23/10/2021
“I WILL BE back in the office [in two weeks] and have limited Wi-Fi connection in the meantime.” It is safe to assume that readers of this column are familiar with something like this message (which, like all the others cited below, comes from real life). As with all aspects of office culture, the autoreply […]
22/10/2021
The pandemic has also increased pressure on organizations to respond to three long-term talent trends that have been building for at least a decade: on-demand skills are scarce, made worse by digitization and automation; responding rapidly to changing and uncertain conditions is essential; and flexibility reigns supreme. Reskilling is an important part of the response to […]
21/10/2021
From consumers to policy makers, many economic actors are backing sustainability—and creating a powerful portfolio opportunity for investors. The use of environmental, social, and governance factors (altogether known as ESG) is increasingly informing investment decisions. But although ESG investing has grown in prominence in a few short years, there’s a disconnect: To properly capitalize on […]
20/10/2021
Digital’s ascendancy is visible not only in the dominance of hyperscale tech companies but in the success of non-digital-native companies such as John Deere, Goldman Sachs, BHP, Disney, and Bosch, among others. These companies have invested heavily in new digitally enabled strategies and business models. Not only did they enter the pandemic with bigger technology […]
19/10/2021
How can investors track stock markets around the world? Using the MSCI All Countries World Index Investable Market Index (MSCI ACWI IMI), investors can benchmark their portfolios to a comprehensive group of developed and emerging markets. With over $4.2 trillion in assets benchmarked to the ACWI—about 4% of all managed assets globally—the index is widely […]
15/10/2021
With the economic recovery gaining steam amid an uncertain pandemic path, companies are scrambling to deal with increasing commodity prices, supply constraints, and higher wages caused by labor shortages. In the first half of 2021, the producer price index (PPI) rose 10% in the G7 countries. The PPI measures the prices of goods immediately postproduction […]
14/10/2021
FOR THOSE worried about the health of European democracy, the departures were all the more welcome for being so unexpected. After a decade in which populist governments have undermined the rule of law and moulded the state to their advantage across central and eastern Europe, two leaders accused of manipulating the political system lost power […]
13/10/2021
The ability to accept reality is one of the most useful, and most misunderstood, skills for a leader. It’s a concept that has been around for centuries in philosophy and more recently in psychology, and properly applied can help drive change. As Carl Jung wrote, “We cannot change anything until we accept it. Condemnation does […]
12/10/2021
The World’s Top 100 Most Valuable Brands in 2021 In 2020, the global economy experienced one of the worst declines since the Great Depression. Yet, while the ripple effects of COVID-19 have thrown many businesses into disarray, some companies have not only managed to stay afloat amidst the chaos—they’ve thrived. Using data from Kantar BrandZ, […]
11/10/2021
Prior to the pandemic, the working world already felt to most of us like it was undergoing rapid, unrelenting change — changes in customer preferences, client and employee expectations, and competitive advantages. Covid-19 managed to upend the few things that felt relatively predictable, like where we spent our working hours, how we collaborated with colleagues, […]
11/10/2021
Rising political polarization can have serious ramifications for businesses. Companies that speak out on controversial issues can face decreased customer loyalty from those with opposing beliefs, increased internal conflict between employees, or reduced sales from boycotts. Furthermore, taking a public stance can often exacerbate social tensions. For example, after the 2018 school shooting in Parkland, […]
08/10/2021
In early 2020, Airbnb was headed for a banner year — bookings were up, expansion plans were in place, and an IPO was set for the spring. Then Covid hit, and more than $1B of bookings disappeared, expansion plans were postponed, and one-quarter of the workforce was cut. However, by the end of the year, […]
07/10/2021
Bringing the World Into Focus: A Guide to MSCI Indexes Economic development around the world has led investors to consider broadening their investment exposures. But with nearly 30,000 equity securities available globally, the universe is far too large for an investor to filter by themselves. In this sponsored infographic from MSCI, we explain their index […]
