Page 2 - At Work Commentary News Today

We are often so uncomfortable with death’s inevitability that we avoid discussing it until it becomes impossible to avoid—and then, having had so little practice, we often simply don't know what to say.

US employers can't offer full gender inclusion in onboarding without a key change by the EEOC.

Logging into a meditation app or that lunch-and-learn on mindfulness is often just another thing to do for stressed out employees. Instead, companies must give people the permission to step away—with room to be bored.

Sharing news about your pregnancy with your employer can be a daunting prospect, but companies that react well will get repaid in loyalty.

May 29, 2021 Why does one of the world’s largest and most successful telecommunications companies have the word “railroad” in its name? Every semester, I stump the Stanford students in my History of Information class with this query. The company in question is Sprint, which stands for “Southern Pacific Railroad Internal Networking.” What follows is a brisk lecture on the history of American communications infrastructure that always leaves a few minds blown. Railroads, I explain, were ...

April 14, 2021 In November 2020, His Royal Highness (HRH) The Prince of Wales called for all large businesses around the world to appoint a chief sustainability officer (CSO). He argued that the CSO “is fast becoming one of the most important and influential roles in the corporate world and is increasingly central to market competitiveness.” This is because the CSO has the power to make sure that sustainability underpins business strategy, decision-making, procurement, supply chains, and cu...

February 24, 2021 A decade ago, the consultants at McKinsey examined the trend of solving social problems through business strategies and asked where the public would come out on corporate social responsibility. Would it be perceived as corporate greed just dressed up to look like something else? Now McKinsey itself is being questioned for its own practices, most recently for assisting Purdue Pharma to “turbocharge” the marketing of OxyContin when opioid abuse had already killed hundreds of...

If you’re asking your people to push themselves in the middle of political strife and a raging pandemic, make sure they have the tools to follow through.

Companies that are serious about diversity will integrate equity into all aspects of their enterprise.

January 13, 2021 Starting a company is an uphill battle even in the best of times. 2020 was not the best of times. While we don’t yet know the startup mortality rate for this annus horribilis, the pandemic derailed some of tech’s best-funded ventures (Quibi, Bird) and left entire industries reeling. For every business that has thrived during Covid-19, dozens of others are limping along or quietly winding down. As startup founders face the prospect of starting over in the new year, how do th...