Podcast: The Complicated Promise of ESG

On this episode of The Insightful Leader: Are companies as socially responsible as they claim? And how much should investors care?

Organizations

Could Remote Work Hurt On-the-Job Learning?

We are more likely to learn from our collaborators when we are in close proximity to them, a new study finds.

Economics

How the Railroad Laid the Tracks for Modern Government

Technologies that allowed federal officials to monitor workers from afar played a key role in the emergence of the bureaucratic state.

Organizations

Are Whistleblowers Seen as Heroes or Snitches? It Depends.

Reporting workplace misconduct often requires choosing between morality and loyalty. New research explores how that trade-off is viewed by others.

Leadership

Want to Connect with Your Audience? Stop Trying to Impress Them

Good ideas and technical expertise alone won’t cut it. An expert offers four tips on giving a great presentation.

Social Impact

What’s Behind the Rush to Join an Internet Pile-on?

A new study investigates the reputational rewards of publicly condemning others before getting the whole story.

Finance & Accounting

ESG Risks Can Lurk in Supply Chains, Too

Most companies know little of their suppliers’ ESG practices. But negative incidents can sway stock prices—and investors should take note.

Organizations

How Will AI Reshape Our World? It’s Really Up to Us.

We need to be proactive to ensure AI supports—rather than supplants—human priorities.

Podcast: How Should You Present Yourself at Work?

Be yourself! No, not like that. On this episode of The Insightful Leader, we help you navigate the competing advice about how much to share and hold back.

Organizations

4 Tips for Managing the Succession Challenge

Generational transitions can be bumpy for family firms. They can also be an opportunity to grow.

Economics

Why Are So Many Young Chinese Depressed?

It’s not just the economic slowdown. The country’s education system and social policies have created a disillusioned generation.

Social Impact

Community Revitalization Is Hard to Get Right. Here’s How It Can Succeed.

“The basic amenities people want are pretty universal, but every community has its own priorities and ideals.”

Marketing

Here’s a Cost-Effective Way to Tell If Your Digital Ads Are Working

Running even a small number of experiments can reveal a lot, a new study finds.

Finance & Accounting

How Should Global Cities Manage an Influx of Wealthy Foreign Residents?

In an age of remote work, the trend will only continue. So how can governments take advantage of the benefits while mitigating the harms?

Finance & Accounting

Who Pays for All Those Generous Credit-Card Rewards?

A new study investigates where this “free” money is coming from—and why credit-card companies are so keen to dole it out.

Organizations

Take 5: What Does It Take to Make a Small Business Work?

The challenges are big. So are the opportunities.

Podcast: Get Inside Your Customer’s Mind

On this episode of The Insightful Leader: how understanding consumer mindsets can help you make the sale.

Innovation

Not Sure Where to Start with Your AI Strategy? Here Are 3 Steps

Companies across the economy are harnessing AI for a variety of functions in their businesses, with some further along in their strategies than others.

Strategy

Investing Over-the-Counter—and Under the Radar

In most markets, buyers and sellers benefit from soliciting many offers. New research shows why the opposite is true for OTC traders.

Entrepreneurship

Preparing for an Investor Meeting? Here’s How to Position Your Startup

An entrepreneurship expert—and longtime investor—offers advice for making your company attractive, whether the market is hot or cold.

Organizations

Yoga Classes? On-Site Childcare? Firms Just Outside the Fortune 500 Work Hard to Attract Talent.

To compete with their prestigious peers, these organizations invest more in employees, research shows.

Finance & Accounting

How Much Do Job Vacancies Hurt a Company’s Bottom Line?

Quite a bit, a new study shows—and large organizations aren’t immune to the toll on both sales and profits.

Marketing

5 Mindsets That Drive Consumer Behavior

“Fixed” and “growth” aren’t the only mindsets out there. A Kellogg marketing professor explains the surprising ways that our mental states can influence what we buy.

Marketing

A Better Way to Measure Customers’ Willingness to Pay

Determining what customers will spend on your product is one of marketing’s oldest challenges. But “current methods don’t consider context and competition the way they should.”

Economics

The Long Tail of China’s Zero-Covid Policy

As the costs of China’s pandemic experience are tallied, younger generations are confronting a disconcerting new reality.

Social Impact

Take 5: The Psychology of Charitable Giving

What makes us give? Research reveals the surprising factors that shape our generosity.

