Knowledge to Act
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Valuable contents to improve your knowledge
WEB EXPLORING - December 2019
GOOD READING ON THE NET
AI NOW 2019 Report (free download)
Autors: Crawford, Kate, Roel Dobbe, Theodora Dryer, Genevieve Fried, Ben Green, Elizabeth Kaziunas, Amba Kak, Varoon Mathur, Erin McElroy, Andrea Nill Sánchez, Deborah Raji, Joy Lisi Rankin, Rashida Richardson, Jason Schultz, Sarah Myers West, and Meredith Whittaker.
AI NOW Institute, December, 2019
“From tenant rights groups opposing facial recognition in housing to Latinx activists and students protesting lucrative tech company contracts with military and border agencies, this year we saw community groups, researchers, and workers demand a halt to risky and dangerous AI technologies. AI Now’s 2019 report spotlights these growing movements, examining the coalitions involved and the research, arguments, and tactics used. We also examine the specific harms these coalitions are resisting, and offer 12 recommendations on what policymakers, advocates and researchers can do to address the use of AI in ways that widen inequality.”
The future of intelligence analysis
Autors:
Deloitte Insights, December 11, 2019
“How will artificial intelligence impact intel analysis and, specifically, the intelligence community workforce? Learn what organizations can do to integrate AI most effectively and play to the strengths of humans and machines.”
A noble purpose alone won’t transform your company
Autors: Rob Cross, Amy Edmondson, and Wendy Murphy
Mit-Sloan Management Review, December 10, 2019
“Consider these two companies: The first is a retail chain with hundreds of locations globally — innovative, but basically a sales platform. The second is a hospital that treats the world’s most devastating cancers. Which do you think has a more engaged workforce?”
You’re going digital – Now what?
Autors: Paul Leonardi
Mit-Sloan Management Review, December 10, 2019
“Enough with the top-down strategizing. Understand how change really happens on the ground — and plan for it accordingly.”
Intelligent human thinking about AI
Autors: Thomas Watson
Ivey Business Journal, December, 2019
“It isn’t easy to believe everyone who has something to say about artificial intelligence (AI). After all, the emerging technology (or group of technologies) in question has generated jaw-dropping economic-impact guesstimates along with more than a few doomsday scenarios. But believing in the AI revolution becomes easier after listening to Steve Irvine speak on the topic, since he left what most people would consider a dream job in Silicon Valley to start his own AI company in Toronto”
How to avoid all or nothing thinking in your tech strategy
Autors: Max Simkoff
Mit-Sloan Management Review, December 10, 2019
“Companies’ failure to innovate exposes them to risk and has a huge impact on the global economy.”
How traditional companies can overcome legacy obstacles to business building
Interview to: Avid Larizadeh Duggan
McKinsey Digital, December, 2019
“Efforts to foster innovation at an established company often run into challenges from the existing technology, processes, culture, and mind-sets. Avid Larizadeh Duggan, entrepreneur and investor, draws on her venture-capital expertise to explain to McKinsey’s Philipp Hillenbrand how corporations can successfully transform themselves, establish their own venture-capital arms, and support start-ups.
Can microtasking solve the productivity puzzle?t
Autors: Jon Axworthy
Raconteur, December 18, 2019
“Distractions take many forms in the workplace, so could breaking up large tasks into smaller bursts be the antidote to procrastination?”
Start the new year with a simplification month
Authors: Adam Bryant
Strategy+business, December 23, 2019
“This time of year always ushers in resolutions and thoughts of what will be different when we wake up on January 1. But commitments to make lasting changes to diet and fitness can be fleeting. So why not tackle something at work that is well within your control and will make a real difference? Make January a “simplification month.”
Seven ways to align your sales and service teams to improve CX
Autors: Shelly Kramer
Mycustomer.com, December 16, 2019
“For sales and service teams to work in unison and ensure fantastic customer experiences, sales teams must start thinking more about what happens after a sale.”
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WEB EXPLORING - November 2019
How Vigilant Companies Gain an Edge in Turbulent Times
Autors: George S. Day and Paul J.H. Schoemaker
Mit-Sloan Management Review, November 18, 2019
“When uncertainty increases, top performers stay ahead by knowing where to look for warning signs and how to explore their environment.”
Learning from Automation Anxiety of the Past
Autors: Carl Benedikt Frey
Mit-Sloan Management Review, November 12, 2019
“Much like during the industrial revolution, today’s automation anxiety is entirely justified. But history shows us that the real challenge lies in the sphere of policy, not technology.”
Closing the Innovation Achievement Gap
Autors: Bhaskar Ghosh
Mit-Sloan Management Review, November 14, 2019
“Recent research sheds light on what separates innovation leaders from laggards and the key shifts executives must make to move into the leader category.”
Alnoor Ebrahim’s “Measuring Social Change” outlines how to measure and manage performance
Autors: Paul Brest
Stanford Social Innovation Review, November, 2019
“The book presents a thought-provoking framework for categorizing and implementing performance management strategies based on the causal relationship between an organization’s activities and outcomes and on its control over those outcomes.”
Future of Work: Top 9 Uncertainties
Autors: The Hive
Raconteur, November 18, 2019
“The future of work might be evolving, but it will be shaped by human factors. Our experts take a closer look at some the most biggest uncertainties that surround the fourth industrial revolution”
How tech can help businesses balance profit and purpose
Autors: Fred Krupp
World Economic Forum, November 11, 2019
“With the US administration turning its back on the Paris Climate Agreement, demands for corporate climate leadership are mounting. At a time when executives should be filling the leadership gap, too many CEOs continue to be trapped by short-term, profit-only thinking.”
Five ways that ESG creates value
Autors: Witold Henisz, Tim Koller, and Robin Nuttall
McKinsey Quarterly, November, 2019
“Your business, like every business, is deeply intertwined with environmental, social, and governance (ESG) concerns. It makes sense, therefore, that a strong ESG proposition can create value—and in this article, we provide a framework for understanding the five key ways it can do so.”
