A version of this article appeared in the Summer 2021 issue of strategy+business. Kristian Ebbesen Fjelde and his team knew that the executive committee meeting scheduled in mid-2019 to discuss the ...

Imagine you asked two teams to tackle the same challenge, and the groups came back to you with entirely different proposals. Would you instinctively green-light the one that seemed more promising? Or ...

Whether reluctantly or willingly, corporations have taken up the charge, touting their purpose statements and seemingly declaring in every sentence that they are “mission-driven.” The “great ...

A version of this article appeared in the Summer 2021 issue of strategy+business. In the blink of an eye, COVID-19 disrupted the business environment and illuminated a profound, sometimes overlooked ...

Every February for the last 35 years, the National Football League has run a scouting camp, called a combine, to assess the skills of college players before its annual draft. With scientific precision ...

A version of this article appeared in the Spring 2019 issue of strategy+business. Leaders today are well aware that their organization’s culture is an asset that must be managed with purpose and care.

But as companies move toward democratization, a cautionary tale is emerging. Even the most sophisticated AI systems, designed by highly qualified engineers, can fall victim to bias and can be ...

Three years ago, the senior managers of a company in an extractive industry decided to commission an audit of the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) metrics included in its annual report.

How often have you heard somebody — a new CEO, a journalist, a management consultant, a leadership guru, a fellow employee — talk about the urgent need to change the culture? They want to make it ...

The last few years have brought real change. Balance sheets today have significantly more nontangible assets—intellectual property and digital capability, for example—than ever before. And a series of ...

Achieving high performance requires having the confidence to take risks, especially in a knowledge-intensive world. When an organization minimizes the fear people feel on the job, performance — at ...

The job of a chief executive officer at a large publicly held company may seem to be quite comfortable — high pay, excellent benefits, elevated social status, and access to private jets. But the ...