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
Sensemaking Is Critical for Navigating Complexity
Many leadership models are missing a key ingredient: sensemaking, the capability for navigating change and planning through uncertainty. As our world grows more complex — and in the face of difficult, uncertain circumstances — executives need to recognize sensemaking as a crucial leadership tool and embed sensemaking processes and practices into their organizations.
Banning Apps to Increase Security May Instead Heighten Risk
TikTok is suing the U.S. government after the Trump administration’s announcement that it was considering banning Chinese social media apps, followed by executive orders blocking transactions with TikTok’s parent company. Two MIT Sloan cybersecurity experts believe that such a ban could have sweeping impacts on the business community beyond the tech sector.
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Elevating Cybersecurity, Strategically
Most companies treat cybersecurity as an operational issue — and are often unprepared for debilitating attacks. Elevating it to a matter for strategic planning can not only improve organizational resilience but also reveal strengths, weaknesses, and new opportunities.
Cities Are Crucial for Innovation
As the pandemic has demonstrated, tech workers are capable of working productively almost anywhere. Still, productivity is distinct from innovation, and for successful disruptive innovation, people need exposure to a diversity of creative ideas, which research shows is more likely in large cities.
Anticipate Your Own Disruption
Developing a truly innovative strategy requires you to anticipate how your organization might be disrupted. The Phoenix Encounter Method uses a series of exercises and workshops to imagine your company’s annihilation and then develop a new strategy for disrupting yourself before a competitor can.
What Else We’re Reading This Week
- Three considerations for developing truly inclusive hiring practices
- Tech companies are shifting perks to support remote employees’ mental health and child care needs
- Working remotely can be stressful … even for teeth
Quote of the Week:
“A few decades ago, companies could build a strong business model and apply it more or less unchanged for years. In that era, resilience was based on stability and competitive barriers to entry. … Resilience now depends on rapid and effective adaptation to change.”
— David J. Teece, Paul G. Raspin, and David R. Cox in “Plotting Strategy in a Dynamic World”