Friday, August 15, 2025

g-f(2)3632: The Top 10 genioux Facts from the MIT Sloan Management Review Summer 2025 Issue

 


📚 Volume 22 of the genioux Challenge Series (g-f CS)


✍️ By Fernando Machuca and Perplexity (in collaborative g-f Illumination mode)

📘 Type of Knowledge: Nugget Knowledge (NK)



Abstract


The MIT Sloan Management Review Summer 2025  explores how leaders and organizations can adapt to unprecedented change, embrace new technologies, and redesign work for a more innovative and human-centered future. Through in-depth research, expert commentary, and practical frameworks, the issue presents actionable strategies for thriving at a time when rapid technological progress, geopolitical shifts, and workforce transformations are redefining business success. This collection distills the Top 10 genioux Facts from the issue, offering readers essential golden knowledge (g-f GK) for navigating leadership, strategy, talent, and organizational design in 2025.



Introduction


As we move deeper into the digital age, organizations face a confluence of challenges: mounting pressure from stakeholders, rising political and environmental uncertainties, accelerating technological disruption—especially from artificial intelligence—and fundamental shifts in how work is organized and valued. The Summer 2025 MIT Sloan Management Review issue addresses these realities, presenting cutting-edge research and expert insights on building resilient, innovative, and inclusive organizations. The genioux Top 10 Facts in this issue serve as a curated guide to the most impactful ideas introduced, helping leaders and learners focus on what truly matters for sustainable competitive advantage, effective decision-making, and organizational growth.



genioux GK Nugget


The key to enduring organizational success in 2025 is the integration of human creativity, inclusive leadership, and intentional talent development—leveraging, but not relying solely on, technological advances like AI, and fostering resilient, psychologically safe, and adaptable teams.



genioux Foundational Fact


Sustainable competitive advantage will not come from technology alone—AI, while transformative, will rapidly become ubiquitous and commoditized. Instead, the true differentiator will be an organization’s capacity for residual heterogeneity: distinctiveness achieved through human creativity, purpose-driven leadership, diverse expertise, and cultures that prioritize flourishing, inclusion, and deep collaboration.



The Top 10 genioux Facts from the Summer 2025 MIT SMR Issue


Here’s a distilled selection of the 10 most relevant "golden knowledge" facts from the top 12 MIT Sloan Management Review Summer 2025 articles. This knowledge focuses on actionable insights, major organizational trends, and evidence-based lessons from global business leaders, research, and practices.


1. Balancing “Doing” and “Spacious” Modes Is Critical for Wise Leadership

  • Fact: Leaders are overwhelmingly stuck in “doing mode,” focused on short-term targets and rapid execution, resulting in burnout, poor decision-making, and declining innovation. Cultivating “spacious mode”—reflection, attentiveness, and openness to possibilities—is vital to flourishing teams and better decisions.

  • Practice: The SPACE framework outlines five factors leaders control to foster spaciousness: Safety, People, Attention, Conflict, and Environment.

2. CEO Succession Planning Remains Alarmingly Neglected — But Process Drives Performance

  • Fact: Most boards rate their CEO succession-planning practices as poor or below average, even though companies with robust processes outperform their peers in the CEO’s first years. Succession success is maximized when planning is continuous, proactive, and integrated into board culture—not just triggered by a crisis.

3. International Diversity in the C-Suite Fuels Higher Profits and Adaptive Organizations

  • Fact: Fortune Global 500 companies with a higher share of nonnative executives consistently outperform less-diverse peers, regardless of their international sales profile. Diverse leadership expands perspectives, innovates solutions, and ensures nuanced responses to geopolitical shifts and local stakeholder needs.

4. Small Increases in High-Value Activities Dramatically Boost Well-Being

  • Fact: Shifting just one to two hours per week from low-value to high-value activities, measured in terms of joy, achievement, and meaningfulness (the JAM model), can significantly improve overall life satisfaction and work engagement, with positive spillover effects for teams.

5. AI Is Transformative—But Is More Likely to Homogenize Than Differentiate Incumbent Companies

  • Fact: While AI will revolutionize business productivity and efficiency, it will not provide sustainable competitive advantage for any single company in the long run. The technology is rapidly becoming commoditized; lasting differentiation depends on human creativity, unique relationships, and passion.

  • Framework: Use diagnostic frameworks to assess whether AI is truly disruptive or sustaining in your context, focusing on both supply-side and demand-side effects.

6. U.S. STEM Talent Shortage Threatens Innovation; Business Must Act Now

  • Fact: Nearly 40% of STEM doctorates in the U.S. are awarded to foreign nationals, but stricter immigration and declining retention rates among international talent threaten the innovation pipeline. Companies must ramp up support, global recruitment, funding, and advocacy to remain at the technology frontier.

7. Organizational Structure Redesign Drives Self-Sorting—and Favors Open, Conscientious, Agreeable Workers

  • Fact: Flattening hierarchies and shifting to self-managed teams tend to retain and attract more conscientious, agreeable, and open employees—but may also lead to attrition among other personality types. Workforce composition shifts mainly due to voluntary departures when autonomy increases.

