Professors at the Boston College Carroll School of Management have offered up insightful quotations in interviews with a number of high-profile media outlets, as well as in articles of their own. A quip from Professor Ran Duchin even ended up as The New York Times鈥檚 featured quote for the day.
鈥淵ou鈥檙e buying a narrative. You鈥檙e not just buying the coffee.鈥
鈥 Ran Duchin, New York Times Quotation of the Day, August 22
Duchin, the Coughlin Family Professor in the Seidner Department of Finance, was by the Times about Starbucks鈥檚 hiring of Brian Niccol as its top executive. Niccol lives in Southern California and will commute to Starbucks鈥檚 Seattle headquarters aboard the corporate jet. Duchin, who鈥檚 studied remote CEOs, said Niccol鈥檚 carbon-intensive commute 鈥渋s an implicit stand on issues like sustainability.鈥 And Starbucks does hold itself out as a sustainability leader, offering evidence on its website of its environmental bona fides. Hence Duchin鈥檚 quote about people buying the narrative (of sustainability), not just the cold brew or the apple crisp oat milk macchiato.
But bad optics may end up being the least of the coffee chain鈥檚 problems. Duchin鈥檚 shows that many remote CEOs don鈥檛 work out鈥攖heir companies underperform on a number of measures鈥攁nd many firms that try them end up returning to a local leader. In a follow-up interview, Duchin added that Starbucks, with caf茅s on six continents, could be an exception, since its CEO likely spends much of his time traveling. He said too that companies aren鈥檛 being irrational by betting on an itinerant boss. They鈥檙e taking a risk to snag a better-qualified CEO than they might鈥檝e otherwise hired. Niccol, for example, previously ran Chipotle and Taco Bell.
鈥淒ecreeing that people must stay silent on political issues also seems to run counter to the call for employees to 鈥榖ring their whole selves鈥 to work.鈥
鈥 Michael Pratt and a colleague in MIT Sloan Management Review, Sept. 30
During another contentious presidential election season, Michael Pratt, a professor of management and organization, and a colleague have weighed in on聽 in the workplace. They say in an online article that forbidding political talk is unrealistic in a world where nearly everyone鈥檚 social media postings are just a click away. Instead managers should put in place a process that enables people to exchange views without fear of retribution. To do this, they need to gather information on the issues employees care about, insist on norms of civil discourse and help people understand the complexity of opposing views.
鈥淭his problem has been so evident since 1990, and so we鈥檙e in 2024. And I don't think we're really going to move on this until 2030. And so a 40-year lag between the time the problem is identified and the time it's fixed is a little long for my taste.鈥
鈥 Alicia Munnell on PBS News Hour, August 12聽
The Social Security trust funds are paying out more in benefits than they鈥檙e taking in payroll taxes. Munnell, the Peter F. Drucker professor of management sciences and director of the Center for Retirement Research, that retiree benefits will have to be cut in the coming years unless something鈥檚 done. Potential solutions are straightforward鈥攈igher payroll taxes, later retirement ages, or both. But politicians have been loath to apply them because, Munnell said, 鈥淣obody wants to raise taxes or cut benefits.鈥
鈥淪tudents are using [AI] tools, and they鈥檙e using them well.鈥 It鈥檚 up to [the professors] to push them further and help them use those tools.鈥
鈥 Sam Ransbotham on GBH鈥檚 All Things Considered, August 29
Universities, including Boston College, are grappling with what guidelines they should set for students鈥 use of artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT. Ransbotham, a business analytics professor, said聽students need to be proficient in AI, as proficiency will help determine who keeps their jobs in the AI age. His students already appear to know this: 鈥淚 just quickly did a show of hands in my classes this morning about who鈥檚 using certain tools, and all the hands [went] up.鈥 Educators鈥 challenge, he said, will be teaching students to to achieve excellence, rather than just settle for chatbot-delivered mediocrity.聽
鈥淎 lot of [investing] fads and vibes and things like that really are just similar examples of, 鈥楾his sounds like a good story.鈥欌
鈥 Samuel Hartzmark in Fortune, June 16
Can tarot cards foretell interest rate hikes? Do Capricorns rack up big gains in January? Fortune says some Gen Zs think so鈥攁nd of course they tout those views on TikTok. One interviewee quit her job as a tarot reader to day trade. Hartzmark, a finance professor and a Hillenbrand Family Faculty Fellow, chasing fads like this, saying stock buys should be based on superior information or insight, not occult and astrology. But he said he understood why people fall for silliness: 鈥淭he illusion of control. Financial decisions are complicated and scary.鈥 He added: 鈥淭he psychology here is nothing new. How it manifests itself is a little bit different due to technological change.鈥
鈥淲e鈥檙e all realizing [AI鈥檚] here鈥攅specially in a business school. How can you ignore this tsunami?鈥
鈥 Jerry Potts in The Boston Globe, Sept. 3
Professors are having to rework their courses to account for widespread student use of artificial intelligence, Potts . A lecturer in the Management and Organization Department, Potts now strives to create assignments where students must synthesize ideas and draw on their personal experiences, not simply parrot back facts. 鈥淚鈥檝e had to rewrite all my assignments to be much more focused on connecting dots that aren鈥檛 out there鈥 on material that students can鈥檛 readily retrieve from AI, he said. Potts has even run his coursework through an AI chatbot, both to understand how students might be using the technology and to surface ideas that might improve his class.聽
鈥淭here are few costs associated with most of the allyship behaviors uncovered in our research, yet the benefits are substantial鈥攃hief among them being the retention of working mothers in the labor force.鈥
鈥 Benjamin Rogers and colleagues in Harvard Business Review, July 25
Returning to work after childbirth is challenging for mothers in the United States, which lacks paid federal leave. Research by Rogers, an assistant professor of management and organization, and colleagues has identified four 鈥渁llyship鈥 behaviors that can help postpartum mothers in the workplace: helping navigate HR policies, creating flexible work environments, validating both professional and maternal identities, and offering emotional support. In an online聽 the researchers note that anyone, not just fellow parents or HR staffers, can act as an ally to a postpartum mom.
鈥淔or public company shareholders who have nothing to do with the local community, they don鈥檛 internalize the benefits of what [CEOs] do for the community.鈥
鈥 Nadya Malenko in The Boston Globe, Sept. 10
An activist hedge fund has pressed for changes at Rapid7, a Boston cybersecurity company. That could spell trouble for its CEO, Corey Thomas, because sometimes activists demand new management. Thomas is a standout in Boston business circles鈥攈e serves on the boards of both the Boston Federal Reserve Bank and the local chamber of commerce鈥攕o his departure would be a loss for the community. But out-of-town activists don鈥檛 care about that, Malenko, a finance professor and the Wargo Family Faculty Fellow, They鈥檙e focused on a company鈥檚 financial returns.聽聽