Managing in the Digital Economy

It can be tempting to jump on every next, big transformational idea that comes along, but taking the time to understand your industry, competition, customers, and your company’s organizational structure can provide some much needed context for smart strategic change. This article from the Harvard Professional Development Programs offers advice for how managers and workers can understand disruption in context, build autonomy and trust as a team, and rethink career strategies in the digital economy.

In 2015, there were 7 million jobs that required some level of coding, but the number of workers with those skills hasn’t kept up with demand. Could provide better access to technical learning for those who work in lower-paying industries provide the answer? Kausik Rajgopal and Steve Westly think so.

The majority of spending on cybersecurity efforts goes towards protecting organizations from external hackers. The truth is, though, that the majority of security breaches actually come from within an organization. Learn how to protect your organization with this primer on developing insider threat programs from ObserveIT.

In response to the growing tendency towards short-form content and 140-character length snippets, Medium established itself as a destination for thought pieces and long-form articles. This case from Robert Siegel and Matthew Saucedo takes a look inside the challenges facing Medium’s leadership team as they strive to build a successful digital media company and develop a sustainable monetization model. As journalism innovates, can Medium serve as a noteworthy model for publishing in the digital age?

With the number of major cyber breaches in recent years (Equifax, Sony, DNC anyone?), the Target breach of 2013 may seem like ancient history. But this case from Suraj Srinivasan, which focuses on how Target managed/could have managed the attack, offers many much-needed, highly-relevant leadership lessons for today.

In addition to having a responsibility to be thinking about cybersecurity as a strategic priority, executives should be collaborating with IT to address cybersecurity within their organization. When the C-Suite and IT are in alignment with regards to cybersecurity, organizations are much better equipped to effectively handle threats.

If the Equifax attack is any example, executives have a lot of work to do to become real leaders in the field of cybersecurity. Organizations can’t afford to ignore cybersecurity or just hope that it “goes away” or keep their fingers crossed that attackers will hit the next guy over. Even if you’re already thinking about security within your own organization, this webinar is a great resource to help you prepare for an uncertain and insecure world.

What skills does the modern worker need to succeed and lead in the digital economy? DI Director David Homa makes the case for developing skills in computing, applied math, and at least one area of domain expertise (hint: it doesn’t have to be a STEM field at all).

Technology itself is not enough. In order for organizations to really capture the true value of technology, they must be willing to embrace change. In this article, Jason Preston of Dent the Future makes the case for culture-based competition and argues it is the way for companies to get ahead in the digital economy.

Introducing the Harvard MS/MBA joint-degree program. We couldn’t be more excited! ??? You may have noticed a few weeks ago when we mentioned that HBS has officially announced the launch of an amazing new joint-degree program with the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Science (SEAS). Today we’d like to spend some time […]