- 14 Aug 2019
- Managing the Future of Work
Fintech on Main Street: How small businesses are banking on new technology
Technology is changing financial institutions’ relationships with local businesses and sole proprietors, which account for half of America’s workforce. HBS professor and former head of the Small Business Administration Karen Mills sheds light on the ongoing transformation. Will new technologies expand access to credit for sole proprietors and small businesses on Main Street? How will these new technologies affect community banks? And what are the key challenges to smart Fintech regulation?
- 31 Jul 2019
- Managing the Future of Work
The energy industry’s cooperative approach to expanding the talent pipeline
The Center for Energy Workforce Development was created in 2006 to help the industry prepare for a generational wave of retirements and to diversify its workforce. Utilities are the proverbial canary in the coalmine, as U.S. organizations across the board struggle with skills gaps and demographic shifts. Southern Company Executive Vice President and CEWD Chair, Beth Reese, discusses the task of replenishing the talent pipeline from the dual perspective of utility exec and consortium head.
- 17 Jul 2019
- Managing the Future of Work
Advanced placement at work: a 21st Century apprenticeship model for the US
CareerWise Colorado is redefining job training and expanding the talent pipeline. The nonprofit apprenticeship program, patterned on the successful Swiss system, places college-track students in businesses from advanced manufacturing to finance. Founder Noel Ginsburg and COO Ashley Carter explain how Careerwise allows students to earn as they learn, become valued employees, and develop career networks and long-term prospects. It’s built to replicate, ramping up in Colorado and expanding nationally.
- 03 Jul 2019
- Managing the Future of Work
Expanding access and conveying competencies: How Western Governors University is rethinking higher education
Western Governors University was founded in 1997 to expand access to affordable higher education and to offer instruction grounded in the requirements of the job market. WGU President and HBS alum Scott Pulsipher tells Bill about the school’s innovative online model, which delivers a proficiency-based curriculum to working adults and members of underserved groups. With over 115,000 full-time students, WGU plans to reach an even wider audience. Is this a model for the future?
- 19 Jun 2019
- Managing the Future of Work
Fried chicken and fresh starts: fair chance hiring as a talent strategy
More people in the US have criminal records than have graduated from college. Joe DeLoss, founder of restaurant chain Hot Chicken Takeover, argues that people with a range of life experiences that previously kept them out of the workforce, like the formerly incarcerated, homeless, and addicted, defy easy categorization. With appropriate management, including clear expectations, relevant benefits, and frequent feedback, he says they can help create productive, stable, and profitable businesses.
- 05 Jun 2019
- Managing the Future of Work
Investing in innovation: boosting growth beyond superstar cities
Can a Manhattan Project on steroids revitalize languishing US regions and drive balanced economic growth? In their book Jump-Starting America: How Breakthrough Science Can Revive Economic Growth and the American Dream MIT economists Jonathan Gruber and Simon Johnson hearken back to the scientific, technical, and economic juggernaut assembled during the Second World War to make the case that public investment in innovation is the key to stimulating growth and reversing rising inequality across the country.
- 22 May 2019
- Managing the Future of Work
From gig to gig: Thumbtack’s CEO on the challenges facing contract workers
The phrase “gig worker” often conjures an image of a driver providing a routine service for low pay. But freelancers provide services on a contracted, or “gig,” basis in a wide range of fields from cosmetology to carpentry. In this episode, Joe hosts Thumbtack CEO Marco Zappacosta, whose platform matches hundreds of thousands of professionals with contract jobs across the country. Marco provides a unique view into the shared challenges these varied “pros” face. Will platforms like his provide the solutions?
- 08 May 2019
- Managing the Future of Work
Prediction: How AI will affect business, work, and life
How should we think about improvements in artificial intelligence? Bill speaks with Joshua Gans, co-author of "Prediction Machines: The Simple Economics of Artificial Intelligence," which argues that AI advances can be boiled down to making better predictions. As a component of a vast array of activities, enhanced prediction will have ripple effects throughout the economy. What new functions and business models will it create? What difficult questions will it force society to answer?
- 24 Apr 2019
- Managing the Future of Work
How edX is redesigning learning for the future
In a world where jobs are constantly changing, the workforce must be able to continually add skills, and receive credit for them, to remain relevant. In this episode, Joe speaks with Anant Agarwal, MIT professor and CEO of education platform edX, who says “the future of work is the same as the future of learning.” Launched in 2012 as a joint venture of Harvard and MIT, edX has brought to market innovative solutions for today’s learners. But will their approach address the needs of tomorrow's workforce?
