Social Impact

How Did COVID-19 Conspiracy Theories Get So Out of Control?

Misinformation is thriving in an environment where people feel disconnected. Social media isn’t helping.

Policy

Trust Usually Helps Communities Thrive. During a Pandemic, Not So Much.

Places with high levels of trust are worse at social distancing.

Economics

Measuring COVID’s Devastating Impact on Low- and Middle-Income Countries

Global surveys of more than 30,000 people revealed widespread drops in income, rising food insecurity, and an increase in domestic violence.

Operations

One Healthcare System’s Race to Distribute the COVID-19 Vaccine

A chief medical officer and a supply-chain expert discuss the nuances of the rollout.

Innovation

The Pandemic Could Accelerate Job Automation—and Inequality

Consequences for workers and cities could be bleak.

Policy

With More Stimulus Relief on the Way, Here’s a Look at America’s Covid Economy

A former Treasury official discusses where things stand now—and what the future might bring.

Policy

Contact Tracing Is Failing in the U.S. Here’s How to Fix It.

For starters, turn responsibility over to local organizations and communities, where trust is higher.

Economics

Why Do COVID-19 Death Rates Differ Wildly from Place to Place?

Researchers were surprised by the variable that best predicted fatalities.

Marketing

How to Convince People the Virus Is Scary, and Other Lessons from Consumer Research

Researchers are rushing to make sense of the current moment. We spoke with the editor of a leading journal about what her colleagues are up to.

Policy

How Well Does COVID Public Policy Align with Science?

In an era of misinformation, policy based on “dubious science” could mean a greater loss of life and economic hardship.

Marketing

“Stay Healthy” or “Keep Safe”: Which Social-Distancing Messages Are the Most Persuasive?

The answer depends on whether people are thinking about protecting themselves or their community.

Organizations

Don’t Let Your Company Culture Falter During the Pandemic

Changes to work routines offer opportunities to rethink and shore up your organization’s ethos.

Healthcare

Is Pfizer’s COVID-19 Vaccine the Next Blockbuster Drug?

Investors are keeping a close eye on the drug firm’s vaccine advances. But the company’s longer-term fortunes may lie elsewhere.

Podcast Leadership

Podcast: Feeling Stuck? Here’s How to Move Your Career Forward

On this episode of The Insightful Leader, get practical advice for detecting your blind spots—and pushing past them.

Policy

One Key Trait That Predicts How Much People Will Socially Distance

This new research could help policymakers deliver more effective COVID-safety messaging.

Economics

Meet the (Surprisingly Rational) COVID Consumer

Research on initial consumer spending shows that those at higher risk were making safer choices.

Marketing

How the Specter of Contagious Disease Changes What We Want to Eat

Consumers turn to old standbys like Campbell’s Soup and Oreos. Here’s why.

Finance & Accounting

Airlines and COVID-19: The Turbulence Ahead

With demand still down and debts mounting, the industry looks ahead.

Leadership

How to Develop a Leadership Mindset for Uncertain Times

For one, take a page from the hero’s journey to find transformation in adversity.

Policy

Unpacking the Federal Reserve’s Aggressive Response to COVID-19

A Kellogg professor spent the past year at the Fed. He explains the bank’s “guns-blazing” response—and the limits to these interventions.

Organizations

What Companies Can Do to Encourage Compliance with COVID Safety Measures

Tips for thinking through “friction points” and making new habits stick.

Finance & Accounting

What’s Next for Real Estate Markets?

As the pandemic continues to upend how we live, work, and play, the future of residential and commercial markets remains very much in flux.

Organizations

How Family Business Owners Can Step Up During a Crisis

In uncertain times, businesses need to adapt. Their owners may have to as well.

Careers

There Are 168 Hours in the Week. Are You Spending Them on What Matters?

A former CEO on how to budget time for what you value most.

Careers

How to Sell in a Virtual World

From a “pre-flight checklist” to handwritten thank-you notes, here’s how to sell both your products and your ideas via video.

Entrepreneurship

Family Businesses Are Experiencing the COVID-19 Crisis in Unique Ways

Lower debt, diversified portfolios, and longer-term horizons may be shielding family firms from the existential threats facing many other businesses.

Finance & Accounting

How Credit Ratings Are Shaping Governments’ Responses to Covid-19

To fund pandemic-related spending, governments around the world will need to take on more debt. If they can.