8. Neuroinclusion Programs Build Organizational Capabilities Far Beyond Filling Jobs

  • Fact: Inclusive practices for neurodistinct employees (those with autism, ADHD, dyslexia, etc.) elevate innovation, engagement, psychological safety, and management quality—benefiting the whole organization, not just program participants.

  • Practice: Model best practices from SAP, Microsoft, and EY, including conducting skill-based “tryouts,” ongoing supervisor training, and structured support circles to maximize success for neurodistinct hires.

9. Western Business Success With China Depends on Nuanced Strategy—Not Simple Decoupling

  • Fact: Western policies toward Chinese companies fall into three buckets: techno-nationalistic (exclusion), techno-localistic (demanding local operations), and protectionist (restricted imports). Leaders must identify which apply to them, then respond with agile supply chain, partnership, and investment strategies.

10. Four-Day Workweek Trials Yield Sustained Productivity and Well-Being Gains

  • Fact: Across hundreds of companies and thousands of employees, the 100-80-100 model (100% pay, 80% hours, 100% productivity) consistently delivers improved well-being and stable or improved productivity. Most organizations that try it stick with it, reporting reductions in burnout, turnover, and increased engagement.


These g-f Golden Knowledge facts represent the most critical trends, proven interventions, and lessons from real-world leaders and extensive research in the MIT SMR Summer 2025 issue. Use them to inform strategies in leadership, talent management, AI adoption, organizational restructuring, and global competition.



Mixing the Juice of Golden Knowledge (g-f GK) with the Top 10 genioux Facts from the Summer 2025 MIT Sloan Management Review Issue


The Juice of Golden Knowledge (g-f GK) is all about extracting the ultra-concentrated essence from deep research, expert analysis, and transformational business wisdom. Let’s distill the most powerful, actionable insights from the top articles in the MIT Sloan Management Review’s Summer 2025 issue into a set of genioux Facts—your "golden shots" of strategic intelligence.

1. AI Is Not a Forever Advantage—Creativity Is

  • AI will radically reshape markets and business processes, but its technologies, data, and talent are quickly commoditized. Sustainable differentiation will arise not from the tech itself, but from organizations that cultivate unique human creativity, passion, and relationships.

2. Four-Day Workweek: Productivity Without Burnout

  • Companies adopting the four-day week (100% pay, 80% time, 100% productivity) report sustained or improved productivity, dramatically higher well-being, and employee retention. The "big, bold change" compels organizations to refocus on working smarter, not harder, with broader benefits across demographics and industries.

3. The Power of Subjective Value in Time Management

  • People who regularly engage in activities that maximize joy, achievement, and meaning (the JAM framework), and minimize low-value time, report much greater life satisfaction and improved work performance. Small, intentional changes in how hours are allocated can transform well-being for individuals and teams.

4. CEO Succession: Proactive Process, Not Last-Minute Event

  • Boards with ongoing, systematic CEO succession planning significantly outperform those that wait for a crisis. Effective planning is continuous, transparent, and inclusive of regular evaluation against future strategic needs—not simply about replacing a leader.

5. International Leadership Boosts Profitability and Perspective

  • Fortune Global 500 companies with more foreign-born executives in the C-suite tend to outperform sector peers in profit and adaptability—regardless of how much revenue they derive from overseas. Diverse leadership fuels openness to alternative viewpoints, stakeholder engagement, innovative growth, and rapid knowledge flow.

6. Neuroinclusion Is a Strategic Capability Builder

  • Neuroinclusive hiring programs (autism, ADHD, dyslexia) do more than diversify talent; they accelerate innovation, surface valuable candor, improve management skills, and increase organizational psychological safety. The next step is integrating these practices into mainstream operations for maximal organizational benefit.

7. Rethinking Business With China: Move Beyond “Decoupling”

  • To navigate Western policies reshaping China-related commerce, executives must distinguish between techno-nationalist, techno-localist, and protectionist strategies. Success requires realigning supply chains, investing in domestic capabilities, and making policy-savvy alliances—not relying on simplistic decoupling.

8. Self-Managed Teams Change Who Stays—and Who Leaves

  • De-layering hierarchies and moving to self-organized, autonomous teams attracts and retains conscientious, open, and agreeable employees, but can drive others away. Organizational structure affects workforce composition mostly through retention, not attraction; tailored people strategies are crucial.

9. STEM Talent Pipeline: Businesses Must Intervene

  • America’s innovation edge is threatened by declining international STEM doctoral enrollments and stricter immigration policies. Companies should bolster comprehensive support for international talent, diversify global R&D, invest in university partnerships, fill funding gaps, and actively advocate for smarter immigration policy.

