The Best of This Week
The week’s must-reads for managing in the digital age, curated by the MIT SMR editors.
Topics
Weekly Recap
The Future of Work Is Through Workforce Ecosystems
Today’s leaders are in need of best practices for dealing strategically and operationally with a distributed, diverse workforce that crosses internal and external boundaries. Drawing on two years of research, this article looks at how to best address the shift to managing all types of workers through the lens of workforce ecosystems — which can enable managers to deal more effectively with these changes.
Tackling Critical Global Problems With New Technologies
New technologies — such as machine learning, robotics, digital twins, and supercomputing — can dramatically improve the odds of successful discovery through more efficient selection and accelerated testing of the most promising new ideas.
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Businesses Need to Support Democracy
A strong and stable government is necessary for an innovative and entrepreneurial society. Businesses can support democracy in three key ways: speaking out, acting collectively, and addressing the roots of the problem.
The Innovator Behind Wikipedia
The creation of ubiquitous online marvel Wikipedia — which launched 20 years ago today — required the determined efforts of an unconventional, original thinker, Jimmy Wales, whose counterintuitive innovation process is outlined here.
A Pivotal Year for Face Recognition Technology
America’s first confirmed wrongful arrest by facial recognition technology happened in January 2020. The year’s racial justice movement helped publicize problems with the technology — but despite scandals and bans, its growth isn’t slowing.
What Else We’re Reading This Week
- First Round Review has rounded up 30 of the best pieces of advice for entrepreneurs from 2020
- Companies that get the most out of AI are those that focus on having AI and human workers learn from one another
- Five steps to support working parents
- The digital divide is complicating seniors’ access to the COVID-19 vaccine
Quote of the Week:
“How can we change our digital spaces so that they bring us together instead of tear us apart?”
— Eli Pariser, codirector of Civic Signals, and Danielle Allen, the James Bryant Conant University Professor at Harvard University, in “To Thrive, Our Democracy Needs Digital Public Infrastructure”