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Forecasting Fintech’s Future and Keeping Culture Alive: A Q&A with the CEOs of BILL and Mercury

At a16z’s recent Connect/Fintech event, a16z Partner Alex Immerman sat down for a broad conversation with Immad Akhund, co-founder and CEO of Mercury, and René Lacerte, founder and CEO of financial services company BILL.  They discussed the wide-ranging implications that generative AI will have across fintech and how it will boost jobs, rather than replace them. They also talked about the difficulties — and potential advantages — of selling into…

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The Best Leaders Use Intuition

When you’re making decisions, should you listen to your gut or only lean on reason? Research suggests we should do both. Lynn Tilton lost her father as a teenager and experienced firsthand what the loss of the main income provider can do to a family. She got herself into Yale on a tennis grant, married while at Yale, became pregnant shortly after graduation, and soon became a single mom. It…

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Kant’s Legacy Continues to Shape Ideas about the World Order: Results of the Valdai Club Session at the International Kant Congress

On Monday, April 22, 2024, as part of the International Kant Congress in Kaliningrad, the Valdai Club held a special session, titled “Reason and Progress? History of Civilisations Turned to the Future”. The session participants discussed the role of Immanuel Kant in the formation of modern concepts of world order and the significance of his legacy for understanding the processes taking place in international life today. Opening the session, Deputy Prime…

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What’s Perpetual Peace Got to Do with RUBIO?

The modus operandus of the West today is simple. There is, it is claimed, a ‘rules-based international order’. Those who comply with the rules are within the pale, or the inner and privileged circle that enjoys good relations with one another, including the most powerful economies in the world. However, those outside the pale are not only to be excluded; every attempt must be made to force them to accede…

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Love Your Job or Leave It? Maybe There’s Another Way

But what can we do if we feel our job lacks meaning? Jiang suggests taking a step back and reflecting on what's causing this disconnect from your work and why it no longer feels fulfilling. Is it some shift at work, like an organisational restructuring or a change in leadership that has altered the nature of your work? Or is it something that has changed in yourself or your personal life? Once you…

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How to achieve speed and scale in the clean energy transition

The Stanford Forum on the Science of Energy Transition brought together scientific experts, technology innovators, and industry leaders to explore practical pathways to a decarbonized future. How do we transition to clean energy with enough speed and scale to prevent the most extreme impacts of climate change? This question loomed large for many of the speakers and participants at the Stanford Forum on the Science of Energy Transition, held on…

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Rare disease research at Cambridge receives major boost with launch of two new centres

The virtual centres, supported by the charity LifeArc, will focus on areas where there are significant unmet needs. They will tackle barriers that ordinarily prevent new tests and treatments reaching patients with rare diseases and speed up the delivery of rare disease treatment trials.The centres will bring together leading scientists and rare disease clinical specialists from across the UK for the first time, encouraging new collaborations across different research disciplines…

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What Did the Last Four Years Teach Us about Managing Inflation?

Q: There’s tremendous attention on inflation these days. But the Federal Reserve and other central banks have been dealing with extraordinary circumstances for more than four years. Would you walk us through the challenges, the responses, and what we have learned, starting with the shutdown from the COVID pandemic? While “unprecedented” is a term that can be overused, when the pandemic hit in 2020, it was an unprecedented shock. It…

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Sustainability to fine dining

Choosing to enjoy a special meal at a top restaurant is always a cause for celebration. But there’s a growing awareness of the impact that dining out and enjoying far-flung produce can have on the world around us. Caroline Underhill, our Global Marketing Director and Head of CSR, looks at the shift towards sustainable dining and the impact of schemes including the Green Michelin Star. Dining at renowned restaurants is…

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Why Decarbonisation Is So Hard

According to research from the International Monetary Fund, the benefits of global decarbonisation would amount to US$85 trillion in net value. Carbon emissions represent a massive cost not just to the environment, but to the economy as well, and the data is clear that the potential gains associated with reducing emissions are enormous. Yet, decarbonisation efforts worldwide remain woefully inadequate. Data from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change found that annual greenhouse…

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Hoover Military Experts Chart the History of Proxy Wars, from Ancient Greece to Ukraine and Gaza