Autors: Stine Degnegaard, William D. Eggers
Deloitte Insight, November 1, 2019
“Complex, multistakeholder challenges don’t often present a single obvious solution. Cocreation—where the stakeholders share responsibility for the problem—can be an effective way to unlock solutions.”
A Corporate Governance Paradigm Shift
Authors: Sonia Tatar
Insead Knowledge, November 19, 2019
“The sustainability of conventional corporate governance models has recently come into question. Directors are living in the midst of intense competition in a business environment disrupted by shifts in technology, macroeconomics and geopolitics.”
Strategy Talk. Does Shareholder Value Still Have a Place in Strategy?
Autors: Ken Favaro
Strategy+Business, November 12, 2019
“Some recent announcements have cast a shadow on the concept, but it’s still a great tool for optimizing a company’s strategy, performance, and potential.”
WEB EXPLORING - October 2019
Winning with AI
Autors: Sam Ransbotham, Shervin Khodabandeh, Ronny Fehling, Burt LaFountain, and David Kiron
Mit-Sloan Management Review, October 15, 2019
“AI promises rewards but also comes with risks ― namely, that competitors figure out how to successfully use it before you do. This year’s 2019 MIT SMR-BCG Artificial Intelligence Global Executive Study and Research Report shows early AI winners are focused on organization-wide alignment, investment, and integration.”
Autors:
Insead Knowledge, October 16, 2019
“Firms looking to leverage the transformational potential of AI should remember that it is still people who determine the context in which the new technology develops and thrives.”
How keeping score can end the era of short-termism
Autors: Klaus Schwab
World Economic Forum, October 17, 2019
“Fears of a global recession, the US-China trade war, the fallout of the Brexit talks, and a dangerous debt overhang make this the most stressful economic juncture in a decade. These issues must be discussed, and we should all hope that they can be resolved with minimal damage.”
Navigating your enterprise into the future
Autors: Kate Ericsson
Strategy+Business, October 25, 2019
“Companies worldwide are seeking their place in a time of constant change and new possibility. Wherever you are reading this, as you look into the future of your business, you’re likely striving for one or more of these goals:
- Growth
- Enhanced customer experience
- Higher profits
- Cost reductions
- Innovation”
Call centres: The three most annoying things customers hear on hold
Autors: Chris Ward
MyCustomer.com, October 25, 2019
“Being kept on hold used to be seen as a pastime. A rite of passage for people looking to be indoctrinated into the world of a new brand, or a test of willpower for those trying to find an epiphany whilst attempting to solve an unsolvable problem.”
Command and control: Lessons in high-stakes leadership
Autors: Daniel Akst
Strategy+Business, October 25, 2019
“Business is not war, thank God, though it is too often compared to it. Yet people working in every arena, including the C-suite, can learn valuable lessons from those who lead when the stakes are inevitably highest.”
Digital Transformation: Improving the odds of success
Autors: Jacques Bughin, Jonathan Deakin, and Barbara O’Beirne
McKinsey Quarterly, October, 2019
“Most digital transformations don’t yield the benefits that leaders expect. New research shows that five practices maximize the chance of extraordinary outcomes.”
Autors: Jon Kawamura, Maximilian Schroeck, Anne Kwan
Deloitte Insight, October 18, 2019
“In an Industry 4.0 environment, many companies struggle with new product development. This article, seventh in a series, discusses how leaders can link innovation processes to strategy and business model transformation.”
Why good people still can’t get jobs
Interview to: Peter Cappelli
Knowledge@Warthon, October 4, 2019
“A decade ago, the Great Recession triggered massive layoffs as companies large and small scaled back operations or shuttered. The job market was flooded with applicants, and it wasn’t uncommon for employers to receive hundreds of resumes for a single posting.”
Leaders don’t hide behind data
Autors: Seth Godin
Mit-Sloan Management Review, October 29, 2019
“Managers have turned digital tools into a crutch. We need leaders who focus on human connection instead.”
WEB EXPLORING - September 2019
Embracing the Paradoxes of Leadership
Autors: Ella Miron-Spektor
Instead Knowledge, September 20, 2019
“While corporations face constantly competing demands for resources, we still talk about moonshot long-term strategy. How can we sync ambitious aspirations with maintaining our business-as-usual which funds these innovative and profitable visions of the future?”
Three Trends Driving the Geospatial AI Revolution
Autors: Paul Hahn
European Business Review, September 23, 2019
“Geospatial AI, the intersection of geospatial data and artificial intelligence, is the new frontier of technological innovation that promises to transform entire business industries. Paul Hahn discusses the three driving forces enabling the rise of geospatial AI and the immense potential and opportunities it represents for entreprises, governments and the world we live in.”
The evolution of problem solving
Autors: Tom Puthiyamadam
Strategy+Business, September 30, 2019
“Over the past many decades, enterprising thinkers and organizations have developed many systems to solve for the same universal business problem — how to get and keep customers while increasing profitably.”
The top CX measurement techniques – as ranked by CX leaders
Autors: Steve Morrell
MyCustomer.com, September 16, 2019
“To improve customer experience, it is necessary first to be able to measure it. There is no single best method or benchmark to use for doing so; many organizations use a mixture of data sources and methods to approach the issue from various angles.”
10 principles of workforce transformation
Autors: Deniz Calgar, Carrie Duarte
Strategy+Business, September 25, 2019
“When you (or your board members) think about thriving in a digital world, you probably think first about technology. It’s evolving so fast that your business constantly has to adapt. But the greatest challenge is not the tech itself: It’s developing a knowledgeable, strategically adept, cognitively flexible, and proficient workforce.”
Autors: Mario Raich, Simon L. Dolan, Claudio Cisullo, Bonnie A. Richley
European Business Review, September 27, 2019
“We are living in an extraordinary time; our world is in the midst of digitalization that is already shifting towards a world dominated by virtualization and artificial intelligence. Many agree that people will work and live in collaboration with “intelligent machines.”.”
