What these five Halloween fiends can teach you about the workplace
Monsters have traditionally been a way to represent common anxieties and open a conversation about how to resolve those worries. Here is a breakdown of how five fell fiends in particular can shine a light on what worries us at work and the strategies to cope with those concerns.
Mbappé, Mao And A Meme: What Brands Learn When Their Star Goes Off Script
Kylian Mbappé has had quite a week. Real Madrid beat Barcelona in El Clásico, and on Monday night he finished runner-up to Harry Kane at the Ballon d'Or. By Tuesday morning, three Chinese companies had ended their partnerships with him. Do celebrity ambassadors pay off for brands, and how can they prepare for an ambassador crisis?
Executive Education Is Changing. Business Schools Need To Change With It
Executive Education is no longer a “nice to have” aspect of professional life. Increasingly, professionals are finding that standard business qualifications such as the MBA, no matter their robustness, need to be topped up with additional and lifelong learning.
What Happens To Women Who Try To Get Ahead?
Despite more progressive attitudes, traditional gender stereotypes still exist and still hold influence over how women can navigate both personal and professional life.
Before We Shut Down Business Schools, Ask The People Who Went
The reaction to a NY Times article by business school professor, Chris Marquis saying it is time to shut business schools down has been extraordinary. Every voice so far seems to belong to a professor or a dean. The people who actually sat in the MBA classroom have barely been asked.
Why Researchers May Need To Rethink Collectivism
For decades, the word “collectivism” has been used by academics to describe cultures that place greater emphasis on the group than the individual. But what if researchers have measured this idea insufficiently?
Top Professors To Follow If You’re Interested In DEI
Diversity, equity, and inclusion must not be pushed aside. Fair treatment affects everyone. Here are the top DEI experts to follow on LinkedIn.
BlueSky BookShelf Meets… Bart Jansen
Tech giants are setting the rule book on digital life and our access to it whilst asset managers are wielding powers once left to governments. Is it time we readdressed the ethics of it all? Bart Jansen explains in his latest book.
Tech & Innovation ›
Bird’s Eye: Is It The End Of Maths, Brexit, And Disinformation?
Our columnist Jamie Hose explores the dark side of increasingly clever AI, the vulnerabilities of data centres and shifting political perspectives, with the help of some expert voices.
Will Tesla’s Flying Car Stunt Sell Cars, Win Engineers And Bring On A SpaceX Merger?
Tesla's new Roadster flipped over a lorry at a SpaceX test site and lit up social media. What do three seconds in the air buy a carmaker with flat sales and a CEO who may want to fold it into his rocket company?
Is AI Making You A Better Procrastinator?
Procrastinators are rarely idle, according to Stanford philosopher, John Perry. They're often extremely busy, doing almost anything other than the one thing they should be doing. Now you can hand a half-formed thought to an AI agent and tell it to get going. It obliges instantly. It feels as though a great deal of work is getting done. But the thinking still has to happen.
BlueSky Bookshelf meets Hamilton Mann: Trias Algorithmica
Hamilton Mann's new book, Trias Algorithmica: What Code Rules, moves from the integrity of AI systems to the legitimacy of algorithmic power. We spoke to Mann about why a lawful system can still be illegitimate, what independent approval for AI would look like before it reaches the public, and the one question that reveals whether a company's AI governance is real: who can stop whom?
StartUp Culture ›
Harvard Can Count Its Unicorn Founders, But Can It Prove It Made Them?
For years, business schools have been good at counting the unicorns among their alumni. The next challenge is demonstrating the role they played in creating them. Maybe what matters is the ability to connect: management with engineering, ideas with capital, researchers with operators, people who want to start something with people who already have.
INSEAD And Harvard Have Solved Sharing With Strangers. But Can MBAs Solve Sharing With Neighbours?
Private vehicles sit unused for 95% of their lifetime. The average power drill is used for between 12 and 15 minutes across its entire ownership. Most households own things they use so rarely that the per-use cost, if you added it up, would be absurd. The sharing economy exists to solve exactly this, and MBA students have used business school to pursue their ideas.
5 Reasons Why OpenAI Could Be Tomorrow’s Forgotten Pioneer
In 1995, Netscape staged one of the most electrifying IPOs in Wall Street history. Within four years, it was absorbed by AOL for a fraction of its peak valuation. Now OpenAI is valued at somewhere north of $300 billion. The consensus, once again, is that we are in the presence of an inevitable winner. History suggests a little more scepticism is warranted.