Hoover Institution (Stanford, CA) – Hoover fellows and scholars affiliated with the institution’s Military History in Contemporary Conflict Working Group explored the history and use of proxy wars, and what they mean for modern great-power competition, at a conference on March 22, 2024. The group talked about proxy wars dating back to ancient Greece, how they led to larger major global conflicts in history, the US experience with proxy wars,…

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Driving research and innovation led change for sustained success

Innovation may begin with exciting blue sky thinking, but there is a point when the success of a new technology or product boils down to a fundamental question – will this work in reality? Geoffrey Moore, author of Crossing the Chasm, acknowledged that the “enthusiasts” and “visionaries” in business often embrace innovative products far more readily than the sceptical “pragmatists” that represent the mainstream market. So how do we convince…

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Reeducating Educators on Discrimination Processes: the U.S. Department of Education Issues New Title IX Sex and Gender Nondiscrimination Regulations

The final regulations amend § 34 C.F.R. 106.1, et seq. According to a statement from the Department announcing the final rule, “The unofficial version of the final regulations is available here. In addition, the Department has released a fact sheet, a summary of the major provisions of the 2024 Title IX final rule, and a resource for drafting Title IX nondiscrimination policies, notices of nondiscrimination, and grievance procedures.” The final…

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Innovation strategy in information services, media and entertainment

Optimising demand to scale the usage of AI and associated emerging technologiesIn the first article in this series, we looked at how infrastructure and construction organisations are working together to create demand for radically advanced technology-enabled machinery. We introduced and discussed two important concepts that are driving the commercially viable advancement of technology: innovation brokerage and demand aggregation.  Innovation Brokerage and Demand Aggregation As a reminder, innovation brokerage prioritises developing…

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Illinois District Court Enjoins Equal Benefits for Equal Work Provision of Illinois Day and Temporary Labor Services Act

Quick Hits A judge of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois entered a preliminary injunction enjoining actions to enforce the “equivalent benefits” provisions of DTLSA. The equal pay provisions of Section 42 of the DTLSA were not subject to the injunction and went into effect on April 1, 2024. On April 3, 2024, the district court stayed any further proceedings pending the appeal. On November 22,…

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Learning to Be Alone

Despite a seemingly glamorous life as a fashion executive, Nadine felt a gnawing loneliness. Her life was filled with acquaintances but devoid of true connection. She desperately wished for someone who understood her. This struggle stemmed from a traumatic childhood marked by abandonment and isolation, leaving her with a deep-seated fear of emotional vulnerability. While she hoped her career would foster connection, the cutthroat environment only pushed her to project…

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New Jersey Appellate Division Addresses Employers’ Obligation to Reimburse Employee Business Expenses

Quick Hits The Superior Court of New Jersey, Appellate Division, held that a former employee had “a viable claim” that his employer had “diverted a portion of his wages in violation of the [NJ]WPL by requiring he use his personal vehicle and not reimbursing him for costs associated with that use.” Prior decisions by the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey have taken seemingly inconsistent positions on…

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Reimagining relationship banking for small businesses

While small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) play a vital role in driving economic growth and innovation, they often face unique challenges when dealing with banks. This makes relationship banking crucial to their success. By strengthening their relationship banking models, banks can differentiate themselves from competitors by improving the support they provide to SMEs, helping these businesses overcome challenges and thrive in the marketplace.    In discussions with owners of SMEs about…

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From anime to monozukuri: The hidden strengths of Japanese corporates

Global preconceptions about Japanese organizations have often resulted in their potential being overlooked. Yet, as discussed by Naoyuki Iwatani and Michele Raviscioni, McKinsey senior partners and co-authors of the Japanese-language book, Unlocking the Full Potential of Japanese Corporates, the strengths of Japanese corporations are numerous, ranging from focused customer orientation, employee loyalty, management resilience, and soft power. By changing mindsets that hinder growth, taking full advantage of their strengths, and…

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Reimagining the U.S. healthcare system

Teresa Chahine: Welcome back, everyone. I’m here with Peter Hagan, the Digital Health Director of Commonwealth Care Alliance, and he’s here to talk to us about his former role in Iora Health, which was one of the startups that really pioneered the value-based care model in public health. Thank you so much, Pete, for being here with us today. Peter Hagan: Thank you for having me. Teresa Chahine: You’re able…

