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The Enactment of Courage

Strategic thinking, sound decision-making, critical thinking, persuasion, empathy. There are a host of qualities that effective leaders should model in the workplace if they want to influence others and deliver truly positive outcomes. But chief among these is one that might not be on your radar: the willingness and ability to act courageously.

Heathrow Airport Operations: Data Connections to Improve Flight Connections

With the help of a predictive machine-learning algorithm, Professor Yael Grushka-Cockayne offers new hope for beleaguered airport passengers changing planes. Implemented at Heathrow Airport, the system is a game changer for management, demonstrating how industries can use data to save millions in costly overstaffing and dissatisfied customers.

The Waiting Game: 3 Strategies to Improve Queueing (and Customer Satisfaction)

Waiting in line is no one’s favorite thing, but the circumstances in which they people themselves queued up play a huge role in how they experience the delay, according to Professor Elliott N. Weiss. To raise customer satisfaction, retailers can keep in mind three important E’s: Eliminate the wait, manage Expectations and Enhance the experience.

What Theranos Can Teach Us About Ethical Challenges in Murky High Tech Waters

Professor Jared Harris worked with Theranos whistleblower Tyler Shultz to develop a series of cases that reveal how the advanced nature of the technology allowed the ruse to go on so long and the high cost Shultz paid for his part bringing down the house of cards.

The Practice of Courage

It doesn’t matter how big your leadership toolkit is if you won’t be courageous enough to use those tools when it counts. Just like any other competency, you can learn, practice and strategically deploy the ability to act skillfully in high-stress moments. Here we dig into practical recommendations for getting to the other side of workplace fears.

Data Matters: 4 Workplace Functions

Darden experts offer some examples of varied workplace functions on which data analytics can have massive impact. It serves, drives and can lead to wild (though methodically so) success in multiple and varied areas of an organization. 

6 Ways Business Leaders Should Prepare for 2022 and Beyond

University of Virginia Darden School of Business faculty share ways in which business leaders should prepare for 2022.

Design Thinking vs. Cognitive Biases: 10 Biases for Innovation to Overcome

Professor Jeanne Liedtka calls out 10 specific biases that cause especially serious problems for innovators. Design Thinking’s ability to fight these common biases accounts for its ability to help us test our ideas successfully.

Promoting Globalized Innovation, BIT by BIT

Solutions to many challenging problems, such as the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change, require technological coordination and collaboration at the global level. Professor Ting Xu’s latest research identifies bilateral investment treaties (BITs) as a useful policy lever to promote the globalization of innovation.

Pivoting in a Pandemic: From Diapers to Mask Production in China

With the world on the brink of pandemic, a business was asked to make masks. How should it balance an ethical imperative against the risks of entering a new market? And what direction should it take when the crisis receded? Public-private partnerships can combine the strengths of diverse entities, driving rich, broadly beneficial results.