Why Employee Engagement Should Feel ‘Calm and Boring’ and Other Takeaways With McKesson’s Sr. Director of Talent Succession
Jenessa Disler, McKesson’s Senior Director of Talent Succession, argues that effective employee engagement should feel calm and boring, driven by role clarity, two‑way feedback, and cohesive systems. She highlights three themes for HR leaders: AI as an amplifier that frees time for human insight, clear growth pathways that link capabilities to future leadership, and foundational, aligned organizational systems that make engagement repeatable. Disler will expand on these ideas at SPARK HR 2026, offering actionable strategies for modern talent management.
Automatically Post Gemini Images to Slack From Form Submissions
Zapier now lets teams trigger Google AI Studio’s Gemini to generate brand‑aligned images whenever a form is submitted, and automatically post the result to a Slack channel. The workflow requires a single prompt that maps form fields, ensuring each visual...
How to Create an OpenAI API Key and Use the OpenAI API
The OpenAI API lets businesses move beyond the ChatGPT UI to embed AI directly into workflows, offering text, image, video, and audio generation across a range of models such as GPT‑5.4, Whisper, and Sora. The guide walks users through creating...
Eight Forces Shaping Staffing in 2026: AI, Trust and the Future of Frontline Work
The staffing landscape in 2026 is being reshaped by eight inter‑linked forces, from a 16% YoY drop in UK vacancies to heightened competition for the remaining roles. Artificial intelligence has moved from experimental pilots to core infrastructure, yet many firms...
Cassie Duvall, Mo’Bettahs
Cassie Duvall has been appointed Director of Catering at Mo’Bettahs, bringing over two decades of restaurant and hospitality expertise. She previously led Cafe Rio’s catering division, overseeing a team that expanded sales across more than 160 locations. At Cafe Rio,...
Expertise Isn’t Everything. Here’s Why Industry Experience Is Losing Its Power.
The article argues that traditional industry tenure is losing relevance as founders increasingly rely on transferable execution skills rather than deep sector mastery. Open‑source tools, AI assistants, and low‑code platforms compress learning curves, turning decade‑long expertise into a matter of...
Cost and Safety Concerns Reshape U.S. Meetings Industry, MMGY Study Finds
A new MMGY Travel Intelligence study of 300 planners and 1,000 attendees shows cost and safety dominate U.S. meetings decisions. Sixty‑three percent of planners flag travel expenses, while 72 % weigh crime levels when selecting cities. Despite these pressures, 90 % still...
How to Lead When You Can’t See the Way
Harvard Business School professor Linda A. Hill hosted an Executive Masterclass on March 4, 2026, addressing how senior leaders can navigate persistent uncertainty. The session framed today’s “fog” of geopolitics, rapid technology change, and evolving stakeholder expectations as a structural condition rather...
Making Lean, Agile and Digital Twins Work in Custom Jobs
The signage industry, traditionally a craft‑focused, custom‑joinery market, is adopting agile, digital‑twin, and lean methodologies to streamline production. Scrum‑style sprints replace rigid scopes, enabling rapid client feedback and faster approvals. Digital twins and 3D‑printed prototypes give customers realistic visualizations before...
This Former CHRO Helps Benefit Leaders Work Successfully with the C-Suite
Cynthia Burks, former Genentech CHRO turned executive coach and board chair, champions data‑driven benefits that move beyond one‑size‑fits‑all programs. She argues HR must sit at the C‑suite table, translating employee value into business language to boost engagement and talent retention....
Why Pay-for-Performance Programs Don’t Always Work
A new McLean & Co. study finds that while 69% of HR leaders view total compensation as critical, only a quarter feel truly effective at designing pay‑for‑performance programs. Employees who are satisfied with their overall pay are 1.8 times more...
Government Launches Gender Pay Gap and Menopause Action Plans
The UK government has launched voluntary equality action plans requiring firms with 250 or more staff to detail how they will close gender pay gaps and support menopausal employees, with a dedicated portal for publication. From spring 2027 the measures...
