In 2022, AXA and its CEO Thomas Buberl faced new types of challenges, including systemic risks such as climate change, geopolitical instability, public health crises, and social tensions caused by economic risks. AXA was one of the world's largest insurers. Since becoming CEO in 2016, Buberl had led a transformation to rebalance its portfolio toward property and casualty (P&C) insurance, reducing its exposure to financial-market risk. At a September 2022 Management Committee offsite, Buberl focused management's attention on AXA's "S" strategy-i.e., its social and societal role. The case includes a history of AXA's growth and transformation prior to and under Buberl's leadership, including its adoption of the purpose: "to act for human progress by protecting what matters" and the vision "to transform AXA's value proposition 'from payer to partner.'" Also covered are AXA's green business strategy to mitigate and adapt to the risks posed by climate change, new innovations, such as data platforms in commercial and health insurance, and AXA's attempts to extend coverage to customers in emerging markets and low-income customers in developed markets.

How can a successful executive assess her next move as the CEO of a firm with a promising and yet uncertain new drug? Amy Burroughs' mandate to find a therapeutic window for Cleave Therapeutics oncology drug was on track but faced an uncertain future. Overseeing the human trials of a refined second-generation drug candidate, Amy had led the company back from the "valley of death" after Cleave's initial offering resulted in off-target toxicity. Still, after completing multiple dose escalation cohorts, Cleave's scientists told Amy that they could not draw any definitive conclusions about the benefits of the drug. Amy and her team knew the importance of speed and capital in the high-risk business of oncology drug development where success often takes more resources and time than expected and competitors lurk . Nearing the close of a five-year investment window, should the thinly staffed Cleave 2.0 continue to recruit patients and clear dosing cohorts at a rapid rate, or should Amy prioritize funding and partnership discussions?

When announcing their agreement to merge in December 2021, creating a clear leader in global pest control, UK-based Rentokil and Tennessee-based Terminix described extensive benefits of the cross-border combination. The companies touted the advantages of their combined scale, their complementary portfolios of products, regions and technologies, and the significant cost synergies. Yet, the markets seemed entirely unimpressed, with Rentokil's share price down 9% in the hours after the deal was announced. While the boards of both companies had recommended the merger, it would now be up to shareholders to decide. Was this deal a lifeline for long-suffering Terminix investors, who were increasingly apprehensive about the company's ability to improve performance? Was this the right moment for Rentokil to pursue such a large deal rather than continue with its historical approach of gradually consolidating the market? In short, would this proposed combination create value, and if so, for whom?

In 2021, the investment bank Credit Suisse Group AG lost an estimated US$6.4 billion from exposure to two hedge fund implosions that occurred within a month. Archegos Capital Management lost US$4.7 billion and Greensill Capital lost US$1.7 billion. Various arrangements between Credit Suisse Group AG and Archegos Capital Management, as well as structural factors at Credit Suisse Group AG, may have contributed to the bank having a higher level of exposure to these collapses than its industry peers. Underlying these miscues were recent changes in leadership, strategy, and tone at Credit Suisse Group AG. All three of these changes appeared to have collectively impaired the skepticism and voice exercised by its risk management group. In July 2021, Credit Suisse Group AG replaced its chief risk officer in an attempt to reshuffle its risk and compliance leadership. The task of the new chief risk officer was to reshape Credit Suisse Group AG’s risk management framework and internal controls, from the top to the bottom.

Most organizations put more resources toward identification, protection, and detection rather than their ability to respond to and recover from a cyber breach, leaving themselves vulnerable. But because companies can't protect against every new cyberattack, it's critical that they reduce the potential impact by putting more focus on cyber resilience. The authors describe how leaders can apply seven biology-inspired adaptive design principles to become more resilient against cyberattacks.

Research shows that the prevailing assumption that workplace deviance stems from a few bad apples is mistaken. Leaders have as strong, if not a stronger, effect on whether employees engage in deviant behaviors than is usually acknowledged. Thus, when employees act badly, savvy leaders take a step back and consider whether and how they may be complicit in that behavior.

