Critical thinking is needed to ensure that AI implementation is successful. The rise of AI has proven to be a watershed moment in history, with countless arguments for and against its use in practically every industry and use case conceivable. With generative AI receiving the majority of the public’s attention, writers and other creatives have been especially vocal about the risks of AI being used to supplant their human output. With AI now seeing widespread use online and elsewhere, critical thinking skills have never been more important. Real people with sharpened critical thinking ..read more

Diversity has several established benefits to team performance. Discussions on diversity in the workplace can be heated and contentious. All too often, we see attitudes toward diversity in the workplace shift like a pendulum, as the explosion in corporate DEI efforts that began in 2020 has changed dramatically to groups pushing against corporate investment in DEI initiatives. Over the past year, scores of companies have slashed their DEI investments in the face of politicized pressures and call-out culture backlashes, despite the fact that some studies show improvement in k ..read more

Companies may want to consider evolving company structures and managerial roles News that a restructuring at Citi would result in the elimination of multiple management layers added to the trend of companies moving away from deeply vertical structures. Like Citi, earlier this year, Meta, X and other organizations shrank headcounts across their middle management, in part to reduce costs in part due to new awareness that close manager supervision may not be as pivotal as once believed. Whether these shifts are temporary, or a harbinger of a different organizational model is unclea ..read more

Rainn Wilson was a late bloomer: he landed the role of Dwight Schrute on “The Office” after over a decade of struggling as an actor. But success didn’t solve all of his problems — and it even created some new ones. In this live conversation for the Authors@Wharton series, Adam asks Rainn about his unlikely journey to stardom and how it led him into exploring the insights that philosophy, psychology, and the world’s great spiritual traditions can offer on modern life’s existential questions. They also discuss Rainn’s favorite moments from “The Office” and do some improv when Dunder Mifflin inv ..read more

From “move fast and break things” to “hacker culture,” Silicon’s Valley’s mantras over the past two decades have seemingly encouraged employees to cast aside moral concerns in pursuit of innovation. Perhaps due to this mindset, its companies have faced increasing backlash for ethically questionable or outrightly immoral decisions. It seems that managers, and not just those in technology, are faced with an undesirable trade-off: Focus on doing the right thing or focus on innovation. Does one really need to be an “evil genius” to innovate? Instead of being an impediment, what if moral concerns ..read more

As Russia continues to attack Ukraine, the whole world is watching a momentous clash of leadership styles. No one is more qualified to analyze the situation than political scientist and former US ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul. In this episode, he and Adam discuss Putin’s motives, Zelensky’s rise, and the leadership lessons from this crisis. Adam Grant is an organizational psychologist who studies work motivation, job design, and prosocial and proactive behaviors. His research examines the forces that motivate employees to help others, and the implications of these behaviors fo ..read more

Combining the best of human ingenuity and generative AI The rise of machine learning and AI has been ongoing for quite a while, but it’s only relatively recently that conversations surrounding generative AI have really taken off in business and the world at large. Like any kind of wide sweeping change or advancement, there’s a lot of debate on all sides about how useful these advances actually are. On one side are those who have gone all-in on AI, proclaiming its ability to transform the way we work for the better. On the other are those who fear that current AI trends are little mor ..read more

Being proactive may lead to more ethical and successful adoption of AI capabilities. Over the past few years, there has been an explosion of artificial intelligence technology across all channels. According to McKinsey & Company, organizations used an average of 3.8 AI capabilities in 2022 compared to 1.9 in 2018. It is no secret that AI is here for good, but recently, there’s been some problems. Facebook and Google are breaking news headlines for questionable decisions regarding AI ethics. Companies must proactively address AI advancements to ensure their organizations do not ultimately e ..read more

Values can act as a compass for leader behavior, using behavior adaptively to pursue what is most important. It is said that a leader’s effectiveness comes down to their behavior. But what leaders value can be as important. After all, behavior is often a means to an end. Take Jack, an accomplished executive who cannot resist having the last word in meetings — a power-enhancing display. Jack could stop speaking last on every occasion, but without a deeper reframe, his change would likely be short-lived. He would find other ways to build power distance with his team members. In our work with lea ..read more

Empathy is an essential ingredient to good leadership, but not the entire solution. Maintaining effective leadership is important to everyone, but being an effective leader can sometimes be confused with being friends with or well-liked by employees. There is growing concern about the problem of “cool parent” leadership that may be increasingly prevalent as more Millennials and Gen Z become leaders in the workforce. The younger generations prefer empathetic and other similar leadership styles, and experts and opinion leaders tout them. These are welcomed, rightly so, as a remedy for cold or ab ..read more