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Digital media consumes a large and growing share of our waking lives, but these goods and services go largely uncounted in GDP. That's because the measure is based on what people pay for goods and services. If something has a price of zero, then it typically contributes zero to GDP. Policy makers use GDP data to make decisions about how to invest in everything from infrastructure and R&D to education and cyberdefense, and regulators use economic data to set policy. Because the benefits of digitization are dramatically underestimated, those decisions and policies are being made with a poor understanding of reality. GDP-B is an alternate metric that supplements the traditional GDP framework by quantifying contributions to consumer well-being from new and free goods.

Companies spend millions on antibias training each year in hopes of creating more-inclusive--and thereby innovative and effective--workforces. Studies show that well-managed diverse groups perform better and are more committed, have higher collective intelligence, and excel at making decisions and solving problems. But research also shows that bias-prevention programs rarely deliver. So what can you, as an individual leader, do to ensure that your team is including and making the most of diverse voices? How can one person fix what an entire organization can't? Although bias itself is devilishly hard to change, it is not as difficult to interrupt. The authors have identified several practices that managers can use to counter bias (and avoid its negative effects) without spending a lot of time or political capital. In hiring, leaders should insist on a diverse pool, precommit to objective criteria, limit referral hiring, and structure interviews around skills-based questions. Day to day, they should ensure that high- and low-value work is assigned evenly and run meetings in a way that guarantees all voices are heard. In evaluating and developing people, they should clarify criteria for positive reviews and promotions, stick to those rules, and separate potential from performance and personality from skill sets.

The CEO of a climbing-gym chain whose UK locations are faltering must decide whether to press on or pull back from his international growth plans. This fictional case study by Simon Greathead features expert commentary by Anthony Geisler and David Spigner.

Australia's former prime minister talks about discipline, resilience, and misogyny.

The CEO of a climbing-gym chain whose UK locations are faltering must decide whether to press on or pull back from his international growth plans. This fictional case study by Simon Greathead features expert commentary by Anthony Geisler and David Spigner.

The CEO of a climbing-gym chain whose UK locations are faltering must decide whether to press on or pull back from his international growth plans. This fictional case study by Simon Greathead features expert commentary by Anthony Geisler and David Spigner.

"The Boss Has the Wrong Idea" is a two-person conversation exercise in which an MBA student seeks advice from a mentor in her field about how to handle an incident of workplace sexual harassment. The case consists of two confidential role materials: a role for the student, Julia, which describes her troubling experience with her boss during a summer internship, and a role for the senior mentor, Lee, which mentions that Julia is hoping to receive advice from him about a complicated situation. Julia's story presents a richly detailed, first-hand (fictionalized) account of a young woman's experience in a male-dominated, competitive firm. Her narrative provides a compelling representation of the nuances and challenges associated with experiencing sexual harassment in the workplace. Because it is written as a conversation exercise, the case provides students, faculty, and administrators with not only the opportunity to think about how to address (and prevent) sexual harassment within their own organizations, but also with the opportunity to engage in the difficult conversations that these issues demand. How can we best offer support and guidance? What are strategies for effective listening, question asking, and advice-giving in emotionally-charged and sensitive situations?

"The Boss Has the Wrong Idea" is a two-person conversation exercise in which an MBA student seeks advice from a mentor in her field about how to handle an incident of workplace sexual harassment. The case consists of two confidential role materials: a role for the student, Julia, which describes her troubling experience with her boss during a summer internship, and a role for the senior mentor, Lee, which mentions that Julia is hoping to receive advice from him about a complicated situation. Julia's story presents a richly detailed, first-hand (fictionalized) account of a young woman's experience in a male-dominated, competitive firm. Her narrative provides a compelling representation of the nuances and challenges associated with experiencing sexual harassment in the workplace. Because it is written as a conversation exercise, the case provides students, faculty, and administrators with not only the opportunity to think about how to address (and prevent) sexual harassment within their own organizations, but also with the opportunity to engage in the difficult conversations that these issues demand. How can we best offer support and guidance? What are strategies for effective listening, question asking, and advice-giving in emotionally-charged and sensitive situations?

One oft-cited reason why more female executives don't advance to top management jobs is their lack of access to informal organizational and industry networks. Some blame unconscious bias; others cite obligations such as office housekeeping and child-rearing that disproportionately fall to women. But some female leaders do establish strong networks, winning greater influence and more-senior positions as a result. A new study sheds light on their strategies and behavior. When shaping their professional networks, top women are efficient, resisting nonessential appointments, deflecting low-priority decisions, and running streamlined meetings. They are nimble, changing up the people in their networks as their needs evolve. They span boundaries, connecting with people in a wide variety of functions, geographies, and business units. And they balance their energy, demonstrating both competence and warmth, both intelligence and emotional intelligence.

Why do people presume that highly attractive female executives are less honest and less trustworthy than their ordinary-looking counterparts?

