Tag: Harvard Business Review

Latest Read: Fusion Strategy

Post author By Don Kasprzak
Post date May 11, 2024

Fusion Strategy: How Real-Time Data and AI Will Power the Industrial Future by Vijay Govindarajan and Venkat Venkatraman.

Vijay holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and is Professor of International Business at Dartmouth College. Venkat holds an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management and a PhD from the University of Pittsburgh and is Professor of Information Systems at Boston College.

Mix AI innovation and digital strategy and you can certainly understand how real-time data can transform companies and their products. Furthermore, this book is addressing industrial and manufacturing firms., data-rich information was limited to a select few like Boeing.

So parsing terabytes of interconnected datasets, industries can drive new value by creating strategic connections not possible even 10 years ago. However Facebook, Amazon, and Google proved repeatedly that the collection of real-time data can drive innovation in a fast changing world. Especially for design and manufacturing firms, the deployment of inexpensive sensors, enhanced wireless technologies and real cheap computing wrapped around artificial intelligence will make industries shift overnight.

Tags datagraphs, Fusion Strategy, Harvard Business Review, Industrial, manufacturing, Venkat Venkatraman, Vijay Govindarajan

Education Reading

Latest Read: HBR Guide to Dealing with Conflict

Post author By Don Kasprzak
Post date April 17, 2024

HBR Guide to Dealing with Conflict by Amy Gallo.

Amy holds a master’s in public policy from Brown University. She is a contributing editor at Harvard Business Review and was a management consultant at Katzenbach Partners.

There are multiple lessons in this book that benefits everyone regardless of your life’s path. From understanding common sources of conflict, options to address disagreement, recognizing when others seek or avoid conflict, known when to walk away, to learning how to repair relationships.

Such a valuable resource to recognize and understand the three sections outlined: preparing for conflict before it begins, managing a conflict, and resolving conflict. this book will simply resonate with everyone today. It is well worth your time in my opinion.

Perhaps even some will see the benefits of conflict. Yes, Amy addresses how conflict drives more creativity, sparking new ideas and strengthening bonds. This can be viewed as the source of true innovation which drive better work outcomes. Furthermore Amy suggests job satisfaction is an outcome from addressing conflict. But please recall conflict types: relationship, task, process, and status.

Tags conflict, Harvard Business Review, management

Education Reading

Latest Read: HBR’s 10 Must Reads for New Managers

Post author By Don Kasprzak
Post date April 10, 2024

HBR’s 10 Must Reads for New Managers by Harvard Business Review.

A good series of articles from HBR for managers. Lessons are timeless and this series is also a much needed refresher for season managers. Daniel Goleman’s article His What Makes a Leader? examines what distinguishes good from great leaders. The key skill is emotional intelligence, not tech skills, longevity, or even IQ.

Having read Daniel’s book Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ 25th Anniversary edition in 2022, I would recommend this book which expands upon his KPIs. He is identifying a group of five key skills that empower great leaders. This can be documented by yearly earnings goals. By focusing on the five skills, leaders can sharpen those which need to bring their levels of effectiveness higher. Perhaps his key message is if emotion intelligence be learned? This is a wonderful article that has stood the test of time.

Every manager must also understand how to influence your direct reports. The article “Harnessing the Science of Persuasion” by Robert Cialdini is very well written and clearly a necessary read for managers. So, at the end of the day, leadership is about getting things done. And frankly, persuasion is a key tool for any manager. Robert conveys clear principals that will empower managers. However, Robert suggests consistency is the key skill in persuasion.

Tags Harvard Business Review, management, risk management

Artificial Intelligence Cyberinfrastructure Education Reading

Latest Read: Cybersecurity: The Insights You Need

Post author By Don Kasprzak
Post date March 16, 2024

Cybersecurity: The Insights You Need from Harvard Business Review.

So let’s start with the end in mind to avoid all misunderstandings: this is targeted to every leader and board member regardless of market or industry. They simply must fully comprehend why cybersecurity has been and always will be an ongoing risk.

This is a well written, high level and most importantly a non-technical overview of cybersecurity. This risk can no longer be overlooked by organizations and delegated like it was 1994. Today more than ever before cybersecurity impacts your bottom line, including non-technology based organizations.

And in 2024 we can simply cut to the chase. If your organization’s cybersecurity service is not AI based, it is time to pivot to a vendor that deploys machine learning services to protect your organization, your data and most importantly, your customer data. Just query your insurance carrier for a list of approved vendors that deploy AI cybersecurity services. For the most part the pandemic made this pivot mandatory.

In fact, cyber risk management can no longer be isolated to your organization’s CIO and CISO. This is simply an organization-wide issue. Today every organization’s technology services group have become the key component for organizational success.

Tags cybersecurity, Harvard Business Review, risk management

Artificial Intelligence Education Reading

Latest Read: Generative AI : The Insights You Need

Post author By Don Kasprzak
Post date March 13, 2024

Generative AI: The Insights You Need from Harvard Business Review

The world discovered Generative AI in the beginning of 2023. ChatGPT introduced over 100 million users to the possibilities of Generative AI. In less than 18 months society has shifted. With Wall Street and Madison Avenue literally banking on new markets, business, education and our globally connected society are witnessing transformation. Microsoft’s $10 billion investment in OpenAI is perhaps the strongest indicator of what GenAI will be expecting to produce. However, there certainly remains a big hill to climb.

New AI startups are creating GenAI business models around generating text, images, code and even animation and video via Sora at rather amazing speeds. GenAI is certainly altering how humans create content on a scale and speed not previously understood by society, government, business and education. So get ready for disruption.

This book will help understand the baseline of GenAI and the potential to change the world. Yet for the organization who decides to jump right in, make sure you understand Chapter 3:?A Framework for Picking the Right Generative AI Project. AI is not the web and GenAI is not html. Organizations must understand risk. Just ask Samsung and you will quickly understand why tech companies are banning GenAI within their internal networks.

Tags Artificial Intelligence, Generative AI, Harvard Business Review