Economics

We’re Several Months into the COVID Economy. What Have We Learned?

From household spending to the strength of the dollar, an economist sees some clear trends—and signs of what’s to come.

Podcast Leadership

Podcast: Thinking about Adopting a Contact-Tracing App for Your Company? Here’s What to Keep in Mind.

The technology can help reopen workplaces—but only if your employees trust it. On this special episode of The Insightful Leader, three experts discuss how to earn that trust.

Operations

From PPE to Denim and Beer, Here’s What the Pandemic Is Teaching Us about Supply Chains

Five lessons from Kellogg Professor Marty Lariviere.

Innovation

3 Steps for Reimagining Your Business for a Post-COVID World

The crisis presents an opportunity to dream up new ideas, learn from others, and take bold action.

Careers

Stop Hiring for “Cultural Fit”

When you prioritize candidates you “click with,” you run the risk of discriminating against candidates from different backgrounds. Here’s how to change course.

Podcast Leadership

Podcast: How a Century-Old Family Business Is Adapting to the Pandemic

On this special episode of The Insightful Leader: a conversation with the chairman and the CEO of Griffith Foods about leading with purpose during the crisis.

Organizations

What Astronauts Can Teach Us about Working Remotely

Space: the final frontier—for learning how to keep your team motivated during extended periods of isolation and confinement.

Leadership

Looking for “5 Quick Tips” to Build an Inclusive Organization? You’re on the Wrong Track.

Two experts discuss why corporate diversity initiatives so often fall short, and what it will take to produce real change.

Innovation

The Pandemic Has Slashed Scientists’ Productivity

The extent varies a good deal by field, but the single biggest factor is whether a scientist is caring for young children.

Leadership

How to Build Resilient Habits into Your Daily Life

Life today is complicated. Here are some simple ways to stay energized and motivated.

Podcast Entrepreneurship

Podcast: “This Is a Time for Management Teams to Earn Their Stripes.”

On this special episode of The Insightful Leader, veteran venture capitalist Woody Marshall discusses the investment landscape and the importance of leadership through the pandemic.

Entrepreneurship

Amid the Pandemic, Entrepreneurs Can Still Find Opportunity

The crisis provides fertile ground for startups in spaces like telehealth and touchless payment. Other startups will need to get creative.

Podcast Strategy

Podcast: Wayfair Has Seen a Spike in New Customers. Here’s How It Plans to Keep Them.

On this special episode of The Insightful Leader, a conversation with the company’s chief merchandising officer about adapting for an unprecedented future.

Economics

Why the Next Round of COVID-19 Aid Should Target Industries That Can’t Work from Home

A new study pinpoints which sectors—and which workers in those sectors—suffered the most. Congress should take note.

As the Crisis Drags On, Here’s How Leaders Can Maintain Momentum

The adrenaline has faded. All-nighters are not sustainable. A retired Navy admiral explains what needs to happen now.

Careers

Exhausted by Working from Home? Anxious about Going Back?

Tips from a clinical health psychologist on managing the work-related stressors that may be affecting your mental health.

Strategy

Tired of People Invading Your Six-Foot Bubble? Game Theory Has a Solution.

Well, not exactly. But it does offer a new way of thinking about the problem.

Careers

Your Professional Development Doesn’t Need to Be Put on Hold

You can still seek out ways to stretch yourself or test out a new career path—even during a pandemic.

Policy

The Wrong Way to Ramp Up COVID-19 Testing

Robust testing is key to safely reopening the economy. But a new model shows that if testing is not paired with “smart containment,” it could backfire.

Leadership

Easy Hacks to Improve Your Virtual Meetings

From “speed-storming” to building a team charter, these ideas boost creativity and comfort on video calls.

Innovation

3 Strategies to Transform Your Business for the Pandemic Economy

You know you need to adapt. But how?

Organizations

Too Much Cross Talk. Too Little Creativity. How to Fix the Worst Parts of a Virtual Meeting.

Six tools from an unlikely place—improv comedy—to use on your next Zoom call.

Economics

The Treasury’s Former Chief Economist Takes Stock of the Pandemic’s Economic Impact

Kellogg’s Janice Eberly zeroes in on a few data points that demonstrate the massive challenge policymakers face.

Innovation

The U.S. Is Full of Innovative Thinkers. The Government Needs to Marshal All of Them to Fight Covid-19.

