New study calls for radical rethink of mental health support for adolescents

The study, led by teams at the University of Oxford and University of Cambridge, found that adolescents access a variety of different types of support including informal (such as friends and family), semi-formal (like school-based support), and formal services (such as Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services).While support from friends and family was rated highly in terms of helpfulness, some services - including online support and helplines as well as…

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3 Stories That Prove Positive Culture Change is Possible

When SHRM launched their #CivilityAtWork initiative, it felt like a rallying cry for everything we believe in and have been fighting for these last 15 years. Respectful, thriving workplaces are the dream we all share, but let’s be real—getting there isn’t always easy. In fact, 70% of leaders admit they don’t know where to start. At Civility Partners, we’ve had the absolute joy of partnering with HR leaders who dared…

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How hyperscalers are fueling the race for 24/7 clean power

As companies across the globe pursue decarbonization targets and the need for green power generation grows, 24/7 clean power purchase agreements (PPAs) are playing an increasingly important role. With their unique ability to provide constant green power, time-matched to demand, these next-level PPAs are helping to unlock investment in nascent technologies and scale their deployment—especially combined with advances in storage and flexible generation. Demand from leading hyperscalers, including major cloud…

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How to Amplify the Advantages of Working at a Founder-Led Company

Mark Airs/Ikon Images 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…

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Maximising value from M&A

Unlock M&A value through culture and leadership Over two-thirds of M&A activity fails to deliver value, often due to overlooked “People topics.” Our guide highlights how prioritising culture, leadership, and strategic alignment can drive performance across the transaction lifecycle. Download the full PDF to learn actionable strategies for defining priorities, minimising disruption, and achieving M&A success. Reading time: 2 minutes Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) are significant milestones for any business,…

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Maine Right to Repair Law Poised to Remain in Flux Even After January 2025 Effective Date

The Automotive Right to Repair Working Group convened by the Maine Attorney General will review proposed legislation that would substantially amend provisions of the Maine Right to Repair Law concerning access to mechanical data from telematics-equipped vehicles.  Meanwhile, it appears provisions of the law requiring manufacturers of vehicles that “use a telematics system” to comply with standards imposed by an “independent entity” designated by the Attorney General will take effect…

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Making Impact Investing Work for System Resilience—and Investor Profits‌

The world is facing a “polycrisis”—a confluence of environmental and social issues that risk destabilizing the vital systems of human civilization. Our survival hinges on building resilience—the ability of systems to bounce back from shocks and ideally emerge stronger—within our ecological and social as well as economic and financial systems against the ramifications of the interconnected and mutually reinforcing challenges of climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution on one hand…

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Procurement’s sustainable (r)evolution

New opportunities are coming for organizations to use procurement to gain a competitive edge and drive sustainability impact through innovation and strategic partnerships. However, the complexities of global supply chains and rapidly changing market conditions can make it hard to capture the available value. In this episode of McKinsey Talks Operations, Mauro Erriquez, McKinsey senior partner, and Dominique Lebigot, chief purchasing officer (CPO) of LVMH Wines and Spirits, discuss how…

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Massive black hole in the early universe spotted taking a ‘nap’ after overeating

Like a bear gorging itself on salmon before hibernating for the winter, or a much-needed nap after Christmas dinner, this black hole has overeaten to the point that it is lying dormant in its host galaxy.An international team of astronomers, led by the University of Cambridge, used the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope to detect this black hole in the early universe, just 800 million years after the Big Bang.…

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The ECB wage tracker: your guide to euro area wage developments

18 December 2024By Colm Bates, Vasco Botelho, Sarah Holton, Marc Roca I Llevadot and Mirko StanislaoThe growth of negotiated wages is expected to ease in 2025. This is the information emerging from the ECB wage tracker, which we will publish on a regular basis from now on. The ECB Blog explains the tool and how it can help monitor wage pressures in the euro area.Wages are an important driver of…

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A national effort seeks to advance semiconductor research

