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Recent disruptive events like the pandemic and war in Europe have exposed businesses weakened by short-sighted leadership decisions, and many companies risk being unprepared for the new challenges that will inevitably emerge. The authors analyzed Southwest Airlines, Boeing, and GE to understand how and why successful companies sacrifice the business excellence they spent years building for near-term financial gains that ultimately harm investors, employees, and customers.

A major reason for the purchase of Pornhub owner MindGeek by Ethical Capital Partners (ECP) is the chance to profit by winning back the support of Visa and Mastercard, who previously cut off Pornhub from payment services. ECP’s partners appear to be trying to put an ethical spin on MindGeek’s operations, aiming to drive growth by promoting a commitment to ethical leadership along with the adoption of tools for detecting and deterring illegal online activity. But branding MindGeek’s operations as ethical will take more than respecting industry workers and getting rid of illegal content. MindGeek’s content moderation practices still enable adult consumers to live out morally questionable fantasies. ECP freely admits it plans to unlock shareholder value in MindGeek through state-of-the-art tech and intellectual property investments. This has some observers speculating that the Pornhub acquisition is all about cashing in on the savings that can be achieved by investing in technology-generated porn, which could eliminate any reputational risk of being associated with child pornography. Nonetheless, Pornhub still allows viewers to engage in fantasies that are taboo, unethical, or illegal. And while anyone can try raising money for a company that does this by talking about free markets and freedom of expression, the investment banking community probably won’t bite.

Large language models like ChatGPT are generating excitement about their potential use cases. A pair of business strategists decided to test whether the tool can support ideation, experimentation, evaluation, and storytelling as part of the strategy creation process. In a series of experiments, they posed a realistic question of strategy to ChatGPT, followed by iterative follow-up questions. In this article, they share three lessons that emerged from their experiments with generative AI.

Deep tech involves applying emerging technologies to address big challenges such as using mRNA technology to develop a COVID-19 vaccine. But taking advantage of deep tech can be a challenge for incumbent companies. The authors share a three-step framework to help leaders identify and execute their deep-tech engagement strategies. Using the European steel industry as an example, they describe the factors companies should consider when choosing an approach to deep tech in their own industries.

Little is known about how design leaders foster design excellence "at scale" within large organizations. To bridge this gap, this article reports on interviews with 59 senior design leaders. Using a paradox perspective to frame the findings uncovers major challenges when leading design teams inside large organizations. It also identifies five pairs of opposing leadership behaviors that address these tensions and balance the overarching paradox of integrating design into the fabric of an organization while maintaining its distinctive character: being transformative yet affirmative; being directive yet accommodating; being proactive yet responsive; being intuitive yet systematic; and being holistic yet specific.

Companies with a strong legacy and established brand face the quandary of maintaining their loyal customer base while appealing to an evolving market. An empirical study of audience responses to operas that have been reinterpreted to appeal to modern tastes provides lesson for how to leverage a historically strong brand to reach new customers, without alienating loyal fans.

In blockchain consortia, different companies band together to develop, govern, and operate a shared blockchain-based system. However, many blockchain-based systems are exposed to the risk of never going live without a proper understanding of the peculiar collaboration this technological architecture entails. To understand how blockchain consortia develop and advance collaborative relationships, this article reports on an extensive analysis of online material and interviews of key members. It draws from the literature on interorganizational collaboration and digital platforms to explain the staged progression of blockchain consortia and the key features of blockchain consortia.

As interest in generative AI tools like ChatGPT and Midjourney surges, narratives about the artificial intelligence technology's potential to disrupt industries has some observers unreasonably excited or panicked. The author asserts that, given business futurists' and analysts' bad track records at forecasting the effects of technology, they should focus on the here and now rather than the long-term implications of generative AI.

Typical programs aimed at changing corporate culture to more effectively address organizational challenges often fail to have a lasting effect. Taking a skills-based approach, however, can lead to positive changes in behavior that endure, particularly when it comes to cultivating soft skills like perspective taking. The author explains key attributes of the skills-based approach to culture change and how organizations can leverage it to speed adoption and improve performance in the long term.

While design thinking has gained popularity in product innovation, scholars argue that design thinking can also trigger and sustain organizational innovation. This study investigates the adoption of design thinking in the Design+Innovation unit at PepsiCo. It reveals nine design thinking practices that enable organizational innovation: valorizing personal attitudes and desires, engaging stakeholders in the design discourse, leveraging the design unit as an agent of change, fostering abductive reasoning, empowering decision making through prototypes, crafting proof points, absorbing external viewpoints, searching for co-conspirators, and aligning personal and organizational purposes.

A survey of more than 1,600 Bed Bath & Beyond shoppers reveals why a business recovery strategy set in motion by a new management team in 2019 failed: The BB&B leadership team's focus on cost cutting overlooked the importance of creating value for customers. The story of the retailer's bankruptcy is a cautionary tale for other businesses that are struggling to adapt and at risk of losing sight of customer value creation amid increased competition in a changing market.

