What is a connected company?
Xplaner
NOVEMBER 8, 2012
November, 2012
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The Power of Diversity: Innovation In A Song
Bill Fischer
NOVEMBER 28, 2012
The next time someone questions the value of diversity, tell’em to go whistle up a tune; Autumn in New York to be specific. This rather modest “jazz standard” is a microcosm of how diversity adds to the creativity of a society. Composed in 1934, by a Russian (now he would [.
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CorporateIntel
NOVEMBER 14, 2012
It has been over a week now since our Presidential Election, a good time to reflect. A broad consensus would seem to exist that it is good the election is over — on this we can all agree, and hey, that’s a start. If the numbers tell the tale correctly, slightly more than half of us are pleased with the outcome and slightly less than half not so much.
Do You Really Need to Say Thank You?
Harvard Business Review
NOVEMBER 21, 2012
John, the CEO of a sales organization, sent an email to Tim, an employee several levels below, to complement him on his performance in a recent meeting. Tim did not respond to the email. About a week later, he was in John's office applying for an open position that would have been a promotion into a management role, when John asked him whether he had received the email.
Welcome to the Future of Hospitality: Smart Rooms Start Here
Speaker: Jady West, VP of Hospitality & Chris Bennett, Head of Sales & Engineering
The modern hotel room is no longer just a place to stay—it’s an experience to remember. Today’s guests expect seamless connectivity, personalized comfort, and high-tech convenience. From AI-powered smart room controls to keyless entry, in-room entertainment, and app-based services, technology is redefining hospitality from the inside out. In this new session featuring industry pros Jady West and Chris Bennett, we’ll explore how high-speed, high-bandwidth connectivity powers the innovations that
The Folly of Trying to Spend Your Way to Innovativeness
Bill Fischer
NOVEMBER 2, 2012
When it comes to innovation, minds matter more than money! Yes, size can be an advantage when it comes to innovation, and wealth as well, yet only three of "the most innovative companies in the world" in 2011 were among the 10 biggest spenders on R&D and, according to a [.
Lead With Your Heart, Not Just Your Head
Harvard Business Review
NOVEMBER 16, 2012
Have you noticed that in dangerous jobs, good bosses tend to have deep bonds with their workers? Whether it's a captain and crew on a crab fishing boat in the Bering Sea , a platoon commander and his troops in Afghanistan, or a tree-cutting foreman and his team in the forest — people in dangerous working conditions sense they need to trust each other and their boss to survive.
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Business Innovation Brief brings together the best content for business innovation and strategy professionals from the widest variety of industry thought leaders.
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How to Master a New Skill
Harvard Business Review
NOVEMBER 29, 2012
We all want to be better at something. After all, self-improvement is necessary to getting ahead at work. But once you know what you want to be better at — be it public speaking , using social media, or analyzing data — how do you start? Of course, learning techniques will vary depending on the skill and the person, but there are some general rules you can follow.
How President Obama Should Choose His Leadership Team
Harvard Business Review
NOVEMBER 6, 2012
Barack Obama is once again the president of the United States. The first thing he should do is pick leadership team — carefully. "No other action will have a larger impact on his ability to meet the huge, immediate challenges facing the U.S.," says Claudio Fernández-Aráoz, the author of Great People Decisions. I interviewed Fernández-Aráoz and Harvard Business School professor Nancy Koehn about why the right group of advisers is important for the president and what pitfalls he should look
Authentic Presentations Take Practice
Harvard Business Review
NOVEMBER 28, 2012
Lots of us fall into the "smart" trap when presenting: we work so hard to be polished and articulate that we overcompensate and come across as flat, boring, and egg-headed. We've all certainly heard (and suffered through) talks like this. So how is it that great communicators manage to engage and entertain their audiences while sounding smart? They're open and sincere.
How Nate Silver Won the 2012 Presidential Election
Harvard Business Review
NOVEMBER 6, 2012
As President Obama and Mitt Romney can tell you, it's getting harder every day to win public attention — thus, the billions they spent on this year's presidential campaign. Overall, the election of 2012 has shown that we're at a liminal moment in how ideas and brands spread — and the winners have to thread the needle between the declining (but still powerful) broadcast era and the nimble, fragmented ways of digital communication.
Prospect, Personalize, Profit: The New Way Sales & Marketing Teams Are Aligning with AI
Speaker: Kevin Burke, Founder & Managing Director at Digital One and AI & Automation Consultant
AI and automation are currently transforming the way sales and marketing teams operate. Generative AI crafts personalized outreach at scale, while conversational AI bots are engaging prospects in real time. Robotic process automation streamlines manual workflows by triggering tasks the moment a prospect takes a key action, and advanced AI analytics surface hidden patterns in the pipeline, improve forecasting, and help teams make data-driven decisions with confidence.