06/10/2021
A 2018 global survey by Accenture Strategy of 30,000 consumers in 35 countries indicated that nearly two-thirds of them (62%) find brands with high ethical values attractive. That’s potentially a problem for companies in the luxury sector, because people often see luxury goods as a wasteful self-indulgence and potentially damaging to the environment, especially if […]
05/10/2021
The employment landscape is constantly shifting. While agricultural jobs played a big role in the 19th century, a large portion of U.S. jobs today are in administration, sales, or transportation. So how can job seekers identify the fastest growing jobs of the future? The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) projects there will be 11.9 […]
04/10/2021
To achieve — and sustain — success, many companies place extraordinary demands on their teams. World-renowned investment banks, law firms, and consulting firms are notorious for subjecting employees to grueling workdays. Software developers use the word “crunch” to describe the long, stressful hours of work that are often required in the final weeks before a […]
01/10/2021
In September 2016, Wells Fargo announced that it would pay $185 million to settle a lawsuit filed by federal regulators and the city and county of Los Angeles, admitting that employees had opened as many as 1.5 million accounts without customer authorization over a five-year period. These unethical practices resulted in an immediate drop the […]
29/09/2021
As China’s consumer base grows larger and more enticing to international brands, many global companies have begun investing heavily in localizing their products to meet the needs of the Chinese market. KFCs in China sell soy milk, fried dough sticks, and congee; Volkswagen launched a whole series of new models designed specifically for China; Starbucks […]
28/09/2021
The pandemic resulted in global wealth taking a significant dip in the first part of 2020. By the end of March, global household wealth had already declined by around 4.4%. Interestingly, after much monetary and fiscal stimulus from governments around the world, global household wealth was more than able to recover, finishing up the year […]
27/09/2021
It’s easy to acknowledge the game-changing role digital technologies are playing in the modern economy. The challenge, to which most companies have yet to rise, is figuring out how to fully capture the different kinds of value that these technologies offer. Developing a strategy for digital transformation that fully leverages this value is also not […]
24/09/2021
How do CEOs and their executive teams develop strategy? The accepted process is like coupling two sides of an equation. On one side sits the organization’s external environment, with all its changes and trends. On the other side sits the organization with all of its internal capabilities. Strategy is about how you align the two. This […]
23/09/2021
At TEDxUtopia, the question was asked: What would leadership in Utopia look like? To start with, imagine the best leader you have ever worked with. How did he or she get to become this type of leader? Leadership lecturer and former corporate executive Lars Sudmann argues that it’s likely that they learned to overcome the […]
23/09/2021
We all have professional goals we want to accomplish, whether it’s mastering a new technical skill, getting better at delegation, or carving out time in our schedule for networking and relationship building. Yet so often, we find ourselves putting these ambitions on the backburner — again. Sometimes it’s simple busyness, our days eaten up by […]
23/09/2021
Picture it — a colleague asks if you can chair a new committee they’re starting. Without even pausing to think, the first words out of your mouth are, “Sure. I’d love to!” Flash forward, and you’re looking at emails piling up in your inbox and a flurry of appointments on your calendar. It suddenly hits […]
23/09/2021
As we look back, 2020 and much of 2021 were a wake-up call for how much and how quickly change can happen. But they were also a warm-up for what’s ahead — not necessarily another pandemic with multiple variants, of course, but flux of every imaginable stripe. The future will not be more stable or […]
05/08/2021
Ranked: the Top 50 Most Innovative Companies in 2021 This year has been rife with pandemic-induced changes that have shifted corporate priorities—and yet, innovation has remained a top concern among corporations worldwide. Using data from the annual ranking done by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) using a poll of 1,600 global innovation professionals, this graphic ranks […]
04/08/2021