In the midst of the worst inflation seen in 40 years, not all prices are rising. In the 1970s, the cost of taking a kilogram of water to space was $20,000 in today's dollars. Now, it is more like $2,000 - a tenfold reduction, and as SpaceX's Starship has $20/kg in its sights, there is a real possibility of another hundred-fold reduction. If this happens, access to space will open up like never before, creating a flood of new business opportunities. The authors-who include a Canadian astronaut-discuss the pros and cons of SpaceX's monopoly and suggest three key areas of opportunity for innovative companies who want to embrace this new frontier.

Unhappiness is at a record high. According to Gallup, people feel more anger, sadness, worry and stress than ever before. And global misery was rising well before the pandemic hit. After studying the 20 per cent of people who reported having a great life, Gallup found they had five things in common, while the 20 per cent who rated their lives the worst had very little of any of these things. Business leaders who believe their organization has a purpose beyond making money, he argues, should put that purpose in writing and then start collecting data to help build the world's official statistics on that topic. This data will not only help the organization understand if it is achieving its purpose, it will help inform public sector leaders who badly need it to turn the tide on unhappiness.

There can be no arguing that we are in the midst of a leadership crisis. And not just in politics but in the business world, as well. We know this first and foremost because people aren't excited about their work: According to Gallup, two in three are not involved in or enthusiastic about their work, and 50 per cent are actively looking for a new job. The authors present their finding that great leaders possess five core characteristics that help them "connect at an authentic human level with people". Taken together, these characteristics constitute 'leading with heart'. As they demonstrate, leading with heart isn't just about being chummy with your employees or making people feel good. It's about creating an environment of safety and connection versus one of fear and isolation.

With shocking turns of events such as the FTX fiasco, market participants need to be fully aware of the risks and opportunities that Blockchain-based trading presents. The author, who studies financial innovation for a living at the University of Toronto, presents what everyone should know about centralized and decentralized trading platforms. Defining everything from wallets to crypto-wash-trading and tax-loss harvesting, he argues that there are two possible futures: One is that some immensely popular non-financial applications emerge. The other is that, over time, most traditional financial assets - including fiat money and property registries - are either tokenized or directly re-issued as new vehicles on blockchains so that they can be listed, used and transferred without borders. For all of the issues he identifies, he maintains that blockchain-based trading holds enormous promise.

Admired companies such as Airbnb, DoorDash and Alibaba reinvented the rules of strategy by deploying a new model: the business ecosystem. An ecosystem can be defined as 'a dynamic group of largely independent economic players that create products or services that together constitute a coherent solution.' Traditional companies have started to understand the threat, embrace the opportunity and launch their own business ecosystems. For example, John Deere, founded in 1837, is leading the race to building the most comprehensive smart-farming ecosystem. And retailer giant Walmart has become a serious competitor of Amazon with its Walmart Marketplace. The authors present eight major shifts (four in mindset and four in operating model) that traditional companies must embrace to become successful ecosystem players.

Despite an uptick in socially-responsible behaviour by corporations in recent years, irresponsible employment practices remain all too common. Workers have been enslaved (by Nestle's seafood suppliers in Thailand) and subjected to compulsory political and religious indoctrination (by suppliers to Adidas, H&M and Nike in China). The authors share their research findings, which cast doubt on the ability of monitoring alone to compel suppliers in emerging markets to change their practices. What is needed, they argue, is a new brand of entrepreneur: the institutional entrepreneur. Emerging-market manufacturers and the corporations that buy from them must join forces to meet the challenge of eliminating low-road employment practices.

Today, much of what we take for granted in our daily lives stems from machine learning. Every time you use a wayfinding app to get from point A to point B, use dictation to convert speech to text, or unlock your phone using face ID, you're relying on AI. Companies across industries are relying on-and investing in - AI to drive logistics, improve customer service, increase efficiency and much more. The author presents research findings from Accenture, showing that organizations fall under four categories of 'AI maturity': Achievers, Builders, Innovators and Experimentors. He then describes the practices and mindsets of Achievers and presents five success factors for progressing toward AI maturity.

