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Why Business Leaders Need to Read More Science Fiction

Harvard Business Review

If 19th-century urban planners had had access to big data, machine learning techniques, and modern management theory, these tools would not have helped them. Extrapolating from past trends is useful but limiting in a world of accelerating technological change. They simply would have confirmed their existing concerns.

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When Will this Low-Innovation Internet Era End?

Harvard Business Review

It's an age of unprecedented, staggering technological change. These are all pretty common assertions in modern business/tech journalism and management literature. Then there's another view, which I heard from author Neal Stephenson in an MIT lecture hall last week. Stephenson was clearly trying to be provocative.

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Don't Like the Message? Maybe It's the Messenger

Harvard Business Review

But the same tendencies can be seen in pretty much any case where there are conflicting opinions — which ought to make them of interest to anybody in a management or other decision-making role. It was inspired by comments from author Neal Stephenson, who espoused the latter view in a Q&A at MIT. And why not?

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To Stay Relevant, Your Company and Employees Must Keep Learning

Harvard Business Review

As AT&T CEO and Chair Randall Stephenson, recently told the New York Times, “There is a need to retool yourself, and you should not expect to stop… People who do not spend five to 10 hours a week in online learning will obsolete themselves with the technology.” Insight Center. The Global Digital Economy.

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Welcome to HBR's Customer Intelligence Insight Center

Harvard Business Review

As early as 1994 Neal Stephenson was envisioning the era of Big Data, and how it might change the work of a market researcher. But when the two of us began compiling HBR's Insight Center on Customer Intelligence , and thought about what managers find scary about customer intelligence, we came up with a much broader range of concerns.

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Talking to Yourself (Out Loud) Can Help You Learn

Harvard Business Review

AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson says technology workers need to learn online for at least five hours per week to fend off obsolescence. .’” Self-explaining should go into the learning tool kit of workers today, as the economy places new demands on making connections and adopting new insights and skills.

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The 3 Things CEOs Worry About the Most

Harvard Business Review

Talent Management. Randall Stephenson of AT&T explained, “We had 270,000 people we employed around the globe. ” Other talent management concerns that were mentioned once include: motivating people through hard times, retention and development, and managing diversity and cultural differences.

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