10. Mental Spaciousness: The Missing Ingredient for Wise Leadership

  • Leaders overly focused on “doing mode”—fast, narrow, task-driven action—undermine creativity, safety, and sound decision-making. The SPACE framework helps leaders create conditions for “spacious mode,” where reflection and relational awareness enable better choices, collaboration, and organizational flourishing.



🥤 The Juice of Golden Knowledge (g-f GK): The Takeaway


All these genioux Facts reveal one meta-truth: Lasting strategic advantage comes from integrating advanced tools (AI, diverse leadership, new work models) with deliberate cultivation of human creativity, inclusion, well-being, and future-ready governance. The “juice” is about holistic transformation—distilling complex challenges into actionable, golden steps for smarter business and life.



Conclusion


The MIT Sloan Management Review Summer 2025 Issue highlights a critical truth for leaders facing transformative change: enduring success stems from integrating human insight, inclusive practices, and intentional development—not just chasing technological innovation or restructuring for efficiency. Sustainable advantage is built by cultivating creativity, diverse leadership, well-being, and adaptability at every level. As technology and globalization accelerate, those organizations that foster safety, inclusion, and purpose will thrive, shaping the future of business for years to come.



📚 REFERENCES
The g-f GK Context for 🌟 g-f(2)3632


These are the top 12 MIT Sloan Management Review Summer 2025 articles.


1. Classical Summary of "Create Mental Space to Be a Wiser Leader"


Megan Reitz and John Higgins, Create Mental Space to Be a Wiser Leader, MIT Sloan Management Review, Magazine Summer 2025 Issue, June 10, 2025.


This article argues that in modern organizations, the relentless busyness and focus on immediate tasks—the "doing mode"—is overemphasized, often at the expense of thoughtful reflection, creativity, and wise decision-making. Authors Megan Reitz and John Higgins introduce the contrasting concept of "spacious mode," which involves mindful presence, openness to possibilities, and a holistic consideration of context and relationships.

Key Points

  • Overemphasis on Doing Mode: Most leaders and workers stay locked in a cycle of constant activity, prioritizing short-term, measurable targets over longer-term, ambiguous, or relational issues. This approach is deeply ingrained in business culture and reinforced by organizational hierarchies and metrics.

  • Risks of Doing Mode Dominance: An excessive focus on action leads to reduced psychological safety, burnout, stifled innovation, poor decisions, and undermined collaboration. Meetings become rushed, and opportunities for learning and creativity are minimized.

  • Benefits of Spacious Mode: Spaciousness in attention allows leaders and teams to process complexity, consider interdependencies, and open themselves to serendipity and innovation. Balancing both modes enables flourishing: actions become informed by deeper context, values, and relationships.

  • Attentional Mode Framework: The article introduces a framework illustrating the need for both modes—overreliance on one leads to dysfunction (busyness or impractical idealism), while balance supports optimal performance and well-being.

  • Barriers to Spaciousness: Four main traps prevent leaders from fostering spacious mode: superiority illusion (overestimating one’s ability to listen and reflect), advantage blindness (ignoring power dynamics), threats to self-image (fear of seeming unproductive), and metric dominance (an obsession with tangible measurements).

  • The SPACE Model: To encourage spaciousness, leaders must focus on Safety, People, Attention, Conflict, and Environment. Creating psychological safety, cultivating diverse and supportive relationships, consciously managing attention, intentionally fostering productive conflict, and designing environments that invite reflection all play a role.

  • Leader’s Responsibility: Leaders shape what is valued in their organizations by what they pay attention to and model. They must learn to integrate both doing and spacious modes, noticing when action eclipses reflection and taking steps to restore balance.

Conclusion

Reitz and Higgins contend that wise, resilient leadership in complex times requires conscious cultivation of mental space—not just relentless doing. By balancing action with reflection and encouraging spaciousness in teams and organizations, leaders can foster deeper relationships, better decisions, and sustainable success. This integration of modes, they argue, is an act of genuine leadership in a world hungry for both speed and wisdom.



2. Classical Summary of "Take CEO Succession Planning Off the Back Burner"


J. Yo-Jud Cheng and Paul Healy, Take CEO Succession Planning Off the Back Burner, MIT Sloan Management Review, Magazine Summer 2025 Issue, June 10, 2025.


This article addresses the critical, yet frequently neglected, responsibility of CEO succession planning within corporate boards. As CEO transitions grow more consequential amid rising stakeholder expectations and public scrutiny, companies often fall short in actively preparing for leadership change—even though such transitions present significant opportunities for organizational renewal.

Main Arguments and Findings

  • Succession Planning is Undervalued: Despite widespread recognition of its importance, boards routinely give CEO succession planning insufficient attention. Surveys of directors reveal it is frequently rated as one of the weakest areas of governance.

  • Consequences of Neglect: Lack of robust succession planning increases organizational risk and can hinder performance during transitions. The article's analysis found that companies with effective succession processes were much more likely to outperform the S&P 500 during new CEOs' initial years.

  • Barriers to Progress: Two primary obstacles are cited: complacency, particularly when a CEO's tenure feels secure or recent, and a reluctance to disrupt relations with a sitting CEO, often from fears of demoralization or untimely departure.

