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
Avoiding Common Missteps in Ecosystem Development
Business ecosystems provide valuable access to external capabilities, scale fast, and can be very flexible and resilient — but only a fraction of ecosystems achieve sustainable success. The metrics and red flags described here can help you track the key drivers of ecosystem health and ensure that your company beats the odds.
Peer Coaching Can Boost Key Human Skills
Jobs of the future will increasingly demand the uniquely human skills that current technologies cannot simulate — things like empathy, problem-solving, collaboration, and communication. Increasing such skills not only helps workers but also makes companies stronger.
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Competing on Platform-Controlled Markets
Doing business on the dominant digital platforms makes it difficult for companies to differentiate their products and services and pursue competitive strategy. Platform-dependent businesses must understand the risks and how to navigate them.
Work-Life Balance Is More of a Moving Target Than an Ultimate Goal
Some researchers are now encouraging us to stop thinking about work-life balance as an achievement that you either hit or don’t. Instead, they suggest that it may be more of a lifelong process — a continuous, never-ending exercise that requires vigilance, self-awareness, and timely tweaks. The five steps described here can help you achieve better balance.
What Else We’re Reading This Week
- Conventional thinking says platforms must scale fast, but incremental scaling may better address regulatory risk (Source: MIT SMR)
- How the remote work revolution is transforming American cities (Source: The Wall Street Journal)
- Sponsors can play a role in growing and strengthening the pipeline of women leaders (Source: MIT SMR)
- Just how environmentally committed is that ESG fund? (Source: Bloomberg Green)
Quote of the Week:
“Most adults … are motivated to learn and develop skills in order to build resilience against current challenges and guard against future shocks. They do this by investing time and resources … to upskill in their current job — or, better still, they reskill in the hope and anticipation of securing a better, higher-value job.”
— Lynda Gratton, professor of management practice at London Business School, in “An Emerging Landscape of Skills for All”