Here’s how we can accelerate efforts to reduce the spread, develop treatments, and find a vaccine.

Policy

What Can the Federal Government Do to Get the Economy Back on Track?

A former White House economist weighs the pros and cons of job-retraining programs, aid for states, and universal basic income.

Finance & Accounting

Taking on Debt Can Help a Company Grow—Until a Crisis Hits

A new study shows how highly leveraged companies have less flexibility to innovate in a downturn.

Economics

Here’s How Americans Are Spending Their Stimulus Checks

Real-time data pinpoints what we’re buying, and who’s spending the fastest.

Organizations

This Isn’t Their First Crisis: Many Family Businesses Are Uniquely Prepared for the Looming Recession

Even so, one of their core strengths could become a liability.

Finance & Accounting

What Happens When Private-Equity Firms Start Making Deals Again?

There will be more buyout opportunities, but fewer on-site visits will make due diligence more difficult.

Careers

Under Quarantine, It’s Not Marriage-as-Usual

A relationship researcher offers advice for cooped-up couples. Plus, how to preserve your work friendships.

Finance & Accounting

What the Current Crisis Means for Private Equity

Access to capital will likely buoy some PE firms and the companies they back. Others will be less lucky.

Leadership

A Pastor (and Management Professor) on Taking Care of Your Team during the COVID-19 Crisis

Share in their sacrifice. Don’t preach. And ask these three questions.

Social Impact

Uncertainty. Loss of Control. Why COVID-19 Is a Perfect Storm for Conspiracy Theories.

And how policymakers can help make them less appealing.

Finance & Accounting

The COVID-19 Crisis Reveals How Short-Term, Shareholder-First Thinking Still Rules the Day

From questionable buybacks to overly restrictive M&A clauses, a recent pledge to consider other stakeholders is ringing hollow.

Podcast Leadership

Podcast: Sure, Take That Zoom Call in Your Sweatpants. It Might Make You a Better Person.

When we stop compartmentalizing our home and work selves, we tend to act more ethically. Find out why on this episode of The Insightful Leader.

Economics

Companies Need to Prepare Today to Survive the Next 18 Months

An economist explains how leaders can try to lower fixed costs, retain workers, and mind their brands.

Leadership

How to Lead Your (Suddenly Virtual) Team through a Crisis

It’s going to require a shift in management style—and a healthy dose of overcommunication.

Economics

A Closer Look at Consumer Stockpiling During the Coronavirus Crisis

Researchers examined how households responded to shelter-in-place orders. They uncovered some surprises.

Marketing

Four Steps Marketers Can Take to Navigate the Pandemic

Step one: Press pause. Step two: Rethink everything.

Organizations

How Infectious-Disease Testing Can Improve Employee Performance

A new study on malaria prevention shows that employees who know their health status become more productive at work.

Leadership

Your Organization Needs a Coronavirus “War Room”

And other advice on making tough choices during a pandemic.

Leadership

What Strong Crisis Leadership Looks Like during the Pandemic

COVID-19 is providing a crash course in crisis management. Leaders who display empathy, transparency, and aspiration will stand out.

The Latest: Our Faculty on the Coronavirus, Business, and the Economy

Finding a job during a pandemic. Plus, the fate of the 1918 “flu babies.”

Economics

The Unprecedented Stock-Market Reaction to COVID-19

A new analysis explains why this pandemic really is different.

Policy

Containing COVID-19 Will Devastate the Economy. Here’s the Economic Case for Why It’s Still Our Best Option.

The death toll from failing to contain the virus will be far more costly to society.

Policy

How to Shore Up State and Local Budgets during a Coronavirus Recession

State governments are responsible for implementing much of the social safety net. They’ll be looking to the federal government for extra help.

Economics

Take 5: What Previous Recessions Can Teach Us about the Coronavirus Crisis

From stimulus strategies to how businesses will fare, research on past downturns can help inform our outlook today.

Operations

The Coronavirus Has Upended Supply Chains. Here’s How Companies Can Prepare for the Next Disruption.

There are strategies that both large and small companies can implement to make their manufacturing more agile.

Social Impact

What Your Business Can Do to Help the Community during the Coronavirus Crisis

Want to take action but don’t know how? Answering these three questions can get you started.

Leadership

Two Principles for Leading Your Organization Through the COVID-19 Crisis

A former Fortune 500 CEO offers a way forward during this time of unprecedented uncertainty.