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Despite heightened attention to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues, surprisingly few companies are making meaningful progress in delivering on their commitments. Most firms are not integrating ESG factors into internal strategy and operational decisions and are giving investors little to no explanation of the impact of ESG performance on corporate earnings. To integrate ESG efforts into their core business models, firms should take these steps: (1) Identify the ESG issues material to the business; (2) factor in ESG effects when making strategic, financial, and operational decisions; (3) collaborate with stakeholders; (4) redesign organizational roles; and (5) communicate with investors.

Interpersonal conflicts are common in the workplace, and it's easy to get caught up in them. But that can lead to reduced creativity, slower and worse decision-making, and even fatal mistakes. So how can we return to our best selves? Having studied conflict management and resolution over the past several years, the author outlines seven principles to help you work more effectively with difficult colleagues: (1) Understand that your perspective is not the only one possible. (2) Be aware of and question any unconscious biases you may be harboring. (3) View the conflict not as me-versus-them but as a problem to be jointly solved. (4) Understand what outcome you're aiming for. (5) Be very judicious in discussing the issue with others. (6) Experiment with behavior change to find out what will improve the situation. (7) Make sure to stay curious about the other person and how you can more effectively work together.

Five new books explore the threats and opportunities of China's tech rise: Influence Empire, by Lulu Chen; The Cashless Revolution, by Martin Chorzempa; When AI Rules the World, by Handel Jones; Chip War, by Chris Miller; and The Power of Crisis, by Ian Bremmer.

The former professional wide receiver talks about how he got good at football so quickly, how he proved himself with the NFL as a first-round draft pick for the San Francisco 49ers, how he later mentored younger players, and more.

Whenever someone makes a decision that affects other human beings, their inherent biases and motivations are invisible. Whether it's an HR manager deciding which candidates to interview or a bank loan officer deciding who should receive a loan, chances are, people are not being treated equally. That might be about to change. The authors of Power and Prediction: The Disruptive Economics of Artificial Intelligence argue that if artificial intelligence (AI) can be placed at the heart of such decisions, objective benchmarks can be achieved, because AI cannot have explicit motivations to treat people differently. The authors see the potential for AIs to reduce discrimination in all sorts of decisions, from education to healthcare, banking and policing.

As the pandemic recedes, we face a once-in-a-generation opportunity to create a future where we are not only more productive in our work, but more fulfilled as human beings. That according to one of the world's foremost authorities on the future of work. In a wide-ranging interview, she describes how COVID-19 has changed the workplace forever, and now that working norms have been 'unfrozen,' it is time to reimagine traditional working models. She presents a four-stage framework for redesigning work, which begins with 'Understanding what matters' for each particular role and to each individual. In the end, she shows that increasing flexibility around time and place and having more time for ourselves, our families and our communities is really about one thing: getting back to being more human.

With a growing range of virtual interfaces continuously evolving around us, reality isn't what it used to be. The author argues that leaders across sectors and industries must familiarize themselves with the emerging 'metaverse' and be able to draw distinctions between the various digitally mediated formats that span the virtual reality spectrum. These include augmented reality (AR), virtual reality VR), mixed reality (MR) and diminished reality (DR). Understanding how these technologies can-and will-affect your business model is a first step towards being prepared for what lies ahead.

Not convinced that ESG matters to investors? Think again: The authors share research from McKinsey & Company, showing that 86 percent of institutional investors believe companies with strong ESG performance (environmental, social, governance) will feel a direct impact on analyst recommendations. And 90 per cent cite that since the pandemic started, they attach even greater importance to ESG performance when it comes to their investment strategy and decision-making. They present three principles that all organizations must embrace going forward and argue for a new approach to disclosure - one that shines a greater light on the kind of prosperity investors now value most of all.

The pandemic blew up everything we thought we knew about work, and the author encourages readers to use it as a catalyst to evolve their leadership mindset. He says many people still treat leadership like a thermostat: They believe the leader must carefully monitor everything their subordinates do, and when there is a deviation, take corrective action. The problem is, this approach to leadership creates an illusion of control - the idea that we can control our subordinates' every action while they're at work. The truth: We can't. The author provides three principles for building a culture of trust between workers and managers-and provides tips for giving employees more meaning, autonomy and freedom at work, which will improve productivity across the board.