Before You Just Do It, Ask What an Equity Stake Really Means for Your Career
The graphic design student who came up with the Nike Swoosh was paid $35 for her work. Three years later when Nike went public, the CEO Phil Knight gave her 500 shares. She never sold a single share, and they are now worth a small fortune. The upside of equity compensation can be extraordinary. So can the downside.
Better Business ›
Mbappé, Mao And A Meme: What Brands Learn When Their Star Goes Off Script
Kylian Mbappé has had quite a week. Real Madrid beat Barcelona in El Clásico, and on Monday night he finished runner-up to Harry Kane at the Ballon d'Or. By Tuesday morning, three Chinese companies had ended their partnerships with him. Do celebrity ambassadors pay off for brands, and how can they prepare for an ambassador crisis?
Executive Education Is Changing. Business Schools Need To Change With It
Executive Education is no longer a “nice to have” aspect of professional life. Increasingly, professionals are finding that standard business qualifications such as the MBA, no matter their robustness, need to be topped up with additional and lifelong learning.
BlueSky BookShelf Meets… Bart Jansen
Tech giants are setting the rule book on digital life and our access to it whilst asset managers are wielding powers once left to governments. Is it time we readdressed the ethics of it all? Bart Jansen explains in his latest book.
Five Things You Need To Know About GMAC’s Latest Future Of Graduate Management Education Report
We’ve summarised five key insights from GMAC's latest Future of Graduate Management Education Report
World View ›
Why Researchers May Need To Rethink Collectivism
For decades, the word “collectivism” has been used by academics to describe cultures that place greater emphasis on the group than the individual. But what if researchers have measured this idea insufficiently?
Bird’s Eye: Is It The End Of Maths, Brexit, And Disinformation?
Our columnist Jamie Hose explores the dark side of increasingly clever AI, the vulnerabilities of data centres and shifting political perspectives, with the help of some expert voices.
The $70,000 OPT Fee For International Students That Turns Tomorrow’s Business Leaders Away From the U.S.
Six of the tech leaders at last week's White House AI lunch came to America as international students. Under a new DHS proposal, the schools that trained them would now pay $70,000 each to let their successors stay and work. Washington wants to turn America's universities into a toll booth on the road from campus to career.
Where Should Harvard Business School Build An International Campus?
The FT reported that Harvard Business School spent part of last year working out how to teach its MBA somewhere other than Boston, holding talks with schools in Europe and Canada. Harvard says the trigger was the threat to international student visas, that the threat receded, and that nothing further is under way. Let's say the file never got closed. Where in the world does an M7 school put its second home?
CSR & Sustainability ›
Are We Witnessing The Downfall Of Shein?
Fast fashion brands face criticism from Gen Z consumers over greenwashing claims and unsustainable practices.
The Benefits Hobbies Have For Your Career
Google Trends data showed searches for “analogue hobbies” rose by 160% over a 30-day period. But what benefits do these hobbies actually offer?
The World Is On Fire – How Much Will That Cost?
The Met Office released a plausible 2056 scenario in which temperatures in England could peak at 45°C. But how much will that cost?
Why Should You Study At A B Corp Certified Business School?
As students become ever more motivated by societal impact, schools which have achieved B Corp status are an increasingly appealing prospect.
Learning & Careers ›
Executive Education Is Changing. Business Schools Need To Change With It
Executive Education is no longer a “nice to have” aspect of professional life. Increasingly, professionals are finding that standard business qualifications such as the MBA, no matter their robustness, need to be topped up with additional and lifelong learning.
Before We Shut Down Business Schools, Ask The People Who Went
The reaction to a NY Times article by business school professor, Chris Marquis saying it is time to shut business schools down has been extraordinary. Every voice so far seems to belong to a professor or a dean. The people who actually sat in the MBA classroom have barely been asked.
Top Professors To Follow If You’re Interested In DEI
Diversity, equity, and inclusion must not be pushed aside. Fair treatment affects everyone. Here are the top DEI experts to follow on LinkedIn.
Five Things You Need To Know About GMAC’s Latest Future Of Graduate Management Education Report
We’ve summarised five key insights from GMAC's latest Future of Graduate Management Education Report
Mbappé, Mao And A Meme: What Brands Learn When Their Star Goes Off Script
Kylian Mbappé has had quite a week. Real Madrid beat Barcelona in El Clásico, and on Monday night he finished runner-up to Harry Kane at the Ballon d'Or. By Tuesday morning, three Chinese companies had ended their partnerships with him. Do celebrity ambassadors pay off for brands, and how can they prepare for an ambassador crisis?
