In this article, the Dean of Western University’s Ivey Business School offers reflections on what business leaders should do as AI embeds itself in our day-to-day working lives. This article offers timeless advice because it is about how businesses should adapt in the face of technological change. Externally, leaders have a strategic imperative to create and maintain a distinctive value proposition in the face of strong AI-enabled forces for convergence. Internally, leaders have a moral imperative to ensure that workers continue to have worthwhile, meaningful jobs in an increasingly algorithm-controlled working environment. To ensure their organizations remain competitive, leaders need imagination, unreasonableness (the capacity to believe they are right and everyone else is wrong), and imperfection (i.e., authenticity). It is essential for leaders to ensure humanity remains in the workplace and, based on self-determination theory, this article suggests that autonomy, belonging, and competence should be emphasized. The AI revolution poses a possible schism between consciousness and intelligence, which creates risks for society in terms of inequality and a loss of social cohesion. As this article argues, leaders have the agency and responsibility to prevent this from happening within their organizations. Their job is to recouple consciousness and intelligence, ensure there is a human quality to their products and services, and safeguard the features of work that make it worth doing.
AI’s rapid advancements have showcased capabilities that seem almost human-like—sometimes even superhuman. For many, this triggers feelings of inadequacy along with the desire to give up. But surrendering is neither necessary nor productive. The reality of our relationship with AI is more nuanced than a simple battle of human versus machine. It requires thoughtful reflection and a reframing of how we approach our roles and strengths in an AI-driven world. This article contains a three-step framework that offers a possible way to embrace AI in the workplace: 1) start by discovering your strengths so you can use AI to augment them, not replace them; 2) treat AI as an ally; and 3) experiment with different tools. Adapting to the AI age is about embracing a growth mindset, staying curious, and continuously seeking to understand the evolving technology landscape. Organizations play a crucial role in cultivating this mindset. This involves not just providing access to training programs but also fostering a culture where curiosity and innovation are encouraged. Historically, productivity has been the dominant metric of success with the use of technology in the workplace. However, as machines excel at automating repetitive tasks, our value will increasingly be defined by qualities that AI cannot easily replicate, such as empathy, ethical judgment, creativity, and the ability to inspire and lead.
American couples spend over US$30 billion a year on couples therapy. But when co-founders of companies experience relational challenges, they do not take similar action. This article explores the application of couples therapy—enriched by insights from adult attachment theory—to address the relational challenges experienced by co-founders. It contends that by integrating couples therapy and attachment-informed strategies into business practices, co-founders can navigate the complexities of entrepreneurship with resilience and cohesion, which will ultimately contribute to the long-term sustainability of their ventures. Attachment styles—secure, anxious, avoidant, and disorganized—shape individuals’ expectations, behaviours, patterns, and responses in close relationships, which are mirrored in one’s workplace dynamics. By providing a supportive environment, couples therapy interventions can help co-founders cultivate greater self-awareness, empathy, and emotional intelligence. By aligning business objectives with relational needs, therapy sessions empower co-founders to leverage their attachment strengths and navigate challenges with resilience and confidence. Moreover, attachment-informed strategies can help guide leadership practices, decision-making processes, and conflict resolution mechanisms within a business partnership. By fostering a culture of collaboration, empathy, and mutual respect, therapy sessions contribute to the long-term sustainability of the venture. Reflective listening, managing expectations, and allocating time for the relationship—when paired with couples therapy—represent effective strategies in creating healthy co-founder relationships.
Since 2022, the Teaching Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) Professional Development Workshop at the Academy of Management Conference has explored innovative approaches to DEIB instruction while offering educators support and community. This article offers highlights from the teaching demos (featuring in-person exercises) and Q&A panel at the August 2024 workshop. In the first demo, the instructor led participants through a gamified learning exercise called “The Quiz Game.” Designed to demonstrate the dynamics of privilege and disadvantage, participants were separated into three groups that were given different sets of rules. In a demo of the second game—“Family Face-Off”—two teams guessed the answers to survey questions posed to 100 individuals. This game illustrates how “meta-stereotypes”—one’s belief about how others perceive their group—can negatively impact a person’s identity, school and workplace performance, and interpersonal relationships. In the teaching panel Q&A, Dr. Adam Waytz recommended bringing up divisive current events in order to show nimbleness and authenticity. When asked about managing disagreements between students, Dr. Erika V. Hall emphasized the importance of laying ground rules in the classroom. In the case of students struggling to understand the other side’s position, she recommended bringing the discussion back to specifics of the curriculum and data-backed material. Finally, in terms of teaching heavy topics or facilitating difficult conversations, Dr. Waytz cautioned against catering excessively to critics in the room who might never be satisfied.