The world's banks play a critical role in the pace of decarbonizing our planet. But despite acknowledging this and expressing support for the Paris Agreement - even setting their own targets for reaching net-zero emissions by 2050, in some cases - many are moving too slowly. The authors share research indicating that the majority of banks lag behind the pace of change necessary to hit 2050 targets. They make a plea for bank leaders globally to shift the mix of their loan portfolios and other financing activities away from heavy emitters and towards more sustainable actors across industries.

On social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and TikTok, value is created by individuals who are only loosely bound to the platform-and as a result, this type of organization requires very thoughtful oversight by its leaders. In this article, the authors present three governance mechanisms that should be thought-through and addressed in order to regulate user behaviour on social media. These include content moderation and user identification. They then present some of the key challenges and opportunities for platform leaders within each mechanism.

When given a choice, the employees who most need help are likely to opt out.

It's no secret that short deadlines produce results more quickly than long ones. But who knew that no deadline would prompt the fastest response of all?

Although gender representation among senior leaders has improved since 1980 (there was nowhere to go but up), there's still a lot of work to do. An analysis of Fortune 100 executives' career histories and demographics over the past 40 years shows where companies have made strides toward diversity at the top and where they can do better. To get closer to parity, employers must invest more in leadership development overall and give women more equitable access to growth opportunities.

Researchers interviewed a diverse group of employees to gain insights into their experience of inclusion in the workplace. They found that inclusive leaders are skilled at creating voice space an environment in which employees feel confident about openly communicating their ideas, recommendations, concerns, or other work-related opinions. Based on their study, the researchers offer four ways leaders can create voice space while elevating the confidence of their team members.

Organizations and top teams downplay or ignore how hard it is to be a good manager to skillfully hire, engage, develop, coach, supervise, evaluate, and promote people. Most managers aren't held accountable for building and exercising these critical skills. Instead, they've internalized the strong message that qualities like strategic vision and executive presence matter much more, leaving them and their organizations poorly equipped to deal with reality. Here are the skills that can turn the tide.

Impact investing and Socially Responsible Investing (SRI) have traditionally had different objectives, with the former being about supporting businesses committed to making a difference, and the latter focusing on mitigating the risk of harm. However, these two worlds appear to be merging, with the SRI industry talking more and more about having a positive impact. Yet in the corporate world, positive talk doesn’t always translate into positive action. The SRI industry might very well adopt impact practices, but if the worst-case scenario comes to pass, we are looking at a takeover by a dominant player that has frequently engaged in greenwashing. And given today’s market challenges, the last thing we need is to give investors who seek to make a positive impact another reason to stay on the sidelines. What’s needed is more transparency when it comes to language, promises, and practices. To clarify the distinction between SRI and impact investing, key players such as corporate managers, the accounting sector, environmental, social and governance indexers, market regulators, and industry standard setters need to work together to develop standardized evaluation criteria and certification systems for both impact and SRI funds. Actively sharing experiences and knowledge might even lead to the creation of a hybrid category like “impact SRI.”

Joint ventures make meaningful contributions to corporate revenue and can enable new growth strategies, but they increase their shareholders' risk exposure, often in ways that are hard to manage. The authors see a clear statistical correlation between good governance and the medium-term financial and strategic performance of JVs. To build a foundation for good governance, JV owners must reach clarity and alignment on the JV's purpose and operating model.

Digital twins virtual replicas of physical entities and their interactions are often poorly understood, which has led to their underutilization in supply chain management. The authors offer several examples of companies that have successfully used digital twins to enhance their supply chains, and they describe the main functional areas where leading companies have harnessed the technology: supply chain planning, warehouse management, and transportation management and last-mile delivery.

Business leaders are routinely confronted with bad information, and despite the common conviction that only others are vulnerable to biased judgment, they too fall prey to what researchers call the illusory truth effect. That is, merely repeating false claims increases their believability, leaving people vulnerable to basing their decisions on misinformation. This article describes the phenomenon in detail and provides guidance on how to combat this cognitive bias.