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Remaking the UI for AI

In this episode of the AI + a16z podcast, a16z General Partner Anjney Midha shares his thoughts on how hardware for artificial intelligence might evolve over the years to come as we place more emphasis on AI inference workloads. Improvements in sensors, chips, models, and more could result in remarkably useful models that are able to run locally, resulting in wearable AI products that evolve the human experience. Here are…

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China is not 1980s Japan

Before reaching its turning point in the 1990s, Japan had gone through a period of strong growth driven by exports and efforts to move up the value chain (known as the “flying geese” model), high investment and savings rates, and bank-led rather than market-led financing. At its peak in 1988, Japan accounted for 9.8% of global exports. Apart from a slight upturn in the mid-1990s, helped by the depreciation of…

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Are You Ready for the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD)?

The Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) is poised to be a game-changer for businesses across the globe. Expected to be ratified by the European Parliament and European Council ahead of the 2024 EU elections*, it aims to significantly enhance corporate accountability for human rights and environmental impacts throughout global value chains. Understanding and preparing for the CSDDD’s implications is crucial for businesses.What is the EU CSDDD?  In spite of…

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How to Regulate the Banks

In its essence, what is banking all about? Many would say it’s the provision of credit. But that is only partly true. Banks don’t just broker money and credit, they also create it – it’s a complex situation. What’s clear, however, is this activity is associated with systemic risk that can lead to bank runs and cause chain reactions in the financial system.    Countries have always tried to keep systemic…

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A bridge to success: Using AI to raise the bar in special education

There’s a global shortage of teachers with special education training. 90% of disabled students in developing countries lack access to trained teachers.[1] In Hong Kong specifically, one in every 20 children is diagnosed with autism and other disorders that fall under Special Education Needs (SEN), and the number of SEN students increased by 106% in […]

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SCOTUS Issues Highly Anticipated Muldrow Decision, Rejecting Heightened Harm Requirement in Adverse Action Analysis

Seyfarth Synopsis: The United States Supreme Court issued its opinion in one of the most anticipated employment cases of this term. In Muldrow v. City of St. Louis, the Court considered whether Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination in transfer decisions absent a separate showing that the transfer caused a “significant” harm. In its opinion, the Court rejected this heightened harm requirement, which will have…

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World-first “Cybercrime Index” ranks countries by cybercrime threat level

The Index, published today in the journal PLOS ONE, shows that a relatively small number of countries house the greatest cybercriminal threat. Russia tops the list, followed by Ukraine, China, the USA, Nigeria, and Romania. The UK comes in at number eight. Left: Dr Miranda Bruce. Right: Associate Professor Jonathan Lusthaus. Co-author of the study, Dr Miranda Bruce from the University of Oxford and UNSW Canberra said the study will…

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Everything you wanted to know about carbon removals but were afraid to ask

By 2050, carbon dioxide removal could be a $1.2 trillion industry. On this episode of The McKinsey Podcast, McKinsey senior partner Mark Patel joins editorial director Roberta Fusaro to discuss McKinsey’s recent report about the business of carbon dioxide removal and how it could play a vital role in responding to hard-to-abate emissions in various sectors.In our second segment, Black Americans are especially vulnerable to the effects of climate change. McKinsey partner…

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Training AI models to answer ‘what if?’ questions could improve medical treatments

Artificial intelligence techniques can be helpful for multiple medical applications, such as radiology or oncology, where the ability to recognise patterns in large volumes of data is vital. For these types of applications, the AI compares information against learned examples, draws conclusions, and makes extrapolations.Now, an international team led by researchers from Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU) and including researchers from the University of Cambridge, is exploring the potential of a comparatively…

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300 Years of Immanuel Kant. A Reason to Believe

On April 22, 2024, the 300th anniversary of the birth of Immanuel Kant, one of the most significant figures in the history of philosophy, will be celebrated. His life and works are inextricably linked to the University of Königsberg, which today bears the name of this great scholar as the Baltic Federal University, a major educational centre in Russia. In addition to celebrating the anniversary, a large-scale scientific conference dedicated…

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The battery cell component opportunity in Europe and North America