The Autonomous Mind: The Right to Freedom of Thought in the Twenty-First Century
Autors: Simon McCarthy-Jones
Frontiers, September 26, 2019
“To lose freedom of thought (FoT) is to lose our dignity, our democracy and our very selves. Accordingly, the right to FoT receives absolute protection under international human rights law. However, this foundational right has been neither significantly developed nor often utilized. The contours of this right urgently need to be defined due to twenty-first century threats to FoT posed by new technologies.”
Is Your Company Socially Responsible?
Interview to: Toby Usnik and Daniel Korschun
Knowledge@Warthon, September 26, 2019
“Corporate social responsibility has increasingly become an important component for businesses. According to the Governance and Accountability Institute, 86% of the S&P 500 Index companies published sustainability or corporate responsibility reports in 2018. In fact, CSR is so important that is has become a business discipline integral to the corporate mission statement.”
Avoiding the pitfalls of customer partecipation
Autors: Omar Merlo, Andreas B. Eisingerich, Hae-Kyung Shin, and Robert A. Britton
Mit-Sloan Management Review, September 03, 2019
“When front-line employees feel torn between representing the customer and what they believe is reasonable, they need to know the company has their back.”
The Art of Values-Based Innovation for Humanitarian Actionevolution of problem solving
Autors: Chris Earney, Aarathi Krishnan
Stanford Social Innovation Review, September 18, 2019
“Contrary to popular belief, innovation isn’t new to the humanitarian sector. Organizations like the Red Cross and Red Crescent have a long history of innovating in communities around the world. Humanitarians have worked both on a global scale—for example, to innovate financing and develop the Humanitarian Code of Conduct—and on a local level—to reduce urban fire risks in informal settlements in Kenya, for instance, and improve waste management to reduce flood risks in Indonesia.”
WEB EXPLORING - August 2019
How organizational culture shapes digital transformation (external link)
Interview to: Nik Puri and Dan Alig
Knowledge@Wharton – August 9, 2019
“When large organizations launch so-called digital transformation initiatives, it is often believed that integrating new technology with existing systems poses the biggest challenge. But that is not necessarily the case. Often, grappling with organizational culture presents a bigger problem. While some firms have a DNA that accepts change relatively easily, others are far more resistant. Navigating the balance between the culture and technology together is one of the toughest challenges of digital transformation.”
Managing technology for the post-digital era (external link)
Authors: Paul Daugherty
MITSloan Management Review – August 14, 2019
“An emerging technology stack made up of distributed ledgers, artificial intelligence, extended reality, and quantum computing will drive business growth and innovation”
Architecting an operating model (external link)
Authors: Deloitte – August 5, 2019
“Many transformation efforts begin with reinventing the operating model. How to keep such a big project on track? This article, fourth in a series, explores how successful transformations align models with clear strategies.”
What is agile customer experience and how do you deliver it? (external link)
Authors: Rachel Lane
Mycustomer.com – August 12, 2019
“When we talk about agile customer experience it’s difficult not to get into buzzwords and phrases. It absolutely is about getting ahead of the customer and failing fast, but it’s also about getting organised in every element of every pillar of your CX programme”
Data management roles: data architect vs data engineer, others (external link)
Authors: Evelyn Bleed
Tech Target – August 13, 2019
“As more organizations become aware of the important role data plays in their overall business practices, there’s more demand for skilled workers to handle various data management roles. But there’s also more confusion around the differences between positions like data architect, data modeler and data engineer, and which ones are most valuable to an organization”
Why your customers should be central to your innovation efforts (external link)
Authors:Vicky Huff
Strategy+Business – August 13, 2019
“There’s a big mistake that a lot of companies make. It’s one that until a few years ago was common in my own organization, and it stems from a worthy goal: to boost innovation. The mistake is adopting what I call the “science fair” mentality: encouraging employees throughout the organization to innovate freely but without much, if any, direct contact with the very customers these innovations are intended for.”
7 reasons not to use Scrum (external link)
Authors: Willem-Jan Ageling
Medium – August 14, 2019
“Some see Scrum as solution for all problems. Many have jumped on the Scrum bandwagon. However Scrum isn’t suited for every environment. Here are 7 reasons why Scrum might not be suited for you.”
Creating leaders at every level (external link)
Authors: David Nast
Raconteur – August 13, 2019
“It is said that leadership is an attitude, management a position, so how can businesses encourage the attitude that any employee, including those outside the C-Suite, should consider themselves a ‘leader’?”
The pros and cons of using AI in HR (external link)
Raconteur – August 2, 2019
“There may be a lot to get your head around, but artificial intelligence in human resources is already a reality. Four experts debate the challenges and opportunities”
Understanding the science of decision making (external link)
Authors: Virginia Matthews
Raconteur – August 5, 2019
“Exploring why we behave the way we do can unlock key customer insights for brands and have a significant impact on the bottom line”.
WEB EXPLORING - July 2019
The future of work in America. People and places, today and tomorrow (Report – external link)
Authors: Susan Lund, James Manyika, Liz Hilton Segel, André Dua, Bryan Hancock, Scott Rutherford, and Brent Macon
McKinseyGlobal Institute – July, 2019
“The US labor market looks markedly different today than it did two decades ago. It has been reshaped by dramatic events like the Great Recession but also by a quieter ongoing evolution in the mix and location of jobs. In the decade ahead, the next wave of automation technologies may accelerate the pace of change. Millions of jobs could be phased out even as new ones are created. More broadly, the day-to-day nature of work could change for nearly everyone as intelligent machines become fixtures in the American workplace”
New frontiers in re-skilling and upskilling (external link)
Authors: Linda Gratton
MITSloan Management Review – July 8, 2019
“In the new world of work, we may not know for sure which jobs will be destroyed and what will be created, but one thing is clear: Everyone, whatever their age, will at some point have to spend time either re-skilling (learning new skills for a new position) or upskilling (learning current tasks more deeply). Every conceivable job will have new technologies to learn and new personal relationships to navigate as those roles fit and refit into a changing economic landscape”
How shared responsibility can shape e compelling vision (external link)
Authors: Radhika Dutt
MITSloan Management Review – July 17, 2019
“On July 20, 1969, minutes before the lunar module Eagle was scheduled to touch down on the moon, dashboard alarms began to indicate an emergency. There was a hardware failure, and the onboard computer wasn’t keeping up with the calculations required for the landing. The reason we can now celebrate the 50th anniversary of the successful Apollo 11 mission and not a critical disaster is due to the work of Margaret Hamilton — a programmer who had a clear vision for how software should be engineered when lives were at stake.”