  • A Four-Principle Roadmap for Effective Planning:

    1. Treat Succession as an Ongoing Process: Boards should embed succession planning as a continuous, routine practice—not as a one-off response to an impending vacancy. This allows for richer evaluation of internal talent and ensures readiness for unexpected transitions.

    2. Act Early Rather Than Late: Early planning helps boards avoid the risk of CEOs overstaying or transitions happening after a leader's peak. Regular, strategic reviews of leadership needs keep succession aligned with company evolution.

    3. Widen the Candidate Pool: Boards are encouraged to look beyond obvious successors, considering talent from unconventional places within and outside the company. The focus should be on the strategic needs of the future, not replicating the outgoing CEO.

    4. Look Beyond the CEO Role: CEO transitions have implications for the broader executive team and organizational talent, often prompting further movement. Boards should anticipate and plan for secondary leadership changes.

Conclusion

The article contends that elevating CEO succession planning to a core board responsibility—akin to audits or compensation—can transform it from an awkward, neglected obligation into a powerful lever for organizational resilience and renewal. By following the outlined best practices, boards can reduce risk, foster consensus, and set their companies up for sustained success during and after CEO transitions.



3. Classical Summary of "How Companies Profit From an International C-Suite"


Niccolò Pisani & Ivy Buche, How Companies Profit From an International C-Suite, MIT Sloan Management Review, Magazine Summer 2025 Issue, June 10, 2025.


This article examines the critical role of international diversity in top management teams (C-suites) and demonstrates how multinational leadership drives corporate profitability and resilience. Drawing on a nine-year study of Fortune Global 500 companies and deep qualitative research with major global firms, the authors argue that companies with a higher proportion of nonnative executives consistently outperform their industry peers, regardless of whether revenue is primarily domestic or international.

Main Arguments and Evidence

  • International Diversity Boosts Profits: The share of foreign-born executives in Global 500 companies rose from 15% in 2013 to 20% in 2021. Companies with above-average international executive representation had notably higher profits and sustained growth rates over time.

  • Four Key Benefits of an International C-Suite:

    1. Openness to Alternative Viewpoints: Diverse leadership encourages consideration of complex problems from multiple global angles, leading to better decisions. Case examples—such as Schneider Electric, Nestlé, and AstraZeneca responding to the war in Ukraine—highlight how multinational teams implement balanced, locally informed strategies.

    2. Securing License to Operate: Having local leaders in international markets helps businesses build trust with both governments and communities, which is vital for successful expansion and overcoming crises—illustrated by Rio Tinto’s turnaround in Mongolia through the appointment of a Mongolian executive.

    3. Extending Social Contribution: International leaders help companies understand and address societal challenges across markets, enabling targeted innovation—Schneider Electric’s multi-hub approach fueled sustainability and global energy access for underserved populations.

    4. Increasing Knowledge Flows: Nonnative executives introduce market-specific insights and best practices from diverse regions, promoting organizational learning and adaptability—demonstrated in AstraZeneca’s and P&G’s global integration of supply chain and R&D innovations.

  • Intentional Inclusion is Necessary: International talent must be identified, cultivated, and integrated at the top. Regional managers and country-level executives can help bridge local realities to corporate strategy.

Conclusion

Pisani and Buche’s research shows that globally diverse C-suites are not merely strategic assets; they are essential drivers of superior financial performance and innovation. Companies that intentionally broaden their executive ranks to include global perspectives gain significant competitive advantages, helping them thrive amid geopolitical and economic turbulence. For leaders facing the complex demands of global business, expanding international representation at the top is both a pragmatic and profitable strategy.



4. Classical Summary of "Time Well Spent: A New Way to Value Time Could Change Your Life"


Leslie Perlow and Salvatore Affinito, Time Well Spent: A New Way to Value Time Could Change Your Life, MIT Sloan Management Review, Magazine Summer 2025 Issue, June 10, 2025.


This article proposes a groundbreaking approach to personal and professional fulfillment by quantifying the subjective value of time. Rather than measuring time solely by productivity or efficiency, the authors introduce a method for assessing how much joy, achievement, and meaningfulness ("JAM") individuals derive from each hour spent on different activities.

Main Concepts

  • Subjective Value of Time: Traditional time management emphasizes efficiency, while values-based approaches focus on aligning time with what matters. The new composite measure merges both perspectives, assessing activities by the JAM they deliver, weighted according to what the individual values most.

  • JAM Framework:

    • Joy: Experiences that bring happiness or positive emotion.

    • Achievement: Activities that deliver recognition, status, or success.

    • Meaningfulness: Time aligned with personal purpose or significance.
      Everyone requires all three, in proportions unique to their personality and life stage. Meeting one's minimum need in each area is strongly linked to overall life satisfaction.