Your car, your cell phone, your LED holiday lights, even your credit card – all of them contain electronic chips made of semiconductors. These materials manipulate the flow of electricity and provide the foundation for modern electronics.Over the years, American investment in this essential technology has lagged, but the federal CHIPS and Science Act seeks to reinvigorate it. Passed in 2022, this legislation provides the U.S. Department of Commerce with…

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The Emerging Law on Women’s Advancement Programs and Transgender Rights: A Cross-Border Perspective

The landscape of transgender employment laws is evolving globally, with various jurisdictions adopting laws that ensure inclusivity and non-discrimination in the workplace. This area is one of the most complex issues in employment law systems and has generated much controversy. Notwithstanding this, many global companies seek to support and promote the interests of women regardless of their gender identity or expression. This commitment aligns with the broader international trend of…

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Race to the Finish: DHS to Publish Part Two of H-1B Modernization Rule

Quick Hits DHS’s new final rule amends and updates the regulatory definition and criteria governing “specialty occupation” adjudication, codifies existing policies related to deference to prior adjudications, and clarifies circumstances requiring the filing of a new or amended H-1B petition. The final rule expands H-1B cap exemption benefits by updating the definitions of “nonprofit research organization” and “governmental research organization,” and it extends the timeline for F-1 cap-gap where there…

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The Day After the Houthis

Eurasia is abuzz. With the exceptions of Turkey’s Berlin—Baghdad railway and India’s Cotton Road, whose progress is being hindered by the Great Middle Eastern War, the Arctic route, the INSTC and the Middle Corridor all proceed at breakneck speed, against the backdrop of the EU’s derisking-framed friendshoring and of China’s investments in creating an integrated China-Southeast ecosystem. The Houthis and their assault on Western vessels played a prominent role in accelerating the pre-existing process of reglobalisation, which is emblematised by the aforementioned projects and which…

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The battery chemistries powering the future of electric vehicles

Battery technology has evolved significantly in recent years. Thirty years ago, when the first lithium ion (Li-ion) cells were commercialized, they mainly included lithium cobalt oxide as cathode material. Numerous other options have emerged since that time. Today’s batteries, including those used in electric vehicles (EVs), generally rely on one of two cathode chemistries: lithium iron phosphate (LFP), which was invented by Nobel Prize winner John Goodenough in the late…

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7 leadership lessons to power your 2025

Insights from Q5 Australia to help you lead with impact in 2025 Start 2025 strong with 7 key leadership lessons from Q5’s Australian team. From co-designing solutions and clear communication to embracing change and fostering team culture, these insights help leaders innovate, adapt, and empower their teams for success in the evolving business landscape. Reading time: 4 minutes In Australia and New Zealand, we see a new year as having…

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DHS Announces Permanent Increase of Automatic EAD Extensions

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced a permanent increase in the automatic extension period for certain Employment Authorization Documents (EADs) up to 540 days. The final rule will take effect on January 13, 2025. Background on the History of Automatic EAD Extensions The automatic extension of EADs was first introduced in 2016 to address extended processing times, which led to gaps in employment. Prior to the automatic extension, an…

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Blackstone’s Gilles Dellaert on private credit and insurance

Gilles Dellaert is the global head of Blackstone Credit and Insurance (BXCI), which was created to bring together Blackstone’s corporate credit, asset-based finance, and insurance groups. BXCI now manages more than $350 billion in assets, accounting for the bulk of Blackstone’s total credit assets and a substantial part of the firm’s $1 trillion-plus of assets under management (AUM). McKinsey’s Andrew Reich, Ari Libarikian, and David Schoeman sat down with Dellaert…

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No Longer a Standard? The Electoral Failure of the EU Track in Moldova

This includes the shutting down of Russian-language media, illegal detentions and searches of representatives of opposition parties and movements, the removal of opposition candidates from elections, the violation of the law by the authorities themselves (which has become commonplace), as well as the active and massive use of public resources, manipulations and falsifications in the elections, which allowed the Sandu regime to retain power. Thus, in the last presidential elections,…

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Payroll Deductions for Maine’s Paid Family and Medical Leave Program Will Start on January 1, 2025