When AI Challenges Strategy
Artificial intelligence is reshaping corporate strategy, turning static roadmaps into dynamic, real‑time plans. Executives face heightened volatility as AI accelerates decision cycles and market signals shift faster than traditional forecasts. In a candid HBR interview, chief strategy officers from Penske...
Better Email to Action Game Plan For Your Workflows
The article outlines a seven‑step email‑to‑action framework designed to slash the time professionals spend in inboxes. It cites a McKinsey study showing 28% of the workweek is devoted to email and argues that structured workflows can cut reply chains by...
Widewaters Selects Schulte Hospitality Group to Operate Hotels
Widewaters has appointed Schulte Hospitality Group (SHG) to manage its portfolio of seven hotels, covering day‑to‑day operations, revenue management, sales and marketing, and food‑and‑beverage programming. The partnership also retains Basin Ventures as the asset‑management overseer to drive value across the...
The Power to Pivot: Operational Velocity as a Key Retail Metric
Retail leaders are urged to prioritize operational velocity—the speed at which campaigns, inventory signals, and creative assets can be adjusted—over merely tracking click costs. The article argues that agility, not additional tools, is the true growth catalyst, recommending automated kill...
Why Most Enterprise SEO Operating Models Are Structurally Broken via @Sejournal, @Billhunt
Enterprise SEO is failing not because of tactics but due to downstream operating models that treat SEO as a post‑launch audit. Most large firms place SEO inside marketing, relegating it to ticket‑driven fixes after product, content, and development decisions are...
How CIOs Can Build an Evolving Crisis Strategy
CIOs must treat crisis strategies as living documents, revisiting them at least quarterly as new services, integrations, and threat vectors emerge. Experts from Pynest, Tufin, and Euristiq stress defining clear decision‑making roles, integrating automation, and simplifying language to ensure rapid...
How to Fix Knowledge and Process Communications Gaps
At APQC CONNECT 2026, leaders from health care, cloud services, education, finance and manufacturing exposed persistent gaps between people, processes and knowledge. They cited unclear ownership, siloed tools and treating knowledge management as an after‑thought as primary culprits. Across the...
Scaling Organizational Structure with Meshery’s Expanding Ecosystem
Meshery, one of the fastest‑growing CNCF projects, announced the split of its GitHub repositories into two organizations: github.com/meshery for the core platform and github.com/meshery-extensions for extensions and integrations. The partition aims to improve modularity, scalability, and community ownership by allowing the core...
5 Ways Leaders Lose the Room without Realizing It
Leaders often mistake a polished slide deck for effective communication, leaving the room disengaged and ideas unabsorbed. The article highlights how the illusion of alignment can cause meetings to feel empty, even when time and resources are invested. It outlines...
AI Recruiter Screens: What We Learned and Why We'll Keep Going
Zapier’s Talent Acquisition team piloted AI‑driven recruiter screens with Ezra AI Labs, processing roughly 250 interviews. The experiment cut screen time by 66%, from eight days to 2.75 days, and freed about 84 recruiter hours, equating to 5‑6 extra weekly...
How I Used Automation and AI to Redefine the EA Role
At Zapier, an executive assistant transformed a traditionally manual role by embedding automation and generative AI into daily workflows. By automating calendar triage, meeting prep, travel logistics and AI‑driven note‑taking, routine tasks shrank from 20‑30 minutes to under two minutes....
Good Trouble
Bruce Hamilton recounts how Douglas McGregor’s Theory X and Theory Y framework shaped his 1988 effort to transform a U.S. factory from a fear‑driven, autocratic culture into a Shingo‑Prize‑winning, employee‑centric operation. He describes confronting a list of so‑called “troublemakers” and using respectful dialogue...
A Roadmap for Equipment Health Scoring Across Multiple Plants
Chris LaCorata outlines a step‑by‑step roadmap for building an equipment health‑scoring system that spans multiple plants. The approach uses the DMAIC Six‑Sigma framework, a beta‑plant audit, and FMEA‑based risk scoring to translate condition data into financial impact metrics. Finance then...