- 09 Apr 2019
- Managing the Future of Work
The prognosis for AI-assisted radiology
Improvements in machine learning and image recognition, and gradual acceptance by regulators, have brought innovative companies the threshold of the radiology lab. Bill sits down with HBS Professor Shane Greenstein to discuss one such company and the challenges of creating effective applications and bringing them to market. Greenstein also shares insights on how AI will impact radiologists, often labeled vulnerable to automation. Will they be freed from routine tasks? Or will they soon be a thing of the past?
- 26 Mar 2019
- Managing the Future of Work
How the U.S. is driving away foreign talent and what happens when American companies miss out
Foreign talent is critical to the success of American companies. But the barriers to hiring skilled foreigners are rising: increased bureaucratic scrutiny and new regulations make it harder to bring workers into the country, and hostile anti-immigrant rhetoric pushes talented foreigners away. Bill speaks to Envoy Global CEO Dick Burke about the challenges companies across the country face and how Envoy helps them navigate the complex immigration environment to meet their talent needs.
- 12 Mar 2019
- Managing the Future of Work
How Goldman Sachs is using technology to redefine banking
Goldman Sachs, a bastion of Wall Street for over 150 years, has been remaking itself using new technology. Marty Chavez, co-head of securities and former CFO, has played a key role in this transition as workflows, position titles, and business models across the bank are reimagined. As he says, trading and coding are now “literally” one and the same. Hear him describe how technology is changing what it means to be a bank and give tips to executives working to navigate the transition to AI.
- 26 Feb 2019
- Managing the Future of Work
AI and the value of expertise
AI has been predicted to replace humans in professions ranging from customer service representatives to medical doctors. But many have pointed out elements of human work that would be difficult to imagine being performed by AI. HBS Professor Raj Choudhury discusses his investigations into uses of technologies based on machine learning. AI, he says, will be a valuable tool in the hands of experts. Listen to hear why.
- 19 Feb 2019
- Managing the Future of Work
Uncertain times for global talent: News Corp's global mobility director on Brexit and U.S. policy changes
The recent wave of geopolitical events, including Brexit and changes in U.S. policies, are creating uncertainties for firms that must manage global talent. Rina Montalvo, News Corporation’s Director of Global Mobility, has an inside look at the impacts. How are these events affecting deploying talent globally? How are large companies gearing up to handle them?
- 05 Feb 2019
- Managing the Future of Work
Speaking the language of skills
As jobs change faster and faster and companies work to prepare their employees for the future, it is more important than ever for firms to assess the talent they have and understand skills they need to compete. David Blake, founder and Executive Chairman of Degreed and author of the new book The Expertise Economy, talks to Joe about how companies can learn to speak the language of skills and empower employees working to gain them.
- 29 Jan 2019
- Managing the Future of Work
IBM: View from the cutting edge of AI
If you ask her about emerging technologies, Sophie Vandebroek – VP of Emerging Technology Partnerships at IBM – can tell you firsthand how the pace of change is moving faster and faster. From AI to blockchain, Bill talks with Sophie about how businesses are harnessing the cutting edge of advanced technologies and what one of the world’s largest enterprise technology companies has learned from putting them to use. Link to transcript.
- 16 Jan 2019
- Managing the Future of Work
The Caring Company
Almost a third of workers—and more senior executives—say their careers have been adversely affected by caregiving obligations. As Joe explains to this episode’s guest host, HBS alum and Care.com CEO Sheila Marcelo, demographic trends and the changing role of women in the workforce mean that employers must make informed choices and “do the math.” By not accounting for costs like reduced productivity and increased turnover, employers leave money on the table when it comes to care. Link to our new report
- 18 Dec 2018
- Managing the Future of Work
Passion, purpose, and plan: Guiding students toward success at work
The largest charter school network in the US, KIPP, is preparing young people, K–12, to lead what CEO Richard Barth calls “choice-filled lives.” This starts with teaching both academic skills and “soft skills” that are crucial for success at work and continues with proper guidance about the different paths towards a successful career. Hear why Barth is bullish on how the future of schools is gearing up to connect students to employers and a lifetime of employment. Link to transcript.
- 04 Dec 2018
- Managing the Future of Work
Larry Summers: Urban-rural inequality and the importance of work
Examining the realities of rural America, Larry Summers concludes that the problem is not just one of providing people with incomes—it’s about the very basic human connection between work and satisfaction. Speaking with Bill, Summers advocates “employer subsidies” to encourage hiring in depressed regions, as opposed to measures like Universal Basic Income, which “send a message that it’s fine not to work.” Link to transcript.
How teaching robots the way the world works changes the world of work
Robots aren’t necessarily primed to take over, but advances in machine learning are readying the mechanical components of the workforce for more complex and autonomous tasks. Startup Osaro specializes in deep reinforcement learning systems, artificial intelligence for industrial robots. CEO Derik Pridmore talks about the adaptive decision-making capabilities working their way into warehouses and factories, and the prospect of machines with a wider, more human range of cognitive capabilities.