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
Foster a Creative Culture by Embracing the Unknown
Focusing on getting the creative process just right can hamper your team’s innovation. Instead, understand your motivation, encourage creative tension, and welcome unexpected contributions to help you foster a creative culture, navigate uncertainty, and embrace the curious and the unknown.
Don’t Let Interviews Box You In
From information asymmetry to the proven lack of ability to predict candidate success, Ed Batista, a seasoned executive coach, looks at the problematic side effects of the interview process. In fact, it may be time to reevaluate your interviewing approach.
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How to Succeed Without Being the Smartest Person in the Room
The way modern enterprises compete and thrive is changing the role of management. As Jeanne Ross of MIT’s Center for Information Research (CISR) puts it, “No longer can managers expect to be the smartest people in the room. Instead, they need to cultivate ways for others to shine.”
Are You a ‘Clear and Present’ Leader?
When we make mistakes as leaders, it often comes down to a lack of two important qualities: clarity and presence.
Getting Ahead in the Market — and Staying There
New research shows that market leadership is increasingly temporary. But the companies that are successful get there by reinventing their businesses and adapting to evolving market conditions. Their example offers lessons for leadership teams trying to fight the relentless pull to the mean.
What Else We’re Reading
- 12 phrases transformational leaders use.
- Research shows that VCs evaluate male and female entrepreneurs by different standards.
- How a 1997 merger paved the way for Boeing’s crisis.
Quote of the Week
“We spend a lot of time doing things we don’t necessarily need to — and a cool, shiny, new AI might let us do those processes better and faster — but it also might keep us from thinking about how maybe we shouldn’t do these things in the first place.”
— Sam Ransbotham, professor at Boston College’s Carroll School of Management, in “Why the ‘Just Do Something’ Strategy for AI Won’t Work.”