Business and management

Writing for Fortune, Principal Research Scientist Andrew McAfee discusses his new book “The Geek Way,” and explains how the structure of Montessori schools are influencing modern day business and company culture. “A bunch of geeks are now doing for companies what Maria Montessori did for schools,” writes McAfee. “They’re reimagining them, improving them, and exposing false assumptions. A large and growing cohort of business leaders are now building very different companies — and, not coincidentally, very successful ones.”

Principal Research Scientist Andrew McAfee discussed the impact of artificial intelligence and technology on businesses at the Fortune CFO Collaborative, reports Sheryl Estrada for Fortune. Generative AI is “going to diffuse throughout the economy,” said McAfee. “It’s going to separate winners from losers, and it’s going to turbocharge the winners faster than you and I have been expecting.”  

Writing for Fortune, Sloan research fellow Michael Schrage and his colleagues, explain how AI-enabled key performance indicators (KPIs) can help companies better understand and measure success. “Driving strategic alignment within their organization is an increasingly important priority for senior executives,” they write. “AI-enabled KPIs are powerful tools for achieving this. By getting their data right, using appropriate organizational constructs, and driving a cultural shift towards data-driven decision making, organizations can effectively govern the creation and deployment of AI-enabled KPIs." 

Lisa Su BS, MS ’91, PhD ’94, the CEO of Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), has been named to the Forbes 2023 Future of Work list for her, “technological chops and management savvy [techniques that] helped orchestrate a case-study worthy turnaround at AMD,” reports Jena McGregor for Forbes. The Forbes list, “highlights 50 leaders, executives, thinkers and teams rethinking the world of work at a time when everything – from the job market’s future to AI’s impact to a college degree’s value – feels more uncertain than ever.”

Principal Research Scientist Andrew McAfee writes for Fast Company about the makings of a successful corporate culture. “I’ve come to believe that the most fundamental reason Silicon Valley companies are disrupting so many industries is that they’ve iterated and experimented their way into a corporate culture that supports high levels of agility, innovation, and execution simultaneously,” writes McAfee. “I call this culture the geek way. It’s based on four norms expected by those around you (and not just the bosses).”

Prof. Pierre Azoulay speaks with Wall Street Journal reporter Bob Fernandez about new research that highlights how immigrant workers, “account for nearly one-in-five of the top 1% wage earners in the U.S.” Azoulay notes that: “One reason that immigrants do better is that they locate in places that are growing fast and the earnings potential are high. They do not randomly locate around the United States.”

Oprah Daily reporter Michael Clinton spotlights Anh Vu Sawyer MBA ‘20 and her personal, professional and academic journey to becoming a successful social entrepreneur. Vu Sawyer’s company, “which she called Anh55 after her name and birth year, is in many ways a natural extension of her own story: engaging immigrant and refugee communities in producing a line of sustainable clothing for women over 40 that’s both affordable and stylish.”

DUSP Lecturer Bruno Verdini PhD ’15 speaks with Jenn Williams of Foreign Policy’s “The Negotiators” podcast to discuss the 2012 Colorado River agreement between the United States and Mexico, and his book, “Winning Together: The Natural Resource Negotiation Playbook.” “If you are recognizing that the feedback loops in natural resource negotiations are going to be complex and unexpected as time goes by, you only have an ability to monitor, be flexible, and address new challenges if you’ve created a mechanism of trust, and in that mechanism implementation follows, even across different political perspectives,” says Verdini. “Because it is in your interest to keep complying.”

Tom Davenport, a visiting scholar at the MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy, writes for Forbes about how organizations are approaching generative AI. “If organizations are to succeed with generative AI, they need to increase the focus on data preparation for it, which is a primary prerequisite for success,” writes Davenport.

Researchers at MIT and elsewhere have published a study examining how extended “silence and a deliberative mindset create value in negotiation,” reports MSNBC reporter Selena Rezvani. “Our research suggests that pausing silently can be a simple yet very effective tool to help negotiators shift from fixed-pie thinking to a more reflective state of mind," says Prof. Jared Curhan. "This, in turn, leads to the recognition of golden opportunities to expand the proverbial pie and create value for both sides.”

Sonita Lontoh MLOG '04 has been named to the San Francisco Business Times list of the 2023 most influential women, reports Simon Campbell for San Francisco Business Times. “As a first-generation immigrant from Indonesia, who grew up in a diverse environment with family and friends of different ethnic and religious backgrounds, and who came to the United States alone as a teenager and built a technology career in Silicon Valley, I believe my upbringing and life experiences have enabled me to develop a truly diverse and global perspective,” says Lontoh.

Jasmina Aganovic ’09 founded Future Society, a brand that uses sequenced DNA from extinct flowers to create new scents, reports Celia Shatzman for Forbes. “[With] plants that are from another time, never before have we been able to time travel through smell,” says Aganovic. “But now we can do that, thanks specifically to DNA sequencing. It’s an example of where we're starting off with this concept of limitless nature. It isn't just about stories; it's also about performance.”

In an article for Forbes, Lecturer Guadalupe Hayes-Mota SB '08, SM '16, MBA '16 explores the “strategies to enhance supply chain visibility in biopharma.” “As the biopharmaceutical industry continues to grow and evolve, the supply chain's role becomes ever more critical,” writes Hayes-Mota. “Investing in these detailed strategies ensures resilience and positions companies for growth and innovation in a rapidly changing landscape.”

William Pounds, the former dean of the MIT Sloan School of Management who was “famous for being willing to approach and talk to anybody,” has died at age 95. “As an administrator, he wanted to guide business school graduates to become able leaders of corporations like the ones where he had worked," writes Bryan Marquard for The Boston Globe.

MIT was named to the number two spot in U.S. News & World Report’s ranking of the top universities, reports WBZ.