Innovation
AI Is Revolutionizing Science. Are Scientists Ready?
AI’s influence has already spread to nearly every discipline. But fully harnessing its impact will require better training for researchers.
Strategy
Schools, Jobs, Relationships … It’s Hard to Find a Good “Fit”
A study of medical-school applicants shows how transparency can improve decision-making.
Finance & Accounting
Guilty as Charged—Unless the Judge Went to Your School
For firms facing securities litigation, their executives’ alma mater could mean the difference between innocence and guilt.
Operations
For Home Deliveries, Faster Isn’t Always Better
Retail customers often prioritize convenience over speed for deliveries that require them to be at home.
Leadership
The Perfect Purpose Statement Is Inspiring … and Credible
In an excerpt from her new book, Lead Bigger, former AT&T Business CEO Anne Chow explains the power of defining your company’s “why.”
Policy
When the Minimum Wage Rises, Do Men and Women Benefit Equally?
The policy is gender-neutral. The impact, less so.
Organizations
5 Telltale Signs That a Photo Is AI-generated
For one, scour for details that defy the laws of physics.
Insight Unpacked, Season 2
Listen to Insight Unpacked, “American Healthcare and Its Web of Misaligned Incentives." All episodes now available.
Strategy
Schools, Jobs, Relationships … It’s Hard to Find a Good “Fit”
A study of medical-school applicants shows how transparency can improve decision-making.
Finance & Accounting
Guilty as Charged—Unless the Judge Went to Your School
For firms facing securities litigation, their executives’ alma mater could mean the difference between innocence and guilt.
Operations
For Home Deliveries, Faster Isn’t Always Better
Retail customers often prioritize convenience over speed for deliveries that require them to be at home.
Leadership
The Perfect Purpose Statement Is Inspiring … and Credible
In an excerpt from her new book, Lead Bigger, former AT&T Business CEO Anne Chow explains the power of defining your company’s “why.”
Policy
When the Minimum Wage Rises, Do Men and Women Benefit Equally?
The policy is gender-neutral. The impact, less so.
Organizations
5 Telltale Signs That a Photo Is AI-generated
For one, scour for details that defy the laws of physics.
Organizations
Why We Shouldn’t Romanticize Failure
We expect people will learn from their setbacks. New research suggests the truth is more complicated.
Economics
Why Do Prices Rise Like Rockets … but Fall Like Feathers?
Behavioral psychology sheds light on a longstanding economic puzzle.
Politics & Elections
Take 5: How to Talk Politics (Constructively)
Research-backed advice for your next conversation.
Marketing
How a Growing South Asian Diaspora Is Changing Retail
From Whole Foods to Patel Brothers, U.S. retailers are adapting to the group’s unique spending power.
Organizations
The Unlikely Partners Growing the Market for Green Energy
The relationship between environmental activists and “dirty” energy companies can be contentious, but it can also benefit both sides.
Policy
The Plan to Pay College Athletes
A proposed settlement granting NCAA athletes a cut of broadcast revenues stands to shake up major college sports.
Organizations
Employees See Bias in the Workplace. Their Bosses Don’t.
People in positions of power are often unable to see inequities in their own organizations—even if they see it elsewhere.
Policy
Perspective: America Needs Political Age Limits
If there is a mandatory retirement age for the top officers in the U.S. military, why isn’t there one for the commander in chief?
Marketing
Beware the “Bad-Influencer Effect”
Content creators’ self-indulgent posts may get “likes” on social media, but research shows they might not lead to more enduring connections.
Marketing
How the Right Price Promotion Can Nudge Kids to Choose Healthier Foods
“It shows that kids are sensitive to prices.”
Economics
5 Trends in a Volatile Global Economy
“We live in an interesting world, one with much upside as well as significant downside.”
Organizations
How Algorithms Keep Workers Under Their Control
More than ever, even highly skilled workers find themselves being evaluated, rewarded, and punished by opaque algorithms. A new book, Inside the Invisible Cage, investigates.
Operations
America Is Rediscovering the Drive-Through
Since the pandemic, fast-food customers are more likely to order at the drive-through, fueling the recovery of restaurants that can accommodate them.
Latest Podcast Episodes
Marketing
Podcast: Third-Party Cookies Are Crumbling. What’s a Marketer to Do?