  • The Life Matrix Tool:

    • By mapping weekly activities along axes of time spent and JAM-derived value, individuals can visually identify high-value, low-time and low-value, high-time activities. This helps highlight opportunities for small adjustments with outsized effects on well-being.

    • Data from thousands of individuals indicate that reallocating just 1–2 hours per week from a low-value to a high-value activity can markedly improve life satisfaction.

  • Spillover Effects:

    • Higher value from nonwork activities correlates with greater value experienced at work and vice versa, reinforcing the importance of holistic life satisfaction for performance and engagement.

  • Actionable Team Benefits:

    • Leaders can use the Life Matrix to help teams clarify and support each member’s unique high-value activities, building collective well-being, trust, and productivity through intentional small changes and regular check-ins.

Conclusion

Perlow and Affinito’s article advances a powerful, evidence-based mechanism for evaluating how time spent aligns with each person’s true drivers of fulfillment. The Life Matrix empowers individuals and teams to make meaningful, manageable changes—hour by hour—leading to greater happiness, achievement, and meaning in both professional and personal realms.



5. Classical Summary of "Will AI Disrupt Your Business? Key Questions to Ask"



Julian Birkinshaw, Will AI Disrupt Your Business? Key Questions to Ask, MIT Sloan Management Review, Magazine Summer 2025 Issue, June 10, 2025.


This article addresses the widespread concern among business leaders about artificial intelligence (AI) disrupting industries, challenging the assumption that all businesses face existential threats from AI. Birkinshaw argues that most industries will experience AI as a sustaining technology that augments incumbents' capabilities rather than forces their demise—provided they respond thoughtfully—while a few face genuine disruption.

Core Framework

  • Supply-Side Effects:
    AI often increases efficiency and quality in tasks like manufacturing or professional services, but these are typically sustaining improvements. The article offers questions to diagnose whether AI can create system-level innovation or renders entire value chains obsolete, and whether companies retain access to “complementary assets”—those skills, relationships, or infrastructure that continue to carry value even as technology changes. Most incumbents benefit from robust, complex offerings, relationships, and regulatory know-how.

  • Demand-Side Effects:
    Disruption is more acute when AI fundamentally changes customer behavior, especially in virtual offerings. Industries like translation or stock photography, where AI can inexpensively replicate core services, face existential threats. Others, such as retail banking or education, may see users continue to value human expertise and hybrid models. For physical offerings, demand-side effects are less pronounced, though companies must still adapt distribution, marketing, and bundling strategies to leverage new technologies.

  • External (Regulatory) Effects:
    Regulations can either protect incumbents or hasten disruption. The evolving regulatory landscape around AI—particularly concerning data privacy, safety, and governance—means companies must remain vigilant to shifts that can impact market structure.

Key Diagnostic

  • The article presents a practical scoring tool comprising 10 questions across supply, demand, and external dimensions. Leaders are encouraged to use this framework to assess the real threat and opportunity that AI poses to their business, promoting an evidence-based, nuanced strategy over panic or neglect.

Conclusion

AI’s impact will be industry- and company-specific. The worst-case scenario is not universal; most firms can sustain or even improve their standing, while others risk being displaced and must respond with urgency. Careful assessment of supply, demand, and regulatory effects, along with openness to innovation and partnership, is essential. Birkinshaw urges leaders to replace fear-driven reactions with structured inquiry and balanced judgment, ensuring strategic clarity amid rapid technological change.



6. Classical Summary of "The Business Cost of the Shrinking STEM Research Pipeline"


Chris Carr and Dave Christy, The Business Cost of the Shrinking STEM Research Pipeline, MIT Sloan Management Review, Magazine Summer 2025 Issue, June 2, 2025.


This article warns that the United States’ long-time dominance in STEM research and innovation is under threat, citing a weakening pipeline of international doctoral talent as a fundamental risk to the nation’s technological leadership. The authors identify two main causes: a demographic shift in U.S. STEM doctoral programs toward greater reliance on international students—especially from China—and an erosion in federal research funding amid tightening immigration barriers and intensifying global competition.

Over the past four decades, the proportion of non-U.S. citizens earning STEM Ph.D.s has doubled, rising to 40%, with Chinese nationals representing a significant and growing share. This trend arose because U.S. graduates often prefer lucrative industry jobs to the longer, less certain academic career path. However, the willingness of international students to stay in the U.S. post-graduation is declining, discouraged by immigration hurdles, geopolitical tensions, and better opportunities elsewhere. Simultaneously, federal research support is under threat from budget cuts and policy shifts, causing universities to scale back doctoral admissions and research activity.

The shortage has direct business consequences. Immigrant STEM Ph.D. graduates disproportionately enter private industry and drive innovation, fueling both established firms and the vibrant U.S. startup ecosystem. Immigrants are more likely to become entrepreneurs; over half of America’s billion-dollar startups have at least one immigrant founder. The authors argue that if businesses fail to act, they face slower innovation, diminished patent creation, and reduced global competitiveness.

