Indigo Agriculture used a digital-enabled research and development (R&D) process to launch its initial product, microbial coatings for agricultural seeds, which increase crop yields while reducing the need for fertilizers. In doing so, the company developed direct relationships with farmers, in contrast to typical agricultural supply chains that use intermediaries. The company then launched a marketplace platform to link growers directly to crop .....more

Malcolm Turner becomes the new athletic director at Vanderbilt University, tasked with increasing athletics-related revenue and improving on-field performance, while maintaining Vanderbilt''s academic rigor for student-athletes.

In 2018, Lindsay Kaplan is preparing to meet with Carolyn Childers about the possibility of co-founding Chief, a New York-based peer network for women executives. Kaplan is currently the vice president of communications and brand engagement at a successful mattress company, and she is happy in her current role. However, she is excited by Childers''s vision for a community of women executives and believes she could bring valuable expertise .....more

Chief is a New York-based peer network that provides mentorship, support, networking opportunities, and a sense of community to women executives. Co-founders Carolyn Childers and Lindsay Kaplan launched the company in January 2019, and just two months later, Chief has 400 members and a growing waiting list. Now, Childers and Kaplan must determine how aggressively to scale Chief''s model to other cities. How much money should they raise in .....more

It''s never been easier for workers to collaborate--or so it seems. Open offices, messaging, and virtual-meeting software in theory make people more visible and available. But as the physical and technological structures for omnichannel collaboration have spread, evidence suggests they are producing less interaction--or less meaningful interaction--not more. This happens because individuals, not companies, decide when and how to engage with .....more

For many employees, the key motivator is a sense of purpose--and yet more than half of those surveyed say they''re not even "somewhat" passionate about their jobs. If organizations want to inspire their workers, they must clearly communicate why they''re in business and what value they provide. When employees understand and embrace those things, their companies thrive: Survey results show that more than 90% of companies with .....more

Digital media consumes a large and growing share of our waking lives, but these goods and services go largely uncounted in GDP. That''s because the measure is based on what people pay for goods and services. If something has a price of zero, then it typically contributes zero to GDP. Policy makers use GDP data to make decisions about how to invest in everything from infrastructure and R&D to education and cyberdefense, and regulators use .....more

Australia''s former prime minister talks about discipline, resilience, and misogyny.

In April 1930, US Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon reviewed recent stock market events as he prepared to enter a meeting of the Federal Reserve Board, which he chaired. In September and October 1929, the US stock market had fallen about a third, and then recovered somewhat. In response to the turmoil, the Federal Reserve (Fed) had lowered the discount rate in five steps from 6% to 3.71%, and market rates of interest across a range of debt securities .....more