The winner of the Small Biz Salute Pitch Off contest imagines a new day for STEM learning.
Bryanne Leeming
| Unruly Studios
Entrepreneur Bryanne Leeming dreamed of a digital playground, one that would prepare children for the world of tomorrow – while giving them some good, healthy fun. So she got to work designing a toy that could teach kids to code. The challenge: How do you make a teaching aid that kids actually want during playtime? […]
Butting heads with the same coworker again and again? These six tips will help you work with that person you just don't like.
Mark Nevins
| Harvard Business Review
A few months ago, a former client – let’s call her Kacie – called me to check in. I had supported her through her transition when she had joined a prestigious global financial services firm several months prior. Given how deliberately and thoughtfully she’d gone through the process, I expected that our conversation would be about her […]
Whether in a startup or a multinational corporation, these tips can help you discover new innovations.
When your work centers around innovation, a big part of your job is searching for new ideas. But in our world of instant global information, there are so many new ideas that keeping up has become a full-time job. You just don’t have the time to read them all, much less digest them. Don’t get […]
Trying to build a diverse and inclusive workforce? These three beliefs might be limiting your progress.
Stacey Gordon
| Fast Company
We’ve all heard the support (and statistics) for why diversity is good for business and improves the bottom line. Yet very few businesses are making significant progress. The tech industry, for example, has barely moved the needle in diversity numbers despite many public efforts. To an extent, successes from diversity and inclusion efforts involve some trial and […]
All of us, working together, can create a more sustainable, livable future.
The business case for commercial fleets to go electric is getting stronger as technology advances reduce costs and companies search for viable solutions to growing urbanization and environmental challenges. While significant barriers remain, fleet operators around the world are evaluating their needs to determine where electrification can fit into their business strategy. A shift to […]
If technology is the engine that powers our transformation, then data and analytics are the fuel.
The package delivery and logistics business has always been where the rubber meets the road – literally. Shippers rely on their logistics partners to get items from one location to another and usually on a deadline. There’s little margin for error and no excuse for unmet commitments. Over the years, global commerce shrunk our world, […]
The delivery giant’s new machine-learning app aims to reroute packages away from snow and other trouble spots in its global network.
Elizabeth Woyke
| MIT Technology Review
If a snowstorm hits Denver, it can delay thousands of packages that travel through the city before reaching their final destinations on the other side of the country. But if UPS knows a storm is coming, what is the most efficient way to divert all those online orders and holiday gifts around the bad weather? […]
UPS President of Global Healthcare Logistics Strategy Chris Cassidy breaks down the latest innovations in managing healthcare supply chains.
Merrill Douglas
| Inbound Logistics
Chris Cassidy was 8 years old when healthcare became a major theme in his life. Playing with friends, Cassidy was accidentally struck in the head with a golf club. At first, his doctor didn’t realize the seriousness of the injury. Had Cassidy’s mother not pressed for a CT scan, the boy might have died. “My […]
Global consumers are tapping into the power of choice, control and convenience.
Ever heard of the digital divide? It’s the developing gap between people with and without access to computers and broadband – the digital haves and have-nots, if you will. The proliferation of smartphones and other mobile devices opened another path to the internet for more people, but much work remains to bring the digital world […]
By doing these three things, retailers can get ahead of the influx of unwanted items – and turn returns into a competitive advantage.
The season of holiday shopping is here, and retailers are preparing for record traffic, excited shoppers and peak sales. But are they accounting for the associated influx of returns? In some product categories, return rates can approach 30 to 40 percent – and that number is at an all-time high during the holidays. In a recent […]
An editor from the "Fashion Bible" talks about the growing role of the supply chain in retail success.
Fashion and logistics don’t seem like they have much in common. But to WWD, they are two sides of the same coin. The Manhattan-based publication, long known as Women’s Wear Daily, wants to cover the intersection of the business of fashion and the logistics behind it. Longitudes spoke with WWD Executive Editor Arthur Zaczkiewicz about […]
It’s important to look at your business from every angle and identify potential problems before they wreak havoc on your bottom line.
Brian Moran
| Small Business Expert
The holiday season can be a joyful, magical time of the year. Everything looks so festive, and people are in cheerful moods (most of the time). However, if your business relies heavily on holiday sales, the final two months of the year can be quite hectic and stressful. Most retailers are acutely aware of the […]
We're on the verge of a seminal moment in how we shop – one we'll view as the real beginning of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
Andrew Busby
| Retail Reflections
Editor’s Note: With another record-breaking holiday shopping season underway, we can think of no better time to put the spotlight on retail. Beginning today, Cyber Monday, we’re getting in the retail spirit all week on Longitudes. Stay tuned each day for a look at the state of modern retail and where the industry is heading […]
What if we streamlined returns to reduce costs and our carbon footprint?
Retailers have made it easier and cheaper than ever before to purchase and return products online. While this is great for consumers, it’s bad for business – and even worse for the environment. UPS’s Aparna Mehta asks: What if we streamlined returns to reduce costs and our carbon footprint?
The most important function of holiday rituals is their role in maintaining and strengthening family ties.
Dimitris Xygalatas
| University of Connecticut
The mere thought of holiday traditions brings smiles to most people’s faces and elicits feelings of sweet anticipation and nostalgia. We can almost smell those candles, taste those special meals, hear those familiar songs in our minds. Ritual marks some of the most important moments in our lives – from personal milestones like birthdays and […]
Just imagine the problems the world’s designers and engineers could solve with the computer as an actual partner, not just a tool.
