Thinking Forward Ideas for your work from MIT Sloan School of Management

+ THREE INSIGHTS FOR THE WEEK

1. Security leaders today face a dual challenge: strengthening defenses against everyday threats while preparing for a potentially devastating attack.

To address this imperative, the Cybersecurity at MIT Sloan research group shared guidance on five critical priorities that demand leaders’ attention:

Cybersecurity risk management. Start with measuring your organization’s cyber risk, both quantitatively and qualitatively, by assessing vulnerabilities, attack frequency, and the potential impact of breaches.
Operational technology. With physical objects increasingly interconnected, organizations should take a systems approach to managing the computers that control physical infrastructure, such as power grids and water treatment facilities.
Cybersecurity governance. Consider adding a cyber expert to your board of directors. Beyond the C-suite, Liberty Mutual employs a “cybersecurity evangelist” to embed cybersecurity practices into its daily operations.
Cybersecurity resilience. Because achieving 100% security isn’t realistic, companies should create mechanisms ahead of time to minimize data loss, financial impact, and reputational damage from a potential cyberattack.
Cybersecurity culture. Build values, attitudes, and beliefs that drive cybersecurity behaviors among all employees. Cybersecurity today is a team sport; everyone must contribute to win.

2. The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 is often criticized as being weak, but new research shows that the law had a positive effect on women’s advancement in the workplace in the years immediately following its passage.

The FMLA grants U.S. employees at larger organizations the right to take unpaid leave for family or medical reasons, including for the birth, adoption, or placement of a child, although it guarantees just 12 weeks of leave and applies to only a subset of employees.

To understand the impact of the often-maligned law, MIT Sloan professor Erin Kelly and co-authors analyzed data from 785 private-sector U.S. establishments covered by the FMLA from 1990 until 1997, a period that includes the years just before and after the law’s passage.

They found a steady increase in women’s representation in management positions at those workplaces after the FMLA was enacted. Interestingly, the increase was most pronounced in organizations that had already been offering paid or unpaid maternity leave before the FMLA was passed.

The researchers consider this a “reinforcement” effect: When public policy is aligned with existing organizational frameworks, it may lead to greater improvements in women’s workplace status — and make women more willing to take advantage of these benefits.

3. Does your workplace have a “nice jerk” problem? Signs point to yes if you, or someone you work with closely, regularly exhibits any of these behaviors:

Interrupting and talking over others
Distracted “multitasking”
Showing disregard for others’ effort or expertise
Showing disregard for others’ time
Failing to include others

Writing in MIT Sloan Management Review, University of Virginia professor Jim Detert makes the case that these behaviors, in aggregate, can cause more harm than overtly abusive workplace actions such as lying or publicly insulting co-workers.

“Many people who do these things often are otherwise seen as decent, upstanding people. But if you do them often enough, I think it creates the impression that you’re a ‘nice jerk’ — someone who repeatedly shows disrespect in seemingly small ways that … have a really negative impact on people and the organization’s culture,” he writes.

To address the problem, in yourself and others, Detert recommends treating others’ time like gold, teaching and evaluating listening skills, and, most importantly, “calling B.S.” on multitasking.

“Stop accepting multitasking as an excuse when someone is not paying attention or is acting like they’re listening when they’re not,” Detert advises.

+ IDEAS THAT MATTER

6 ways businesses can leverage generative AI

Experts from Salesforce, S&P Global, and Corning share six key strategies to unlock generative AI’s potential without falling for the hype.

Generative artificial intelligence has the potential to transform enterprise performance, yet many organizations are struggling to modernize their infrastructures and integrate generative AI into legacy systems.

At the recent MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy’s Business Implications of Generative AI conference, experts mapped out a successful strategy for harnessing generative AI to amplify and support human workflows. Among their advice:

Focus on augmentation. AI systems and models can now act autonomously alongside humans, cutting costs and tackling inefficiencies.
Keep humans in the loop. Be transparent and build trust with employees about AI use, and avoid the urge to automate art and creativity.
Modernize the data infrastructure. Investing in robust, interconnected data systems is an essential first step for scaling generative AI, panelists said.
Upskill and educate talent. Equip employees with the right skills, tools, and mindset to collaborate effectively with AI while also addressing broader societal impacts.
Understand limitations. Train employees to critically evaluate AI models, understand their inherent biases and constraints, and recognize where they are most likely to fail.
Make big bets. Rather than chasing every shiny opportunity, focus on a few high-impact initiatives that will deliver measurable value and align with long-term goals.

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More than 50% of global greenhouse gas emissions can be attributed to eight supply chains across major industries — food, construction, fashion, fast-moving consumer goods, electronics, automotive, professional services, and freight — according to a 2021 report from the World Economic Forum.