From Operations to Orchestration: The CSCO’s Nexus Role in a Synergistic C-Suite
The chief supply chain officer (CSCO) is transitioning from a traditional logistics and cost‑control role to an enterprise‑wide orchestrator, linking finance, technology, and marketing. This evolution, termed "Nexus Leadership," reflects the need for coordinated execution across the C‑suite in an...
Expanding Internationally? The Old Playbook Is Broken — Here’s What’s Replacing It.
The traditional global‑expansion playbook—establish a legal entity then hire locally—is being replaced by a flexible, three‑model approach. Companies now blend entity‑based employment, Employer of Record (EOR) services, and contractor relationships, selecting the optimal model per market, role, and objective. This...
Is Efficiency Actually Driving Engagement (or Quietly Killing It?)
The article argues that the drive for efficiency—through AI and automation—has not translated into higher employee engagement. Gallup data shows engagement at a decade low of 31%, while boredom rises. Leaders are prioritizing speed over autonomy, purpose, and connection, creating...
This School Crossing Guard’s Side Hustle Earns $14,000 a Month: ‘The Response to It Has Been Crazy’
Christine Tyler Hill, a Burlington crossing guard, turned her 50‑minute morning shift into a handwritten, illustrated mail club. Launched in January 2026, the eight‑page magazine quickly amassed 2,000 paying subscribers and a waiting list of over 3,600. At $8 a...
From Faking a Business to 25,000 Stores — Here’s the Simple Strategy That Landed Her Deals With Walmart and Target
Vanessa Phillips turned a personal celiac diagnosis into a $‑free frozen food empire, launching Feel Good Foods with gluten‑free dumplings that landed a Whole Foods order for 27 stores. She built the brand by hand‑selling samples, correcting packaging errors on...
Our Guide to the Spring 2026 Issue
The MIT Sloan Management Review's Spring 2026 issue compiles ten research‑driven articles that map the evolving landscape of corporate innovation and transformation. Highlights include a framework for strategic innovation in mature firms, guidance on building effective venture studios, and evidence...
How “Deep Industry Research Agents” Can Change Your Organization
Corporate AI investments often chase new products, but immediate gains lie in service‑productivity. Deep Industry Research Agents (DIRAs) are domain‑specific, end‑to‑end AI analysts that diagnose and resolve exception cases, as demonstrated with asset manager PIMCO. Over eight months the agents...
Peer Influence Can Make or Break Your AI Rollout
Microsoft researchers surveyed 557 U.S. information workers on AI usage. They found that peer influence is the strongest driver of heavy generative AI adoption, increasing the likelihood of daily use by 8.9 percentage points, surpassing formal training and leader messaging....
Boardroom Shunting Ops at DB Cargo UK
DB Cargo UK announced a senior‑leadership reshuffle aimed at tightening commercial, operational and project functions. Roger Neary moves from chief sales officer to chief commercial officer, merging sales, commercial development and engineering under one umbrella. Kate Turner is promoted to...
The Children’s Place Expands Sourcing Chief’s Remit in Turnaround Push
The Children’s Place has broadened SVP Kristin Clifford’s responsibilities to include product operations, international and technical design, alongside her existing sourcing duties, effective February 24, 2026. The reshuffle also adds Kim Roy as executive director overseeing design, merchandising, planning and...
How PMI’s Outcome‑Driven EA Practice Won the 2025 Forrester EA Award
Philip Morris International (PMI) won the 2025 Forrester EA Award after its Enterprise Architecture & Technology Transformation team built an AI Factory, deployed generative AI tools to 35,000 employees, and delivered over 450 AI use cases. The team rewrote the...
What Does a Chief Sales Officer Do?
The Chief Sales Officer (CSO) is a C‑suite executive who owns the entire sales function, from strategy and revenue targets to pipeline and territory planning. Reporting to the CEO, the CSO works closely with the CMO and CRO to align...