It is my view that generative design is the most exciting development the manufacturing industry has seen in the past 20-plus years. If that sounds like an overstatement – or you’re unsure about generative design altogether – let me share some examples that might open your mind a bit. But first, let me clarify what generative design is – and […]
At UPS, we’ve learned many lessons on our journey to building the fleet of tomorrow. Here’s what stands out.
Fleet electrification is an exciting component in UPS’s use of emerging technologies and an important element in helping the company achieve its ambitious sustainability goals. A “rolling laboratory” of approximately 9,300 alternative fuel and advanced technology vehicles driving more than 1 million cleaner miles each business day fuels our journey toward a less carbon-intensive future. […]
While stories of revolutionary breakthroughs take on mythical origins, turning creative ideas into actual reality requires great leadership.
Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic
| Harvard Business Review
Reece Akhtar
| Harvard Business Review
In any team or organization, some individuals are consistently more likely to come up with ideas that are both novel and useful. These ideas are the seeds of innovation: the intellectual foundation for any new products and services that enable some organizations to gain a competitive advantage over others. However, organizations are often unable to put in place […]
Any path to real transformation requires collective action from a wide range of stakeholders.
Earlier this fall, I took part in two climate action events dedicated to a critical issue: how the continued growth of cities will challenge the way we live and do business. At the Global Climate Action Summit (GCAS) led by California Gov. Jerry Brown, thousands of people from around the world gathered in San Francisco […]
Unlocking Design Thinking: Part II
As Tim Brown sees it, the great problem for organizations today is they struggle to think far enough into the future. That’s because they don’t have the ecosystem or the people in place to anticipate where the world is heading. But the CEO and President of IDEO is bringing together leaders from different backgrounds, industries […]
As a small business owner, you have to work hard and know when to walk through the door of luck.
Judith Hoffman
| Chorus Films
Editor’s Note: We’re putting the focus on entrepreneurs who are getting big results out of their upstart companies. This article is part of an ongoing series of interviews with women small business owners – you can read all the interviews here. If there’s one thing you need in the entertainment industry, it’s confidence. Judith Hoffman, CEO […]
As city planners make urban growth more efficient and less costly, blockchain has a transformative – but specific – power.
Blockchain can do some amazing things. It pushes the frontier of how we exchange and use data. It opens up new possibilities for how we do business and how we respond to exceptions in a normal process flow. But it doesn’t solve every problem. If you live in a city, you’re familiar with the need […]
To make real gains in supply chain transparency, it’s important to keep these two perspectives in mind.
Kelly Barner
| Buyers Meeting Point
Procurement and supply chain management are logical functions. Work through a process, and you can bring spend and transactions into a managed state. Apply a framework, and you can bring structure to seemingly disorderly activity. Implement technology, and tasks will be completed faster and more efficiently than ever before. Centralize and cleanse data, and you […]
Work culture isn’t something you can turn on and off. It’s something you need to cultivate over time.
Kelli Dragovich
| Fast Company
Patty McCord
| Fast Company
Successful companies are built on the foundation of great talent. Having a strong employer brand can be among a company’s strongest assets because if you want your company to meet its business goals, you have to attract top talent. Your corporate brand will reflect your market, customers and financial success, but your employer brand will depend on […]
Here’s how to assemble your personal dream team.
Everyone can use a mentor. Scratch that – as it turns out, we could all use five mentors. “The best mentors can help us define and express our inner calling,” says Anthony Tjan, CEO of Boston venture capital firm Cue Ball Group and author of Good People. “But rarely can one person give you everything you need to grow.” In this […]
Here are five practical priorities we can focus on today to prepare for tomorrow.
Julia Luscombe
| Feeding America
Like many millennials, I spend my morning commute sifting through texts, emails and headlines on my phone. The news offers an odd blend of learning about robot backpacks that support remote collaboration and reading about the millions of Venezuelans fleeing poverty and violence. It’s a daily reminder of how divided and unequal the world still is. As […]
Unlocking Design Thinking: Part I
When you hear the name Tim Brown (not the football player), the words design thinking are likely to follow. As a leading influencer of the design thinking movement, Tim encourages companies to solve problems primarily through the lens of what people need. In other words, Tim wants us all to think more like designers. In this […]
Companies too often have the attitude that one woman on a board or in a position of seniority is enough. It's time to end that fallacy.
Kiran Trehan
| University of Birmingham
Women CEOs of large firms are a rare breed. In the U.S. in 2015, there were more CEOs called John running big companies than women. In 2016, there were only six female CEOs in the firms covered by the FTSE 100 index and 12 in the FTSE 250 index. In the FTSE 100, there were […]
By effectively sharing information with those in the anti-trafficking community, we can get closer to ending modern-day slavery.
Bill Peace
| STOP THE TRAFFIK
After serving as Deputy Director of Intelligence for the UK Serious Organised Crime Agency – similar to the FBI in the United States – I found that “retiring” really wasn’t an option for me. I couldn’t walk away from the fight against human trafficking and other forms of modern slavery. It’s just too important. And […]
Citizens, businesses and governments must work together to develop the tools to help cities become truly smart and sustainable.
We are living in interesting times. As Charles Dickens might put it, it is perhaps the best of times for tech companies. The digital revolution is mind-blowing. But for some people, it could be the worst of times, given the global crises and challenges for humanity. One thing is certain: We live in a world […]
