Nicole Obi MCP ’95, SM ’95, head of the Black Economic Council of Massachusetts, speaks with Boston Magazine reporter Jonathan Soroff about how Massachusetts can level the playing field for entrepreneurs. “We’re at this point of racial awakening, and a lot of people might not be comfortable with it, but they get it,” says Obi. “Being in this moment makes me really excited to be part of the solution and to create a more equitable future for Massachusetts.”
André Bernardes MBA ’19, Bruno Lucas MBA ’19 and Ludmila Pontremolez co-founded Zippi, a payment platform created to provide “affordable and accessible financial services to the 30 million micro entrepreneurs in Brazil,” reports Aparna Dhinakaran for Forbes.
Prof. Deborah Ancona speaks with Forbes reporter Tima Bansal about her research into X-teams, a specific type of team structure used in business environments.
In an article for Fast Company, Prof. Kate Kellogg and Prof. Erin Kelly, along with Boston University lecturer Constance Hadley, explore how employers can help encourage spontaneous interactions among employees. “By giving more attention to cultivating employee relationships and network ties at work, leaders can help create a hybrid workplace that offers the best of both worlds,” they write.
MIT’s Sloan School of Management and University of Navarra’s IESE Business School are launching a Global CEO Program designed for senior executives, reports Syndey Lake for Fortune. “Students, through the seven-month program, will focus on topics including systems thinking, innovation mindset, communication, change management, emerging technologies, negotiation and influence, self-leadership, and building a legacy,” writes Lake.
Fast Company reporter Amelia Hemphill spotlights the work of Alicia Chong Rodriguez SM ’17, SM ’18, and her startup Bloomer Tech, which is “dedicated to transforming women’s underwear into a healthcare device.” “Our big goal is to generate digital biomarkers,” says Chong Rodriguez. “Digital biomarkers work more like a video, so it will definitely allow a more personalized care from the physician to their patient.”
Writing for The Boston Globe, Prof. Erin Kelly shares her research on the impact of remote work. “The challenge is setting boundaries and feeling it’s acceptable to set them, and that requires deliberate company policies,” writes Kelly.
A new study co-authored by Prof. S.P. Kothari “analyzes the stock returns of thousands of companies from 1988-2020, comparing those that repurchased shares against firms that didn’t, adjusting for their size and other factors,” reports Jason Zweig for The Wall Street Journal. “We don’t see massive misuse as some people allege,” says Kothari. “This isn’t a rigged game where CEOs are lining their pockets.”
Former Prof. Lael Brainard will be appointed as director of the National Economic Council for the White House economic team, report Jeff Stein and Tyler Pager for The Washington Post.
A study co-authored by Senior Lecturer Donald Sull found that the top factor in employee retention is corporate environment, reports Ellen Rosen for The New York Times. Sull says that a toxic work culture was “10 times more predictive of having a higher-than-industry-average attrition rate than compensation.”
Writing for CNBC, senior lecturer Tara Swart shares four tips to avoid brain fog and forgetfulness. “By articulating your goals to yourself out loud, you can start to be more intentional about changing your habits,” writes Swart. “And through that repetition, your brain and body will start to follow suit.”
Research fellow Michael Schrage speaks with Fortune reporter Sheryl Estrada about how generative A.I. will impact finance. “I think, increasingly, we’re going to be seeing generative A.I. used for financial forecasts and scenario generation,” says Schrage.
The Economist highlights several studies by MIT researchers on income inequality and wages in the U.S., noting that “Clem Aeppli of Harvard and Nathan Wilmers of MIT found that earnings inequality basically reached a plateau after 2012.” Additionally, Prof. David Autor and his colleagues have found that wages for the bottom half of workers have been growing roughly two percentage points faster than for the upper half of workers.
Deepak Dugar MBA ’13, PhD ’13 founded Visolis, a biomanufacturing company developing carbon-negative, high-performance materials, reports John Cumbers for Forbes. “We use biology to make platform molecules. And then we use chemistry to turn them into a lot of different products. Because of this unique combination, we have an advantage both in terms of market as well as cost of technology development,” says Dugar.
Wall Street Journal reporter David Wainer spotlights a 2021 study conducted Prof. Andrew Lo and his colleagues that investigated “what happened to innovation when drug companies were no longer able to resort to one of their favorite tactics: paying generic makers to stay off the market.”