The ancient computers in the Boeing 737 Max are holding up a fix
AA brand-new Boeing 737 Max gets built in just nine days. In that time, a team of 12,000 people turns a loose assemblage of parts into a finished $120 million airplane with some truly cutting-edge technology: winglets based on ones designed by NASA, engines that feature the world’s first one-piece carbon-fiber fan blades, and computers with the same processing power as, uh, the Super Nintendo. The Max has been grounded since March 2019, after some badly written software caused two crashes that killed 346 people.
How to Cope When Everything Keeps Changing
How do you make plans when it’s impossible to make plans? The ground beneath our feet is constantly shifting. Planning for anything more than a week out can feel futile — almost silly — since no one knows what the next week, much less the next month, will bring.
How to Design a Strategy Execution Plan
(Part 2 of our series on organizational strategy, “How to Design a Strategy Execution Plan” is also available as a webinar with expanded content. Part 1 of this series, “Overcome Strategy Failure: Three Principles to Bring Your Strategy to Life” explains why 80% of launched strategies fail and presents three powerful principles to help you successfully implement your strategy.) Making change happen is a monumental task.
Transformation Through Ecosystems
We have all likely read plenty of articles about agility and resiliency and why having a flexible operating model is crucial for preparing for a force majeure that would upend the way business is done. It was a thought exercise that became a reality in 2020 with the advent of COVID-19. Now, competitive weaknesses have been revealed, as have competitive strengths. Here is one striking example I came across: A household cleaner that was launched right before the pandemic: a sanitizing spray.
The future of the office - Covid-19 has forced a radical shift in working habits
Editor’s note: Some of our covid-19 coverage is free for readers of The Economist Today, our daily newsletter. For more stories and our pandemic tracker, see our hub SELF-STYLED visionaries and people particularly fond of their pyjamas have for decades been arguing that a lot of work done in large shared offices could better be done at home. With covid-19 their ideas were put to the test in a huge if not randomised trial. The preliminary results are now in: yes, a lot of work can be done at home; and what is more, many people seem to prefer doing it there. This does not, in itself, mean the end of the non-home office.
What Really Makes Us Resilient?
Executive Summary What is resilience, and how can each of us cultivate it in our own lives? The ADP Research Institute conducted two field studies. The first identified the sources of resilience, pinpointing the best questions to measure it, and providing specific prescriptions to increase resilience in yourself and those you lead. The second, a global study of resilience around the world, measured aspects of resilience among 25,000 working adults from 25 different countries.
Does Your Company Lurch From Crisis to Crisis?
Many organizations find themselves in a perpetual state of crisis and rely on company “heroes” to put out the fires. While many people love the feeling of saving the day, it shouldn’t be a way of life. If you’ve wondered why your organization performs... I recently sat in on an executive team meeting during which they were dealing with a crisis — a major customer shipment had been botched.
'My company has gone fully remote and I'm despairing': who wins in the new world of working from home?
I am 20 minutes into my scheduled 30-minute call with Shivani Maitra when I start to freeze. Maitra, a partner at global consultancy firm Deloitte, is leading the firm’s post-Covid-19 research into the future of work, and is giving me a seamless analysis of what business is about to look like: more autonomy, more remote work, happier workers, more accessible leadership – all facilitated by technology. But I can’t get Skype for Business to function. It’s a hot day and the connection comes and goes, leaving me contorted and sweating over my laptop.
6 Principles to Embrace Resilience and Responsiveness
2020 has tested us over and over again. As a talent development leader at the Urban Institute, I have had to pivot and readjust our strategic plans so many times that I no longer remember where I started the year. Before we transitioned to full-time remote work, speculation was rampant about what would or wouldn’t happen or even the contagiousness of this new virus. There was so much information, disbelief, and speculation. How could we know what was true? Yet even before our leadership team announced the need to conduct tests on our ability to work remotely, I already had prepared a virtual transformation plan.
Derisking digital and analytics transformations
A bank was in the midst of a digital transformation, and the early stages were going well. It had successfully transformed its development teams into agile squads, and leaders were thrilled with the resulting speed and productivity gains. But within weeks, leadership discovered that the software developers had been taking a process shortcut that left customer usernames and passwords vulnerable to being hacked. The transformation team fixed the issue, but then the bank experienced another kind of hack, which compromised the security of customer data.
Arguing your way to better strategy
Making Great Strategy: Arguing for Organizational Advantage by Jesper B. Sørensen and Glenn R. Carroll, Columbia University Press, 2021 There is no shortage of theories regarding the proper basis for a winning corporate strategy. You can set sail on blue oceans with W.
Tracking the COVID-19 economy - Atlantic Council
China is experiencing an incredible Q2 economic rebound while the other 5 largest economies suffer historic downturns. This ‘fractured recovery’ puts enormous stress on supply chains and the global trading system. Can the rest of the world match China’s rebound in Q3? This is the most pressing question in the global economy today. Note: All these graphs are interactive.
Workplace Resilience Study
September 08, 2020 | 20 min Dr. Mary Hayes, Dr. Frances Chumney, Marcus Buckingham Share this
MIT Sloan Management Review
Topics Frontiers An MIT SMR initiative exploring how technology is reshaping the practice of management. See All Articles in This Section Already a member?