Are you dreading the conversations with your team about returning to the office? Or maybe you’re already back and need to tell one of your direct reports that your agreed-upon approach isn’t working. Fostering a safe and constructive dialogue about re-entry can be challenging. Ironically, some of the mistakes you might make will stem from […]
03/08/2021
Once in a generation (if that), we have the opportunity to reimagine how we work. In the 1800s, the Industrial Revolution moved many in Europe and the United States from fields to factories. In the 1940s, World War II brought women into the workforce (if not the C-suite) at unprecedented rates. In the 1990s, the […]
02/08/2021
By all indications the future of work is hybrid: 52% of U.S. workers would prefer a mix of working from home and the office, saying it has a positive impact on their ability to be creative, solve problems and build relationships. Global research tells us 72% of corporate leaders plan to offer a hybrid model, […]
30/07/2021
This year has been rife with pandemic-induced changes that have shifted corporate priorities—and yet, innovation has remained a top concern among corporations worldwide. Using data from the annual ranking done by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) using a poll of 1,600 global innovation professionals, this graphic ranks the top 50 most innovative companies in 2021. We’ll […]
29/07/2021
Globally, family businesses comprise 75% of all firms and contribute 65% to GDP. However, evidence of whether families improve or impair their companies’ performance remains mixed and is ardently debated. In order to better understand the findings of prior studies, we conducted a meta-analysis (together with the University of Trier’s Joern Block and Dominik Wagner of IUBH […]
28/07/2021
The Tokyo Olympics in 2021 have 17 sports with balls or spheres of some sort. Here are the different sizes and weights of each Olympic sports ball. This content was originally published here.
27/07/2021
There is perhaps no better experience for a hiring manager than seeing the resume of an outstanding internal candidate land on their desk. You can fill the job immediately and, because current employees know the organization and its quirks, they require less handholding in order to get up to speed quickly. You also rarely have […]
08/07/2021
Asia is already the world’s consumption growth engine and is likely to reinforce that position over the next decade. Disregarding Asia’s consumer markets would mean missing half the global consumption story. Asia’s consumer markets are not only a story of scale, but also one of diversity and shifting preferences and behavior caused by powerful demographic, […]
07/07/2021
The killing of George Floyd catalyzed a reckoning around racial injustice that led many corporate leaders to seek to evolve their organizations to meet today’s tremendous societal challenges. Many U.S. organizations have publicly pledged to increase diversity by filling more executive positions with individuals from underrepresented groups. Some boards of directors, like Nike, Starbucks, and […]
06/07/2021
The next normal is the ‘no normal’ The year 2020 was unlike any other, as lives and livelihoods were upended by the pandemic. COVID-19 affected every aspect of our lives, forcing customers and businesses alike to embrace new behaviors, including digital ways of working, shopping, and relaxing. Within a span of a few months, a […]
05/07/2021
As we continue to adjust to Covid-19’s disruptions and see Black Americans killed by police, hate crimes against Asian Americans surge, and people in Georgia fight for equal voting rights, the question of what “belonging” means in American society is reaching into the workplace as it never has before. CEOs, corporate boards, investors, consumers, and […]
02/07/2021
If you think it’s hard teaching elephants to dance, as Lou Gerstner once characterized change programs at large businesses, 1 1. Louis V. Gerstner Jr., Who Says Elephants Can’t Dance? Inside IBM’s Historic Turnaround, New York, NY: Harper Business, 2002. here’s a choreographer for you: Bart Schlatmann, the CEO of Allianz Direct—a thriving digital business […]
01/07/2021
The CEO of a large retail company recently brought a $500 million digital-transformation-investment plan to his board. The board reviewed the proposal, but after asking a number of questions, they were unable to evaluate it. Was it too costly? Was it aiming too low? Was it focused on the right priorities? One board member admitted […]
18/06/2021
The COVID-19 pandemic has driven rapid adoption of digital channels across countries and industries, but digital’s growth has plateaued in the past six months and may begin to slip back once the pandemic eases—even as total digital adoption stays well above prepandemic levels. That’s one of the findings from a new McKinsey survey of global […]