What separates digital finance leaders from the laggards? How can CFOs better use advanced analytics to their advantage? This article offers a framework to help CFOs assess the finance office's current level of data sophistication and discusses the key areas finance teams should focus on to improve their analytics capabilities.

Companies increasingly consider external contributors to be a part of their workforce. But these work arrangements can introduce complex management challenges, given external workers' relative autonomy and a lack of coordinated management of internal and external talent. The authors describe a framework they have developed, based on three years of research conducted by MIT Sloan Management Review and Deloitte, to help leaders manage or orchestrate these workforce ecosystems.

The authors researched social investments at work and found that women may receive a lower ROI than men do for their work weaving the social fabric of their organizations. Men reported providing less frequent and different types of social support to colleagues than women yet reported higher levels of organizational encouragement and rewards and job satisfaction. To build future workforce communities both efficiently and equitably, organizations must revisit their policies and expectations.

This Guest Editor's Perspective discusses strategic storytelling and the role it can play in business

When managers consider storytelling part of their organizational strategy, it is generally considered a marketer's task. However, we argue that intentionally building a storytelling culture across domains and functions can provide value to all parts of the organization. Even so, storytelling can often feel like a formidable undertaking, exclusive to firms with ample in-house resources or finely tuned existing brand stories. This is not the case, and in this article we offer examples and concrete advice for companies of all sizes and resource levels to embed storytelling throughout the organization. Likewise, we build a case for developing organizational culture and capacity to harness the power of storytelling not only for marketing strategy, but also for overall organizational functionality. We provide examples of potential storytelling applications, a review of storytelling benefits, and step-bystep guidance on how to manage and embed storytelling.

Narratives help entrepreneurs and potential venture supporters to make sense of new ventures and to frame entrepreneurial journeys. Despite current understanding of how narratives shape entrepreneurial outcomes, however, there is limited guidance about how entrepreneurs might craft their own narratives in practice. In this article, we identify six types of entrepreneurial narratives-(1) an identity narrative, (2) an opportunity narrative, (3) a projective narrative, (4) a failure narrative, (5) a pivot narrative, and (6) a resourcefulness narrative-and we detail practical storytelling strategies entrepreneurs can use to shape each of these narrative types. We then propose that entrepreneurs can combine, sequence, and revise these narratives as the entrepreneurial journey unfolds. Knowledge of how to strategically manage the full entrepreneurial narrative repertoire enables entrepreneurs to create meaning and value where there once was none and to capture that value over time as a venture grows.

As a captivating way to engage, inform, and persuade one's audiences, storytelling can serve as a strategic skill in an entrepreneur's arsenal. Although entrepreneurs often use storytelling to mobilize financial resources from external stakeholders, less attention has been paid to how entrepreneurs can leverage this powerful tool to gain strategic partnerships. As such, there is little practical guidance on utilizing storytelling to gain a competitive advantage. In this article, we use wisdom from the academic and practical world to illuminate the science of storytelling, identify the type of stories that entrepreneurs may narrate (or refrain from telling), and understand the mechanism through which stories engage and persuade external stakeholders. We also highlight Freytag's Dramatic Arc, which can teach entrepreneurs how to frame profound stories that gain attention from external stakeholders. We offer practical guidelines for entrepreneurs interested in learning and harnessing the power of compelling storytelling for strategic partnerships.

In the last few years, marketing has increasingly focused on storytelling as a way for brands to deepen relationships with customers. However, there is limited guidance for practitioners on how to apply storytelling in nonprofit contexts, especially in small ones that are financially constrained. After a brief review of the literature on storytelling for charitable organizations, we present a storytelling framework for small nonprofits, illustrated with examples primarily from animal rescues. The use of our suggestions should result in more effective and meaningful storytelling for small nonprofits that seek the support of donors, volunteers, and other community members.

Sustainability is high on the strategic agenda and is here to stay. While some companies have been sustainable since inception, others are repositioning themselves to be associated with sustainability values. In both situations, communicating about sustainability is key but requires delicate handling to avoid misleading perceptions. Authenticity and emotions are therefore key dimensions of sustainability communication, which match with strategic storytelling elements. Storytelling is discussed in this article as a powerful mechanism to bring about the desired change in individuals, communities, organizations, and society. Drawing from the literature on storytelling, we present, discuss, and illustrate a framework with four strategic elements for companies that want to be successful with sustainability storytelling, which we refer to as the 4 A's: Aim (the "why" of the story), Actors (actively engaging stakeholders and associating with partners), Aspiration (using an aspirational context), and Action (using the right media to bring your story to life). We also emphasize that a holistic approach is key to doing sustainability storytelling the right way. We conclude with general recommendations that managers must consider when conducting sustainability storytelling.