Want responsible AI? Think business outcomes (external link)
Authors: Mala Anand
Knowledge@Wharton – July 17, 2019
“The rising concern about how AI systems can embody ethical judgments and moral values are prompting the right questions. Too often, however, the answer seems to be to blame the technology or the technologists.
Delegating responsibility is not the answer.
Creating ethical and effective AI applications requires engagement from the entire C-suite. Getting it right is both a critical business question and a values’ statement that requires CEO leadership.”
So your company has a vision? Why can’t everyone see it? (external link)
A Conversation with Andrew Carton
Knowledge@Wharton – July 15, 2019
“Fifty years ago, President John F. Kennedy famously challenged NASA to land a man on the moon by the end of the decade. That vision galvanized thousands of employees with vastly different roles — everyone from astronauts to cleaning crew members — around the common goal of a lunar landing.
According to Wharton management professor Andrew Carton, the power of that message is in the type of wording used: It is visually concrete. If Kennedy had said, “Let’s aim to be number one in the space race,” would the results have been different? Perhaps so.”
The state of the blockchain revolution (external link)
Authors: Don Tapscott
Insead Knowledge – July 3, 2019
“Many of us are old enough to remember what using the internet was like in 1995: The crackling, hissing and discordant tones of a dial-up modem, followed by long wait times for ugly websites to load. To all appearances, those days are far behind us – yet looks can be deceiving. The internet that has matured so spectacularly over the last 25 years is about to be reborn, and what will replace it is still in nascent form. The technology behind this rebirth is blockchain.”
When social change requires behavioral change (external link)
Authors: Pritha Venkatachalam & Niloufer Memon
Stanford Social Innovation Review – July 15, 2019
“It’s a common conundrum: A nonprofit rolls out what it believes will be an impactful program, only to run into cultural traditions and taboos that result in constituents resisting an initiative that might dramatically improve their lives. In many cases, the solution is a matter of sequencing, where opening constituents’ minds to a program’s promise precedes efforts to execute the program itself.”
Digital transformation as a path to growth (external link)
Authors: By
Deloitte – July 15, 2019
“Disruptive technologies, introduced at an unprecedented rate, are driving the Industry 4.0 revolution, and companies that can successfully harness the potential of these technologies can enjoy exponential growth. Yet a recent Deloitte study suggests a disconnect between Industry 4.0’s market potential and its attainability, and most companies are using advanced technologies for near-term business operations rather than truly transformative opportunities. Thus, even executives who are ready to invest in digital industrial transformation may see it more as a defensive move rather than an offensive or growth-oriented play.”
In a world of autonomous vehicles, this is why we’ll need more public transport than ever (external link)
World Economic Forum – July 19, 2019
“The media is fascinated by autonomous vehicles (AVs), in particular their safety and when or if they will arrive en masse. A bigger and more important question is how AVs will work together as fleets and whether they work with public transport to move more people with fewer vehicles to solve our urban congestion and pollution challenges.”
Building value with blockchain technology. How to evaluate blockchain’s benefits (White Paper – external link)
World Economic Forum – July, 2019
“Building Value with Blockchain TechnologyIntroductionSince the digital era, organizations have been looking for ways to improve their operating model through modernizing their technology infrastructure. Being able to simplify complex processes while enabling innovation is the driving motivation for tech modernization. Today, organizations are trying to understand what role emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), the internet of things (IoT), immersive reality and even quantum computing will have in their business. The Fourth Industrial Revolution has arrived, and organizations understand the need to innovate to prevent them from being disrupted. High-growth organizations are investing aggressively and taking a distinct approach to innovation that is change-oriented, outcome-led and disruption-minded. But with blockchain technology, even the leaders have challenges when realizing the true value of the technology.This white paper can help organizations by understanding the state of the blockchain environment and the path to adoption. The analysis highlights the main advantages of the technology (broken down by industry), and the interviews shed light on the benefits and challenges of blockchain technology. And for organizations unsure where to begin or how to build a business case to assess the technology, the value framework shows what blockchain enables and where one can expect to realize value from it. Though peer-to-peer, privacy-enabling payments are perhaps the best-known applications of blockchain technology (e.g. bitcoin), they are not the focus of this paper”
WEB EXPLORING - June 2019
GOOD READING ON THE NET
Accelerating digital innnovation inside and out (external link)
Authors: Gerald C. Kane, Doug Palmer, Anh Nguyen Phillips, David Kiron, and Natasha Buckley
MITSloan Management Review – June 4, 2019
“In the 2019 Digital Business Report, MIT SMR and Deloitte’s survey analysis and executive interviews unveil the distinctive characteristics of innovation in digitally maturing organizations. Ecosystems and cross-functional teams allow them to be agile, but this increased agility demands a thorough consideration of governance as well.”
A new era for culture, change, and leadership (external link)
A Conversation Between Edgar H. Schein and Peter A. Schein
MITSloan Management Review – June 5, 2019
“With the world in flux, organizations and the people within them need close relationships to thrive.”
How Can We Overcome the Challenge of Biased and Incomplete Data? (external link)
A Conversation with Alexandra Olteanu
Knowledge@Wharton – June 5, 2019
“Data analytics and artificial intelligence are transforming our lives. Be it in health care, in banking and financial services, or in times of humanitarian crises — data determine the way decisions are made. But often, the way data is collected and measured can result in biased and incomplete information, and this can significantly impact outcomes.”
