HBS Managing the Future of Work show

HBS Managing the Future of Work

Summary: Artificial intelligence. Robotics. The Gig Economy. Globalization. The world is changing at a dizzying pace in ways that will have a profound effect on the economy, jobs and the flow of talent. How will firms cope with the changes ahead and what steps do they need to take today? Each episode features faculty from the world’s leading business school interviewing CEOs, technologists and experts on the bleeding edge discussing how to survive and thrive by managing the future of work.

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Podcasts:

 Covid-19 Dispatch: People + Work Connect | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 25:09

Covid-19 has brought Great Depression-level unemployment to many economies and triggered imbalances of supply and demand as some businesses have needed to staff-up quickly. People + Work Connect is a B2B HR exchange platform active in more than 40 countries. The brainchild of corporate chief human resources officers (CHROs) has signed up hundreds of businesses looking to place idled workers or fill open positions. Lead partner Accenture’s Nicholas Whittall and Mary Kate Morley Ryan discuss the initiative

 Covid-19 Dispatch: Craig Malloy | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 28:02

What happens when a video conferencing company has to rely on its own products for its day-to-day operations? The pandemic turned Austin, Texas-based Lifesize’s commute-to-work culture into a virtual organization overnight. As its customers’ videoconferencing volumes increased almost tenfold, the firm adjusted to remote work and completed a major merger. CEO Craig Malloy talks about the fast-forwarding of many enterprises’ long-range plans and the implications of the new normal.

 Covid-19 Dispatch: Barry Schuler | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 27:21

The pandemic has radically altered the economic landscape and vastly complicated the VC market. Money is in short supply and start-ups need to run leaner. Consolidation looms. DFJ Growth partner, Barry Schuler, discusses risk mitigation, mentoring entrepreneurs through the crisis, and taking the long view.

 Covid-19 Dispatch: Karen Mills | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 15:57

Return guest, Harvard Business School senior fellow Karen Mills, is uniquely qualified to assert that the Covid-19 pandemic poses a greater threat to US small businesses than the Great Recession of 2008-2009. She directed the Small Business Administration from 2009 to 2013 and has been advising Congress and fintech companies on how to help small businesses through the pandemic. She is the author of Fintech, Small Business & the American Dream.

 Covid-19 Dispatch: Taso Du Val | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 19:14

The pandemic has increased demand for online, remote freelance and contract work. Digital labor platform Toptal provides a market for highly skilled freelancers and contractors working in such fields as artificial intelligence, design, and project management. The downturn has sent more workers to the platform. Employers have also turned to the platform to find temporary work for their idled employees. CEO, Taso Du Val, joins the podcast. (Toptal’s remote work playbook: https://www.toptal.com/playbook)

 Covid-19 Dispatch: Sham Kakade | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 24:45

Contact tracing—mapping the spread of a virus by identifying individuals in the chain of transmission—is an essential tool in the fight to limit the damage of Covid-19. Successful schemes save lives and mitigate economic losses. Harvard’s Safra Center for Ethics recently published a paper outlining how contact tracing can be designed to protect users’ privacy. Coauthor Sham Kakade, a computer scientist at the University of Washington, explains.

 Handicapping the global competition for talent | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 26:40

Post-Covid recovery will hinge on how well countries leverage talent. This lends new relevance to international business school INSEAD’s 2020 global ranking of that capacity. Released in January, the school’s seventh annual Global Talent Competitiveness Index (GTCI) weighs countries’—and major cities’—ability to attract, foster, and maintain talent. Co-author Felipe Monteiro interpreted.

 Covid-19 Dispatch: Nick Dalton | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 21:26

Unilever was several years into a companywide plan to revamp its workforce when the coronavirus flared into a pandemic. The multinational entered the crisis braced for change. Executive vice president Nick Dalton discusses how that flexibility has helped Unilever maintain business continuity, provide for worker safety, and coordinate remote work. With the disruption of global supply chains and ordinary life largely locked down, all eyes are on the consumer goods business.

 Covid-19 Dispatch: Kent Thiry | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 21:33

Kent Thiry is a veteran healthcare executive with decades of experience observing public health policy and administration at both federal and state levels. He shares his assessment of why the US was slow out of the blocks in responding to Covid-19. Looking at the virus’ likely effects, he anticipates an accelerated adoption of tele-medicine, a return of manufacturing to the US, a speed-up of automation, and prospects for a greener, lower-carbon economy in the recovery from the current slowdown.

 Freelancer.com: On-demand Skills and Ideas | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 25:47

The Covid-19 pandemic appears to be accelerating the global workforce shift toward freelance and contract work, as it makes remote work a more attractive option. For many, the traditional employment model is being replaced by digital labor platforms like Freelancer.com, which touts skills outsourcing and innovation crowdsourcing. What’s in it for enterprises and freelance workers? Vice President Sarah Tang explains.

 Covid-19 Dispatch: Edward Glaeser | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 23:00

Harvard economist Edward Glaeser is an expert on how cities function as economic engines and centers of innovation. He notes that the advantages of density in spurring creativity and productivity are mirrored by the vulnerability it creates to threats like disease. As Covid-19 tests the resources and resilience of urban centers and confronts leaders with difficult choices, Glaeser explains the policy options for protecting people and stabilizing the economy.

 Covid-19 Dispatch: Irfhan Rawji | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 16:54

Canadian entrepreneur Irfhan Rawji has insight into the pandemic’s influence on a wide range of sectors, from US companies working with global tech specialists, to startups in a variety of markets, the organic food business, and healthcare. He shares his observations on the coronavirus’ impact on the nature of work; how it is shaking up the VC world; increasing demand for organic and locally produced food; and testing the Canadian and US healthcare systems.

 Covid-19 Dispatch: Derek Thompson | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 24:02

In Episode 3 of the Covid-19 Dispatch series, we talk to The Atlantic’s Derek Thompson, who recently wrote about contact tracing. In the fight against Covid-19, this critical public health tool has been used unevenly. Smartphone apps are effective, but raise privacy concerns and extensive surveillance may discourage participation. Bluetooth offers a less intrusive option than GPS. Questions remain about post-crisis tracking.

 Covid-19 Dispatch: Ardine Williams | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 16:14

The pandemic has magnified Amazon’s role as household supply line and pushed it to quickly adjust how it does business. The company has revised processes in response to customer demand, workplace safety requirements, and public health directives. For an enterprise with half a million employees in the US, implementing these changes has been a mammoth management challenge. Vice president of workforce development Ardine Williams discusses how the coronavirus has changed business as usual.

 Covid-19 Dispatch: Justin Wolfers | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 21:50

The Covid-19 pandemic has thrown more people out of work than at any time since the Great Depression, and did so with unprecedented speed. In this debut episode of the Managing the Future of Work podcast’s Covid-19 Dispatches, economist and New York Times columnist Justin Wolfers discusses alternatives to the official unemployment figures; best and worst case scenarios; economic insecurity; and the need for federal aid to state and local governments.

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