Widespread global uncertainty in the form of the COVID-19 pandemic, ongoing wars, social uprisings, and rising inflation have led individuals to feel less of a sense of personal control. New research finds that this lack of control can drive employees to seek similarity in coworkers, forming homogenous teams that stifle diversity and innovation. Research involving over 90,000 participants across multiple studies revealed that individuals with reduced control gravitate toward those similar in race, religion, or values, reinforcing predictability but fostering segregation and limiting collaboration. Leaders can mitigate this effect by taking the following steps: 1) Foster psychological safety, 2) establish predictable work routines, 3) encourage cross-functional teams, 4) develop responsive feedback systems, and 5) cultivate individual autonomy....

Detroiters know. In November 2021, residents voted to create a reparations committee that would make recommendations for housing and economic development programs to address historical discrimination against Black residents. We are a team of University of Michigan-based scholars of political science and sociology specializing in public opinion and attitudes toward reparations. Our research provides important context for understanding the challenges Detroit's reparations committee faces. The 13-member task force wasn't officially announced until February 2023. The two-year time lapse resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic and the unexpected passing in July 2022 of former City Council Member JoAnn Watson ' a pivotal advocate for reparations. As the October 2024 deadline approached, however, many residents voiced concerns that the task force was not progressing quickly enough or being as inclusive as expected. When the deadline extension was announced, task force co-chair Keith Williams issued his own report. This unilateral decision prompted the task force to release a statement letting Detroiters know that Williams' report is not representative of the final report that is still in development. The official report is now due in March 2025....

Researchers had critiqued the controversial paper many times, raising concerns about its data quality and an unclear ethics-approval process. Its eventual withdrawal, on the grounds of concerns over ethical approval and doubts about the conduct of the research, marks the 28th retraction for co-author Didier Raoult, a French microbiologist, formerly at Marseille's Hospital-University Institute Mediterranean Infection (IHU), who shot to global prominence in the pandemic. French investigations found that he and the IHU had violated ethics-approval protocols in numerous studies, and Raoult has now retired. The paper, which has received almost 3,400 citations according to the Web of Science database, is the highest-cited paper on COVID-19 to be retracted, and the second-most-cited retracted paper of any kind. 'This is incredibly good news,' says Elisabeth Bik, an image-forensics specialist and scientific-integrity consultant in San Francisco, California, who is among the critics of the paper and Raoult's work. Several countries, including the United States, approved the drug at the centre of the research, hydroxychloroquine (HCQ), to treat COVID-19 infections, she notes. But later studies showed it had no benefit. 'This paper should never have been published ' or it should have been retracted immediately after its publication,' Bik says....

When COVID-19 struck in early 2020, Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky faced a devastating crisis: Bookings on his vacation-rental marketplace plummeted 80% almost overnight, and the company was forced to postpone its planned initial public offering. Chesky responded by abandoning what he has described as a hands-off leadership style. He laid off 25% of the workforce, reorganized the company from business divisions to functional teams, and consolidated product planning into a single road map. His approach challenged the common wisdom that great leaders, especially ones who have founded a company and hired talented people, should avoid meddling and give their employees room to run. And yet, it worked. After absorbing heavy losses during the pandemic, Airbnb staged a remarkable financial turnaround: In 2021, it generated almost $6 billion in revenue, which it grew to almost $10 billion by 2023, with over 448 million nights booked through its platform. 'Too many founders apologize for how they want to run the company,' Chesky said in a 2023 podcast interview. 'People think that a great leader's job is to hire people and just empower them to do a good job. Well, how do you know they're doing a good job if you're not in the details''...