Why We Need a People-First AI Strategy? (external link)
A Conversation with Soumitra Dutta
Knowledge@Wharton – June 7, 2019
“With more access to data and growing computing power, artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming increasingly powerful. But for it to be effective and meaningful, we must embrace people-first artificial intelligence strategies, according to Soumitra Dutta, professor of operations, technology, and information management at the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business. “There has to be a human agency-first kind of principle that lets people feel empowered about how to make decisions and how to use AI systems to support their decision-making,” notes Dutta. ”
A Non-Scientist’s Guide to Neuromarketing Toolkit (external link)
Author: Hilke Plassmann
Insead Knowledge – June 10, 2019
“Neuromarketing – which uses advanced technology to measure involuntary human response such as brain region activation – is designed to glean a deeper and purer picture of consumer preference than people will willingly give companies. But choosing the wrong technological tools for the job can be just as damaging as a focus group gone awry.”
Digital Augmented Education – Are you ready to experiment? (external link)
Author: Chengyi Lin
Global Focus – June 10, 2019
“In 2018, total registered learners in the top MOOC platforms passed the 100 million mark. The total number of online courses was over 11,400. Roughly 18.2% of the courses are business related, a number that closely follows the 20.4% on technology. (Source 1) After seven years, the MOOC movement is starting to bear fruit from its root philosophy: providing education access to those who could not afford otherwise.”
How can Agile working benefit customer insight teams (external link)
Author: Paul Luaghlin
MyCustomer.com – June 10, 2019
“Agile working is being adopted by more and more organisations. But what does Agile working bring to customer insight teams?”
To recruit younger people, you have to understand them. Here’s a guide (external link)
World Economic Forum – June 14, 2019
“Global organizations today are faced with talent shortages, skills gaps and ageing workforces. To overcome these challenges, businesses need to look to younger generations – but what can companies do to attract and retain the best talent from among millennials and Generation Z?”
Tackling Bias in Artificial Intelligence and in Humans (external link)
Authors: ake Silberg and James Manyika
McKinsey – June, 2019
“The growing use of artificial intelligence in sensitive areas, including for hiring, criminal justice, and healthcare, has stirred a debate about bias and fairness. Yet human decision making in these and other domains can also be flawed, shaped by individual and societal biases that are often unconscious. Will AI’s decisions be less biased than human ones? Or will AI make these problems worse? ”
A Revolution at the Organization’s Core: Millenials (external link)
Authors: Guido Stein, Miguel Martín
The European Business Review – May 28, 2019
“How do organisations strategise to create a sound and functional workforce? In this article, the authors present how various companies and businesses restructured the workplace and devise new methods and work culture to keep up with the demands of the new generations”
WEB EXPLORING - May 2019
GOOD READING ON THE NET
Deloitte’s 2019 Global Blockchain Survey (external link)
Authors:
Deloitte – May 6, 2019
“The blockchain story is beginning a new chapter, one in which the questions executives are asking are tougher, more granular, more grounded, and more pragmatic. The question for executives is no longer, “Will blockchain work?” but, “How can we make blockchain work for us?” ”
It’s people, not technology, that will decide the future of work (external link)
Author: Sharan Burrow
World Economic Forum – May 6, 2019
“The accelerating march of digitalisation, robotics and a plethora of technological innovations will affect production, services and life in general – in ways that are hard to predict but which will surely be profound. The challenge is to make the right decisions, putting people at the centre and technology at the service of people.”
Systems Change in Social Innovation Education (external link)
Authors: Daniela Papi-Thornton, Joshua Cubista
Stanford Social Innovation Review – May 6, 2019
“Systems change—the idea that we can design interventions that fundamentally reshape social or environmental systems that perpetuate injustice or negative results—continues to gain interest across the social sector. Indeed, the term is popping up all over social innovation and social entrepreneurship convenings, publications, and dialogues. Yet many of the educational models we use to teach social entrepreneurship and innovation fail to teach students to think critically about or build activities that contribute to systems change. ”
How Inclusive Capitalism Can Empower the Underprivileged (external link)
Interview to Gilbert Ghostine
Knowledge@Wharton – May 6, 2019
“For Switzerland-based Firmenich, understanding the needs of low-income consumers in emerging markets and coming up with business solutions to solve their problems is a core aspect of its philosophy. For instance, the company — the world’s largest privately owned firm in the fragrances and flavor business — is working in the area of sanitation. Firmenich deploys its expertise in the area of smell to understand molecules that cause malodor in public toilets and to come up with breakthrough technologies to reduce odors”
AI in business: looking beyond the hype (external link)
Author: Oliver Pickup
Raconteur – May 12, 2019
“A couple of years ago, there was a joke doing the rounds at technology conferences that AI in business is like teenagers and sex: everyone talks about it, but few actually get it. Is the ribald witticism outdated in 2019? Or has the increased hype enveloping AI that it will magically solve most business problems only further confused executives? So much so they are not engaging with AI’s myriad technologies or are left clumsily fumbling with algorithms that fail to perform, while cannier rivals score big. Moreover, has the crucial point that AI in business is best utilised as a means of achieving very specific, narrow-focused objectives, and is not an end point in itself, been obscured by the sheer volume of misleading buzz?”
Three keys to faster, better decisions (external link)
Authors: Aaron De Smet, Gregor Jost, and Leigh Weiss
McKinsey – May, 2019
“Decision makers fed up with slow or subpar results take heart. Three practices can help improve decision making and convince skeptical business leaders that there is life after death by committee.”
How to Become a Strategic Leader (external link)
Author: Julie Zhuo
MITSloan Management Review – May 6, 2019
“My career at Facebook started in 2006 as its first intern. Three years later, I became a rookie manager at the age of 25. Today, I manage an organization of hundreds of people. This path has brought countless new challenges, mistakes, and lessons, many of which are laid out in my new book, The Making of a Manager, a field guide for new managers. One of the key areas of growth for me as a manager was strategy. As I progressed in my career, I knew that there was an expectation that the work I did would become increasingly strategic.”
The World in 2030: Nine Megatrents to Watch (external link)
MITSloan Management Review – May 7, 2019
“I don’t usually play the futurist game — I’m more of a “presentist,” looking at the data we have right now on fast-moving megatrends that shape the world today. But a client asked me to paint a picture of what the big trends tell us about 2030. And I’d say we do have some strong indications of where we could be in 11 years.