6 Ways to Automate Gemini (Google AI Studio) with Zapier
Google’s Gemini model is now accessible through Zapier’s Google AI Studio integration, enabling businesses to embed generative AI across thousands of apps without custom code. The article outlines six practical use cases—from automated email drafting and labeling to multimodal analysis...
Zapier Lead Router: Automatically Distribute Leads to Your Sales Team
Zapier has launched Lead Router, a beta tool that automates lead distribution across sales teams using customizable rules. Users create queues and routers to apply round‑robin, weighted, or territory‑based logic, with a mandatory fallback assignment to catch unmatched leads. The...
When Test Results Can’t Be Trusted: Solving Repeatability and Measurement Drift
Laboratories often assume test repeatability, yet subtle shifts in equipment, operators, and environment cause measurement drift that goes unnoticed until costly failures emerge. In paint labs, consistent pass results mask growing variability, leading to rework, delayed product launches, and regulatory...
Skills-Based Organisations: What HR Needs From L&D in 2026
Business leaders face accelerating capability gaps as new technologies, regulations and restructurings demand faster reskilling. The CBI estimates nine in ten employees will need new skills by 2030, and 87% of firms already see gaps. A skills‑based organisation replaces static...
AHA’s Hood Shares How Governance, Trust Can Shape Health Care Organizations
American Hospital Association’s Trustee Insights features Executive Vice President and COO Michelle Hood, who draws on four decades of leadership to discuss how strong governance, trust, and active board engagement can build resilient health‑care organizations. The piece underscores the need...
8 Tax Pitfalls to Avoid When Expanding Your U.S. Startup Overseas
The article outlines eight tax pitfalls U.S. startups face when expanding overseas, from permanent‑establishment risks to state‑tax nexus. It explains how U.S. worldwide taxation, foreign filing obligations, and local sales taxes can generate unexpected liabilities. Early strategic planning and specialist...
The Neuroscience Behind Why Leaders Stall Under Pressure — and What to Do About It
The article links leaders’ decision‑making stalls to a neurological split between the right brain’s idea‑generation and the left brain’s editing functions. Under high stress, the nervous system defaults to the left brain, creating a "checked‑up" state that suppresses creativity and...
Project Planning and Timelines Guide: Tools and Best Practices
The guide outlines how project planning and timelines work together to give teams structure, direction, and visibility. It breaks down core plan components—scope, stakeholders, dependencies, risk—and walks readers through seven planning stages from initiation to execution. The article compares planning,...
How Corporations Can Use This Simple Solution to Beat Turnover and Supercharge Innovation
Corporations are turning to Venture Capital‑as‑a‑Service (VCaaS) to solve chronic turnover in internal corporate venture capital (CVC) teams. High staff churn erodes institutional knowledge, slows deal flow, and damages startup relationships, undermining innovation goals. VCaaS providers supply seasoned investors who...
Best Data Discovery Tools in 2026 for Product, Network, and IT Assets
Data discovery tools are essential for uncovering product, network, and IT assets, providing the first step toward risk mitigation and operational optimization. The article outlines top‑rated 2026 solutions—Productboard, Amplitude, Fullstory, Pendo for product; Auvik, SolarWinds NPM, Paessler PRTG, Domotz for...
Advanced Systems Group Ups Gretchen Taipale To VP, Managed Services
Advanced Systems Group (ASG) promoted Gretchen Taipale to vice president of Managed Services, succeeding Jody Boatwright who moved to chief strategy officer. In her new role, Taipale will steer the strategic direction and delivery of media operations for a global...
Iran War Shakes Up Global Shipping Routes
The U.S.-Israeli strike on Iranian targets and Tehran's retaliatory actions have caused a sudden shutdown of maritime traffic in the Gulf of Oman, especially the Strait of Hormuz. Ship groundings and heightened naval alerts have crippled oil tanker movements and...
Krafton Is Not Planning to Restructure Its Workforce, Despite New Corporate Vision
Krafton announced a refreshed corporate vision on February 26, introducing new core values to guide its long‑term strategy. The Korean game maker emphasized that the vision will not trigger layoffs or additional hiring. By codifying priorities around player experience, technology,...