Research & Science

Generative Business Practice: Questions from Harvard’s Digital Initiative

November 25, 2014

Tweet I got lots of feedback from the folks who participated in the HBS Digital Initiative seminar where I presented some big picture ideas about generative practices.   As promised, I’m summarizing what they shared with me on the index cards we used to gather up ideas. While I was so. glad. that I asked […]

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Two Tweaks for Generative Seminar Practices: Notes from Harvard Business School Digital Initiative

November 19, 2014

Tweet Two weeks ago I traveled up to Cambridge to talk about Generative Business Practices with the folks of Harvard Business School’s Digital Initiative. So much happened, and so many ideas were shared, that I can’t summarize them in one blog post — not even a super-long one. Instead, I’m going to take pieces at […]

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Acknowledge, Affirm, and Amplify Good Business Practices: A Simple Generative Tip

May 22, 2014

Tweet What’s the absolutely easiest way to contribute ideas to a community while boosting someone else’s business at the same time? Use your platform to Acknowledge, Affirm, and Amplify the work of companies and individuals that you value. You’d be surprised to realize just how often you’ll find yourself in a position to use your […]

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The Simple Hack Every Tech Firm Should Be Using To Increase Diversity

April 11, 2014

Tweet Given the focus on data, metrics, and a/b testing that’s all the rage in tech startups these days, you’d think that more tech companies would be using empirical research on hiring practices and diversity initiatives to fix their ‘women, and men of color problem’. But they aren’t, so here’s an easy diversity hack — […]

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Extended Organizations: Finding the Boundaries and Naming the Contents

February 1, 2012

Tweet Can you help me out with a messy research-related question? What are the best ways to set boundaries around subsets of an “extended organization”, and then give these subsets names so that they are easy to talk about? The problem seems on the surface looks like a question of semantics (i.e., what to call […]

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Why Do Meritocracies Hurt Women?

November 7, 2011

Tweet When it comes to discriminating against women, you’d think that only sexist organizations would be involved.   But did you ever imagine that meritocracies would encourage managers to discriminate against women? Research conducted by Emilio Castilla and Stephen Benard, published last year in Administrative Science Quarterly, documents a disturbing dynamic that the authors call “The […]

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Help Me Find Consulting Projects for my Business & Technology Students!

August 15, 2011

Tweet I am so excited about the class I’m teaching this fall that I’m breaking down the Chinese wall between serious topical blog posts and the practical fun of my work life, to post this Call for Projects for my students. I’m hoping that some of you readers in the New York/ New Jersey/Hoboken area […]

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Does Your Social Media Policy Create a Platform for Racism?

May 17, 2011

Tweet I bet you don’t think it does. I bet you think that your social media policy, and your ‘create a blog for our business using other people’s user-generated content’- approach, is impervious to racism masked as business advice, as research findings, or as interesting content. I bet that’s exactly what PsychologyToday.com thought, too. They’ve […]

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7 Reasons To ReThink Social Scoring Inside Social Organizations– before it’s too late

April 25, 2011

Tweet “Manager A’s results with the department’s implementation of Program X were outstanding, but her internal Klout score is only a 43. Given her low influence score, it looks like she’s not as good a leader as Manager B. I know that Manager B has been with us only two years, and hasn’t yet finished […]

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CEO Daddies Won’t Close the Gender Wage Gap

March 8, 2011

Tweet The idea that CEO Daddies of Daughters will help us close the gender wage gap is completely misleading. This idea encourages us to buy into CEO Daddy “Feminism”, which is just another way to allow business men (and women) to avoid taking responsibility for gender equity in the workplace. When solid but small bits of […]

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