17/06/2021
Leadership questionnaires are ubiquitous in organizations today. Surveys are a common tool to measure leadership potential, help determine whether employees should be promoted or afforded a bonus, and understand the leadership culture of an organization. The push towards survey-type assessments was driven by a general dissatisfaction with older, more anecdote-driven processes that came with a […]
16/06/2021
For years now, human-resource leaders have found themselves on a cost-efficiency treadmill that applies analytics and big data to existing HR operating models. Their departments have lived by a worthy but uninspiring mandate: to optimize labor costs, reinforce compliance using standardized measures, and support the adoption of technology beyond IT. Even in the areas of […]
15/06/2021
What does it mean for one of the world’s most recognizable retail brands to go digital? For almost 80 years, IKEA has been in the very analogue business of selling its distinct brand of home goods to people. Three years ago, IKEA Retail (Ingka Group) hired Barbara Martin Coppola — a veteran of Google, Samsung, […]
14/06/2021
Regionalization has been accelerated by the pandemic, as countries closed their borders and protected their supply chains. Globalization was already under strain before the pandemic: the intraregional share of global goods trade increased by 2.7 percentage points between 2013 and 2018, according to an analysis by the McKinsey Global Institute (MGI). Regionalization is most apparent […]
11/06/2021
The concept of wellness has been around for a long time. Remember Jane Fonda workout tapes, neon legwarmers, and the “cookie diet”? These days, consumers view wellness through a much broader and more sophisticated lens, encompassing not just fitness and nutrition but also overall physical and mental health and appearance. They also have more choice in […]
10/06/2021
Traditionally, price discovery — determining a company’s fair value price — is based on the interactions of buyers and sellers in a marketplace. The publicly quoted share price demonstrates how capital markets value a company, and it’s the basis upon which the company issues debt and equity. It also helps determine how the company allocates […]
09/06/2021
The internet is intangible, and because you can’t see it, it can be hard to comprehend its sheer vastness. As well, it’s difficult to gauge the relative size of different web properties. However, this map of the internet by Halcyon Maps offers a unique solution to these problems. Inspired by the look and design of […]
08/06/2021
Prolonged lockdowns because of COVID-19 outbreaks have acted as an accelerant for a number of trends, such as the dramatic shift to e-commerce and evolving consumer behaviors and preferences. Another big visible trend is the increased scrutiny from multiple stakeholders on sustainability issues that affect product strategy, sourcing and supply chain, and access to capital. […]
07/06/2021
In today’s highly competitive business environment, workplace culture is becoming increasingly recognized as a source of competitive advantage. What does this mean for the investment industry, and how can asset managers use it to improve performance? The Top Cultural Edges to Develop Workplace culture was gaining traction for several years prior to COVID-19, but after […]
02/06/2021
America is housing a racially traumatized workforce. Many managers are ill-equipped to lead and connect with Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) employees. The physical traits, values, behaviors, and workplace identities of BIPOC employees continue to be compromised, minimized, and excluded. The reality is that professionalism has become the pseudonym for assimilation. Until white […]
01/06/2021
From widening wealth disparity to the environmental ramifications of economic development—the growing focus on global sustainability is a clear sign of the times. Research reveals that when a sustainable ethos is applied to policy and business, it typically bodes well for economies and people alike. By providing benchmarks for those decisions, indexes like Yale’s […]
31/05/2021
“Our office policy is that people should come into the office once per week. Now they are organizing a team meeting with 15 people. I guess some people seem to feel comfortable with that, but I’m not; I have a young family at home and we have been very careful. I can’t say that though.” […]
28/05/2021