Canada and the United States have long coexisted as respectful neighbours who have agreed to disagree on many things while benefiting from the integration of our economies and fighting side by side to defend common values. But since winning the recent U.S. election, Donald Trump has been threatening to put a 25 per cent tariff on Canadian goods and suggesting he might deploy economic warfare to coerce Canada into becoming America’s 51st state. Although sweeping trade threats often give way to more limited measures, even a blanket tariff of 10 per cent could trigger a Canadian GDP contraction of 2.4 per cent, while putting 500,000 jobs at risk. Nobody knows what to expect in the days ahead and Canada needs to stop publicly issuing threats of our own until the lay of the land becomes clear. Publicly disagreeing over what Canada should do in a trade war before it even starts only makes us look weak. Pointing out America’s flaws while trying to avoid anti-Canadian policies is equally counterproductive. Canadians need to stop thinking we can sell a win–win solution directly to Trump. Let’s focus on collectively and calmly educating Americans on how trade with Canada benefits them. This can be done in partnership with U.S. interests that would be hurt in a trade war. We should also figure out how to increase internal trade while diversifying our economy and reducing our reliance on the U.S. market. Finally, we should consider giving Trump the appearance of a win by aggressively moving to meet our NATO commitments.
Resilience is the key to driving a company’s long-term profitable growth, according to new research at Accenture that was designed to measure the connection between corporate resilience and the ability to create value. After analyzing the performance of 1,615 of the world’s largest publicly traded companies across 18 industries with their Resilience Index, the authors found that only 52 per cent of high-performing companies—those with above-peer-set revenue growth and profitability—outpaced their peers continuously through the business cycle running from the fourth quarter of 2019 to the third quarter of 2023. The authors’ research showed that companies need a holistic vision and investment strategy for resilience, which they define as the capability to cope with and capitalize on fast-changing markets. They found evidence that a combination of financial and non-financial strengths captured in their Resilience Index—such as a company’s ability to hire talent and invest in technological innovations—drive and predict long-term high performance. Companies with the highest ratings across all the Resilience Index’s dimensions had the strongest performance. In addition, the authors discovered that companies that build a resilience-focused culture while investing in multiple resilience-enhancing capabilities and developing the talent needed to unlock the potential of new technologies have faster-growing revenue and profit margins over the long term.
When it comes to mitigating the impact of climate change, time is running out for many Indigenous Peoples, whose land plays host to about 80 per cent of global biodiversity. But as Indigenous Peoples fight for climate justice, they face significant social and economic issues that intensify their climate-related problems, including limited representation, restricted education access, inadequate financial services, and conflicts stemming from unregistered ancestral lands and territories. This article proposes a new framework for sustainability that aims to bring the planet’s stakeholders together by aligning corporate social responsibility practices with climate justice requirements for Indigenous Peoples. The authors’ Regenerative Business Framework for Indigenous Peoples’ Climate Justice was developed to provide a strategic approach to achieving climate justice through a balancing of the needs of “planet, people and prosperity” within a regenerative and distributive economic model. The framework is based on an acknowledgment of the rights of Indigenous Peoples along with the value of their wisdom as champions of biodiversity stewardship. It lays the foundation for sustainable capitalism by offering a systematic approach to climate justice that empowers Indigenous populations as agents of businesses seeking the preservation of assets and resources that support a wide range of industries. In the authors’ framework, businesses strive to effectively operate through a cycle of acknowledgement, action, and accountability/transparency in their interactions with Indigenous Peoples.
Earth4All, an international collective of economic thinkers, scientists, and environmental advocates, has posited that the current dominant economic model and its focus on gross domestic product growth is destabilizing our societies and planet. Earth4All describes two possible scenarios the world is heading towards as “Too Little Too Late” and “Giant Leap.” The former depicts a world where societies continue to fail to counter economic, political, and social polarization, food and energy insecurity, climate change, and ecological collapse. The Giant Leap scenario envisions a fundamental reconfiguration of global economic, energy, power, and food systems. But why does “Too Little Too Late” behaviour continue? According to Earth4All, the prerequisite internal dimension of systemic change has been underestimated or ignored by business leaders. Earth4All proposes that leaders move away from a short-term method of dealing with challenges; see humanity as part of nature and recognize interconnectedness; and embrace the need for five turnarounds related to poverty, inequality, gender equity, the food system, and the energy system. The article concludes with various techniques to help individuals and teams develop their inner dimension, including using embodied/mindfulness techniques; redesigning meeting spaces to encourage people to move around; turning off all phones/devices during meetings; and using the UN Inner Development Goals in 360 evaluations and reward and recognition initiatives.
Generative AI is promising to be the most disruptive technology since the internet. According to Accenture, 44 per cent of working hours in the United States fall within the scope of automation or augmentation with this technology. However, security is a major consideration impacting the adoption or implementation of generative AI, and CEOs are rightly concerned. While generative AI is democratizing access and driving productivity, it is also leading to insecure deployments, security breaches, and AI-powered threats such as deepfakes. To fully realize competitive gains, businesses must elevate their cybersecurity strategies to address gaps and vulnerabilities—both within and outside their organizations. As generative AI intensifies the competition for labour productivity, it is also opening new vulnerabilities that can be exploited by bad actors, including insecure deployment of generative AI, excessive accessibility, and lax experimentation. Companies can employ the following strategies to bolster their cyber-resilience: 1) modernize their security setup at the same pace as business innovation; 2) heighten employees’ awareness of the potential risks associated with generative AI; and 3) innovate from a trusted foundation by securing the underlying cloud foundation and implementing strict controls.