The directions we go and choices we make will have enormous impacts on our lives, careers, businesses, and the world. Here are my predictions of how nine important trends will evolve by 2030 — listed in order roughly from nearly certain to very likely to hard to say.”
Leading your organization to responsible AI (external link)
Authors: Roger Burkhardt, Nicolas Hohn, and Chris Wigley
McKinsey – May, 2019
“CEOs often live by the numbers—profit, earnings before interest and taxes, shareholder returns. These data often serve as hard evidence of CEO success or failure, but they’re certainly not the only measures. Among the softer, but equally important, success factors: making sound decisions that not only lead to the creation of value but also “do no harm. While artificial intelligence (AI) is quickly becoming a new tool in the CEO tool belt to drive revenues and profitability, it has also become clear that deploying AI requires careful management to prevent unintentional but significant damage, not only to brand reputation but, more important, to workers, individuals, and society as a whole.”
User-generated Content: The Medium Impacts the Message (external link)
Interview to Shiri Melumad
Knowledge@Wharton – May 7, 2019
“In her latest research, Wharton marketing professor Shiri Melumad finds that consumers who write out their thoughts on smartphones tend to be more emotional than those who wait until they get home to type on their personal computers. Her findings have implications for both marketers and consumers who rely on user-generated content to inform their decisions.”
WEB EXPLORING - April 2019
GOOD READING ON THE NET
Discriminating Systems (report download)
Authors: Sarah Myers West et al.
AI Now Institute – April, 2019
“There is a diversity crisis in the AI industry, and a moment of reckoning is underway. Over the past few months, employees have been protesting across the tech industry where AI products are created. In April 2019, Microsoft employees met with CEO Satya Nadella to discuss issues of harassment, discrimination, unfair compensation, and lack of promotion for women at the company. There are claims that sexual harassment complaints have not been taken seriously enough by HR across the industry. And at Google, there was an historic global walkout in November 2018 of 20,000 employees over a culture of inequity and sexual harassment inside the company, triggered by revelations that Google had paid $90m to a male executive accused of serious misconduct.”
Global, Multinational or International? (external link)
Author: Mariano Bernandez
Social & Organizational Performance Review – April 19, 2019
“Trading products and client experiences across cultural boundaries creates two-way “waves of culture”, forcing international organizations and their local customers and business partners to negotiate preferences and habits –from bowing, kissing or shaking hands rituals to food tastes, metric and power standards, dressing codes and the nuances of foreign languages and customs”
Don’t Panic: The digital revolution Isn’t as Unusual as You Think (external link)
Interview to Tom Wheeler
Knowledge@Wharton – April 17, 2019
“The digital revolution has dramatically changed life on Earth, making it easy to think we’re living in the greatest time of innovation. But a new book by Tom Wheeler, former chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, is a reminder that remarkable change has happened many times before. The invention of the printing press in the 15th century created upheaval and reorganized everything in society, as did the subsequent inventions of the telegraph, telephone and railroad.”
Why Trust Is the Gold Standard in Developing Countries (external link)
Interview to Tarun Khanna
Knowledge@Wharton – April 18, 2019
“Entrepreneurs in the developing world face a distinct disadvantage over their Western counterparts – a widespread lack of trust. Western nations have spent centuries putting in place customs, institutions and regulations to support new companies. But those structures don’t necessarily exist in places like India, South America, Africa or China. Harvard Business School professor Tarun Khanna believes smart entrepreneurs who want to succeed in places with “rampant mistrust” must build their own microcosm of trust with employees, partners and customers.”
Can AI be ethical? (external link)
Authors: David Schatsky et al.
Deloitte Insights – April 17, 2019
“With AI applications becoming ubiquitous in and out of the workplace, can the technology be controlled to avoid unintended or adverse outcomes? Organizations are launching a range of initiatives to address ethical concerns.”
How companies can help midlevel managers navigate agile transformations (external link)
Authors: Aaron De Smet, Chris Smith, Daidree Tofano
McKinsey – April, 2019
“Agile organization models have less hierarchy and fewer conventional managers. Here’s how executives making the move to agile can keep their valuable former managers engaged and motivated.”
Should your organization be embracing agility? (external link)
Author: Karam Filfilan
Raconteur – April 9, 2019
“In a volatile world characterised by uncertainty, being agile is vital to business survival. No longer can boards rely on the traditional command-and-control style of leadership, with the next generation of workers expecting input on decision-making and valuing purpose in their jobs. At the same time, technological innovation is changing how, when and where we work.”
The first law of digital transformation (external link)
MITSloan Management Review – April 8, 2019
“The relentless march of technology is very good for companies that sell technology, and for the analysts, journalists, and consultants who sell technology advice to managers. But it’s not always so good for the managers themselves. This is because Moore’s law is only part of the equation for digital innovation. And it’s a smaller part than many people imagine.”
We need a reskilling revolution. Here’s how make it happen (external link)
Author: Børge Brende
World Economic Forum – April 15, 2019
“Education is and will remain critical for promoting inclusive economic growth and providing a future of opportunity for all. But as the technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution create new pressures on labour markets, education reform, lifelong learning and reskilling initiatives will be key to ensuring both that individuals have access to economic opportunity by remaining competitive in the new world of work, and that businesses have access to the talent they need for the jobs of the future.”
From employee experience to human experience (external link)
Author: et al.
Deloitte Trends – April 11, 2019
“Organizations are investing in many programs to improve life at work, all focused on improving the day-to-day experience workers have. While there is much that can be done to improve work/life balance, research shows that the most important factor of all is the work itself: making work meaningful and giving people a sense of belonging, trust, and relationship. We believe organizations should move beyond thinking about experience at work in terms of perks, rewards, or support, and focus on job fit, job design, and meaning—for all workers across the enterprise.”
