overlooked when discussing the use of NDAs is that there are good reasons why NDAs are commonly used. It is important to recognise…

  • Post category:Seyfarth Shaw LLP
  • Reading time:5 mins read
Continue ReadingIn defence of non-disclosure agreements

Can AI Save Physicians from Burnout?

In the past decade, physician burnout has evolved from a serious concern to a troubling epidemic, affecting 50 percent of physicians and physicians-in-training. Excessive workloads, process inefficiencies, and administrative burdens related to electronic medical records (EMR) documentation are hampering productivity and significantly impacting physician well-being.In the United States, physicians spend between 34 and 55 percent of their workday compiling clinical documentation and reviewing EMRs. While some of this contributes to…

Continue ReadingCan AI Save Physicians from Burnout?

Solar energy breakthrough could reduce need for solar farms

Dr Shuaifeng Hu, Post Doctoral Fellow at Oxford University Physics, examining the new thin-film perovskite material. Image credit: Martin Small. Their new light-absorbing material is, for the first time, thin and flexible enough to apply to the surface of almost any building or common object. Using a pioneering technique developed in Oxford, which stacks multiple light-absorbing layers into one solar cell, they have harnessed a wider range of the light…

Continue ReadingSolar energy breakthrough could reduce need for solar farms

Can Senior Politicians Teach Executives How to Lead?

Though business and politics might seem like different worlds, there are increasing commonalities between leadership in these realms. As I explain in the second edition of Los Presidentes Españoles, which explores the success and failures of Spanish leaders since the return of democracy in 1978, executives can learn a lot from the strategies employed by political leaders.After all, prime ministers and presidents are also managers. They preside over cabinets – their…

  • Post category:INSEAD Knowledge
  • Reading time:6 mins read
Continue ReadingCan Senior Politicians Teach Executives How to Lead?