MIT Sloan Management Review

01/23/2025

“Do we have the right people in place to execute our strategic plans?” That perennial question for organizational leaders has spurred the adoption of practices and systems designed to identify and develop valuable individuals within workforces. But amid the proliferation of digital solutions to this problem, a new question has emerged: Who’s making decisions about your people — your most promising employees and future leaders? For many large companies, the answer may not be internal stakeholders who are keenly attuned to the organization’s strategic needs but rather an industry-standard one-size-fits-all piece of commercial software.

Cloud-based software services have wrought a profound transformation in the HR technology landscape, reshaping how larger organizations approach talent management. Gone are the days when internal executives were responsible for working with IT on bespoke systems, crafting and overseeing talent frameworks, and managing talent data, given that vendors now offer those services for a subscription fee.

HR leaders’ inclination to rent predesigned talent solutions appears to be unwavering, despite concerns about the value derived from such technology: In a 2024 Gartner survey, only 35% of HR leaders said they are confident that their current approach to technology is helping to achieve business objectives. Nonetheless, in a different survey, Gartner found that technology was the top spending priority for HR leaders in 2024.

Much of the enthusiasm for HR technologies is driven by the desire to achieve cost efficiencies associated with routine administrative tasks. Vendor-designed software may also promise to help organizations transition to and enact evidence-based decision-making. Cloud-based software suites capture data, manage information, and generate the reports upon which many decisions — including promotions, rewards, and resource allocations — are based. Dashboards allow executives to compare employees and, with just a click or two, identify the best and worst performers across various criteria. These criteria, however, are preselected. Vendors tout their products’ so-called best practices and imply that the criteria and processes for talent identification are based on scientific principles and support business goals. The reality, however, is more nuanced.

https://mitsmr.com/40rIc5c

01/22/2025

Less than two years ago, generative AI made headlines with its amazing new capabilities: It could engage in conversations; interpret massive amounts of text, audio, or imagery; and even create new documents and artwork. After the fastest technology adoption in history — with over 100 million users in the first two months — businesses in every industry began experimenting with it. Yet, despite two years of broad managerial attention and extensive experimentation, we are not seeing the large-scale GenAI-powered business transformations that many people initially envisioned.

What happened? Has the technology failed to live up to its promise? Were experts wrong in calling for giant transformations? Have companies been too cautious? The answer to each of those questions is both yes and no. Generative AI is already being used in transformative ways in many companies, just not yet as the driver of a wholesale redesign of major business functions. Business leaders are finding ways to derive real value from large language models (LLMs) without complete replacements of existing business processes. They’re pursuing “small t” transformation, even as they build the foundation for larger transformations to come. In this article, we’ll show how they’re doing this today and what you can do to generate value with generative AI. https://mitsmr.com/3Wsxha4

01/21/2025

We often focus on overtly abusive behaviors, but what about the subtle, everyday actions that can be just as damaging? Have you noticed any of these in your office recently?

✏️ Multitasking during meetings
✏️ Showing up late or not at all
✏️ Interrupting or talking over others
✏️ Disregarding others' effort or expertise
✏️ Excluding colleagues from important conversations

These behaviors, while seemingly minor, can lead to feelings of anger, frustration, and even anxiety. They erode trust and create a toxic work environment.

So, how can we address this? Here are a couple of steps to consider:

1️⃣ Call B.S. on "multitasking": Neuroscientists agree that the human brain can't truly multitask. Instead, it switches attention between tasks. Encourage a tech-free environment in meetings to ensure everyone is fully present.

2️⃣ Treat other people’s time like gold: Start meetings on time, avoid restating pre-reads, and don’t admit latecomers. Time is a finite resource, and respecting it is crucial.

Implementing these steps is both easy and inexpensive. They serve as tools to assist us in fostering a workplace culture that is respectful and uplifting for everyone.

Read the full article by Jim Detert: https://mitsmr.com/42jV8fR

01/20/2025

Today, we honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream of equality and justice for all. Let's carry forward his message of hope, unity, and non-violence.

01/20/2025

Are you interested in learning about the essential information leaders should have before implementing large language models and determining the most effective applications for AI technology? Complete the registration form to receive a complimentary PDF download of “Leading Today’s Technology-Driven Organization."
https://mitsmr.com/3B59UMx

Sponsored by MIT Professional Education

Here’s what leaders need to know before deploying large language models and identifying best use cases for AI tools.

01/19/2025

The promise of generative AI offers increased revenue, streamlined efficiencies, and more innovative decision-making, but achieving this value is challenging, and maximizing it is even harder.

Want to learn how to maximize the business value of generative AI? In this series, we've teamed up with CGI to bring you weekly insights from AI experts on the goals, decisions, and strategies needed to maximize the value of generative AI. At the end, we'll send you a downloadable and shareable PDF recapping everything you've learned.
Register now: https://mitsmr.com/3ZHeCcR

Sponsored by CGI

01/18/2025

Managers are responsible for keeping employee morale and productivity high. Yet when they try to reduce burnout and improve worker well-being, many report not knowing where to start or what to do.

Absent clear solutions, they tend to focus on fixing the person, such as by offering the overworked employee productivity tips and encouragement to assert healthy boundaries, or providing stressed-out workers with training in mindfulness techniques or yoga classes at lunchtime. However, fix-the-worker strategies do little to resolve stress caused by long hours and unreasonable workloads.

The problem is not new but remains urgent and costly. HR leaders are painfully aware that disengagement and burnout are significant threats to productivity and talent retention. In the U.S., 67% of workers report feeling disengaged from their work, and 49% intend to leave their current job. Meanwhile, burnout is rampant. In a 2023 survey of U.S. adults, the American Psychological Association found that younger workers, especially, are at risk: Fifty-eight percent of 18-to-34-year-olds said that their daily level of stress is overwhelming. Disengaged, stressed-out employees do not perform at their best, and when one of them quits, it costs an estimated 30% to 200% of that employee’s salary to recruit and train their replacement.

