The Best of This Week
The week’s must-reads for managing in the digital age, curated by the MIT SMR editors.
Topics
Weekly Recap
Rooting Out Bias in AI Tools — and the Industry Itself
Bias has plagued the AI field for years, particularly around the way tools work — or don’t work — when analyzing people of color. Given the growing role that AI plays in organizations’ business processes, including the development of products and in the products themselves, a lack of diversity in AI and the invisibility of people of color is poised to grow into a cascade of crises.
Tech Platforms, or Manipulation Machines?
U.S. legislation passed in 1996 exempted internet platforms from the responsibilities of regulating the content on their sites and providing equal service to all customers. This lack of regulation has allowed Amazon, Facebook, Google, and other tech giants to become “the most powerful middlemen in history” at the expense of exploited consumers.
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Before Investing in New Technology, Check Your Bias
In the same way that leaders may harbor an implicit bias about groups of people, they may also harbor implicit biases about new technology. Unconscious ideas about the dazzle of new tools can cause leaders to make poor investment decisions, whether it’s ignoring expert advice, taking unnecessary risks, or investing in products and services that are unproven and even unsafe.
Yes, You Are Working More These Days
The first large-scale analysis of digital communication early in the pandemic crisis has confirmed what you may have suspected. Since the sudden, widespread practice of working from home began, people have been working more hours and Zooming through more meetings — and managers are facing significant challenges.
How Retailers Can Address Evolving Customer Needs During COVID-19
Which retail customers will return to in-person shopping as the economy reopens, and why? The authors offer a new analysis and an actionable framework to help brand owners and retailers understand and address the consumer needs and preferences of five retail customer segments, whether the goal is to recapture former customers or retain new ones gained during the pandemic.
What Else We’re Reading This Week
- Why businesses should pursue a “cooperative advantage,” and how to achieve it
- Ernő Rubik, inventor of the eponymous cube, wrote a book to try to understand its “real nature”
- Transforming the future of learning and development
Quote of the Week:
“When crises first strike, people tend to react based on reflex, reverting to what they have been trained to do. With a framework for front- and back-stage leadership, managers will have a better chance of dealing with the current COVID-19 fallout and the next crisis to come.”
— Sameh Abadir, professor of leadership and negotiation at IMD, in “The Two Roles Leaders Must Play in a Crisis”