Innovate by Looking for Problem Patterns
Harvard Business Review
NOVEMBER 20, 2012
Clayton Christensen , Harvard Business School Professor, explains how to approach innovation creatively by studying the problem you are trying to solve and how it was resolved by other industries. For more, see the article Surviving Disruption.
The Four Fears Blocking You from Great Ideas
Harvard Business Review
NOVEMBER 15, 2012
An interview with Tom and David Kelley , leaders of IDEO and authors of the forthcoming article "Reclaim Your Creative Confidence.". Download this podcast. A written transcript will be available by November 26.
The Upside of Inefficiency
Harvard Business Review
NOVEMBER 9, 2012
In the last few days, I've heard New York City described as a tale of two cities: one city of people who were drastically impacted by Hurricane Sandy, and another of those who were merely inconvenienced by it. I am fortunate: I live on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, which was minimally affected. Our kids were out of school for several days but we never lost power and our apartment suffered no damage.
Are Business Schools Clueless or Evil?
Harvard Business Review
NOVEMBER 14, 2012
The last decade has been a one of soul-searching for business schools worldwide. Since the collapse of Enron, through the financial crisis, to the insider trading and LIBOR scandals, the question just keeps recurring: How did those institutions of higher learning, whose claim is to develop business leaders, influence the conduct of leaders who let so many people down?
A Roadmap For Modernization: How To Break Free From Your Monolith Before July 31, 2026
Speaker: Jason Cottrell and Gireesh Sahukar
Retailers know the clock is ticking–legacy SAP Commerce support ends in 2026. Legacy platforms are becoming a liability burdened by complexity, rigidity, and mounting operational costs. But modernization isn’t just about swapping out systems, it’s about preparing for a future shaped by real-time interactions, AI powered buying assistants, and flexible commerce architecture.
Holiday Discounts Are a Dangerous Drug
Harvard Business Review
NOVEMBER 23, 2012
A retail battle is underway. Just walk to the nearest shopping center as early as Thanksgiving night, and you will find people shoving their way across overcrowded aisles for the best deals, and retailers fighting tooth and nail for every dollar in customers' wallets. Cynicism aside, there is no doubt that the six-week stretch between late November and early January is critical to the survival of many retail businesses.
To Have the Most Impact, Ask the Right Questions
Harvard Business Review
NOVEMBER 12, 2012
Influence is one of the most important competencies of leaders in the twenty-first century. How well a leader can influence is crucial to that leader's effectiveness as well as his or her organization's success. Like all communication, we influence most effectively when we pay careful attention to how our influence is received. Many of you pointed this out in the comments on our blog post about the different influencing styles , noting that all styles of influence can be effective when we keep i
Is Technology Making You More (or Less) of a Jerk?
Harvard Business Review
NOVEMBER 7, 2012
Superinvestor Warren Buffett once observed that more money doesn't change people so much as amplify their essential traits. "Of the billionaires I have known." he declared, "If they were jerks before they had money, they are simply jerks with a billion dollars.". Buffett's "jerk doctrine" applies equally well to the growing digital wealth of managers and leaders.
Use Social Media to Build Emotional Capital
Harvard Business Review
NOVEMBER 29, 2012
Many organizations have started using social media tools internally to interact with their employees. However, in our survey of 1,060 global executives , only 30% of executives work for companies that benefited from the internal use of social media. To understand why the rate is so low it's instructive to compare the social media experiences of two companies we studied.
Maximizing Profit and Productivity: The New Era of AI-Powered Accounting
Speaker: Yohan Lobo and Dennis Street
In the accounting world, staying ahead means embracing the tools that allow you to work smarter, not harder. Outdated processes and disconnected systems can hold your organization back, but the right technologies can help you streamline operations, boost productivity, and improve client delivery. Dive into the strategies and innovations transforming accounting practices.
What Do People Want from Their Leaders?
Harvard Business Review
NOVEMBER 28, 2012
Gareth Jones , London Business School fellow, lists the four attributes you need to secure loyal followers.
Why Chinese Firms' Cross-Border Deals Fall Apart
Harvard Business Review
NOVEMBER 22, 2012
During the past decade, Chinese firms have become aggressive cross-border acquirers. Unfortunately they have been struggling to actually close their deals. Some deals have failed because of national security concerns in the U.S., including CNOOC's attempt to purchase Unocal in 2005 and Huawei's attempt to buy 3Leaf Systems in 2011. More often, though, Chinese firms have announced deals and are then unable to follow through.