WEB EXPLORING - March 2019
Economics for an Inclusive Prosperity. An Introduction (ebook download)
Authors: Dani Rodrik et al.
econfip.org – February, 2019
“We live in an age of astonishing inequality. Income and wealth disparities between the rich and the poor in the United States have risen to heights not seen since the gilded age in the early part of the 20th century, and are among the highest in the developed world. Median wages for American workers remain at 1970s levels. Fewer and fewer among newer generations can expect to do better than their parents. Organizational and technological changes and globalization have fueled great wealth accumulation among those able to take advantage of them, but have left large segments of the population behind. U.S. life expectancy has declined for the third year in a row in 2017, and the allocation of healthcare looks both inefficient and unfair. Advances in automation and digitization threaten even greater labor market disruptions in the years ahead. Climate change fueled disasters increasingly disrupt everyday life. Greater prosperity and inclusion both seem attainable, yet the joint target recedes ever further.”
Big Data’s Biggest Challenge: How to Avoid Getting Lost in the Weeds (external link)
Interview to Raghuram Iyengar and Victor Cho
Knowledge@Wharton – March 14, 2019
“Companies have access to more data than ever before. But how can they optimize it without getting lost in the weeds – or losing sight of the customer? Evite CEO Victor Cho and Wharton marketing professor Raghuram Iyengar offered advice from their own experiences during a recent conversation with Knowledge@Wharton. Cho was on campus to host a Datathon with the Wharton Customer Analytics Initiative, which Iyengar co-directs. Penn students from multiple academic majors were given datasets from Evite and asked to come up with solutions based on the data for improving Evite’s platform and increasing revenue. ”
How Business Leaders Can Navigate the Unknown – and Thrive (external link)
Interview to Julie Benezet
Knowledge@Wharton – March 07, 2019
“Julie Benezet joined Amazon in 1998, when the company was just another ambitious startup in the nascent business of internet retail. She was hired to find sites for Amazon’s distribution centers as the operation grew. There were a lot of unknowns at the time, but the risks taken back then clearly paid off. Benezet left Amazon in 2002 after building the company’s first global real estate function. She was an executive committee member of the Samuel Zell and Robert Lurie Real Estate Center at Wharton and also taught the Challenges of Leadership program at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design, Executive Education.
Today, she’s a consultant who teaches the value of taking risks, which is the focus of her new book, The Journey of Not Knowing: How 21st Century Leaders Can Chart a Course Where There Is None.”
Pivoting the Digital Maturity (external link)
Authors: Ragu Gurumurthy and David Schatsky
Deloitte Insights – March 13, 2019
“Constant pressure on businesses to innovate and grow in a dynamic competitive environment has made digital transformation a top priority for businesses across industries. Organizations are devoting significant time, effort, and capital to digitally transform. Some achieve significant tangible results from these efforts. Others achieve less impact. Why?”
Society vs Technology: What’s really driving CX innovation? (external link)
Author: Josie Klafkowska
MyCustomer.com – March 08, 2019
“Both society and technology are driving innovation, but which is leading and which is adapting to follow? Are societal changes and pressures defining the role for technology, or is the pace of technological change shaping consumer behaviour? One thing is sure; expectations around customer experience continue to grow. Let’s take look at some of the forces that are currently driving CX innovation. Cause or effect? You decide.”
Putting People at the Heart of Public Sector Transformations (external link)
Authors: Martin Checinski, Roland Dillon, Solveigh Hieronimus, and Julia Klier
McKinsey – March, 2019
“Transformation in government is a hugely complex undertaking. That makes it critical to get the people component right”
Supply chain agility is the key for the future (external link)
Author: Mark Hillsdon
Raconteur – March 14, 2019
“Making a supply chain completely agile and adaptable is necessary in times of economic uncertainty and disruption, but this requires real-time visibility over a connected network of suppliers.”
The Only Way Manufacturers Can Survive (external link)
MITSloan Management Review – March 12, 2019
“Leading a corporate transformation of any kind is difficult, and it hasn’t become any easier over time. But starting and sustaining a digital transformation in a manufacturing company? That’s tougher than managing any other change initiative — from total quality management to Six Sigma to lean manufacturing — and, believe us, we’ve lived through, or seen, them all over the last three decades.”
The digital skills gap is widening fast. Here’s how to bridge it (external link)
Author: Miguel Milano
World Economic Forum – March 12, 2019
“Access to skilled workers is already a key factor that sets successful companies apart from failing ones. In an increasingly data-driven future – the European Commission believes there could be as many as 756,000 unfilled jobs in the European ICT sector by 2020 – this difference will become even more acute. ”
This is what the ancient Greeks had to say about robotics and AI (external link)
Author: Aaron Hertzmann
World Economic Forum – March 18, 2019
“Historians usually trace the idea of automata to the Middle Ages, when humans first invented self-moving devices, but the concept of artificial, lifelike creatures dates to the myths and legends from at least about 2,700 years ago, says Adrienne Mayor, a research scholar in the classics department in the School of Humanities and Sciences at Stanford University. ”
WEB EXPLORING - February 2019
GOOD READING ON THE NET
The Power of Thought. How Critical Thinking Can Help Your Business (external link)
Interview to Gerald Zaltman
Knowledge@Wharton – February 14, 2019
“Many people work on their goals by engaging in positive actions — hitting the gym, planning a trip or taking guitar lessons. But they may be overlooking one of the most important tools for effecting change – the power of thought. Harvard Business School professor emeritus Gerald Zaltman recommends exercises called “think keys” to tap into the conscious and unconscious dynamics of the mind.”
Want to Foster Prosperity? Focus on Market-creating Innovations (external link)
Interview to Clayton M. Christensen
Knowledge@Wharton – February 14, 2019
“China has slashed extreme poverty from some 66% in 1990 to under 2% today. Clayton Christensen, a professor at Harvard Business School, an expert on innovation and one of the authors of The Prosperity Paradox, says China’s prosperity comes from its market-creating innovations that have made products and services affordable and accessible. Christensen believes that other nations can replicate such success. “
Making Civic Engagement Efforts Work (external link)
Authors: Hollie Russon Gilman & Elena Souris
Stanford Social Innovation Review – February 12, 2019
“When city government officials combine technical expertise with a real understanding of local residents’ lives, they stand to create truly effective policy. That diligence, however, requires time, money, and a willingness to experiment—resources municipalities usually have in short supply—and as a result, it can seem unrealistic.