To safeguard access to global STEM talent, the article recommends five business-led strategies:

  1. Expand support services for international talent, offering comprehensive integration, legal, career, and family resources.

  2. Diversify talent sourcing by establishing research centers overseas and participating in global research networks.

  3. Strengthen industry-university partnerships through fellowships, internships, and joint research initiatives, with an eye toward long-term retention.

  4. Increase corporate funding for university research to help bridge public funding gaps and incentivize STEM pursuits among both domestic and international students.

  5. Become more vocal in advocating for pro-immigration policies, supporting streamlined and expanded visa programs for STEM researchers.

The article closes with a call to action for business leaders to act decisively and invest in supporting and attracting diverse, global research teams, ensuring the continued strength of the U.S. innovation ecosystem and preserving America’s competitive edge in science and technology.



7. Classical Summary of "People Follow Structure: How Less Hierarchy Changes the Workforce"


Markus Reitzig and Kathrin Heiss, People Follow Structure: How Less Hierarchy Changes the Workforce, MIT Sloan Management Review, Magazine Summer 2025 Issue, May 29, 2025.


This article by Markus Reitzig and Kathrin Heiss explores the impact of organizational structure—specifically, the shift from traditional hierarchical arrangements to flatter, more self-managed teams—on workforce composition and performance. Through a large-scale empirical study using data from over 5,500 U.S. financial services companies that undertook significant de-layering between 2000 and 2022, as well as in-depth case studies of two transformed organizations, the authors investigate how such structural changes affect which employees stay, leave, or are drawn to the company.

Key Findings and Insights

  • Impact on Workforce Traits: Moving to a flatter structure increases the share of employees who are conscientious, agreeable, and open—traits associated with effective self-management, collaboration, and innovation. These shifts are driven mainly by attrition: employees whose traits do not fit well with greater autonomy tend to leave, rather than new, well-suited individuals being attracted by the structural change.

  • No Effect on Skill Levels: Organizational restructuring does not automatically improve the average qualification level of the workforce, nor does it attract higher-skilled workers en masse. Instead, changes in skill composition are typically the result of deliberate recruitment strategies paired with structural reforms.

  • Importance of Context: Case studies reveal that the effects of de-layering can vary by company, depending on leadership, preparation, and communication. Transformations guided by experienced leaders with full executive buy-in and integrated communication strategies yield more favorable changes in workforce composition and motivation.

  • Strategic Implications for Management:

    • CEOs, COOs, and CHROs must coordinate closely when planning structural changes, as workforce optimization depends on aligning people strategy (including recruitment and retention) with organizational goals.

    • Designing workflows and roles for increased autonomy requires not only reducing micromanagement, but also implementing supportive mechanisms for self-coordination, feedback, and conflict resolution.

    • Leaders must recognize that changing structure shapes who stays with the company—and thus, impacts the culture and collaborative potential—through workforce self-selection.

  • Practical Guidance: To capitalize on the benefits of flatter organizations, companies should involve HR leaders early in restructuring, use psychological assessments for better team composition, and provide intentional support for self-organized teams.

Conclusion

The article rejects the oversimplified notion that "structure follows strategy" and emphasizes the reciprocal relationship between organizational structure and workforce composition. Flatter structures can increase engagement and performance by fostering autonomy, but the effects are moderate and primarily result from voluntary turnover. Successful transformation requires strategic alignment, leadership coordination, and attention to employees’ preferences for autonomy and teamwork.



8. Classical Summary: How Neuroinclusion Builds Organizational Capabilities


Robert D. Austin, Neil Barnett, Chloe R. Cameron, Hiren Shukla, Thorkil Sonne, and Jose Velasco, How Neuroinclusion Builds Organizational Capabilities, MIT Sloan Management Review, Magazine Summer 2025 Issue, May 06, 2025.


The article "How Neuroinclusion Builds Organizational Capabilities" explores how corporate initiatives focused on neuroinclusion — the deliberate hiring and support of neurodivergent individuals (such as those with autism, dyslexia, ADHD, and other neurological differences) — are transforming organizations beyond mere workforce diversification.

Key Findings

  • Expanded Talent Pool: Neuroinclusion programs at companies like SAP, EY, and Microsoft enable organizations to access highly skilled individuals who might otherwise be overlooked due to traditional hiring practices that disadvantage those who do not interview well or display conventional social behaviors. Once onboarded with appropriate accommodations, neurodistinct hires demonstrate strong retention rates and deliver significant value, including innovations and cost savings.

  • Enhanced Product and Service Design: By reflecting the neurodiversity found within customer bases, organizations cultivate better understanding of user needs. Neurodistinct employees contribute unique perspectives, leading to improved product features and usability.

  • Strengthened Innovation Capabilities: Teams composed of members with diverse cognitive styles are less prone to habitual thinking, fostering creativity. Neurodistinctness, defined by differences in sensory processing and problem-solving, helps organizations generate and select valuable new ideas.

