When Good Management Becomes an Obstacle to Necessary Change
Angela Merkel’s recently published memoir Freedom arrives at a pivotal moment for organizational leadership. As Yascha Mounk notes in his recent Financial Times analysis, Merkel’s legacy reveals how competent management can coexist with systemic failure. This paradox resonates deeply in today’s digital transformation landscape.
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Just as beverage companies once managed their packaging waste, tech companies were once more straightforward about their data practices. But now, we’re seeing a troubling pattern of companies quietly expanding their data collection through obscure settings and opt-out mechanisms buried in lengthy terms of service.
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Today, I'm sharing news of an initiative occupying my thoughts and research: the Global Student & AI Rights Pledge & Declaration. These are two initiatives I architected as part of presentations I gave this year at ICTE 2024. But before I detail these efforts, I want to emphasize something important: this isn't just another policy document destined to gather digital dust in some institutional repository.
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AI-powered voice recording, transcription, and analysis tools are revolutionizing how we conduct and follow up on meetings. As graduate faculty for project management curriculum and consultant for data culture initiatives, I’ve started integrating how these tools can help students and project managers
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The landscape of data warehousing has undergone a profound transformation since its inception in the 1970s. What began as a concept for centralizing corporate data has evolved into a complex ecosystem of technologies, languages, and architectures. This evolution reflects not only advancements in technology but also changing business needs and the exponential growth of data as an asset.
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As we conclude our exploration of the evolving data culture in corporate America, we find ourselves at a critical juncture. The pendulum swings we've observed—from the data-driven efficiency focus of the 1990s to the purpose-driven revolution of the 2010s—have set the stage for a new era of complexity. The advent of artificial intelligence (AI) is not just another technological advancement; it represents a fundamental shift in how organizations must approach skill development and organizational design for data, purpose, and ethics.
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As we stand at the precipice of a new era in corporate evolution, the landscape before us is far more complex and nuanced than we could have imagined even a decade ago. The simple dichotomies of the past—efficiency versus humanity, data versus intuition—have given way to a trilemma that threatens to reshape the very foundations of organizational structure and leadership. This piece aims to unravel the intricate web of challenges facing modern businesses as they attempt to balance data-driven decision making, purpose-driven cultures, and the looming ethical considerations of the AI age.
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As we entered the 21st century, the landscape of corporate America began to shift dramatically. The relentless pursuit of efficiency and shareholder value that characterized the late 20th century gave way to a new paradigm that placed purpose at the center of business strategy. This transformation, called the “Purpose Revolution,” was driven by a complex interplay of social, economic, and generational factors. Human Resources (HR) played a pivotal role behind the scenes. In this article, we'll explore how this shift is redefining success in the corporate world and the challenges it presents for leadership, measurement, and accountability.
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As the new millennium dawned, the data-driven paradigm that emerged in the 1990s had become firmly entrenched in corporate America. Organizations across industries were collecting, analyzing, and acting on data at an unprecedented scale. However, as with any transformative shift, the rise of data-driven management brought with it a host of unintended consequences and ethical challenges. This article explores the darker side of the data revolution, examining the limits of metrics-based management, the human cost of extreme efficiency, and the emerging ethical dilemmas of the data age.
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In the annals of corporate history, the 1990s stand out as a pivotal decade—a time when the convergence of technological innovation, economic shifts, and evolving management philosophies gave birth to the data-driven organization we know today. This transformative period set the stage for a new era of business practices, one where information became the most valuable currency and data-driven decision-making emerged as the gold standard for corporate leadership.
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