Quick Hits On December 4, 2024, the Maine Department of Labor released final regulations for the state’s paid family and medical leave program. Employers must start payroll withholdings for the state’s paid family and medical leave program on January 1, 2025. Employers can apply for a private plan substitution after April 1, 2025, and must submit payroll contributions until a private plan substitution is approved. Payroll deductions for Maine’s paid…

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Breaking the mold: Five behaviors of leading growth transformers

Today’s business leaders recognize transformation as the courageous choice required to deliver an ambitious business agenda. As we reported earlier this year, companies pursue transformation to reset the business, venture into areas of greater ambition, deliver bold growth, enable operating-model change, build new and competitive capabilities, and evolve their culture in ways that can set them apart from competitors.What is transformation? We define it as a process that begins with…

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Five Hybrid Work Trends to Watch in 2025

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 Carolyn Geason-Beissel/MIT SMR | Getty Images Just a few months ago, many people thought the battles over the value of the hybrid work model — and, on the flip side, return-to-office (RTO) mandates — were finally dying down. Two-thirds of U.S. companies had settled into a…

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Catching Up on 401(k) Catch-Up Changes for 2025

Quick Hits Starting in 2025, the SECURE 2.0 Act allows participants ages sixty to sixty-three to make “super-catch-up contributions” of up to $10,000 or 150 percent of the regular catch-up limit. Employers may need to amend their retirement plans by the end of 2024 to accommodate the new super-catch-up contributions or clarify their implementation. The introduction of super-catch-up contributions will require significant updates to payroll and recordkeeping systems to track…

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What Will the Return of Trump Mean for Connecticut’s Economy?

This commentary originally appeared in the Hartford Courant. The return of President Trump portends sweeping changes across many areas of economic policy, and those impacts will be felt by virtually every business sector and every region of the state. In fact, even beyond Trump’s broad economic pledges of tax cuts, deregulation, and tariffs, and beyond the President-elect promises to repeal his own cap on state and local tax deductions (SALT);…

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The economic state of Latinos in America: Building up small businesses

From bustling urban centers to small towns across the United States, the economic power and business potential of Latino communities is immense. Today, 19 percent of the US population identifies as Latino or Hispanic. According to the US Census Bureau, Latinos are expected to comprise approximately 28 percent of the total US population by 2060. Latino small-business owners also skew younger, which means there is great promise for long-term value…

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New device produces critical fertilizer ingredient from thin air

The air around us contains a powerful solution for making agriculture more sustainable. Researchers at Stanford University and King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals in Saudi Arabia have developed a prototype device that can produce ammonia – a key fertilizer ingredient – using wind energy to draw air through a mesh. The approach they developed, if perfected, might eliminate the need for a century-old method that produces ammonia by…

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The End of the Assad Era: The Middle East on the Brink of a ‘Persian Autumn’

What caused the fall of the Assad government? The fall of Bashar al-Assad’s government and the opposition’s rise to power were the result of many years of internal and external contradictions that had intertwined into a complex knot, leading to devastating consequences for Syria. These events cannot be called sudden or unexpected. They were the logical outcome of deep-seated processes that had been tearing the country apart for years and…

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Our Most-Read Stories of 2024

January 02, 2024 Harness your own creativity, learn to leverage ChatGPT, and have some fun are three of the suggestions from our faculty to help you make your new year healthier, more rewarding, and more prosperous. January 19, 2024 The door plug that plunged from an Alaska Airlines aircraft in flight earlier this month was there to seal off an unused emergency exit. Amy Fraher, a Yale SOM lecturer and…

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OSC’s Investment Management Division Report focused on AI, crypto and ESG

Investment Management Division Report On Nov. 5, 2024, the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) published OSC Staff Notice 81-736 (the Staff Notice), summarizing the activities and regulatory focus of the OSC’s Investment Management Division (IM Division), formerly known as the Investment Funds and Structured Products Branch, for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2024. This bulletin highlights certain key insights from the Staff Notice, including: New artificial intelligence (AI) and cryptocurrency…

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INSEAD Insights: December 2024 Research Picks

Why do we resist trusting AI recommendations? How can we improve the pricing and approval process for new health technologies? In what ways does board risk oversight impact environmental and social performance? What effect do career transitions and frictions have on performance? And how do past negative experiences with creativity influence how creative we are? These are just some of the pressing and pertinent questions INSEAD professors have been exploring in…