CircleUp was founded in 2012 as a marketplace that matched accredited investors to emerging consumer packaged goods companies. A tool that the team developed early-on to reduce the friction involved in finding and evaluating new companies, Helio, gradually become very accurate in predicting the growth trajectory of early-stage companies. Ryan Caldbeck, co-founder and CEO of CircleUp, decided in 2018 to shut down the marketplace and focus the company on leveraging Helio's insights to directly provide equity and credit financing to CPG startups. This decision was followed by two difficult, significant discussions. First, Caldbeck met with the board of directors, where one investor reacted negatively and asked to sell his stake in the company. Second, Caldbeck presented the new direction to CircleUp employees, some of whom worried what would happen if the company became an investment firm instead of a tech company. By 2019, Caldbeck was on the precipice of another big change for CircleUp. The firm was raising a large fund to begin systematic investing, but finding investors for the disruptive offering was proving difficult. Additionally, as word spread about the power of Helio's insights CircleUp began receiving partnership offers from large, established companies. These offers caused Caldbeck to debate if CircleUp should further monetize Helio.

Erick Mueller was thrilled! The fledging company that he and two friends had started a few months earlier had been the widely acknowledged 'hit' of the 2007 IAAPA Attractions Expo, a trade show in Orlando, Florida that brought together more than 1,100 exhibitors and nearly 20,000 buyers from most of the world's amusement industry, from companies large and small. From Disney to Ripley's Believe-it-or-Not to Madame Tussauds, a who's-who of the industry had blessed Mueller and his small team with more than 100 leads. "That's the good news," thought Mueller, "but where should I start?"

In the summer of 2018, Richard Bbaale sat in a rural village in Uganda, looking over a banana plantation. He recalled the inspiration behind BanaPads as he contemplated what to do next. It had been 10 years since he had founded the non-governmental organisation (NGO) to help women and girls in rural settings overcome the challenges of menstruation - challenges that he had witnessed first as an older brother to his sister and then as a teacher at an all-girls' school.

Impax Laboratories was a technology-based pharmaceutical company that used a "dual platform" strategy to sell both generic and branded treatments. While Impax had grown organically for most of its history, it was beginning to use major acquisitions for growth. In the early morning of June 21, 2016, the firm issued a press release announcing it was buying a portfolio of generic drugs from Teva for $586 million in cash. The leadership team (CEO, CFO, and Head of Investor Relations) was now preparing for a conference call with analysts and investors to describe the deal's acquisition price, strategic rationale, and financial impact. Like its first major acquisition-the acquisition of Tower Holdings in 2014 for $700 million-the Teva acquisition was expected to be immediately accretive (i.e., the firm's expected earnings per share in 2016 would increase). Was the leadership team ready to answer the full range of questions investors might ask and to explain the deal's strategic rationale and financial implications in compelling ways? And would investors react as favorably to the Teva announcement as they had when Impax announced the Tower Holdings acquisition-Impax closed up 12% that day?

IExplores events after Impax announced the acquisition of a portfolio of generic pharmaceutical products from Teva in June 2016.

Spreadsheet supplement to case 220030.

Saregama India Limited (Saregama), a 117-year-old music company, was on a growth trajectory. Its third-quarter financial results in 2017-2018 had shown unprecedented growth. Over the previous three years, Saregama had converted its conventional copyrighted music into high-quality digital formats and made a rare stretch from the business-to-business (B2B) to business-to-consumer (B2C) market. The company had added new intellectual properties (IP) in audio and video. Then in 2017, Saregama launched Carvaan, a portable music player with 5,000 evergreen songs. Cleverly created to meet the needs of its older target audience, the Carvaan was largely responsible for the company's turnaround. Saregama's goal was to be a ₹20 billion IP content company in the next five years. To make that happen in the context of rapidly evolving technologies and consumer trends, the company needed sharply defined short- and long-term strategies that addressed content acquisition, its success with Carvaan, and its pursuit of B2B and B2C markets.

Karen Miner is a partner at a management consulting firm, and she is becoming increasingly resentful of another partner who consistently prioritizes their family life, while letting others pick up their slack at their busy office. When Miner vents about it to trusted colleagues, she finds that they agree that it is a big problem, and pervasive throughout the office. With this case, students can role-play the eventual confrontation between these two partners, learn tools and tips for being effective in these types of difficult conversations, and extend the case with an assignment to pitch senior partners possible solutions for workload and work-life balance issues facing partners. The case is designed to surface students' instinctive decision-making and communication tendencies. Thus it is short enough to be read and responded to in class. Students are assigned readings and assignments related to the case after class discussion, in which they are encouraged to reflect on their initial responses. The case is quite flexible and would work in any course that deals with leadership, difficult conversations, decision-making, organizational behavior, human resources, and related topics. It is appropriate for a range of levels and audiences, especially MBA and executive education. It may work best with older students who may identify with the competing demands of family and work, although younger audiences may appreciate discussing these issues as well.

In 2016, Affectiva-a Boston-based emotion AI software company with a long track record of building emotion-sensing software for market research-had attempted to expand into new verticals by releasing a mobile software development kit (SDK) that downloaders could adapt for their own use cases. The experience taught Affectiva that the company itself would have to bear most of the financial risk for adapting its technologies but also demonstrated that the automotive industry was very interested in using Affectiva's technology to monitor the emotions and cognitive states of drivers and passengers. In 2018, Affectiva executed a "90% pivot" to serve the automotive industry's increasing demand for "emotion AI". However, with automotive revenues not expected for several years and very expensive data collection requirements to enter the industry, Affectiva faced a challenging set of trade-offs between its market research business, its SDK, and its automotive aspirations.