Artificial intelligence seems to be on the brink of a boom. It's now guiding decisions on everything from crop harvests to bank loans, and uses like totally automated customer service are on the horizon. Indeed, McKinsey estimates that AI will add $13 trillion to the global economy in the next decade. Yet companies are struggling to scale up their AI efforts. Most have run only ad hoc projects or applied AI in just a single business process. In surveys of thousands of executives and work with hundreds of clients, McKinsey has identified how firms can capture the full AI opportunity. The key is to understand the organizational and cultural barriers AI initiatives face and work to lower them. That means shifting workers away from traditional mindsets, like relying on top-down decision making, which often run counter to those needed for AI. Leaders can also set up AI projects for success by conveying their urgency and benefits; investing heavily in AI education and adoption; and accounting for the company's AI maturity, business complexity, and innovation pace when deciding how work should be organized.

Nobody really recommends command-and-control leadership anymore. But no fully formed alternative has emerged. So mature companies often struggle to balance the need for innovation with the need for discipline. The authors studied two exceptions: the new-product-development stars PARC and W.L. Gore. Both companies, they learned, have three distinct types of leaders. "Entrepreneurial leaders," found at lower levels, create new products and services and move their firms into unexplored territory. "Enabling leaders," in the middle, make sure the entrepreneurs have the resources they need. And "architecting leaders," near the top, monitor culture, high-level strategy, and structure. This system allows both companies to be self-managing to a surprising degree. Employees choose their work assignments and dream up new projects, whose success rests on colleagues' volunteering to join in--making the companies collective prediction markets. And the mechanisms that enable self-management also balance freedom and control: The companies function efficiently and exploit new opportunities even as they minimize rules.

There's an essential, intangible "something" in start-ups--an energy, a soul. It inspires enthusiasm and fosters a sense of deep connection and mutual purpose. While this spirit persists, engagement is high and businesses keep their edge. But all too often, companies lose their souls as they mature. Firms add new systems and structures and bring in experienced professionals--and in the process somehow crush their original energizing spirit. In research into more than a dozen fast-growth ventures and 200-plus interviews with founders and executives, the author has discovered how firms can overcome this problem. His work shows that there are three crucial dimensions to a start-up's soul: business intent, or a loftier reason for being; unusually close customer connections; and an employee experience characterized by autonomy and creativity--by "voice" and "choice." All three provide meaning to stakeholders. Drawing on the experiences of Netflix, Warby Parker, Study Sapuri, and others, this article describes how sizable companies can still protect and nurture the three elements. Doing that is the secret to staying great as you grow.

Managers struggle to understand what digital transformation actually means for them in terms of which opportunities to pursue and which initiatives to prioritize. It's not surprising that many of them expect it to involve a radical disruption of the business, huge new investments in technology, a complete switch from physical to virtual channels, and the acquisition of tech start-ups. To be sure, in some cases such a paradigm shift is involved. But the authors' research and work suggest that wholesale disruption is often quite unnecessary. Some companies have successfully responded to the digital challenge by making major changes to their manufacturing processes, distribution channels, or business models, but many others have fared equally well using a more incremental approach that leaves the core value proposition and supply chain essentially unchanged.

There's a secret about strategy that no one tells you: Every function has one, whether or not it is written down and whether or not it is the product of an official strategic-planning process. If functions do not adopt a strategy consciously, they almost inevitably end up defaulting to one of two unconscious models, both of which are likely to result in their becoming a drag on corporate performance rather than a driver of it. Most leaders acknowledge that companies and business units need strategies. But for corporate functions--shared services such as IT, HR, R&D, finance, and so on--the need for strategy is less widely understood. In many firms, functions just exist, serving the company in whatever manner and at whatever scale the business units demand. In this article, the authors describe the problems of the unconscious strategies and outline a strategy-making framework to help functions strengthen the capabilities that set their company apart.

Grief is a universal human experience, yet workplace culture is often inhospitable to people suffering profound loss. Managers come to work prepared to celebrate births and birthdays, and even to handle illnesses, but when it comes to death, they fall silent and avert their gaze. The default approach is to try to spare the office from grief, leaving bereaved employees alone for a few days and then hoping they'll return expediently to work. This article provides guidance on how to humanely help team members return to productivity. Grief rarely unfolds in a neat progression, and managers should understand the phases the bereaved will experience and the most helpful response to each. Immediately after a death, acknowledging the loss without making demands is the best a manager can do. After grieving employees are back on the job, managers should be patient with inconsistency in performance and attitude. And as workers eventually emerge from mourning, managers should support this opportunity for growth. In confronting grief, managers help fulfill their promise to bring out the best in their employees.

Companies that introduce sustainable offerings face a frustrating paradox: Most consumers report positive attitudes toward eco-friendly products and services, but they often seem unwilling to follow through with their wallets. The authors have been studying how to encourage sustainable consumption for several years, performing their own experiments and reviewing research in marketing, economics, and psychology. The good news is that academics have learned much about how to align consumers' behaviors with their stated preferences. Synthesizing these insights, the authors identify five approaches for companies to consider: use social influence, shape good habits, leverage the domino effect, talk to the heart or the brain, and favor experiences over ownership.

Marvel Studios has redefined the franchise movie, in part by finding the right balance between creating innovative films and retaining enough continuity to make them all recognizably part of a coherent family. The authors analyzed 338 interviews with producers, directors, and writers and 140 reviews from leading critics. They digitally analyzed each movie's script and visual style and examined its network of actors and behind-the-scenes workers. They argue that Marvel's success rests on four principles: (1) selecting for experienced inexperience, (2) leveraging a stable core, (3) continually challenging the formula, and (4) cultivating customers' curiosity.