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What drives domestic inflation? The triangle of wages, profits and productivity

16 December 2024By Stefan Gebauer, Thomas McGregor and Sebastiaan PoolThough overall inflation has come down a lot, domestic inflation remains stubbornly high. This is typical for monetary policy tightening cycles. To understand why, The ECB Blog looks at how monetary policy is transmitted to wages, profits and productivity.In response to surging inflation, the ECB decisively raised interest rates and tightened its policy stance. Inflation in the euro area has since…

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Trade impacts of Canada’s leadership in reducing emissions: Federal standing committee presentation

BLG senior counsel, Rambod Behboodi, was invited to appear before the House of Commons Standing Committee on International Trade on Dec. 9, 2024, to share his thoughts on the potential trade impact of Canada’s leadership in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The following is his presentation, with French sections translated into English. Good morning, Madame Chair and members of the Committee. It’s an honour to appear before you to discuss trade…

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Connecticut Court Ruling Clarifies ‘Recent Graduate’ Language in Job Ads: What Employers Need to Know

Quick Hits The Connecticut Appellate Court ruled that phrases like “recent college graduates” in job postings are not inherently age-discriminatory under Connecticut law, providing clarity for employers while underscoring the value of careful drafting to avoid litigation risks. The court rejected the Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities’ argument that the phrase “recent college graduates” served as a proxy for age discrimination, as there was no factual basis to…

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Patent term adjustment in Canada: More of a unicorn than a safety net

The legislation to implement Canada’s new system of Patent Term Adjustment (PTA) has been registered with the Privy Counsel and has published. The system will come into effect on January 1, 2025. Canada is required to implement PTA in 2025 to offset administrative delay in granting patents under the terms of the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA). Draft amendments to Canada’s Patent Rules were published earlier in the year. The final legislation…

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2024 Holiday Shopping Trends: Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Beyond

The holiday shopping season has arrived, and we are already seeing some fascinating shifts in consumer behavior and spending habits. From Thanksgiving weekend to Cyber Monday and beyond, the landscape of retail continues to evolve, blending in-store and online experiences with new trends in consumer preferences.   2024 Holiday Shopping Trends  A Mixed Bag of Numbers for Thanksgiving Weekend  The National Retail Federation (NRF) and Prosper Insights & Analytics reported that…

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Understanding the New Exchange Visitor Skills List Update

By: Andrea Davis The U.S. Department of State announced a significant update to the Exchange Visitor Skills List, effective as of December 9, 2024.  This action is in response to an Executive Order issued last year, in which the Biden Administration gave instructions to “consider initiating a rulemaking to establish new criteria to designate countries and skills on the Department of State’s Exchange Visitor Skills List as it relates to…

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January 2025 Visa Bulletin Shows Some Movement for EB-2 and EB-3 Final Action Dates

Quick Hits The January 2025 Visa Bulletin shows no change from last month’s bulletin for employment-based categories for dates for filing. Final action dates show slight advancement for EB-2 and EB-3 for some countries/categories. USCIS will honor dates for filing for I-485 adjustment of status applications filed in January 2025. USCIS has announced that it will accept Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status, from foreign nationals…

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Failure to launch: CIPO’s modernization efforts cause patent delays

On July 17, the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) launched the new MyCIPO Patents online portal for filing, tracking, and managing patents files, as part of their modernization effort and alignment with the World Intellectual Property Office’s ST.27 standard for the Exchange of Patent Legal Status Data. Significant problems began immediately. Initial issues that appear to have been resolved included: the Canadian Patents Database (CPD) being inaccessible for approximately six…

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What’s in a (Band) Name? Why Bands Need Trademark Registrations

We’ve moved into winter and that means many bands and artists are taking a breather after summer and fall tours. Some seemed to go on for eras. For me, that means waiting a few months to catch some favorite acts. But I’ve got plenty of music to digest in the meantime. To my surprise, several of the new bands I’ve discovered do not have federal trademark registrations. No — I won’t be naming names. Okay,…

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