The witticism, sometimes misattributed to James Baldwin, began to spread a few months into the coronavirus pandemic, as the shock of mass layoffs started to give way to broader dissatisfaction with work. Before long, an untethering from office culture, combined with the security of a tight labor market, led many workers to quit their 9-to-5 jobs. Nobody, Kim Kardashian declared, wanted to work anymore'but that wasn't exactly true. More plausibly, the 'Great Resignation' marked a shift'perhaps a permanent one'in when, where, and how people wanted to work. Moments of cultural change present openings for cons. Early in the pandemic, the number of multi-level-marketing schemes (or MLMs) exploded online. Such enterprises invite non-salaried workers to sell goods and then also earn commissions by recruiting more salespeople; the Federal Trade Commission has over the years outlined subtle legal differences between MLMs and pyramid schemes. As millions of Americans lost or quit jobs, MLM advocates on the internet made an enticing pitch: Work as we knew it wasn't cutting it anymore; other options were out there. Framing the chance to hawk leggings or makeup or 'mentorship' as an opportunity that could yield flexible income and a sense of community, they promised a kind of life that was too good to be true....
As a professor of management, I partnered with Andrew Bryant, who studies social marketing, to develop an algorithm that identifies people's 'personas,' or psychological profiles, as they participate in diversity training in real time. We embedded this algorithm into a training system that dynamically assigned participants to tailored versions of the training based on their personas. We found that this personalized approach worked especially well for one particular group: the 'skeptics.' When skeptics received training tailored to them, they responded more positively ' and expressed a stronger desire to support their organizations' diversity efforts ' than those who received the same training as everyone else. In the age of social media, where just about everything is customized and personalized, this sounds like a no-brainer. But with diversity training, where the one-size-fits-all approach still rules, this is radical. In most diversity trainings, all participants hear the same message, regardless of their preexisting beliefs and attitudes toward diversity. Why would we assume that this would work'...
Uber is entering India's growing B2B logistics market by extending its partnership with the Indian government-backed nonprofit that aims to break the domination of the e-commerce duo Amazon and Walmart-backed Flipkart and widen digital commerce in the South Asian nation. On Monday, the ride-hailing giant announced it will soon launch its B2B logistics service through the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) to help businesses on the network access on-demand logistics through Uber's 1.4 million driver network, without disclosing a specific timeline. The service will initially enable food deliveries for businesses operating on the open network, but is aimed to be expanded to e-commerce, grocery, pharmacy, and even healthcare logistics. With its new move, Uber will be available as a logistics service provider on ONDC, competing with the likes of Shiprocket (Temasek and PayPal-backed), Shadowfax (TPG, Qualcomm Ventures, and Eight Roads-backed), recent Indian unicorn Porter, and Tiger Global-backed LoadShare....
May 11, 2025The latest McKinsey Global Survey on AI is out, and unsurprisingly, businesses are putting artificial intelligence to work across a wider range of functions than they did in 2024. But what about generative AI' 'While organizations in all sectors are most likely to use gen AI in marketing and sales, deployment within other functions varies greatly according to industry,' write McKinsey's Alex Singla, Alexander Sukharevsky, Lareina Yee, and coauthors. 'Organizations are applying the technology where it can generate the most value.'...