  • Organizational Efficiency and Improvement: Neurodistinct employees often possess traits, such as high tolerance for routine or blunt communication style, that facilitate the identification of operational inefficiencies and motivate needed changes. Their honest feedback can flag problems that others hesitate to address for political reasons.

  • Management Improvement and Psychological Safety: Supervising neurodistinct staff prompts managers to clarify expectations, adapt their communication, and create supportive workplace conditions — improvements that benefit all employees. Successful neuroinclusion initiatives are associated with increased psychological safety and broader employee engagement due to alignment with meaningful values.

Broader Organizational Impact

While pilot neuroinclusion programs ("lighthouses") are the genesis of many corporate efforts, the greatest challenge — and opportunity — lies in mainstreaming these practices throughout the organization. The article argues that neuroinclusion should not merely be seen as a charitable or feel-good initiative, but as a business imperative that augments organizational effectiveness, competitive advantage, and social impact. The authors advocate:

  • Educating leaders and teams about neurodiversity.

  • Rethinking hiring, evaluation, and support practices to better accommodate all employees.

  • Integrating neuroinclusion principles into supervisory and leadership development.

  • Ensuring executive support and reframing organizational culture to embrace differences as strengths.

In conclusion, neuroinclusion represents much more than filling jobs: it is a catalyst for upgrading capabilities in innovation, management, engagement, and social value, positioning organizations for success in the evolving landscape of work.



9. Classical Summary: How Close Is Commercial Quantum Computing?


Elizabeth Heichler, How Close Is Commercial Quantum Computing? MIT Sloan Management Review, Magazine Summer 2025 Issue, June 09, 2025.


Recent advances in quantum computing have prompted optimism from both technology leaders and business stakeholders about the commercial viability of quantum computers. Major technology firms—Microsoft, Amazon Web Services (AWS), and Google—have each introduced quantum chips with substantial progress in error correction, the central challenge for making quantum computers practical.

Key Technological Advances

  • Microsoft’s Majorana 1 chip: This chip uses a novel architecture that embeds error correction directly into the physical qubit, potentially transforming error management and quantum reliability if scaled up.

  • AWS’s Ocelot chip: Early in development, this chip demonstrates promising hardware-level approaches to quantum error mitigation.

  • Google’s Willow chip: Experiments show that aggregating more qubits leads to lower error rates in logical qubits, a positive sign for future quantum scalability.

Each approach represents distinct advances and illustrates the accelerating pace of innovation in quantum hardware design.

Timeline and Remaining Challenges

Despite these promising developments, experts continue to caution that much work is left. While some Big Tech companies foresee the arrival of fault-tolerant quantum computers by around 2030, realizing practical, error-corrected, and scalable quantum devices will require more breakthroughs and the timeline remains uncertain.

Business Implications and Early Adoption

Industries such as finance, automotive, and pharmaceuticals stand to benefit most from quantum technologies. Importantly, many companies in these sectors are already experimenting with quantum algorithms (and quantum-inspired algorithms) that run on classical computers. These interim solutions are providing tangible benefits, including:

  • Improved simulation capabilities

  • Solutions to complex optimization problems

This experimentation yields immediate business value and readies organizations for future quantum breakthroughs.

Bottom Line

While the quantum chips from Microsoft, AWS, and Google are important milestones, fault-tolerant, commercially accessible quantum computing remains several years away. The pace of innovation in error correction is accelerating, and leading businesses are embracing quantum-inspired techniques to extract near-term advantages as they prepare for the era of scalable quantum computers.



10. Classical Summary: "Why AI Will Not Provide Sustainable Competitive Advantage"


David Wingate, Barclay L. Burns, and Jay B. Barney, Why AI Will Not Provide Sustainable Competitive Advantage, MIT Sloan Management Review, Magazine Summer 2025 Issue, May 08, 2025.


The article contends that artificial intelligence (AI) will profoundly transform business landscapes, streamlining processes and increasing productivity. However, it argues that AI's rapid spread and increasing accessibility will undermine its potential as a source of lasting competitive advantage. As algorithms, knowledge, and data become commoditized and widely available, any gains conferred by AI will be accessible to all companies.

Historically, advanced technologies such as personal computers, the internet, and blockchain have not provided sustainable competitive advantages once they became universally available, and the authors assert that AI will follow this pattern. While businesses may gain short-term advantages by adopting AI early or using it innovatively, these benefits will not be unique or inimitable. Proprietary models, data, and technical expertise will quickly converge, diminishing distinctiveness.

The article applies three classic tests for sustainable advantage: value, uniqueness, and inimitability. AI indisputably provides value but fails the tests of uniqueness and inimitability. Competitive edges based on hardware, algorithms, or proprietary data are transient, as improvements dissipate through open research, widespread learning, and technological progress.

Instead of striving for AI-driven differentiation, the authors propose cultivating "residual heterogeneity"—unique creativity, drive, and passion beyond technology itself. Human ingenuity, relationships, and novel partnerships are positioned as essential for sustaining competitive edge in an AI-empowered landscape. The article concludes that while AI will raise overall market productivity, only human creativity and innovation will provide enduring business differentiation.



