Page 121 - Harvard Business Review, Sep/Oct 2018

INTERACTION

is very helpful. I suspect most of of something big, but at the end of
us codify entries in digital calendar the day if they do not feel recognized
applications; wouldn’t it be great for their hard work and effort,
if those applications could give us greater company purpose will be
similar data for every week, month, irrelevant.
and year? Anastasiia Harkusha-Ibrakhim,
Peter Lees, chief executive and medical market research specialist,
director, Faculty of Medical Leadership HR research, Unleash
and Management
Very inspiring, energizing, and
actionable! After reading this,
I noticed I was connecting with
my colleagues at a deeper level,
CREATING A PURPOSE- with more energy and enthusiasm.
DRIVEN ORGANIZATION And ideas for applying this at my
organization keep popping up!
THE LEADER’S HBR ARTICLE BY ROBERT E. QUINN AND These concepts and methods are
ANJAN V. THAKOR, JULY–AUGUST
so empowering.
CALENDAR When employees David Fessell, professor of radiology,
University of Michigan
are disengaged and
underperforming, the reaction
of many managers is to try
HBR ARTICLE BY MICHAEL E. PORTER AND new incentives and ratchet
NITIN NOHRIA, JULY–AUGUST up oversight and control. COLLABORATIVE
Chief executives have tremendous Yet often nothing improves. INTELLIGENCE: HUMANS AND
But there is another way,
resources at their disposal, but they AI ARE JOINING FORCES
face an acute scarcity in one critical say Quinn and Thakor: Rally
the organization behind an
area: time. Drawing on an in-depth
12-year study, this Spotlight package authentic higher purpose— HBR ARTICLE BY H. JAMES WILSON AND
an aspirational mission that
examines the unique time-management PAUL R. DAUGHERTY, JULY–AUGUST
challenges of CEOs and the best explains how employees are Artificial intelligence is
making a difference and gives
strategies for conquering them. transforming every economic
them a sense of meaning. If
I run a small company with just 55 employees, you do that, your people will sector, but there’s no reason
to fear that robots will replace
but we do business globally in a very try new things, move into deep all human employees. In fact,
competitive space. Although this article learning, and make surprising companies that automate
is about CEOs of big companies, it also contributions. The workforce operations mainly to cut head
applies to CEOs of small companies like will become energized and count will see only short-
mine. The authors’ findings are very relevant committed, and performance term productivity gains, say
and the CEOs’ experiences are surprisingly will climb. Wilson and Daugherty. Their
similar to my own. I’m glad to see that many Instilling a purpose isn’t easy. Many research, involving 1,500 firms
leaders face the same challenges and think in a range of industries, shows
they can draw on the same strategies. companies fail because they don’t that the biggest performance
successfully connect their purpose
John Sorensen, owner, Couples Resort
with employees’ day-to-day tasks improvements come when
INTERACT WITH US These findings are interesting but aren’t and activities. People like to be part humans and smart machines
The best way to enough for the average reader to make work together, enhancing each
comment on any practical behavioral changes. I imagine time- other’s strengths.
article is on
HBR.ORG. You can use averages mean little once common factors “The arrival of I’m most interested in how people
also reach us via such as industry, geography, and culture are make decisions at work. Decision
E-MAIL hbr_ taken into consideration. AI raises the
letters@hbr.org Francis Wade, president, 2Time Labs and question: How much making is not a strictly rational
FACEBOOK Framework Consulting process. The decision itself is a
facebook.com/ individuality or subjective act, a personal judgment
HBR The subdivisions of time illustrated in this based on analysis of what is
TWITTER twitter. article will be familiar to most readers, humanity is required important. Artificial intelligence
com/HarvardBiz but to see them quantified is really useful. will provide us with far better
Correspondence in jobs right now?”
may be edited for Similarly, the discussion of the relative merits analyses and knowledge, improving
space and style. of each activity, and where to reclaim time, —GARY E. RICCIO our judgment and helping us make

20 HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2018