This Advisor explores the growing urgency of removing space debris to safeguard Earth’s orbital environment and ensure the sustainability of future missions. With thousands of defunct satellites and fragments threatening operational spacecraft and essential Earth-based services, debris removal is increasingly viewed as critical infrastructure — akin to ocean cleanup. While promising technologies and international guidelines are emerging, challenges such as voluntary compliance, regulatory gaps, and security concerns persist.

In today’s business landscape, purpose is essential — not a side note. Yet, many purpose-driven efforts lose momentum due to common behavioral pitfalls. Drawing from the Purpose-in-Practice Community, this Advisor identifies nine traps that undermine lasting, transformative change. Avoiding these traps can help leaders embed purpose more meaningfully and sustainably across their organizations.

This Advisor distills key lessons from the Syn.ikia project’s implementation of digital twins in Uden, the Netherlands—an EU-funded initiative focused on positive-energy districts. It explores how predictive digital twins, combining building simulations with AI-driven user behavior models, can optimize renewable energy use. It also emphasizes the importance of ethical data management, user empowerment through intuitive design, and value chain collaboration to ensure digital twins enhance sustainability without alienating end users.

Achieving bold sustainability commitments requires a fundamental shift in strategy, guided by a cascade of choices from aspiration to execution. This Advisor outlines a four-phase model — aspirations, strategy, chartering, and execution — and emphasizes the importance of connecting high-level sustainability goals to operational realities. Without clear translation across levels, initiatives risk stalling. Effective transformation demands active engagement throughout the organization to embed sustainability into strategic decision-making and drive lasting value.

Despite AI’s transformative potential, over 80% of AI projects fail — double the rate of traditional IT initiatives. As this Advisor points out, key pitfalls include unclear objectives, poor data quality, inadequate infrastructure, and misaligned expectations. To reverse this trend, organizations must align AI capabilities with real-world needs, invest in robust systems, and build multidisciplinary expertise. Establishing clear metrics and knowing when to pause or pivot projects are also critical for long-term success.

This Advisor argues that professional ethics education must go beyond rules and codes of conduct to truly prepare individuals for the complex, high-stakes challenges of modern professional life. It advocates for a virtue ethics approach — rooted in purpose, character, and moral reasoning — as essential to shaping a resilient, reflective, and ethically grounded professional identity. Drawing on Stoic philosophy, the article emphasizes the importance of joy, fulfillment (eudaimonia), and the cardinal virtues as guiding principles for meaningful and ethical professional practice.

As Cutter Expert Curt Hall explores in this Advisor, AI is revolutionizing satellite data analysis for environmental applications by enabling faster, more precise, and accessible insights. GenAI streamlines data interpretation and broadens access through natural language queries, while in-space AI processing accelerates real-time analysis by eliminating the need to transmit data to Earth. Together, these advancements empower more responsive environmental monitoring, climate action, and sustainable resource management.

As Cutter Expert Curt Hall explores, AI is transforming legal systems worldwide, from AI-powered “smart judges” in China’s virtual courts to the UAE’s ambitious regulatory intelligence ecosystem designed to streamline lawmaking. These technologies promise greater efficiency, accessibility, and responsiveness in legal processes. However, they also raise critical concerns around bias, transparency, accountability, and overdependence on automation — highlighting the need for ethical frameworks and strong human oversight to ensure justice remains fair and grounded.

Great communicators and leaders distinguish themselves by mastering the art and science of asking powerful questions — of others and themselves. Clear, purposeful questions foster trust, drive innovation, and reveal hidden insights, while empathetic, well-timed inquiry builds psychological safety and emotional intelligence. Combining strategic questioning with strong interpersonal skills transforms conversations, strengthens relationships, and accelerates learning and impact.

Arthur D. Little’s three-step framework can help guide healthcare organizations toward environmental sustainability. Beginning with foundational green practices like energy efficiency and waste management, the approach then integrates broader operational initiatives such as telemedicine and clinical redesign. Finally, it addresses systemic enablers — including eco-conscious procurement, R&D innovation, and physician education — to embed sustainability across the healthcare value chain and reduce emissions at all levels.

Legacy data management practices, where insights are delayed and decisions rely on instinct, are no longer sufficient in today's fast-paced business environment. To stay competitive, organizations must decentralize decision-making and ensure frictionless, timely access to data for all employees. As this Advisor explores, a strategic, tailored approach to data recency and accessibility will define future-ready enterprises.