The speed of battery electric vehicle (BEV) uptake—while still not categorically breakneck—is enough to render it one of the fastest-growing segments in the automotive industry. Our projections show more than 200 new battery cell factories will be built by 2030 to keep up with rising demand. Overall, the market for cell components—comprising cathodes and anodes, separators, electrolytes, and cell packaging—is expected to grow by 19 percent per annum until 2030,…

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Mess is best: disordered structure of battery-like devices improves performance

Researchers led by the University of Cambridge used experimental and computer modelling techniques to study the porous carbon electrodes used in supercapacitors. They found that electrodes with a more disordered chemical structure stored far more energy than electrodes with a highly ordered structure.Supercapacitors are a key technology for the energy transition and could be useful for certain forms of public transport, as well as for managing intermittent solar and wind…

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Robo Advisers, meme stocks and all the apps: an insight into digital efficiencies in Wealth Management

In the fast-paced world of wealth management, technological advancements have sparked a revolution, fundamentally altering the way clients interact with their advisors. As digital efficiencies continue to shape the industry, clients are redefining their expectations, seeking a blend of convenience, expertise, and personalized guidance. The advent of digital communication tools, exemplified by the widespread adoption of platforms like Zoom, has redefined the client-advisor relationship. What was once a rarity –…

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To Make Greener Buildings, Try Innovating around the Edges

“If you care about climate change, you have to care about buildings,” said Jessica Bailey, CEO of Nuveen Green Capital. Her work scaling a financing mechanism called C-PACE (Commercial Property-Assessed Clean Energy) has helped building owners fund over $7 billion in clean energy and efficiency projects. Yet, she added, “I think of what we do as stealth sustainability.” Since most developers are focused on the bottom line, “we had to…

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Scott Berkowitz: Value-Based Care and Population Health

Howie and Harlan are joined by Scott Berkowitz ’03, cardiologist and chief population health officer at Johns Hopkins Medicine, to discuss the necessity of moving from fee-for-service to value-based care delivery to improve outcomes for all. Harlan highlights the dangers of misinformation about Ivermectin. Howie reports on the potential conflicts of interest created by device manufacturers’ payments to cardiologists. Links: Johns Hopkins Medicine: Home Johns Hopkins Community Health Partnership “Association…

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Maine Paid Leave Insurance Fund Contributions to Begin in 2025, Rulemaking Process Imminent

Quick Hits Employer contributions to Maine’s Paid Family and Medical Leave Insurance Fund are set to begin on January 1, 2025. The Maine Department of Labor is expected to begin the rulemaking process in spring 2024. The state has given itself a deadline of January 1, 2025, to adopt final rules implementing the program. Maine’s PFML program, which was established in October 2023, will entitle qualified, eligible employees to up…

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What’s the future for retail banking? Hint: it’s digital and brick and mortar 

In today’s rapidly evolving consumer landscape, marked by disruptive innovations and increasing competition, retail banks are facing a pivotal moment. Digital banking is here to stay – but shockingly, so too is its predecessor – branch banking. The traditional role of the branch is evolving, however, and leaders in the industry need to stay relevant in this dynamic environment by embracing key changes.  Why are branches alive and well in…

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Running out of money tops retirement concerns, but financial planning could bring peace of mind

If you’re concerned about running out of money during retirement, you’re not alone. In fact, it’s one of the top financial concerns in the UK. Being proactive and working with a financial planner to create a retirement plan could offer you peace of mind. Read on to find out why. In an Aegon survey, 7 in 10 financial advisers said their clients’ number one concern was outliving their savings. The…

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Improved data: how climate change impacts banks

18 April 2024By Andrew Kanutin[1]We updated our data on the impact of climate change on the financial system. How green are green bonds and banks’ loan portfolios? How strongly could they be affected by natural hazards? The ECB Blog discusses these and other new insights from the data.  The ECB has updated its climate-related indicators. These data provide systemic insights, both into how financial markets are tackling the green transition…

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How to Utilize Culture Surveys for Cultural Change

Surveys are a wonderful resource for measuring the success of culture change. Many clients approach us with the awareness of a cultural problem…but an inability to identify the cause. And that’s where we step in, often using survey scores as an identifier.  Let’s take “Client A” for example. Client A knew their culture needed adjusting, but didn’t know where the issue stemmed from. We sent out a survey, gathered responses,…

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