In the dynamic landscape of continuous strategic and organizational transformation, execution has become increasingly intricate, requiring everything from real-time monitoring to crisis management and decision support. Unfortunately, the most common solution for delivering on key initiatives—a program management office (PMO)—remains static and staid, focused on reporting over dialogue and on process over collaboration. At the heart of today’s successful transformation journey lies the next frontier of the PMO—the transformation office with a “mission control” function. As a nerve centre, it drives execution, ensures alignment and coordination across initiative workstreams, and forestalls risks to delivering results. The objective of the transformation office is to maximize the impact of strategic projects and initiatives through an integrated approach to project management. To accomplish this, it plays the following five roles: 1) project management steward (ensures that project management practices are not only standardized but also optimized for better outcomes); 2) initiative effectiveness situation room (tracks progress, identifies bottlenecks, and swiftly responds to changes); 3) program and portfolio decision support (monitors initiatives’ health and adjusts the trajectory if necessary); 4) transformation-level change management and communications hub (facilitates consistent messaging, aligns various change efforts, and ensures that communication resonates with the transformation’s vision); and 5) executive steering navigator (highlights critical decisions and focal points for executive leadership).
<div style="font-size: 0.94em; line-height: 1.4;"><p align="justify">Most high-tech companies are reinventing themselves. The changes high-tech companies have undertaken have made it easier for them to deliver and scale high-tech services instead of simply selling products. Their sales representatives have an increasing focus on building long-term, meaningful client relationships over large-volume deals. They’re starting to bypass conversations about product upgrades in favour of discussions on innovations, data-driven value comparisons, and as-a-service models. Your company needs to know what it can be getting out of these new strategic contracts to get more value, save time and money, and reduce risks. You need to learn how to work with your high-tech providers as they transform themselves. An opportunity exists to carve out customized product and service packages with your suppliers to meet your company’s needs. This article offers a checklist to help your company reap the benefits of the evolving high-tech industry: <br><br><ul><li>Figure out how a subscription model can help you.</li><li>Get into the weeds and be strategic—look for purpose, scale, and flexibility. </li><li>Calculate a cost-to-innovation balance. </li><li>Zoom in on the fine print and iron out misalignments inherent in new service-level agreements between your business and your suppliers. </li><li>Stay connected and keep asking about the support your supplier might be able to provide.</li></ul>
<div style="font-size: 0.94em; line-height: 1.4;"><p align="justify">How can business school educators most effectively teach diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI)? In 2023, a working group devoted to the subject held a professional development workshop on teaching DEI. This article summarizes key takeaways from the event. As the first teaching demonstration showed, when developing diversity initiatives, it’s important to create interventions and messages that aren’t one-size-fits-all. In the second teaching demonstration, the instructor set conversation guidelines that included “active and empathetic listening,” “challenge the idea, not the person,” and “take space and make space.” She challenged students to embrace discomfort, trust intent, and acknowledge assumptions, and sought to reframe conversations about DEI not as difficult but as transformational. In the third demonstration, the instructor encouraged students to think about the conditions that allowed them to grow their emotional intelligence or leadership skills. The article ends with some expert advice from DEI instructors: bring your authentic self; orient yourself to learn; and invite reflection.
<div style="font-size: 0.94em; line-height: 1.4;"><p align="justify">Ivey Business School Professor Emeritus Glenn Rowe has learned a lot about leadership by studying decision-making in the private sector, but his most valuable leadership lesson was learned as the officer-in-charge of Patrol Boat Standoff in the mid-1980s, when Rowe was a staff officer at a Canadian naval reserve division. On his first day as officer-in-charge, Rowe made an error that led to his ship’s grounding—a cardinal sin in any navy. This article—which Rowe co-authored with Ken Nason, another former Canadian naval officer with a second career in business—examines how failure can drive leadership development by highlighting how it positively affected Rowe’s career. Although we often hear that failure is not an option, this is a costly perspective. After all, failure shapes our character, restores focus, renews motivation, and teaches us about accountability, transparency, responsibility, adaptability, and ownership. Learning from failure, however, can’t happen unless one embraces failure as a teacher. When Rowe grounded his patrol boat, he learned the value of staying calm during a crisis and discovered that he had command ability. Earlier in his career, when approaching HMCS Preserver’s commanding officer to discuss issues tied to his performance, he didn’t save his job, but by admitting to himself and navy authorities that his performance was less than ideal, he avoided the “ostrich effect.”
To remain competitive, smart multinationals ensure they can rapidly globalize or localize certain parts of their businesses as needed. Here’s how they do it.