Podcast: Using AI Comes with a Trade-off. Now Multiply That by 8 Billion.

On this episode of The Insightful Leader podcast: what happens when everyone uses the same generative AI tools?

Marketing

The Surprising Role of … Surprise … in Hypocrisy

What makes a choice seem hypocritical? New research finds that unexpectedness is an important factor.

Marketing

3 Priorities for Today’s Marketing Leaders

A roundtable of experts weighs in on trends and challenges in a time of radical industry shifts.

Podcast: Avoiding the Likability Trap at Work

Plus: insecure employees and a flagging culture. On this episode of The Insightful Leader’s “Ask Insight,” more from our conversation with Professor Harry Kraemer.

Finance & Accounting

Crypto Had a Brutal Year. What Comes Next?

“There’s definitely more caution now, which might not be a bad thing.”

Finance & Accounting

In a Warming U.S., Smaller Manufacturers Are Feeling the Heat

Smaller firms struggle in the face of temperature shocks, while larger ones are less affected—a trend that is driving industry consolidation.

Finance & Accounting

When Your Savings Account Is Also a Lottery Ticket

Prize-linked savings accounts can be more enticing to customers than interest rates—and banks like them, too.

Social Impact

The Big Trade-off at the Heart of Generative AI

Tools like ChatGPT can improve efficiency at the individual level—but could lead to large societal problems.

Organizations

How Have Social Stereotypes Changed over the Last Century?

The words people associate with different social groups have shifted, but the underlying beliefs may be more stubborn.

Podcast: You're the Boss! Now What?

On this episode of The Insightful Leader’s “Ask Insight,” Professor Harry Kraemer discusses how to lead your former peers and build trust with your team.

Strategy

Why Younger Workers Just Can’t Get Ahead

In wealthy countries, the wage gap between older and younger workers is growing. A crowded promotion pathway could be to blame.

Leadership

5 Steps to a Complete Meeting Overhaul

Sick of PowerPoints and rehashing the past? Here’s how to make meetings future-focused and engaging.

Healthcare

Can We Build a Better Prescription Drug Market?

Medicare will soon be able to negotiate directly with drug makers. But one economist explains why “the goal should be to increase value, not just lower prices.”

Policy

Big Tech Takes the Stand

Google may look like a monopoly, but is its power actually hurting consumers? A legal expert weighs in.

Politics & Elections

How the Electoral College May Curb Election Fraud

This distinctive aspect of American democracy has come under increased scrutiny. But the very quality that most vexes its critics comes with an underrecognized upside.

Economics

Is Chinese Youth Unemployment as Bad as It Looks?

China’s exceptional growth in recent decades has influenced the education and career choices of young people and their families. But now that high-skilled jobs are drying up and recent graduates are struggling to find work, there is a growing mismatch between expectations and new realities.

Finance & Accounting

How Your Personality Shapes Your Portfolio

Extroversion. Openness. Neuroticism. It turns out individual traits have a meaningful impact on our investment decisions.

Finance & Accounting

The Enduring Power of Bond Ratings

In 1909, John Moody handed out his first As, Bs and Cs. The market would never be the same.

Organizations

It’s Election Season. Here Comes the Morally Charged Language.

In the U.S., presidential candidates across the political spectrum lean on value-laden rhetoric—but emphasize different values.

Marketing

Podcast: Why Canada Goose Soared and Shinola Sputtered

Luxury is dominated by older brands. So what happens when newer entrants try to break through? In the second of two bonus episodes, we show what can go right—and wrong.

Entrepreneurship

Could Generative AI Out-Entrepreneur Humans? Maybe, but Here's What Matters More.

3 tips to help you understand what that means for you as a business-builder.

Marketing

Podcast: So You Want to Be a Luxury Brand

So opulent! So exclusive! In the first of two bonus episodes, we explore everything that helps brands like Ferrari and Manolo Blahnik scream luxury.

Entrepreneurship

Take 5: How to Sell Your Startup from the Start

Advice from our experts on pitching your idea—and yourself.

Finance & Accounting

The More Investors Know, the More Executives Disclose

CEOs are likelier to volunteer bad news when the public better understands their personal motives for maximizing short-term stock prices.