If you're passionate about your career--and about being a great mom or dad--you're facing an ongoing struggle for at least 18 years. But you can learn techniques to reduce the stress and successfully balance your professional and family roles. The author, an executive coach who specializes in helping working parents, suggests that you start by identifying the kinds of challenges you're confronting. There are five core types: those involving transitions (such as returning to work after parental leave, or hiring a new caregiver); practical challenges (dealing with errands, appointments, and all your other responsibilities); communication issues (conversations and negotiations about working-parent matters); feelings of loss (fear that you're missing out at work or at home); and identity concerns (uncertainty about your priorities and how you define yourself). To mitigate these challenges, the author recommends five powerful strategies: (1) Rehearse to prepare for transitions; (2) audit your commitments and plan your calendar so that practicalities don't overwhelm you; (3) frame your working-parent messages effectively; (4) use "today plus 20 years" thinking to put losses into perspective; and (5) revisit and recast your professional identity and brand.

The CEO of a computer peripherals manufacturer considers whether to invest in innovation or focus on the core. This fictional case study by Richard Hamermesh features expert commentary by Vijay Sankaran and Carine Clark.

The famed fashion designer describes why she waited until age 40 to launch her own business, what she learned from working for Ralph Lauren, and how she balances her two roles as creative director and business head.

The CEO of a computer peripherals manufacturer considers whether to invest in innovation or focus on the core. This fictional case study by Richard Hamermesh features expert commentary by Vijay Sankaran and Carine Clark.

The CEO of a computer peripherals manufacturer considers whether to invest in innovation or focus on the core. This fictional case study by Richard Hamermesh features expert commentary by Vijay Sankaran and Carine Clark.

Supplemental to case 517025. This (B) case describes the changes in the organization's strategy from one of Building Playgrounds to Influencing Play. It describes the implementation of the strategy and the challenges it faced internally and externally. It goes on to describe how the organization under its new leader, James Siegal, further adjusted the strategy and its implementation, to navigate through the initial difficulties. The case closes with the question, what else should the organization do to help the new strategy take off?

Elite Chinese law firm Fangda Partners has steered Alibaba and other Chinese and international clients through the complex legal, corporate, and regulatory challenges associated with executing international transactions. "Fangda has traveled a long distance in a short while," reflects senior partner Jonathan Zhou, "but we have a long distance to traverse further. We have lofty aspirations." Fangda Partners seeks to build on its growth and strong reputation to establish itself as a major, high-end law firm in the Chinese market. What needs to be accomplished and how should Zhou proceed?

A new study looked at what happens when auto owners get ratings on their driving immediately from an app. The surprising finding? Their driving usually gets worse.

This case mainly illustrates how Freshippo created an innovative business model to cross the online-offline boundary by means of big data and emerging technologies. The reason why Freshippo could cross the boundary was that it combined technologies like mobile Internet, cloud computing, big data, and artificial intelligence to create a new business model based on "omni-channel supermarkets" as well as mobile e-commerce. In this way, it strengthened online and offline interaction anytime, anywhere between consumers and stores. With the arrival of the 5G era, how should Freshippo leverage emerging technologies to evolve into a more sustainable and profitable platform?

This case explores the challenges and opportunities of practicing venture philanthropy in an emerging market. Jaff Shen, a serial social entrepreneur and Founder/General Secretary of Leping Social Entrepreneur Foundation ("Leping"), brought the international venture philanthropy network Social Venture Partners ("SVP") to China in 2012 to help build China's overall civil society and proclivity for social entrepreneurship. SVP's Beijing branch, which launched as a non-profit in 2013, made fast progress in attracting partners and investing in multiple mission-driven organizations. SVP Shanghai followed in 2016, registering as a for-profit for greater flexibility of operations, but was making slow progress. Students are asked to explain the reasons for Shanghai's slow growth, and then critically evaluate a strategy suggested to Shen for accelerating the progress. They must take a stand in Shen's internal debate about whether to push a fast top-down strategy or tolerate a slower-paced bottom-up trajectory. Students also have the opportunity to compare four different SPO investment opportunities shortlisted by SVP Shanghai's partners for their initial investment, and to propose an evaluative framework for screening the potential targets and subsequently monitoring the investment outcomes.

This case is essentially about economic growth and development in general, and about China in particular. It makes the topic of growth more interesting by discussing the triggering factors of the MIT through comparing the differences between a trapped and an escaped province, i.e., Shaanxi and Jiangsu, respectively. To alleviate the regional development gap, Shaanxi and Jiangsu became paired poverty alleviation partners in 1996 under the guidance of the Chinese central government. However, 20 years have passed and a huge gap still exists between the two provinces in many fields. Jiangsu's gross domestic product (GDP) per capita has surpassed the MIT range, while Shaanxi's has not, and the province is very likely to be trapped with the continuing slowdown of its economic growth. The key difference between the two provinces is not resources, but development policies.

This case explores the opportunities and challenges of building a sustainable social enterprise in China. It traces the development in Shenzhen, China, of Shenzhen Xihaner Car Wash Center ("Xihaner Car Wash"), founded in August 2015 by Mr. Jun Cao, the father of a Xihaner child. Cao's goal was to provide gainful employment and continuing care for Xihaners. From the start, he was determined to build a social enterprise that could generate enough profits to become sustainable over the long term and not a charitable organization that relied on donations. With a carefully designed business model, Xihaner Car Wash made good progress in its first two years. Its achievements won the enterprise the Gold Award at the Sixth China Charity Fair on September 24, 2017. Despite these achievements, Xihaner Car Wash still faces many challenges. Cao wonders: "Do we have a sustainable business model for our social enterprise? How can we grow Xihaner Car Wash further to benefit more Xihaners in China?"