Boards Under the Influence
Henrich GreveSeptember 3, 2019
By Henrich Greve DIRECTORS NEED TO CAREFULLY manage their reactions to what they read in the business press. Fifteen years ago, The Globe and Mail put the spotlight on a group of 16 board directors who had an inordinate influence on the Canadian business landscape. Dubbed the “Elite 16,” these men sat on the […]
Five Everyday Exercises for Building Empathy
Minter DialAugust 26, 2019
By Minter Dial Empathy is like a muscle – use it or lose it. Reading a novel about grief and looking at contemporary artworks may sound like part of a liberal arts education or languid diversions of people of leisure. Of late, MBA students at Carnegie Mellon’s Tepper School of Business are also engaging in […]
When Is Cool Office Design More Than Window Dressing?
Phanish PuranamAugust 26, 2019
By Phanish Puranam New trends in workplace design may turn out to be as game-changing as the ongoing technological revolution. Flying sharks, waterfalls in the lobby, in-house top chefs and dogs in the workplace. These are just a few tangible examples of experience design re-imagining organisations beyond the traditional scope of organisation design. Organisation design […]
The Optimal Design of Loyalty Programmes
So Yeon ChunAugust 19, 2019
By So Yeon Chun Revenue-based loyalty programmes yield better profits, but consumers don’t have to be on the losing end. Loyalty programmes used to have a simple arithmetic to them. For example, Starbucks customers would get gold status after making a certain number of transactions. Travellers stood to achieve airline elite status after reaching […]
Whatever It Is, I’m Against It
Manfred F. R. Kets de VriesAugust 19, 2019
By Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries For real societal change, we should build bridges, not burn them. In the 1932 film Horse Feathers, comedian Groucho Marx sings a catchy tune whose lyrics surprisingly capture the spirit of our times: I don’t know what they have to say It makes no difference anyway Whatever it […]
The Powerful Drivers and Blockers of Leadership
Ian C. WoodwardAugust 12, 2019
By Ian C. Woodward Exploring the hidden forces that motivate and hinder you can make you a better leader. When Olivia, a global marketing head, received peer feedback that she continuously monopolised work conversations, she readily recognised her problem. However, all past efforts to restrain herself had failed. Immersing herself in a leadership development […]
An Unexpected Product Benefit Can Be a Powerful Marketing Tool
Amitava ChattopadhyayAugust 5, 2019
By Amitava Chattopadhyay Framing a product feature as an unexpected benefit may stoke consumer desire. As companies test a new product, they often learn that it can deliver unexpected benefits. This very famously happened in the case of Viagra, a product originally developed to treat cardiovascular problems. During the first human trials of the compound, […]
Which Healthy Eating Nudges Work Best?
Pierre ChandonAugust 5, 2019
By Pierre Chandon Our framework shows how to guide consumers to choose healthier food options. Everyone wants to make healthier eating choices. Governments, from the United States, to the United Kingdom, to France, are focused on helping their citizens reduce the levels of obesity in their countries. Despite public campaigns like “five a day” […]
Y Combinator Accelerates the Hunt for Unicorns
Claudia ZeisbergerJuly 29, 2019
By Claudia Zeisberger Faced with increasing competition, the leading accelerator is making start-up know-how widely available as it searches for the next Airbnb. Last summer, Y Combinator (YC), the original start-up accelerator that has invested in more than 2,000 fledgling firms with a combined value of US$150 billion, sent acceptance emails to 11,000 of […]
Can Emotion Be Automated?
Chengyi LinJuly 29, 2019
By Chengyi Lin The emotional literacy gap between bots and humans is expected to narrow, thanks to a series of technological advances. When it comes to computational heavy lifting, artificial intelligence (AI) beats humans every time. But within the current technological limitations, no amount of number-crunching alone has yet enabled AI to develop emotional intelligence […]