A Visual Guide to Human Emotion Despite vast differences in culture around the world, humanity’s DNA is 99.9% similar. There are few attributes more central and universal to the human experience than our emotions. Of course, the broad spectrum of emotions we’re capable of experiencing can be difficult to articulate. That’s where this brilliant visualization […]
27/05/2021
With the migration to remote work over the last year, cyberattacks have increased exponentially. We saw more attacks of every kind, but the headline for 2020 was ransom attacks, which were up 150% over the previous year. The amount paid by victims of these attacks increased more than 300% in 2020. Already 2021 has seen […]
26/05/2021
Sometimes a founder’s image is so publicly associated with his or her company, one rarely stops to ask, “Who is that person?” A few, such as Colonel Sanders of Kentucky Fried Chicken, Henry Ford, and Ralph Lauren become something even more than that; they become “iconic.” For many family businesses, having an iconic founder has […]
21/05/2021
The lean startup approach has taken the entrepreneurship world by storm. Even established companies such as Dropbox, Slack, and General Electric have embraced it as a way to rapidly test and refine ideas for products or businesses. But is lean startup all it’s cracked up to be? In a recent Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal article, we […]
20/05/2021
Mapped: The Top 10 Billionaire Cities in 2020 In 2020, the world gained 493 new billionaires—that’s one every 17 hours. For the last seven years, New York City has been home to more billionaires than any other city in the world. However, last year marked a monumental shift in the status quo. Beijing has […]
19/05/2021
When the Covid-19 pandemic removed the safety net of schooling and employee-paid child care for working families, the damage was cataclysmic. Without a stable form of childcare as part of the business infrastructure, the world stopped working for the vast majority of working parents around the world. One third of the U.S. workforce, or an […]
18/05/2021
The future of work is changing, and new rules are being written before our very eyes. Teams are more important now than ever before, but many of them are struggling to step up and drive high performance when it matters most. Accountable Leaders Build Accountable Teams Weak, mediocre teams demonstrate behaviors that can breed a […]
17/05/2021
Being a board member isn’t easy. You have responsibility for a company but limited means to really understand it — and that understanding is often mediated by management. How aware are you of what’s really happening in the company you’re responsible for governing? What did board members at Boeing, Carrillion, Wirecard, and Theranos know about […]
15/05/2021
I received a call from the chief transformation officer of a midsize financial services company. Their company-wide change effort to shift from a product company to a services company was in shambles after being underway for nearly two years. “We thought we’d done everything we needed to do to keep this transformation from derailing,” he […]
15/05/2021
I received a call from the chief transformation officer of a midsize financial services company. Their company-wide change effort to shift from a product company to a services company was in shambles after being underway for nearly two years. “We thought we’d done everything we needed to do to keep this transformation from derailing,” he […]
14/05/2021
Fact Check: The Truth Behind 5 ESG Myths In 2021, investors continue to embrace environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investments at record levels. In the first quarter of 2021, global ESG fund inflows outpaced the last four consecutive quarters, reaching $2 trillion. But while ESG gains rapid momentum, the CFA Institute shows that 33% of […]
14/05/2021
Fact Check: The Truth Behind 5 ESG Myths In 2021, investors continue to embrace environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investments at record levels. In the first quarter of 2021, global ESG fund inflows outpaced the last four consecutive quarters, reaching $2 trillion. But while ESG gains rapid momentum, the CFA Institute shows that 33% of […]
13/05/2021
A few months into 2021, middle-market companies are eager for growth and sense unique opportunities, including the chance to profit from pent-up demand and the momentum of a rebounding economy — and, for some, to take share from or acquire a weakened rival. The International Monetary Fund is forecasting U.S. economic growth at 6.4% this […]
03/05/2021
The pandemic has accelerated a trend that has been unfolding over the last decade. As the world has grown more digital and complex, the range of decisions that leaders need to make has broadened, spanning from big picture strategic thinking to careful execution, to advancing technology roadmaps and upskilling and engaging employees. And decision-making criteria […]
