Iryna Papalamava's Profile

Thanks of raising this topic, Subi. I agree with Varun, standardization is extremely important in any industry and especially in technology. While it’s never a fun or sexy subject, standardization helps alight players in the industry, reducing fraction and costs. It will be interesting to see how ISA’s thought leadership evolves during the present time of the ever increasing tech change. No doubt, as new technology mediums emerge (IoT, VR) standardization will be as important as ever.

Radika, thank you for writing about this important topic. There are few issues less pressing today than urgency to reform our education, and technology, no doubt , will play key role in its transformation in the next few decades. Despite lack of initial success, I am glad companies like InBloom are pushing the envelope towards digitization of education. Long term, the only way to increase the quality if to increase compensation for high-quality teachers and make teaching a prestigious job for the best and brightest. Technology will help us reduce number of jobs needed those allocating more funds for the few high quality teachers. I am glad you have shared this real life learning with us in the post, I am looking forward to learning more about this space while at HBS and beyond.

Wow, Irene, what a great post! I have been following Angela Ahrendts’ career for a little while now and am so impressed with her vision and execution. You did such a nice job highlighting here the synergy between digitization and strengthening the brand. I think often times people can say going digital can “cheapen” the artisanal nature of brand, it can take away from the brand’s authenticity. Angela Ahrendts accomplished not only to strengthen Burberry’s brand with digital, but do so with an impressive boost in sales and profitability. Thank you for walking us through this example of great tech leadership, I learned a great deal.

Great read, Robert! I love that you decided to write about the gaming industry because it is perhaps one of the most “under pressure’ industries in terms of having to quickly adopt to users tech consumption behavior. It is if though one could follow the elevation of technology by just following the platforms and media on which games are released. I also think people often underestimate the vast resources and huge revenue that successful gaming companies generate (like EA), which allows then to invest in pretty incredible R&D. I wouldn’t be surprised if the ability to control VR through one’s nervous system will come from one o the gaming company’s laboratories. It is a very exciting space and I am looking forward to following how it develops. Thanks for shining light on it in your article!

Thanks for doing this post, Jake, great read. HBO has always been an incredible content leader, innovating in ideas and societal trends and it’s great to see that they are innovating also in terms of media they use. I also love that you provide concrete recommendations on the steps that HBO can take to get a bigger edge over competition. Certainly this space is very lucrative, given that it attracts tens of hours of viewers attention every week on a recurring basis, so I am very interested to see how technology will continue to disrupt this space. Thank you bring great insight into this topic!

Great article, Estelle and what a an important topic! When we think long-term… like really long term, it is the institutions like the Smithsonian that are carrying forward to collective history of human achievements and, not less significantly, human flaws. It is so reassuring to learn form your article that the Smithsonian is on the cutting edge of digital innovation, because it means that our future generations will have even faster and richer access to what will then be even bigger collection of human history artifact. It is an important area of investment and my hope is that we will continue to implement innovation in museums.

I know, I wish we had more access to relevant information on these topics. Obviously, the responsibility is on us, but how helpful would it be to get help from retailers and others in the chain. Also, we should figure out how to make InstaCart more environmentally friendly. They have a close partnership with WF but are wasteful with bags/packaging.

Yeah, would be good to start developing a discipline of bringing our own containers to the store. Thanks for bringing this up!

So true! I especially appreciate it now, as a student. Organic does not need to be expensive. This is a huge area for them and a way to increase influence.

Wow, great read, Georgia! I think you are shining light on an issue that is never talked about. I agree with Jay, typically we think of technology as zero-emiison industry. You are doing a nice job breaking out the scale of the impact of increasing number of servers. As cloud storage commodities even further and becomes the norm (and as the world consumes more information), we need big players, like Google and Apple to actively participate in the conversation on climate change at more visible level and take a lead on more impactful initiatives globally.

Great point. Indeed, this is such a great competitive advantage for them. Imagine what the impact could be if all companies saw environmental responsibility as an advantage? Hope Whole Foods can lead the charge for all retailers and corporations to follow.

Brilliant points! Agree. Maybe we should write an open letter to Whole Foods? I am serious.