New global research from over 2,100 leaders reveals a critical execution gap — “digital detachment” — where senior leadership overestimates progress while failing to align culture, data use, and customer-centricity. Although many leaders express confidence and progress is evident, transformation efforts falter without a shared purpose, cultural alignment, and effective data-driven decision-making. The Advisor underscores the urgent need for leaders to shift from acknowledging challenges to taking decisive action that embeds transformation into the organization’s DNA.

Lusatia is undergoing a major transformation as part of Germany’s Energiewende, which aims for climate neutrality by 2045. Central to this transition is the Energy Innovation Center (EIZ) at Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg. Funded by the German government, EIZ drives regional structural change through interdisciplinary research, technology development, and open innovation. EIZ is developing sustainable, intelligent energy systems to replace coal. Its innovation hub, EIZ SPARK, accelerates commercialization, positioning Lusatia as a model for a just and future-ready energy transition.

With the business analytics market expected to double by 2033, organizations must move beyond descriptive and diagnostic analytics to predictive and prescriptive approaches that enable smarter decision-making, efficiency gains, and strategic agility in an increasingly data-driven world. This Advisor explores the evolving role of business analytics in transforming raw data into actionable insights that drive organizational value.

As businesses navigate the fast-approaching 2030 horizon, executives and boards must confront a complex mix of digital era opportunities and risks. Emerging technologies like AI offer powerful levers for innovation, efficiency, and growth — but they also bring challenges. In this Advisor, Cutter Fellow Noah Barsky looks at effective digital leadership tactics for the next five years.

This Advisor explores the shifting landscape of corporate responsibility, tracing its evolution from traditional corporate social responsibility (CSR) to broader frameworks like environmental, social, and governance (ESG) and beyond. Amid increasing pressure from stakeholders — particularly younger generations — companies are being called to integrate ethical, environmental, and societal considerations into their core operations, governance, and long-term value creation.

Orlando, Florida, is leveraging cutting-edge 3D technology to drive economic and community development through one of the world’s most comprehensive regional digital twins. The model recreates 40 square miles in high fidelity and is used by the Orlando Economic Partnership to attract businesses to the region. This Advisor looks at this interactive tool, which integrates data on demographics, infrastructure, and amenities, offering immersive experiences via tablets and VR headsets.

In this Advisor, we explore the vital connection between leadership and purpose, using Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as a powerful example. Amid the Russia-Ukraine war, Zelenskyy’s resolve, communication, and ability to inspire unity have rallied Ukrainians and earned global support. We argue that in times of crisis, deeply rooted trust and purpose-driven leadership are essential for resilience and survival.

This Advisor explores how sustainable farming practices can enhance climate resilience and food security in northwest India. It highlights the shift away from harmful methods like crop residue burning toward conservation agriculture techniques such as zero tillage. It also emphasizes the urgent need for policy support, public investment, and farmer-led adaptation strategies to ensure a sustainable and equitable agricultural future in the face of escalating climate change.

Cutter Expert Curt Hall explores small language models (SLMs), which are gaining attention for their ability to deliver advanced AI capabilities with lower computational costs than LLMs. Optimized for efficiency, SLMs excel in domain-specific applications like customer service, healthcare, finance, and retail, where real-time processing and reduced resource consumption are key.

This Advisor explores the real-world implementation of a change management office (CMO) and highlights key phases of execution, success metrics, and the challenges organizations face in establishing a CMO. While a well-structured CMO can drive alignment, efficiency, and adoption, overcoming resistance, resource constraints, and operational silos is essential.

This Advisor introduces the Climate Neutral Data Centre Pact (CNDCP), a key industry initiative supporting the European Green Deal. With a structured governance model and ongoing collaboration with the European Commission, the CNDCP drives the data center industry toward climate neutrality by 2030.

In this Advisor, ADL’s Eystein Thanisch, Greg Smith, and Michael Papadopoulos question whether AI will deliver on its promised productivity gains. While GenAI has surged in prominence, real-world efficiency improvements remain elusive. To maximize AI’s potential, leaders must take a strategic, human-centric approach — analyzing how AI can enhance key roles while preserving the professional skills needed to harness it effectively.

This Advisor explores the deep connection between organizational culture, leadership, and power dynamics. It highlights how cultures often develop unintentionally, reinforcing existing leadership behaviors — both good and bad. While many organizations rely on coercive or reward-based power, a shift toward collaborative and participatory leadership fosters adaptability and long-term success.

In this Advisor, we explore how AI is transforming adaptive reuse decision-making. The Reincarnate project integrates AI tools with traditional scenario methods and participatory workshops to develop 15 circular building reuse scenarios. Leveraging ChatGPT-4 for narrative insights and DALL-E for visualizations, these scenarios enhance early design stages, align stakeholder priorities, and support more informed policy and project decisions.