Is AI Increasing The Bias Against Women In The Workplace?
Research has identified a pattern of AI discriminating against women, giving humans even more reason to question the tech's integrity, trust, and ethics.
The Influencers: Linas Beliunas on How to Make Sense of AI Beyond the Hype
Earlier this year, Linas Beliunas asked Claude to write the code for a complete digital bank. The result was ambitious. It also did not work. He shared the result anyway, with the humour intact and the lesson clear: a convincing AI demo is a long way from a working product. That habit of testing the claim, and saying plainly what he found, is what makes Beliunas worth following.
The Americanization Of Britain’s Halloween
Gilmore Girls, Pumpkin Spice Lattes, Etsy witches. Every year, Britain's Halloween becomes more and more commercial. And more and more American.
7 Ways Elon Musk Could Spend Half a Trillion Dollars
Elon Musk has become the first person to reach $500 billion net worth. This is physics-defying money. So how do you spend it? It’s no easy task, because if he lives until his mid 80s he has to spend nearly $2 million every hour. Here are seven ways he could spend his fortune.
Executive Education Is Changing. Business Schools Need To Change With It
Executive Education is no longer a “nice to have” aspect of professional life. Increasingly, professionals are finding that standard business qualifications such as the MBA, no matter their robustness, need to be topped up with additional and lifelong learning.
Best Master’s In Sustainability Programmes: A 2026 Guide
So what is the best Masters in Sustainability programme to enrol on? Here are 11 courses worth considering.
Introducing The Class Of 2026: The Beginning Of Something New
Graduation marks a time of celebration, excitement, and significant change… Thankfully the Class of 2026 is more than capable of taking on the challenge.
How The Simpsons Called an Economics Nobel Before Prediction Markets Existed
In a few weeks the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences will name the 2026 Nobel laureate in economics, and the guessing is already under way. A cartoon got there first. In a 2010 episode of The Simpsons, the ten-year-old Milhouse fills in a children's Nobel betting pool and picks for economics an MIT professor, Bengt Holmström. Six years later Holmström won it. The prophecy was really a forecast, and this is how The Simpsons does it.
Jensen Huang, Jo Malone And The Childhood Roots Of Overwork
Jensen Huang was nine when his family sent him from Taiwan to the Oneida Baptist Institute in rural Kentucky. Huang was assigned to clean the bathrooms. The CEO of Nvidia describes it without a trace of grievance. "It never occurred to us that it was hard work.". New research from INSEAD suggests the same background can lead to something different.
Meet The Graduating Class Of 2026: University Is A Chance To Learn Beyond Gaining A Degree
Iqra's studies at Durham University Business School provided the opportunity to meet people from different countries and backgrounds, and form friendships with people she may never have crossed paths with otherwise.
What Would You Keep If The Job Disappeared?
Anyone choosing a career now is committing to something they cannot fully describe five years out. AI has made the substance of a job much harder to predict. Careers advisers have responded with, "Don't say you want to be a lawyer or a banker, say you want to work on social justice, or you want a hand in how climate projects get financed. Here's the evidence for that advice.
How Can Brands Benefit From Leaning Into Noughties Nostalgia?
"Can't repeat the past? Why, of course you can!", says Jay Gatsby in The Great Gatsby, but also (probably) companies in 2026 that are leaning into nostalgia to sell products.
Ten Strategies To Make The Most of Your MBA Or Masters
Ask an MBA alum for advice about making the m out of business school, the overwhelming response is 'prioritise." So many exciting possibilities, but only so much time in a day. BlueSky Thinking goes beyond the stellar advice turned to the insight and research of academics for ten specific suggestions to get the most from your MBA.
The Influencers: Linas Beliunas on How to Make Sense of AI Beyond the Hype
Earlier this year, Linas Beliunas asked Claude to write the code for a complete digital bank. The result was ambitious. It also did not work. He shared the result anyway, with the humour intact and the lesson clear: a convincing AI demo is a long way from a working product. That habit of testing the claim, and saying plainly what he found, is what makes Beliunas worth following.
Meet the Graduating Class of 2026: The School Is Telling You That You’re Ready
Sebastian Jara Castillo takes with him amazing memories and real friendships from his Duke MBA. "Weekend getaways, treks to other countries, and helping each other navigate the any challenges along the way. I don't think any of us will get to recreate that later in life. I'm going to miss it.