11. Classical Summary: The New Rules of Doing Business With China


Dan Prud’homme and Max von Zedtwitz, The New Rules of Doing Business With China, MIT Sloan Management Review, Magazine Summer 2025 Issue, May 20, 2025.


Geopolitical tensions between the West and China have led Western governments, particularly those in the U.S. and Europe, to increasingly impose restrictive measures on Chinese businesses. This is largely due to three major developments: Chinese enterprises are emerging as formidable global competitors, there are concerns over national security stemming from their perceived links to the Chinese Communist Party and dual-use technologies, and Western countries fear the erosion of their own competitive edge after decades of globalization that weakened domestic manufacturing and R&D capabilities.

Rather than viewing these shifts under the simplistic notion of “decoupling,” the authors propose classifying Western policy actions into three distinct categories:

1. Techno-Nationalism

These policies seek to wholly exclude Chinese companies from supply chains, especially in critical sectors such as telecommunications and semiconductors. Bans on Huawei and ZTE exemplify this approach, with the U.S. and several European countries prohibiting these companies from supplying national networks and restricting Western firms’ ability to sell advanced technologies to them. Companies affected by such measures are urged to swiftly diversify their supply chains and partnerships, realigning with non-Chinese counterparts to mitigate escalating regulatory risks.

2. Techno-Localism

Here, the goal is to ensure key technologies—regardless of origin—are localized within domestic borders. This often involves requiring foreign companies to transfer technology or set up local manufacturing in exchange for market access or government support. Notable examples include the U.S. push for TikTok’s sale to an American company and the European Union’s incentive for Chinese EV battery firms to establish local plants. While Western companies can sometimes leverage these policies to gain technological advantages, the authors caution that such forced transfers often result in only nonessential technologies being shared and may ultimately discourage meaningful innovation if host countries gain negative reputations among technology owners.

3. Protectionism

Protectionist policies do not target specific technology transfers but focus on limiting imports to defend domestic industries. Recent U.S. and EU tariff hikes on Chinese electric vehicles, solar panels, and semiconductors, as well as local-content subsidies, exemplify this category. However, such restrictions do not necessarily bar Chinese companies from operating within Western countries or forming local partnerships. In some cases, Chinese firms adapt by investing in facilities abroad to capitalize on government incentives. The authors recommend Western businesses respond not by relying on protectionism, but by ramping up domestic investment and proactively pursuing strategic alliances, including with Chinese companies where advantageous.

Conclusion

As Western governments reshape the rules of global competition, multinational companies must rethink their global value chain strategies. The authors advocate for a nuanced understanding of the three policy categories—techno-nationalism, techno-localism, and protectionism—to effectively navigate the evolving landscape. Executives are encouraged to realign supply chains, capitalize on new incentives, bolster domestic investment in R&D and production, and consider partnerships that reflect the shifting rules of engagement with Chinese businesses.



12. Classical Summary of "The Surprising Viability of the Four-Day Workweek"


Juliet B. Schor, interviewed by MIT Sloan Management Review, The Surprising Viability of the Four-Day Workweek, MIT Sloan Management Review, Magazine Summer 2025 Issue, May 22, 2025.


Juliet B. Schor’s MIT Sloan Management Review interview summarizes her foundational research from the book "Four Days a Week." Through a robust study—covering 245 organizations and 8,700 employees across industries and nations—she presents compelling evidence on the effectiveness and practicality of a four-day working week.

Schor finds a consistent pattern: companies adopting four-day workweeks report clear benefits for both employees and organizations. The primary model used is the "100-80-100" system, where workers receive 100% of pay for 80% of the time while maintaining 100% productivity. Transitioning to this schedule typically involves a bottom-up reorganization, focused on eliminating wasteful practices, unnecessary meetings, and distractions to preserve output within a reduced schedule.

The research demonstrates marked improvements in employee well-being: all twenty measured metrics show positive trends. Companies report stable or enhanced productivity, with 90% of participating employers maintaining the four-day model after one year. Contrary to concerns, work intensity does not increase, second-job holding declines, and social connection among teams remains stable.

Firms maintain external stakeholder relations through various means, such as alternating staff schedules or simply communicating the policy—often meeting support from clients. Employees show a preference for a full day off rather than shorter hours over five days, but the key factor is the overall reduction in hours, which correlates directly with better well-being outcomes.

Organizational tweaks—such as emergency protocols or adjusting policies for holidays—tend to be minor and do not dilute the model’s advantages. Although significant financial investments are generally unnecessary, successful adoption requires thoughtful planning. Some companies add staff in selected areas, though costs are more than offset by increased stability and reduced turnover.

Despite clear benefits, widespread adoption lags—possibly due to selection bias or perceived structural hurdles. Schor concludes that a greater number of organizations could successfully implement a four-day week than currently do, and hopes her research inspires leaders to experiment with this transformative model.






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