Knowledge that Transforms

The chief purpose officer (CPO) role is a relatively new addition to the C-suite but growing in popularity. A recent study of CPOs finds that they tend to fit one of four archetypes — architect, visionary, PR strategist, or activist — depending on where the company is on its purpose journey and what the purpose initiative is meant to accomplish. Learn which approach is the best fit for your organization.

Successful change initiatives are often aided by collective organizational anxiety as the need to address a burning platform rallies employees to the cause. But when leaders fail to manage both their own and others’ emotions and worries, that anxiety can trigger “defensive organizing,” in which the transformation initiative itself stalls as managers and employees engage in finger-pointing while the status quo persists. Research points to ways that leaders can do better.

Research into how companies can best help employees develop the skills to make use of new technologies finds that closely observing how workers are grappling with novel tools and processes may be the most effective way to start. New skills emerge organically as teams figure out how to make new tools fit the existing work. It takes a sharp-eyed manager to notice and recognize these skills as important capabilities in successful adoption of new technologies.

High-performing employees who are tapped as potential leaders often don’t get the help they need building social capital in an organization. Although social capital is key to developing the influence future leaders will need to be effective, managers often prioritize providing experiences that build skills and job performance rather than making assignments that help individuals broaden their networks. Recent research offers lessons on how social capital is built and tends to operate in practice.

Most digital tools are designed for efficiency, not exploration — and that can stymie innovation. New research shows that standard algorithms channel team members toward popular, familiar information, leading them to independently converge on the same ideas. But the researchers uncovered a surprisingly simple fix: By using algorithms designed to surface diverse, uncommon information, domain experts can avoid “ideation bubbles” and generate ideas across entirely new solution spaces.

Many companies have made efforts to diversify membership in their board of directors to include members of traditionally underrepresented groups. However, if board chairs don’t intentionally set out to make meetings and board participation more inclusive, these voices often go unheard — if they’re consulted at all. Board chairs can adopt specific habits and tactics to benefit from all of the perspectives that have been brought to the table.

The most valuable employees are also the most likely to leave — and companies too often respond with one-off counteroffers or bidding wars they can’t win. Drawing on research across multiple disciplines, the authors present a systematic architecture of employee mobility barriers, organized by level and degree of employer control, to help managers retain critical talent and compete more effectively for new hires.

While conversational generative AI can be used to test thinking, an agentic system can hold a large volume of data and sustain analyses across entire data sets without losing the thread. Working with agents, executives can define context (what the agent can access), capabilities (what the agent can do), and orientation (what the agent pays attention to). Multiple agents can be configured to do analyses with different orientations against the same data to compare approaches to solving a problem.

A new research study reveals that broad availability of AI-generated adult content may have led to sharp increases in sexual criminality. An analysis of detailed crime data released by Japan’s National Police Agency found that in periods of peak engagement with material tagged as AI-generated and adults-only, there were statistically significant increases in rape. This may point to looming reputational and legal risk for companies providing tools and venues for such content.

Warner Bros. Discovery advanced its AI strategy by putting creators first and treating AI as a growth opportunity, not a cost-cutting tool. This case study shows how trust, governance, and business ownership are critical to scaling AI innovation.