The Analytics Lesson from the Obama Campaign: Keep Your Data Organized, Secret
Harvard Business Review
NOVEMBER 8, 2012
Time magazine just published a fascinating account of how President Obama's campaign team used data to microtarget voters. At HBR, we've been tracking the rise of Big Data in the private sector for some time, and see this as a useful case study of how one organization actually implemented those analytic principles to get results. I spoke over the phone with MIT's Andrew McAfee, a regular contributor and principal research scientist at the Center for Digital Business in the MIT Sloan School of Ma
Don't Ask for Feedback Unless You Want It
Harvard Business Review
NOVEMBER 13, 2012
Have you ever been asked for feedback — but had the feeling that it wasn't a genuine request? Take this example: A friend of mine who works for a large global corporation recently sent a note to her CEO, sharing her views on questions that he raised on his internal blog. The next week she received a call (more of a reprimand) from HR asking why she had emailed the CEO.
Unlock R&D Excellence: AI-Elevated Processes and Innovation Intelligence
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R&D teams need smart processes and cutting-edge tools to stay ahead. Questel empowers R&D leaders with advanced solutions that accelerate workflows, improve decision-making, and deliver impactful results. Our AI-powered platform, Qthena, revolutionizes how you interact with scientific documents and patent literature. Analyze drawings, tables, and graphs instantly while generating strong invention disclosures in seconds—not hours.
Why a Low Carbon Price Can Be Good News for the Climate
Harvard Business Review
NOVEMBER 21, 2012
This week, without much fanfare, some the most important climate news in years came out of California. The world's second largest carbon market (after the European Union) opened in the state as part of California's ambitious program to cap and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The carbon auction went off smoothly and quietly — precisely the results the California Air Resources Board, which administered the auction, was looking for.
Can Bigger Be Faster?
Harvard Business Review
NOVEMBER 5, 2012
In nature, there's a tradeoff between size and speed. Whales are slow. Birds are fast. But organizations today need to be big and fast. Is it possible? Can organizations be both agile and scalable? There's some good news. Science is revealing that biology doesn't have to rule the marketplace. And new models of leadership are emerging from some unlikely places.
How to Manage Conflict in Virtual Teams
Harvard Business Review
NOVEMBER 19, 2012
Employee conflicts can be poisonous. We have all experienced the damage to productivity, crushed creativity, and squashed morale. As Kevin M. Campbell, Accenture's Group Chief Executive, Technology, notes, "All too often, I've seen that personal conflicts derail costly projects and important initiatives." Unresolved employee conflicts are bad enough in a traditional, physical workplace.
The Guru's Guide to Creating Thought Leadership
Harvard Business Review
NOVEMBER 13, 2012
How do you produce an idea that changes the way people think and work? This was one of the key questions that Tom Davenport, Larry Prusak, and I set out to answer a decade ago in our book, What's the Big Idea? Creating and Capitalizing on the Best New Management Thinking. Part of our initial response was to rank management gurus according to the measurable influence of their ideas; we were the first researchers to use scholarly methods to do so.
5 Ways You Can Win Faster with Gen AI in Sales
Advertiser: ZoomInfo
Incorporating generative AI (gen AI) into your sales process can speed up your wins through improved efficiency, personalized customer interactions, and better informed decision- making. Gen AI is a game changer for busy salespeople and can reduce time-consuming tasks, such as customer research, note-taking, and writing emails, and provide insightful data analysis and recommendations.
How to Get the Right Job
Harvard Business Review
NOVEMBER 1, 2012
An interview with Jodi Glickman , founder of the communication training firm Great on the Job and contributor to the HBR Guide to Getting a Job. She also blogs for hbr.org. Download this podcast. A written transcript will be available by November 9.
Ernest Shackleton's Lessons for Leaders in Harsh Climates
Harvard Business Review
NOVEMBER 8, 2012
An interview with Nancy Koehn , Harvard Business School historian and editor of The Story of American Business. Download this podcast. A written transcript will be available by November 16.
Obama Won With Minorities. Marketers Should Too
Harvard Business Review
NOVEMBER 12, 2012
With Florida's results now counted, the finally election tallies are nearly complete: According to the current estimate, President Obama beat Mitt Romney with a 3% margin in the popular vote and a 21% margin in the Electoral College. This electoral-to-popular vote ratio was the 4th highest since 1900. The result reinforces the message that anyone who reads Nate Silver knows all too well: It's not enough just to win more votes, because you also have to win the right votes.
The Economically Out-of-Date Nation-State
Harvard Business Review
NOVEMBER 20, 2012
Michael Porter, the godfather of business strategy, has gotten a lot of attention lately for trying to apply his model of competitive dynamics to the current plight of the United States — high unemployment, crushing healthcare costs, crumbling infrastructure, and widespread indebtedness. His thesis is that big business should take the lead in producing " shared value " in the United States, ostensibly competing by making investments on American soil that will lead to a virtuous circle of p
Revolutionize QA: GAPs AI-Driven Accelerators for Smarter, Faster Testing
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