Brian Kenny: When the Klondike Gold Rush swept the nation in 1896, the tiny lumber town of Seattle became a bustling city almost overnight. On the heels of the Gold Rush came a shipbuilding boom, followed by a post-war bust and the great depression. Then Boeing to the rescue, as Seattle became the epicenter of aircraft manufacturing for the US…
Many of us believe that once our Will is drafted and witnessed it can’t be changed. But a simple tool – called a Deed of Variation – can sometimes be used to make changes that can help reduce Inheritance Tax for your beneficiaries. Steve Wright, our Estates Director, looks at when and how a Deed of Variation is used. One…
Topics Column Our expert columnists offer opinion and analysis on important issues facing modern businesses and managers. More in this series subscribe-icon Subscribe Share Brian Stauffer/theispot.com In today’s corporate landscape, the pursuit of heightened employee engagement and job satisfaction is imperative. Traditional job structures, often rigid and narrowly scoped, can lead to diminished motivation, lower productivity, and elevated turnover rates.…
As educators, we understand how important it is for you to find innovative ways to engage your students, enhance teaching methods, and simplify your workflow. To help equip you on your journey, we’re happy to share another selection of new updates from Microsoft Education, all designed to boost the success of you and your students.We’ll spotlight some of the latest…
With each month clocking record-breaking temperatures across the planet, this Earth Day reflected the renewed urgency of regulators and businesses to find climate-change solutions.The US Securities and Exchange Commission recently adopted new rules that will mandate many companies to disclose more about their environmental impact. And the European Union has set ambitious targets for companies to measurably slash their greenhouse…
Topics Responsible AI The Responsible AI initiative looks at how organizations define and approach responsible AI practices, policies, and standards. Drawing on global executive surveys and smaller, curated expert panels, the program gathers perspectives from diverse sectors and geographies with the aim of delivering actionable insights on this nascent yet important focus area for leaders across industry. In collaboration with…
The idea of supporting social change has propelled impact investing assets to more than $1 trillion. But what if those funds aren’t as impactful as investors expect? Recent Harvard Business School research indicates that while impact investors do behave differently in some important ways, the vast majority tend to invest in companies that are also able to raise capital from…
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…
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…
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…
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;…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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”…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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 […]
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 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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
