Amid the 2008 US housing market debacle, I offered some insight into how ineffective risk-mitigation efforts contributed to the financial contagion that spread across the globe. Given the latest banking crisis involving SVB, it might be useful to revisit some of those ideas.

Business won’t function if nature continues to decline. Resources like water, soil, food, fiber, and minerals, and ecosystem services like crop pollination, water filtration, and climate regulation all contribute to business success and human livelihoods. Take these away, and companies will cease to function effectively. The opposite is also true. When harnessed responsibly, natural abundance and regenerative natural systems translate into productive growth, both for companies and the communities they serve. Business and finance, therefore, have a critical role to play in protecting and restoring nature.

In this Advisor, Matthew Walsh explores the results of in-depth research conducted to identify the inequities that women of color experience in the technology industry. If employers can tap into a skills-similar, tech-eligible workforce revealed by the Equation for Equality, there would be nearly 250,000 more women of color in tech jobs today, double the number currently in tech.

We conducted an empirical study in Malaysia with IT practitioners and confirmed that communication plays a vital role in project success. Our study probed the influence of five communication characteristics: content, method, velocity, process, and frequency, and how they can propel a team toward success. With the exception of frequency, the findings showed that the remaining characteristics influenced project success.

This two-part Advisor series examines new developments in methane reduction. Here in Part I, we look at efforts to reduce methane emissions in agriculture, the largest industry contributor (from human-related activities) to methane in the atmosphere.

In this Advisor, we argue that disruption in banking is not being driven by technological achievements like artificial intelligence, decentralized platforms, or mobile computing. Rather, changes are the result of: (1) technology commoditization and (2) industry actors pursuing strategic interests and repositioning themselves within the sector as disruptors, innovators, and fashion-setters. Envisioning a technology agora where technological artifacts are developed and commoditized and interested parties exercise influence over innovation choices, we will see that fintechs and banks are not so much competing with each other as they are collaborating.

The case study presented in this Advisor demonstrates the scientific approach to solutions for business biodiversity challenges and highlights how the resulting evidence can be channeled into nature positive management actions.

To address the gap between DAO awareness and adoption, along with the prevalent misconceptions and skepticism surrounding them, we seek to understand why some DAOs succeed and others fail through an industry-specific lens.

This Advisor enumerates classic leadership mistakes made in turbulent times and provides guidance on how to adapt to this turbulence.

Legacy industrial sites ("brownfield sites") can be found across the US. Brownfield site redevelopment is commonplace, especially along the Eastern Seaboard, a stronghold of former industrial sites. Many of these sites have undergone a level of ecological succession during decades of unuse. This, combined with their proximity to major waterways, makes them prime locations for occupation by endemic (local) species. This Advisor provides an overview of brownfield redevelopment through a biodiversity and species-conflict lens.

Generative AI systems have exploded on the scene, and companies are using them for business. Currently, the more common enterprise uses of the technology include for automating design and for providing semiautomated responses to customer requests. That said, companies like Audi are employing generative AI to develop cutting-edge applications that can give them a leg-up on competitors.

As we explore in this Advisor, breaking free from the execution trap is often the single biggest thing leaders can do to increase their impact. Even better, breaking yourself free from the execution trap can also help break the whole organization free.

The time is right for innovative tools, metrics, frame­works, and models that can convince businesses, governments, investors, and practitioners that systemic change is both needed and possible. For agriculture in particular, regenerating and revitalizing the entire ecosystem of the farm can and needs to contribute to mitigating climate change effects, strengthening biodiversity, and ensuring a satisfactory livelihood for farmers.

Human-centric functional modeling (HCFM) is a way to allow computers to solve general problems. HCFM represents problems via constructs called “functional state spaces.” These hypothetical functional state spaces are special types of knowledge graphs used to model systems. Functional state spaces are required for general collective intelligence (GCI) and are of unprecedented importance if, as predicted, GCI can exponentially increase our capacity to understand systems.

As we explore in this Advisor, several strategies form the foundation of sound decision-making in turbulent environments. These strategies involve creating a culture of candor, encouraging constructive conflict, fostering disciplined experimentation, and making systematic reflection a habit in the organization.

Although coastal wetlands cover less than 2% of the total ocean area, they account for approximately 50% of all carbon stored within ocean sediments. Consistent efforts are needed to ensure that such ecosystems are neither degraded nor damaged. This would result in the loss of their carbon-sink capacity, resulting in the release of large quantities of CO2 into the atmosphere. Projects to conserve, manage, and/or restore coastal ecosystems are essential to preventing this.

This Advisor explores the use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) systems and other large language models for customer service and CX management. These systems are expected to significantly increase the ability of customer service platforms to provide detailed responses to customer service requests. Generative AI systems are also widely applicable for supporting and enhancing customer engagement as well.

A decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) is a new form of organization that aims to orchestrate work and appropriation of shared capital independently of central control to attain espoused objectives through self-executing rules encoded in crypto tokens. Understanding how digital tokens govern work and organizing in virtual organizations can unravel important questions for leaders and managers of traditional organizations.

This Advisor explores the Detroit Tree Equity Partnership (DTEP), a US $30 million investment in Detroit to increase the city’s tree canopy and all the benefits that come with that.

In this final installment of our series on cybersecurity awareness, we reiterate the notion that awareness alone is not adequate; it needs to result in appropriate action. This Advisor focuses on more of those actions, specifically growing cybersecurity career opportunities and ensuring the security of the digital future.

This Advisor offers a refresher on three new rules that can help leaders identify, assess, and manage digital era risk.

As we explore in this Advisor, businesses can respond to biodiversity loss by laying out an enabling environment for various partnerships where trust, reputation, and stakeholder engagement are foundational.

Generative AI is already dramatically influencing the commercial use of AI. And its fast, widespread adoption holds far-reaching technological, social, and business implications — including for the democratization of AI.

This Advisor presents advice on how to "lead with intent" in the remote/hybrid workplace, focusing on eight key elements of effective leadership.