A better approach is to create healthier and more sustainable jobs through good work design. Decades of research show that when jobs include positive characteristics such as autonomy, variety, and social support, employees are more satisfied, motivated, and committed to the organization, and they perform better. Meanwhile, minimizing work characteristics that harm people, like excessive time pressure, is crucial to preventing burnout.

https://mitsmr.com/4ff9kJU

01/16/2025

If you’re a leader trudging over those virtual sawdust piles, edgily waiting for a spark, you need a very particular tool kit. There are many, many terrific lists of leadership skills, and given infinite time, it would be great to review them all. But as we kick off 2025, what are the handful of skills you absolutely must have to navigate a tricky moment in the history of human work? And what does research tell us about how to go build those skills?

Let’s explore the nonnegotiable leadership skills you should prioritize — and how to strengthen them. https://mitsmr.com/3WmBvA7

01/15/2025

Career paths are often viewed as a straight climb up a ladder, but in practice they’re frequently much more complex. In this brief video, hybrid work expert Brian Elliott explains why sideways job changes can actually be beneficial to long-term growth.

Watch the complete video here: https://mitsmr.com/4hfkxM8

01/13/2025

Generative AI can radically improve an organization’s ability to learn. With OpenAI’s introduction of ChatGPT in November 2022, for the first time in the 200-plus-year history of advanced automation, the machines talked back. Instead of having to “speak” Java or Python, people could use everyday dialogue — which is why the tool garnered more than 100 million users in its first two months of public availability.

More profoundly, by facilitating interaction in human language and deftly handling unstructured words, images, numbers, and sounds, GenAI opened up an entirely new way of creating, capturing, and transferring organizational knowledge. In this article, we’ll argue that leaders need to embrace generative AI as a new organizational capability, and not just because it automates a variety of tasks economically. Combined with traditional AI, generative AI expands the scope of potential improvement in many processes and decisions and the ease with which this new knowledge can be applied. This, in turn, creates the potential for a positive compounding effect on organizational learning, with human and machine agents working in concert to create new competitive advantages.

Continue reading: https://mitsmr.com/3WkdjOL

01/12/2025

Want to receive our special report on designing workflows for employee productivity, engagement, and retention? Complete the registration form to receive a complimentary PDF download of “Innovating for Top Performance.” Sponsored by MIT Sloan Executive Education. https://mitsmr.com/48YX3rD

Well-designed workflows that limit employees' stress are crucial to increasing productivity and avoiding employee burnout.

01/10/2025

If you want to be a successful leader in 2025, you might want to put the two C’s at the top of your list: communication and culture. These strengths are inseparable—an organization can’t have a strong culture without strong communication skills, and vice versa. The related challenges are among the hardest we face as leaders. How do you spell out what’s most important to you as a leader and live by it? How do you encourage people on your team to tell you the truth? How do you set boundaries with people? How do you encourage more continuous learning? How do you stop “overly busy” from being a measure of success?

These are tough questions for both newer leaders and longtime executives. Our job here at MIT Sloan Management Review is to continually deliver fresh, evidence-based answers that you can apply in your own organization. So to help you start the new year strong, we tackled these questions and related ones as we curated this list of leadership tips from MIT SMR’s expert authors.

Get the 10 tips now: https://mitsmr.com/3W6mzpA

01/10/2025

Generative artificial intelligence is transforming how candidates prepare for interviews, making it more complicated for hiring managers to accurately assess their true expertise. By inputting role-specific details, organizational information, and their resumes into GenAI tools, candidates can prompt the technology to generate potential interview questions along with personalized answers. In fact, recruiters, consultants, and other job seekers widely recommend preparing for interviews in this way.

However, there is growing concern among hiring professionals that candidates using generative AI are gaming the interview process.

The five types of follow-up questions below, synthesized from decades of psychological research and professional insights, can help you assess whether candidates possess a genuine understanding of their KSAOs.

1. A Breakdown of Their Process
2. Their Rationale
3. Details on the Context

Continue reading to discover more questions you can ask candidates to help you assess their genuine understanding. https://mitsmr.com/4a8vIE1

01/08/2025

This is the time of year for predictions and trend analyses, and as data science and artificial intelligence become increasingly important to the global economy, it’s vital that leaders watch emerging AI trends. Here are the 2025 AI trends on our radar screens that leaders should understand and monitor.

1️⃣ Leaders will grapple with both the promise and hype around agentic AI.
2️⃣ The time has come to measure results from generative AI experiments.
3️⃣ Reality about data-driven culture sets in.

Continue reading Thomas Davenport and Randy Bean's column on the five trends in AI and data science that leaders should keep their eyes on in 2025.

https://mitsmr.com/3DHUaQy

01/07/2025

Ronald den Elzen's brief venture into the stock market ultimately steered him toward a career in technology leadership. Now, as the Chief Technology and Digital Officer at The Heineken Company, he has discovered his true passion. Heineken, a 160-year-old global brand, operates with the agility and innovation of a startup. Ronald encourages his team to embrace a startup mindset, which drives the successful implementation of new tech initiatives. The company utilizes AI for revenue management, promotional optimization, and logistics, while still valuing traditional AI tools like predictive analytics and machine learning.

Listen to the new episode now: https://mitsmr.com/3C1zqTb

01/06/2025

One issue that ought to matter to every company is the integrity of democracy and the rule of law. https://mitsmr.com/49KxWt2