January 25, 2022 A decade ago, the U.S. Supreme Court changed the rules on how businesses could donate to political campaigns. Since then, hundreds of millions of corporate dollars have been spent on local, state, and federal elections, often without transparency. Many CEOs and boards feel this is the only way they can curry favor…
As knowledge workers have shifted to hybrid, we’re not seeing an equivalent drop in demand for office space. New survey data suggests cuts in office space of 1% to 2% on average. There are three trends driving this: 1) Workers are uncomfortable with density, and the only surefire way to reduce density is to cut person days…
Businesses should be ready to defend what they’re doing about the climate crisis and how they’re taking meaningful action. If they don’t, they could face challenges from many directions, from the SEC to activists to litigators. This is more important than ever, especially when there’s a growing and justified anger directed at those who are…
The workplace trends that accelerated during the pandemic aren’t going away. Companies should use this moment to improve office environments in a way that boosts employee engagement and well-being, thereby encouraging attendance, increasing retention, and attracting new talent. The authors, who designed the Hana Bank headquarters during the Covid-19 crisis, recommend a few best practices:…
It’s not what you do. It’s how ostentatiously you do itIN AN EPISODE of “Seinfeld”, a vintage TV sitcom, the character of George Costanza reveals the secret of pretending to work: act irritated. He shakes his head, frowns and sighs to demonstrate the technique. “When you look annoyed all the time, people think that you’re…
Todd Pruzan, HBR Welcome to the Quick Take. I’m Todd Pruzan, senior editor of research and special projects at Harvard Business Review. Today I’m with Philippe Delorme, executive vice president of energy management at Schneider Electric and a member of the group’s executive committee. In 2020, Schneider Electric posted revenues of more than 25 billion…
Big oil’s most reluctant decarboniser lays out its green planDARREN WOODS made some revealing remarks this week about global warming. His ruminations matter in America’s oil industry for he is the boss of Exxon Mobil, the largest Western oil major. His firm has historically been less enthusiastic than rivals about taking climate change seriously. But…
Don’t ban, don’t binge and don’t badgerA RATHER GOOD black comedy called “Another Round” depicts what happens when a bunch of disenchanted Danish school teachers constantly top up the levels of alcohol in their blood. At first the experiment goes well: the students respond enthusiastically to their newly inspiring teachers. But unconsciousness, bed-wetting and worse…
EVEN FOR Microsoft, which boasts a market value of $2.3trn, $69bn is a lot of money. On January 18th the firm said it would pay that sum—in cash—for Activision Blizzard, a video-game developer. It is by far the biggest acquisition in the video-game industry’s history, and the largest ever by Microsoft, more than twice the…
The ability to analyze failure is crucial in resolving issues and preventing them from happening again. It’s a catastrophe for an organization…