But experiments with civic engagement, outreach, and philanthropic models in Philadelphia show it’s possible to make real progress despite these constraints”
How Can We Tax Footloose Multinationals? (external link)
Author: Joseph E. Stiglitz
Project Syndacate – February 13, 2019
“Apple, Google, Starbucks, and companies like them all claim to be socially responsible, but the first element of social responsibility should be paying your fair share of tax. Instead, globalization has enabled multinationals to encourage a race to the bottom, threatening the revenues that governments need to function properly.”
Do Machine Dream? (external link)
Author: Dave Perkon
Control Design – February 11, 2019
“Technology will leave you behind if you try to stop it. Will automation and robots replace personnel? What is the reality of automation’s effect on jobs in the manufacturing industry, and how is machine control affecting it? A machine builder’s or system integrator’s or automation supplier’s opinion might vary from that of the masses.”
Competitive advantage with a human dimension: from lifelong learning to lifelong employability (external link)
Authors: Beth Davies, Connor Diemand-Yauman, and Nick van Dam
McKensey Quarterly – February, 2019
“As AI-enabled automation advances, organizations should embrace “lifelong employability,” which stretches traditional notions of learning and development and can inspire workers to adapt, more routinely, to the evolving economy.”
The straightforward guide to digital transformation (external link)
Authors: Francesca Cassidy
Raconteur – February 14, 2019
“Only eight per cent of CEOs believe their business model will survive the current levels of large-scale digital disruption.
That’s according to research by work management platform, Workfront. Chief executive Alex Shootman knows the pressure businesses are under, “and yet there is still a lot of confusion as to what digital transformation actually means.”
This guide will explain how to set goals and lay the groundwork for digital transformation, cover four possible transformation methods, explore the impact such projects have on company culture, and establish what can be learnt from high-profile digital transformation failures.”
Can We Really Test People for Potential? (external link)
MITSloan Management Review – February 12, 2019
“Have you ever taken an aptitude or work personality test? Maybe it was part of a job application, one of the many ways your prospective employer tried to figure out whether you were the right fit. Or perhaps you took it for a leadership development program, at an offsite team-building retreat, or as a quiz in a best-selling business book. Regardless of the circumstances, the hope was probably more or less the same: that a brief test would unlock deep insight into who you are and how you work, which in turn would lead you to a perfect-match job and heretofore unseen leaps in your productivity, people skills, and all-around potential.”
These 4 trends are shaping the future of your job (external link)
Authors: Sean Fleming
World Economic Forum – February 4, 2019
“Whether you’re an optimist pointing to predictions of job creation or you’ve been worrying that a robot might be after your job, one thing is for certain. The world of work is going through a period of arguably unprecedented change at the hands of machines; automation and artificial intelligence (AI) are the new kids on the employment block.
Employers need more from their people than ever before if they are to stay relevant and competitive.”
4 myths about manufacturing in the Fourth Industrial Revolution (external link)
Authors: Ian Cronin et al.
World Economic Forum – February 11, 2019
“Like all good industry trends, the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) for manufacturing has come to mean many things. While most would agree that it involves the incorporation and interconnectivity of new technologies across production systems, questions remain around the business case to actually implement these solutions.”
WEB EXPLORING - January 2019
GOOD READING ON THE NET
Making the Leap to Entrepreneurship (external link)
Author: Antoine Tirard
Insead Knowledge – January 02, 2019
“By some estimates, three start-ups are born every second. Disruption and the rise of the gig economy explain only part of this start-up mania. A growing disillusionment with corporate life is also a contributing factor. To illustrate this latter trend, we chart the path of three executives who have made the leap after a long corporate career.”
How Organizations Can Cultivate Innovation Catalysts (external link)
Author: Manuel Sosa
Insead Knowledge – January, 2019
“Given the highly complex, uncertain and dynamic environments facing all firms nowadays, it is more important than ever to prepare your organisation to tackle any business challenge with an innovative mindset. That is the only way to transform existing and emerging threats into opportunities for future success. Accomplishing this requires a special type of leader – a type I call the innovation catalyst.”
The all-knowing digital twin (external link)
Author: Mike Bacidore
Control Design – January 14, 2019
“It’s 2019, and the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) is still here. Those naysayers, convinced it’s just a fad or some marketing gimmick, seem almost confused by its perseverance. The truth is it’s gone from concept to reality before our eyes. As it continues to define itself, one thing is certain: the digital twin will be a part of that definition.”
What Motivate Workers in the Gig Economy? (external link)
Author: Gad Allon
Knowledge@Wharton – January 07, 2019
“The gig economy offers tremendous flexibility for workers and companies, but it also comes with a host of unknown factors for both parties. A new study co-authored by Wharton professor of operations, information and decisions Gad Allon looks at how drivers for a ride-hailing firm make labor decisions – when to work, and for how long – and aims to improve predictions about labor supply and to shed light on more effective financial incentives”
Digitizing Products for Sustainability’s Sake (external link)
Authors: Gregory Unruh and David Kiron
MIT Sloan Management Review – January 10, 2019
“By conceptualizing a combination of matter, energy, and information, digitization of physical products and production has become an emerging idea in sustainability”
Five ways that customer experience will change in 2019 (external link)
Author:Neil Davey
MyCustomer.com – January 14, 2019
“A panel of experts discuss what will characterise the customer experience management landscape in 2019, and how brands can capitalise on these trends to improve their CX. As we enter 2019, the customer experience is set to wield even greater influence over business performance, reflecting a trend that has characterised this decade.”
What the next 20 years will mean for jobs – and how to prepare (external link)
Author: Stephane Kasriel
World Economic Forum – January 10, 2019
“The next two decades promise a full-scale revolution in our working lives. Before we look into the next 20 years, let’s take a quick look at the present – and something once considered paradoxical. We’re already living in an age of a lot of robots – and a lot of jobs. As the number of robots at work has reached record levels, it’s worth noting that in 2018 the global unemployment level fell to 5.2%, according to a report last month – the lowest level in 38 years. In other words, high tech and high employment don’t have to be mutually exclusive. We’re living the proof of that today.”