30/04/2021
The Briefing Three of seven COVID-19 vaccine stocks have outperformed the S&P 500 since the beginning of the global pandemic Novavax is the highest performing vaccine stock, returning 1,549% to shareholders Vaccine Stocks During a Pandemic It’s often said that with every crisis comes great opportunity. While such catastrophes do create upheaval and uncertainty […]
29/04/2021
Many people assume that nostalgia is purely entertainment, a feeling individuals enjoy because it takes them back to the more carefree days of their youth. Some view it as maladaptive fixation on the past, perhaps indicating a fear of change. I’ve heard business analysts and leaders argue that, although nostalgia may help some companies sell […]
28/04/2021
Mapped: The 25 Poorest Countries in the World Having looked at the richest countries in the world, which nations are at the bottom of the list in terms of GDP per capita, in nominal terms? This map looks at the world’s 25 poorest countries by this metric. Country GDP per capita (USD) 🇧🇮 Burundi $263.67 […]
27/04/2021
The Briefing The richest country in the world is Luxembourg with a GDP per capita of over $109,000 The world’s 25 richest countries are located across North America, Europe, Asia, and Oceania Mapped: The 25 Richest Countries in the World Which are the richest countries in the world, by nominal GDP per capita? This […]
23/04/2021
The Briefing The FAATMAN stocks have a collective market cap of $8.3 trillion On average, these Big Tech companies generate a whopping $416,768 of revenue each minute Big Tech Just Keeps Getting Bigger It’s becoming increasingly difficult to wrap your head around just how massive some big tech stocks are getting, especially since they […]
23/04/2021
While consumers sheltered in their homes during the pandemic, more economic activity moved online. “In many markets, the surge in e-commerce has compressed the equivalent of several years of growth into just a few months,” McKinsey noted in a report in August 2020. Now, with vaccinations proceeding, CEOs and others who allocate resources face a […]
22/04/2021
Which Asian Economies Have the Most Sustainable Trade Policies? To say that Asia has benefited from international trade is an understatement. By opening its economies to the rest of the world, the region has become a leading exporter in many of today’s most important industries. Trade has also improved Asia’s quality of life, lifting over […]
21/04/2021
The idea of “agile” thinking or innovation, along with its close cousin “lean,” has spread far beyond its product development and manufacturing roots. It’s not uncommon now to hear about the agile approach to budgeting, talent management, or even running a family meeting. Agile is a powerful process for product development, but many organizations are […]
20/04/2021
The Briefing Private equity (PE) deal valuations by EV/EBITDA are increasingly rich and are hitting higher double-digit figures 2021 is expected to be another home run year for PE, with 20% of buyouts estimated to be priced above 20x EV/EBITDA The Ballooning Valuations In Private Equity Deals Private equity is getting increasingly expensive. As a […]
19/04/2021
Many organizations wrestle with how to excel in rapidly changing times. At some point or another, they encounter challenges that force them to modify the ways they do things so they can continue to meet expectations. Some do it better than others, and it usually comes down to how confident they feel about their teams’ […]
16/04/2021
The Briefing The top 10 hedge fund managers take home an average of $1.3 billion a year in earnings The hedge fund industry manages over $3 trillion in assets Hedge funds often have a two-and-twenty fee structure, charging 2% on all assets under management (AUM), and 20% on profits The Top 10 Hedge Fund Managers […]
15/04/2021
Because they’re smaller than large companies and less encumbered by bureaucracy, midsize companies have an opportunity to take advantage of the market changes that will persist post-Covid (some permanently). The ones that delay risk permanently losing their market position. Big companies can inadvertently stymie innovation, whereas midsize firms have an ideal mix of sufficient financial strength, […]
14/04/2021
The Briefing Due to global warming, 28 trillion tonnes of ice have melted in just over two decades Over half (58%) of this global ice loss occurred in the Northern Hemisphere Visualizing Earth’s Global Ice Loss Between 1994-2017 Nearly 70% of the Earth’s freshwater is locked up in glaciers and ice caps, ground ice, and […]