Organizations

Knowing Your Boss’s Salary Can Make You Work Harder—or Slack Off

Your level of motivation depends on whether you have a fair shot at getting promoted yourself.

Finance & Accounting

When Crypto Went Mainstream—and Drove Up Housing Prices

Many Americans have cryptocurrency in their portfolios and treat it much like any other investment.

Policy

Why Do Long Wars Happen?

War is a highly inefficient way of dividing contested resources—yet conflicts endure when there are powerful incentives to feign strength.

Podcast: The Case for Admitting (Some) Flaws at Work

On this episode of The Insightful Leader: Why showing vulnerability can actually be a boon for leaders.

Organizations

Social-Media Algorithms Have Hijacked “Social Learning”

We make sense of the world by observing and mimicking others, but digital platforms throw that process into turmoil. Can anything be done?

Organizations

Podcast: Platforms Are Experimenting on Their Users … a Lot. Is That Okay?

On this episode of The Insightful Leader: Opaque algorithms on platforms like LinkedIn, Uber, and TaskRabbit have more power than ever. It’s starting to impact livelihoods.

Careers

Take 5: Not So Fast!

A little patience can lead to better ideas, stronger organizations, and more-ethical conduct at work.

Strategy

How Autocracies Unravel

Over time, leaders grow more repressive and cling to yes-men—a cycle that’s playing out today in Putin’s Russia.

Finance & Accounting

Want to Find the Next Big Company? IP Offers a Clue.

A company’s early efforts to protect its intellectual property are a good signal that it intends to grow—one of many lessons from a wide-ranging investigation of U.S. IP practices.

Marketing

As Data Privacy Improves, Small Advertisers Could Get Squeezed

Lauded as a win for consumers, new protections could have unintended consequences. “There’s no privacy ‘free lunch’ here.”

Marketing

How Data Tracking Is Changing—and What That Means for You

Tech companies are phasing out cookies. Will consumers finally see meaningful privacy protections?

Entrepreneurship

Could Aligning with a Star Help Your Brand?

Celebrity brands are on the rise. Here’s what to know before you pursue a famous business partner.

Economics

Youth Unemployment and China’s Economic Future

For decades, China’s growth has followed the pattern of advanced economies, with rising incomes and educational attainment, shrinking family size, and growing female labor-force participation. But across these and other dimensions, the economy now appears to be going backward.

Operations

ChatGPT Has Arrived. What’s a Manager to Do?

4 tips for leading a team in an age of generative AI.

Finance & Accounting

Wage Garnishment in the U.S. Is More Common Than You Might Think

A new study offers a first look at the impact of collecting defaulted debts directly from worker’s paychecks.

Operations

Schools Often Partner with Nonprofits to Benefit Students. Which Partnerships Last?

One key to keeping programs afloat: flexibility.

Finance & Accounting

Where Is Commercial Real Estate Headed Next?

Experts discuss the latest trends, from demolishing office space to repurposing malls (again) to riding out the end of the warehouse boom.

Organizations

It’s Performance Review Time. Which Ranking System Is Best for Your Team?

A look at the benefits and downsides of two different approaches.

Organizations

A Company Has Donated on Your Behalf! What Will You Do Next?

A new study on the recent trend of “giving-by-proxy” offers good news for charitable organizations.

Innovation

How AI Can Help Researchers Navigate the “Replication Crisis”

A new tool predicts whether a specific study is likely to replicate, building confidence in the findings among scientists, funding agencies, and the public.

Policy

Will the PGA–LIV Golf Merger Pass the Antitrust Test?

“Statements that LIV has made about breaking up the monopoly of the PGA may come back to haunt them.”

Organizations

How to Prepare for AI-Generated Misinformation

“We have to be careful not to get distracted by sci-fi issues and focus on concrete risks that are the most pressing.”

Policy

The Supreme Court Ended Race-Conscious Admissions. A Sociologist Who Studies Bias in Elite Spaces Is Worried about the Ramifications.

“The decision represents a fundamental misunderstanding or misrecognition of what we know from science about how discrimination works.”

Innovation

How the Metaverse Could Shape Science

Augmented reality has the potential to solve old problems—and introduce new ones. Is it time to establish guardrails?

Finance & Accounting

Why U.S. Regional Banks Are Still in Crisis

Things may get worse before they get better. Here’s what needs to happen to put the banking system on firmer ground.

