article thumbnail

Why Business Leaders Need to Read More Science Fiction

Harvard Business Review

Alexander Weinstein’s Children of the New World weaves together a series of mind-bending vignettes into a compelling vision of how social media could change our lives. As climate change accelerates and the world economy becomes ever more concentrated in megacities, rethinking infrastructure becomes an ever more urgent priority.

article thumbnail

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

Harvard Business Review

It was inspired by comments from author Neal Stephenson, who espoused the latter view in a Q&A at MIT. So I wrote a piece juxtaposing the Stephenson/Cowen view with the work of MIT's Erik Brynjolfsson, who has been amassing evidence that a digitization-fueled economic revolution is in fact beginning to happen. And why not?

Insiders

Sign Up for our Newsletter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

article thumbnail

Why Mergers Like the At&T-Time Warner Deal Should Go Through

Harvard Business Review

But CEO Randall Stephenson immediately denied both versions, and reiterated that the company will not let go of either CNN or the deal itself, pledging to fight the government if necessary. That’s certainly true in media industries, which are driven by broadband, mobile devices, and new video platforms preferred by younger consumers.

article thumbnail

The 3 Things CEOs Worry About the Most

Harvard Business Review

Randall Stephenson of AT&T explained, “We had 270,000 people we employed around the globe. The speed at which those problems happened was exponentially increased because of the ability of people to communicate through social media.” One area that proved especially challenging was mobility. Ken Powell of U.S.

CEO 8