Michael Blanding

Freelance Writer at Freelance

Author of In Shakespeare’s Shadow and The Map Thief. New book, Divine Right (PublicAffairs), coming in Spring 2025. https://t.co/yPrz6nZfld https://t.co/q7oeo5eVgt

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Articles

The Dangers of Deferring to AI: It Seems So Right When It's Wrong, Reports Working Knowledge From HBS

1 month ago | indianewengland.com | Michael Blanding

By Michael BlandingWorking Knowledge Via The Harvard Gazette(Editor’s note: This article is reprinted here with permission from the Harvard Gazette. The article is originally published in Working Knowldege of the Harvard Business School.)With the help of artificial intelligence, creative ideas for solving global challenges are flooding into innovation hubs and crowdsourcing platforms.
What Drives Managers To Sabotage Talented Employees

2 months ago | forbesindia.com | Michael Blanding

"The manager is supposed to act in the best interests of the firm, but personal interests can take precedence," Zaman says. The solution, his research shows, is to conduct more transparent performance evaluations and foster a culture of trust within organizations, where employees have a sense of belonging to the organization and can comfortably talk to their colleagues rather than work in silos.
Easing Their Pain

Jan 6, 2025 | bc.edu | Michael Blanding

How do you help someone like Charles? Sixty-nine years old. Metastatic lung cancer. History of substance abuse. A few months left to live. Katie Fitzgerald Jones PhD’22 looked down at the papers in front of her on the conference table on a recent Thursday morning at the West Roxbury Veterans Administration Hospital outside Boston.
Forging the digital future

Dec 23, 2024 | technologyreview.com | Michael Blanding

Among other researchers, she plans to collaborate with Sara Beery, a CSAIL professor who analyzes vast troves of visual, auditory, and other data from a diverse range of sensors around the world to better understand how climate change is affecting distribution of species.
We Have Better Ways To Break Habits Than Willpower. Why Don't We Use Them?

Nov 6, 2024 | forbesindia.com | Michael Blanding

The deadline on an important work project is looming, but you keep getting distracted by news stories and silly cat videos online. Even though installing an Internet-blocking app might help you stay focused, you resist the idea, telling yourself you should have the willpower to white-knuckle your way through that critical project.
Boundary-Spanning Genius

Oct 30, 2024 | news.vanderbilt.edu | Michael Blanding

By Michael Blanding When John Jumper, BS’07, arrived at Vanderbilt as an undergrad, he came with dreams of making a mark like his heroes from the golden age of physics in the early 20th century. “I always loved physics, especially this incredible period in which we discovered quantum mechanics and special relativity,” he says.
The race to control the Gen AI market has begun. Who will come out on top?

Sep 30, 2024 | newsroom.haas.berkeley.edu | Michael Blanding

Generative AI is at an inflection point between consolidation and true competition, argues Associate Professor Abhishek Nagaraj. While generative AI (gen AI) is spurring a quantum leap of innovation in fields from consumer marketing to protein discovery, a rapid consolidation is taking place behind the scenes.
Why forecasts by elite economists are usually wrong

Sep 23, 2024 | newsroom.haas.berkeley.edu | Michael Blanding

Forecasts about inflation, growth, and unemployment by senior economists at big banks drive critical decisions by businesses, investors, and the Federal Reserve. The stakes are high, and sometimes those forecasts turn out to be overly rosy—or too pessimistic. Perhaps a bigger pitfall, according to new Berkeley Haas research that examined the longest-running survey of professional forecasters, is that these predictions tend to be overly precise.
Global Talent, Local Obstacles: Why Time Zones Matter in Remote Work

Sep 19, 2024 | hbswk.hbs.edu | Michael Blanding

Remote work is giving companies new opportunities to tap additional markets and talent pools. However, a global workforce also brings a challenge: As some employees are getting up in the morning, others are winding down their workday.
By Any Measure | Haas News | Berkeley Haas

Aug 26, 2024 | newsroom.haas.berkeley.edu | Michael Blanding

Unveiling the secrets behind B-school rankings reveals why the annual lists are, at best, a flawed exercise. Google “best business schools” and you’ll see links to rankings from various publications, including U.S. News & World Report, Bloomberg Businessweek, and the Financial Times. These publications and others position themselves as arbiters of educational prowess. And like it or not, their results matter.