Why We Let the Urgent Crowd Out the Important

Idea posted: November 2026

Institutions: Johns Hopkins Carey School of Business    University of Florida Warrington College of Business Administration    University of Chicago Booth School of Business   

Authors:

Most managers know the distinction between the urgent and the important, and most would say that, given a clear choice, they would put the important first. The evidence suggests otherwise.…

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The Status Trap: How Star Leaders Create Extreme Project Outcomes

Idea posted: May 2026

Institutions: University of Amsterdam    Northwestern University    Erasmus University   

Authors:

The paper investigates how the professional status of a project leader influences the success and variability of innovation projects in the video game industry. Traditionally, researchers have pointed to the…

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Why Human‑Centric Skills Are the Real Competitive Advantage in an AI Economy

Idea posted: April 2026

Institutions: Centre for the New Economy and Society; World Economic Forum   

Authors:

A World Economic Forum White Paper emphasises that competitiveness in the new economy relies heavily on investment in people; technological investment alone will not deliver resilience or productivity gains. While…

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The Big Problem Paradox: When Prevalence Reduces Urgency

Idea posted: April 2026

Institutions: Northwestern University    Kellogg School of Management    University of Chicago Booth School of Business   

Authors:

In the world of social impact and public health, there is a long-standing belief that the best way to get people to care about a problem is to show them…

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How Time Scarcity Undermines Performance and What Leaders Must Change

Idea posted: April 2026

Institutions: London Business School    Harvard Business School    University of California    Northeastern University   

Authors:

The modern experience of time is defined by a paradox: despite living in an era of unprecedented material wealth, we are increasingly time-poor. By 2018, 80% of employed Americans reported…

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Teaching AI to Create Ads That Outperform the Professionals

Idea posted: March 2026

Institutions: University of Hamburg    Vienna University of Economics and Business    Emory University   

Authors:

Visual advertising is a multi-billion-dollar global industry, with digital image ad spending alone exceeding $300 billion annually. Despite this massive investment, the traditional process of creating visual content remains expensive,…

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Why Background Chatter Drains Your Brainpower

Idea posted: March 2026

Institutions: University of Helsinki    University of Turku   

Authors:

In a world of open-office plans and bustling coffee shops, the ability to focus on a difficult task while ignoring background noise is a vital professional skill. A study from…

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The Transparency Paradox: How Open Plan Offices Shut Down Interaction

Idea posted: March 2026

Institutions: Harvard Business School; Harvard University   

Authors:

For decades, the prevailing trend in corporate architecture has been a ‘war on walls’, characterised by the removal of cubicles and private offices in favour of open, ‘unbounded’ workspaces. The…

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Cutting Through the Skills Chaos: Why HR Must Stop Chasing Buzzwords

Idea posted: February 2026

Institutions: École nationale d’administration publique, Québec    Université Laval    Cardiff Metropolitan University   

Authors:

The shift toward a knowledge-based economy has changed what employers value most: instead of technical qualifications that may become obsolete, organizations now seek adaptive and transferable non-technical skills. Despite their…

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