THE CHANCE to take a summer holiday after the long lockdown is very appealing. So Bartleby was excited to book rooms in a pub-cum-hotel in the beautiful Yorkshire Dales in July. Not long after the booking, however, the manager called to warn that the restaurant and bar would be closed on the Wednesday night. “As…
Boards working in synergy with corporate management to drive business growth — that’s the dream, right? A recent McKinsey study notes that the pandemic has brought many companies closer to this ideal relationship, as company boards of directors (BODs) have risen to the challenge during a time of crisis to guide companies during this unprecedented…
In far too many companies, there is the appearance of harmony and alignment but in reality there’s often dysfunction simmering beneath the surface. The intention behind cultivating a nice culture is often genuine. Leaders believe they’re doing a good thing that will motivate people and create inclusion. But often it has the opposite effect and…
By Ken Xie As global workplace shutdowns in response to the pandemic created an immediate need for work-from-home (WFH) solutions, network and security teams—already struggling to support digital innovation efforts and introduce network devices and edges—suddenly had to create effective and secure ways for employees and stakeholders to connect and communicate. Very few organizations were…
The pandemic spurred a huge increase in the use of virtual health care. But its place in the post-pandemic world is up in the air. To help policymakers, payers, providers assess the various ways in which virtual care programs could have a positive impact for patients, clinicians, payers, and society going forward, the American Medical Association…
Data is more important than ever, but most organizations still struggle with a few common issues: They focus more on data infrastructure than data products; data is often created with the needs of a particular department in mind, but little thought for the end use; they lack a common “data language” with each department coding…
June 23, 2021 Mihir, Rawi, and Felix debate whether or not the U.S. pays too much attention to Russia, a relatively small economy without important trade relations. They also try to make sense of YOLO (you only live once). Are we becoming too narcissistic? Each week, the hosts give their recommendations for reading, watching, and…
When it comes to churn prevention, marketers traditionally start by identifying which customers are most likely to churn, and then running A/B tests to determine whether a proposed retention intervention will be effective at retaining those high-risk customers. While this strategy can be effective, the author shares new research based on field experiments with over…
Now that people are putting their masks aside, company leaders are faced with a litany of operational and cultural questions about when and how to return to the office. Hanson Bridgett — a full-service, midsize law firm in California — began working on all that (and more) about 14 months before the pandemic began. The…
June 22, 2021 Greg Urban, anthropologist at the University of Pennsylvania, used to study indigenous tribes in Brazil. Now he hangs out in break rooms and boardrooms analyzing how people interact — and create and change culture — in organizations. He shares lessons and tips for managers to better understand and motivate their teams. Urban…