When the author launched what would become Marico as a division within his family's business, Bombay Oil, it was with product innovation: Instead of selling edible oils in bulk to other businesses, it would sell in smaller, branded packages directly to consumers. Eventually the division became a separate entity, which is now one of India's largest homegrown CPG companies. Its growth has depended on constant innovation-around not just products, packaging, and pricing but also supply chain, talent management, and business models. Over the past decade Marico has branched out into services with its Kaya skin-care spas, pioneered the use of premium hair oils, and added savory oats to Indian diets. Through the Marico Innovation Foundation, Mariwala also promotes innovative thinking outside the company, supporting small businesses and entrepreneurs in their efforts to scale up new ideas. The key to doing that well, he says, is to be ever curious about customer needs, to create a flat hierarchy that rewards risk-taking, to learn from every failure, and to constantly prototype, experiment, refine, and retest.

Many start-ups experience enormous popularity and runaway growth, but only a few go on to become stable giants. What separates them from the pack? They all go through a developmental stage called extrapolation, say three business school professors. This stage isn't part of traditional organizational theory, which holds that businesses begin in exploration mode (testing out hypotheses about how they'll solve problems and learning whether people will pay for their solutions) and then move into exploitation mode (as growth slows and they fine-tune their business models to sharpen their advantage). But between those two well-known stages is the crucial extrapolation stage. During it, a company both explores and exploits. And most significantly, it works to ensure that each new customer brings in additional revenue while incurring only marginal cost-the secret to lasting, profitable growth. A new enterprise needs multiple strengths to navigate this phase-such as a proven monetization approach, a strong go-to-market strategy, network and density effects, and capital. It also must systematically identify and remove internal business-model constraints on growth that could prevent it from achieving scale.

With inflation high, a global recession possible, and consumers spending carefully, many companies are concerned about preserving profit margins. In this article, pricing consultant Rafi Mohammed argues that instead of simply adjusting prices, firms should consider adding new ways to charge customers. He outlines 18 different pricing tactics that can be used for various purposes: to accommodate buyers with different usage needs, to appeal to people on a tight budget, to spur purchases by customers who love a good deal, to achieve favorable prices when the value of an offering is uncertain, and to increase business efficiency. Mohammed urges companies to think creatively about whether a pricing convention commonly used in other industries might work for their own product or service. For example, Allstate has borrowed the metering model and introduced auto insurance premiums based on actual miles driven. Mammoth Holdings, which owns more than 100 car washes, offers monthly subscriptions for unlimited washes. Some hotels sell day passes to their pools and fitness facilities. By creating a mix of pricing options, companies are likely to please existing customers and attract new ones.

Covid-19 exposed wide inequities in health in the United States and around the world. But health disparities persisted long before the pandemic. In this article the authors explain why businesses should help find solutions to health inequities and showcase companies innovating in this space. The article outlines four opportunities for companies. They can optimize benefits and health plan offerings, address social determinants of health, expand primary care and mental health access through virtual care and community partnerships, and make benefits and health care easy to navigate. To improve health equity among their employees and communities, businesses will need to invest in a multiyear effort and equip themselves with the right leadership, resources, and processes. Key steps for getting started include building a business case for investments, collecting data to understand specific problems, identifying an initial population to focus on, engaging a broad group of stakeholders to design solutions, and measuring progress.

Digital technologies are pushing decision-making ability to the edges of the organization, allowing businesses to adopt structures that are flatter and more reconfigurable than those they have traditionally used. When AI and other software make information transparent to all authorized decision-makers on the front lines, directly and without managerial filters, it unleashes their creative and collaborative potential instead of trapping them in endless reporting and coordination loops. It can help to create, in other words, a "permissionless corporation." The authors contend that companies with three or four layers, faster problem-solving, and a permissionless mindset will outcompete traditional players. But making the transformation to such a structure will require companies to completely rethink how people work; it's not enough to streamline a process here or there or take out one layer of traditional structure. Using real-world examples, the authors detail how companies need to pay painstaking attention to performance metrics, ensure that information gets to the front line, communicate the context in which decisions are made, and leverage multifunctional teams.