Leadership

Podcast: How to Prepare for Your New Algorithmic Coworker

For better or worse, generative AI is here to stay. On this episode of The Insightful Leader: What could it mean for you and your team?

Operations

Does It Pay to List a Rental at the Last Minute?

Not necessarily. A new study argues that platforms in the sharing economy should incentivize behavior that creates win–wins.

Strategy

How Religious Beliefs about a Couple’s Compatibility Lead to Better Outcomes

In Vietnam, the belief system known as Tu Vi deems some marriages more “auspicious” than others. The effects are far-reaching.

Economics

China’s Youth Unemployment Problem

If the record-breaking joblessness persists, as seems likely, China will have an even harder time supporting its rapidly aging population.

Careers

Do You Overprepare? Here Are 4 Ways to Curb This Perfectionist Tendency.

Women are particularly susceptible to the overpreparation trap, argues Ellen Taaffe in this excerpt from her new book, The Mirrored Door.

Marketing

Yes, You Should Hit “Share” when You Make a Charitable Donation

Nobody wants to come across as bragging, but when donors stay mum, charities miss out. New research offers a strategy to embolden givers.

Organizations

Is There a Bot Behind That Tweet?

When we see messages that contradict our political ideology, we are more inclined to attribute them to bots. It’s making society even more polarized.

Leadership

5 Tips for Growing as a Leader without Burning Yourself Out

A leadership coach and former CEO on how to take a holistic approach to your career.

Innovation

Will AI Kill Human Creativity?

What Fake Drake tells us about what’s ahead.

Policy

What’s at Stake in the Debt-Ceiling Standoff?

Defaulting would be an unmitigated disaster, quickly felt by ordinary Americans.

Finance & Accounting

Consider This New Measure of Profitability When Constructing Your Portfolio

Researchers construct an intangibles-adjusted profitability measure that can benefit investors.

Leadership

Podcast: How to Discuss Poor Performance with Your Employee

Giving negative feedback is not easy, but such critiques can be meaningful for both parties if you use the right roadmap. Get advice on this episode of The Insightful Leader.

Policy

Take 5: Yikes! When Unintended Consequences Strike

Good intentions don’t always mean good results. Here’s why humility, and a lot of monitoring, are so important when making big changes.

Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition Is Still Entrepreneurship

ETA is one of the fastest-growing paths to entrepreneurship. Here’s how to think about it.

Finance & Accounting

One Key to a Happy Marriage? A Joint Bank Account.

Merging finances helps newlyweds align their financial goals and avoid scorekeeping.

Entrepreneurship

3 Traits of Successful Market-Creating Entrepreneurs

Creating a market isn’t for the faint of heart. But a dose of humility can go a long way.

Organizations

Today’s Gig Workers Are Subject to Endless Experimentation

“It raises the question, do we want to be a society where experimentation is just the norm?”

Marketing

Podcast: How to Tell Compelling Stories with Data Visualizations

We’re back with an episode from the archives. On this episode of The Insightful Leader: a blueprint for making strong (and honest) arguments with data.

Organizations

How Activism-Inspired Roles like “Sustainability Manager” Emerge and Evolve

First, these new positions are held by activists themselves. Over time, this changes.

Economics

2 Factors Will Determine How Much AI Transforms Our Economy

They’ll also dictate how workers stand to fare.

Leadership

What Should Leaders Make of the Latest AI?

As ChatGPT flaunts its creative capabilities, two experts discuss the promise and pitfalls of our coexistence with machines.

Leadership

How to Manage a Disengaged Employee—and Get Them Excited about Work Again

Don’t give up on checked-out team members. Try these strategies instead.

Policy

Banning China from Owning U.S. Farmland Will Achieve Nothing

A new bipartisan bill would prohibit anyone associated with “foreign adversaries” like China from purchasing U.S. farmland. While protecting the U.S. food system and making farmland more affordable to domestic producers by limiting foreign ownership may seem plausible on paper, the reality is more complicated.

Leadership

Podcast: How to Discuss Politics When You Disagree

Talking politics in this polarized climate is a dicey proposition. On this episode of The Insightful Leader, an expert in the psychology of persuasion offers tips on how to approach the topic constructively.

Organizations

Are People on Social Media Actually That Outraged?

One reason we think Twitter is such a polarized place: we’re bad at inferring how angry people are from their posts.