New rules are making it harder to track customers’ online behaviors. On this episode of The Insightful Leader, we look at what this means for companies large and small.
Healthcare
Podcast: American Healthcare—Is This the Best We Can Do?
In the final episode of our 5-episode series, “Insight Unpacked: American Healthcare and Its Web of Misaligned Incentives,” we travel overseas, and through our own backyard, in search of a way forward.
Healthcare
Podcast: The Bargain That Fuels Big Pharma
What will we pay for the next groundbreaking drug? In episode 4 of our 5-episode series, “Insight Unpacked: American Healthcare and Its Web of Misaligned Incentives,” we explore the trade-off at the heart of pharmaceutical innovation.
Healthcare
Podcast: The Misadventures of Insuring America
In episode 3 of our 5-episode series, “Insight Unpacked: American Healthcare and Its Web of Misaligned Incentives,” we explain how insurance companies became everybody’s favorite villain.
Organizations
Take 5: Work Is Changing. What Does the Future Hold?
Remote work, technology, and climate change are all set to transform the labor market. Here’s how.
Strategy
Is Your Team Playing It Too Safe?
Fear of failure can stifle innovation. A new study shows how to incentivize people to tackle those high-risk, high-reward projects.
Innovation
Innovation Requires an Environment of Creative Risk
If you really want to change paradigms, you must be willing to accept that there is no such thing as true innovation without risk.
Marketing
Want Your Kids to Choose Healthy Foods? Here Are Some Research-Backed Tips.
First, stop demanding that they choose healthy foods!
Entrepreneurship
After Prison, Opportunities Are Hard to Come By. Enter Entrepreneurship.
Labor-market discrimination is driving many formerly incarcerated people, particularly Black individuals, toward entrepreneurship.
Operations
There’s a Smarter Way to A/B Test
A new model can help you reduce the length or size of your experiments by as much as 50 percent, for significant cost savings.
Marketing
Gen AI Can Tailor Ads to Our Personalities—and They’re Pretty Persuasive
“The effects are probably only likely to get stronger as time persists.”
Organizations
How to Spot Political Deepfakes
AI literacy—and a healthy dose of human intuition—can take us pretty far.
Marketing
3 Ways AI Can Support Your Marketing Team
From providing insight into your customers to amplifying human creativity, generative AI is here to help.
Economics
Will America’s Economy Soon Look Like … Italy’s?
Why one Kellogg economist is worried that the U.S. is headed toward a low-growth future.
Editor’s Picks
Innovation
Unique. Revolutionary. Fundamental. A Little Hype Can Help Scientists Win Grants.
“Promotional language is important not just for securing funding but for actually conveying the merits of good ideas.”
Policy
Why Did Early Governments Emerge?
Was it about cooperation—or exploitation? A new study turns to archeology for answers.
Marketing
It’s Painful to Spend Money—Unless It’s a Refund
New research shows why it feels different to spend the money we get back after returning a product.
Operations
Everyone Wants to Ditch the Middleman. Or Do They?
Not always, according to surprising new evidence from an app connecting housekeepers to clients.
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Social Impact
The Stereotypes Lurking in Our Language
A new tool can shed light on intersectional biases—and how they may change over time.
Marketing
How to Talk About What You Do (without Being Boring)
The key is not to say too much—or too little. Here are some exercises to get you started.
Organizations
Can Your Company Do Hybrid Better?
There is no single “best” policy, but it is critical to recognize the benefits of both in-person and remote work.
Policy
Could This Be the End of Noncompetes?
The FTC’s proposed rule is hardly a done deal—but here’s what it could mean for companies and workers.
Marketing
Video-Game Companies Are Spending Big on Sponsored Streams. Are They Getting Their Money’s Worth?
Probably not—with a few notable exceptions.
Leadership
An Illustrated Guide to Succeeding Where So Many Leaders Fail
Failure happens. What can we learn from it?
Marketing
The Clues to Creditworthiness Hiding in Your Grocery Cart
Grocery habits—like buying mortadella beef or scheduling regular shopping trips—can be as useful as credit scores at predicting who will reliably repay loans.
Strategy
The Gender Pay Gap Remains Stubbornly in Place. Why?
A partial explanation comes from a seemingly separate phenomenon: the plight of younger workers.
Finance & Accounting
Who Takes a Risk on New Technology?
