The Best of This Week

What New Normal Should We Create?

The pandemic has ushered us into a world that is unfrozen from the constraints of routine, habits, and norms. Organizations and their community stakeholders have a unique opportunity to redefine the scope of their priorities and collective actions to help generate a more equitable and sustainable future.

10 Antipatterns That Derail Technology Transformations

Competing on digital today for many companies means undertaking technology transformations. Whether the label is agile, digital, or DevOps, these transformations aim to deliver new value for organizations and help them remain competitive in changing environments. However, several antipatterns — shortsighted solutions to recurring problems — can hinder a company’s ability to transform.

Does Your Company Culture Walk the Talk?

More than 80% of large companies in the U.S. publish their official corporate values. But new research reveals a gap between official values and the cultural reality on the ground in most organizations, which raises the question of how leaders can close that gap. Examining how well those values are being communicated to the workforce is a promising first step.

Climate Change Is Already Endangering Outdoor Workers

Letter carriers are on the front lines of the dangers of outdoor work. Continuing citations from OSHA demonstrate that the U.S. Postal Service hasn’t yet addressed some significant safety issues. Without reducing carbon emissions, the frequency of hazardously hot summer days will only increase, along with the danger to outdoor workers.

How to Develop Your Innovation Capital

Entrepreneurs and innovators everywhere face the innovator’s paradox: They need to convince others to back risky ideas that may ultimately flame out. Many great ideas die when entrepreneurs fail to persuade others of their potential — and the more novel, radical, or risky the idea, the bigger the challenge in acquiring the necessary resources. By leveraging the tools and practices described in this article, you can develop innovation capital: the capacity to win support for your ideas.

What Else We’re Reading This Week:

• A last lesson from John Lewis on the dangers of patience
• Companies need to adjust their cybersecurity practices to minimize the risks of widespread remote work
• Nine leadership books worth reading now

Quote of the Week:

“Being anti-racist is a complex task that requires a lot of learning, reflecting, and acting. It’s not for the faint of heart, but it’s necessary to create lasting change. Moments like these reveal the people and organizations that are willing to do the work, regardless of the complexity.”

— Cydney Hurston Dupree, assistant professor of organizational behavior at the Yale School of Management, in “What Allies Should Know About Interracial Communication”