Great point, I completely agree. As consumers we lack education and discipline in many cases during purchase moment, and retailers can/should step in to generate more impactful change. I am sure there is tension between profitability growth and being strict on supplier requirements, so it will be interesting to see how this dynamics plays out over the next few years and decades.

This is a great point! I totally agree. In America, unlike most other contras, food waste is out of control. I did some more digging and looks like they are taking measures to be responsible on the waste front. Looks like they are striving to be zero waste, the donate a ton, and composite. Seems like a good start.

https://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/service/what-happens-our-waste

This is a brilliant idea! I actually totally agree. This labelling can be really powerful. In fact, one of my good girlfriends who has always been a meat eater watched a documentary about how beef production contributes to green house gas levels and became VEGAN overnight. She has been eating vegan for 6 months now, and I know it is the power of information and getting more educated on the points your brought up.

Great read! And I love all the comments in response to this excellent post. Indeed, in the near future national parks can and perhaps should become repositories of documented evidence of “how it used to be” vs. “what it is now”. The fact is, some coastal state parks will be under water while others will completely change their flora and fauna. While it is sad to admit, state and national parks need to step into the role of not only protecting what is left but also helping remind us what it used to be.

I loved learning more about how climate change affects fish population and its diversity. You brought up a few excellent points that really highlight the complexity and interconnectedness of the whole ecosystem of fisheries. For example, the fact that water acidity increases is directly related to reducing in populations of oysters and lobsters. This will likely set a chain reaction and reduce populations of other species that rely on oysters and lobsters for survival (not humans, even though sometime we feel like we can’t live without oysters and champagne). Businesses that rely on fish production as a core activity are facing a tough challenge in rapidly changing climate world because of that interconnectedness. One degree of temperature change can/will set off a chain reaction and domino effect across multiple species and regions of fish.

Great post! I loved getting a deeper understanding of how mobile networks and access to them can be directly correlated to helping mitigate climate change, a link that is powerful and also not very intuitive. The question that you pose at the end is exactly spot-on: is it possible to increase access to accommodate growth in population while reducing effects on climate? These are the questions the our generation will have to solve in order to avoid serious consequences of global climate change.

I enjoyed learning about the role AIG can/should play in helping mitigate climate change. I loved that in your post you are making it clear that AIG has the scale and power to set the tone for the whole industry around climate change responsibility. I agree with you that they absolutely should become more vocal in public policy conversations. It is clear that there is a great alignment between potential revenue, mitigating insurance risk and mitigating climate change risk. Let’s hope they accelerate efforts in that direction.

You’ve done a great job proving a very comprehensive analysis of how climate change is affecting wine industry. Being an important industry in California, wine growers and distributors today are facing an unprecedented challenge, and, in my opinion, you’ve broken down the issue in a great way. I enjoyed learning about dry farming and that you candidly called out challenges related to implementing it.

Great analysis of how Test and Solar City are dealing with affects of climate change. Elon Musk is truly an iconic leader and a visionary who is setting the bar high for multiple industries. You are doing a nice job highlighting his unique ability to be working towards mitigating affects of climate change from multiple fronts. I also agree with you that he made his intention to acquire Solar City clear a long time ago. What makes your post even more appealing is that solar power is powerful climate solution because there is virtually unlimited source of supply (Sun) and unlimited opportunities of adoption.

Great post. Like Lane, I have experienced warm winters in the last few years in California, where skiing was only open for 3-4 week-ends out of the whole year. Typically there will be artificial snow on one or two main runs and slush and open rock on most of the higher mountains. It is tragic now only for those who love to ski and snowboard but for all the communities who live in Tahoe and make their living from resorts. Here climate change will have a serious economic effect on these communities, potentially dislocating them. I agree with Matt’s comment, the issue here is a lot more serious and unlikely can be solved just by diversification. It feels like we need to increase our investment the R7D of artificial snow creation and controlling weather to produce snow on demand.

I think your post focuses on a very important issue. You are doing a nice job highlighting how rising temperatures and climate change are putting the wine industry at risk. California’s wine industry is a $60b industry and it may be misplaced because of climate change. I love how you are breaking out into specific buckets very concrete things that each winery can do, no matter the size: planting, canopy management, soil management, and harvesting. One very interesting point that you made is about community organizing. It is true, global warming may inspire and force many industries and players in those industries to organize in order to fight global warming.