In Hollywood, new directors were more likely than veterans to embrace digital cameras—a finding that showcases how individuals’ career concerns shape tech adoption.
Social Impact
How the Inequality Around Us Shapes Our Perceptions of Morality
Lie, cheat, steal … no big deal? When we feel like we’re not in control of our lives, it’s easier to accept unethical behavior.
Leadership
Are Your Individual Contributors Feeling Isolated?
A lot of employees could benefit from a structured “lab” setting to inspire meaningful collaboration.
Marketing
How Much Evidence Do You Need to Make a Decision? Depends on Your Mindset.
When a choice is framed as a responsibility, we’ll go the extra mile to be accurate—even when it costs us.
Finance & Accounting
For Corporations, Secured Debt Is Out
The last century has seen a dramatic shift toward unsecured debt thanks to improved accounting practices and a desire for financial flexibility.
Economics
Would Trump Escalate the U.S.–China Trade War?
If former U.S. President Donald Trump returns to the White House, he would likely impose sweeping tariffs against China. His policy agenda would harm lower-income households the most.
Economics
5 Trends in a Volatile Global Economy
“We live in an interesting world, one with much upside as well as significant downside.”
Marketing
A Troubling Trend in Nonprofit Branding
When nonprofit organizations rebrand themselves, inspiration may not be the answer.
Organizations
How Algorithms Keep Workers Under Their Control
More than ever, even highly skilled workers find themselves being evaluated, rewarded, and punished by opaque algorithms. A new book, Inside the Invisible Cage, investigates.
Organizations
Employees See Bias in the Workplace. Their Bosses Don’t.
People in positions of power are often unable to see inequities in their own organizations—even if they see it elsewhere.
Marketing
Beware the “Bad-Influencer Effect”
Content creators’ self-indulgent posts may get “likes” on social media, but research shows they might not lead to more enduring connections.
Operations
America Is Rediscovering the Drive-Through
Since the pandemic, fast-food customers are more likely to order at the drive-through, fueling the recovery of restaurants that can accommodate them.
Organizations
Take 5: Work Is Changing. What Does the Future Hold?
Remote work, technology, and climate change are all set to transform the labor market. Here’s how.
Data Analytics
4 Leadership Lessons from the NFL’s Chief Data Officer
Here’s how the league is going deep on AI, from addressing player safety to fine-tuning fan marketing.
Strategy
Is Your Team Playing It Too Safe?
Fear of failure can stifle innovation. A new study shows how to incentivize people to tackle those high-risk, high-reward projects.
Healthcare
Podcast: American Healthcare—Is This the Best We Can Do?
In the final episode of our 5-episode series, “Insight Unpacked: American Healthcare and Its Web of Misaligned Incentives,” we travel overseas, and through our own backyard, in search of a way forward.
Healthcare
Podcast: The Bargain That Fuels Big Pharma
What will we pay for the next groundbreaking drug? In episode 4 of our 5-episode series, “Insight Unpacked: American Healthcare and Its Web of Misaligned Incentives,” we explore the trade-off at the heart of pharmaceutical innovation.
Healthcare
Podcast: The Misadventures of Insuring America
In episode 3 of our 5-episode series, “Insight Unpacked: American Healthcare and Its Web of Misaligned Incentives,” we explain how insurance companies became everybody’s favorite villain.
Innovation
Innovation Requires an Environment of Creative Risk
If you really want to change paradigms, you must be willing to accept that there is no such thing as true innovation without risk.
Marketing
Want Your Kids to Choose Healthy Foods? Here Are Some Research-Backed Tips.
First, stop demanding that they choose healthy foods!
Healthcare
Podcast: The Power of the Physician's Pen
We rely on doctors to keep us healthy. In episode 2 of our 5-episode series, “Insight Unpacked: American Healthcare and Its Web of Misaligned Incentives,” we learn at what cost.
Marketing
Gen AI Can Tailor Ads to Our Personalities—and They’re Pretty Persuasive
“The effects are probably only likely to get stronger as time persists.”
Operations
There’s a Smarter Way to A/B Test
A new model can help you reduce the length or size of your experiments by as much as 50 percent, for significant cost savings.
Entrepreneurship
After Prison, Opportunities Are Hard to Come By. Enter Entrepreneurship.
Labor-market discrimination is driving many formerly incarcerated people, particularly Black individuals, toward entrepreneurship.