How Successful Retailers Prosper in Tough Times

How Successful Retailers Prosper in Tough Times

Life has been challenging for U.S. retail chains over the past decade. The Covid-19 pandemic forced widespread store closures, long-standing supply sources became uncertain, and customers’ buying habits changed rapidly, with online retail sales growing from 7.4% of total retail sales in the fourth quarter of 2015 to 16.4% in third quarter of 2025. In…

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Getting Ready for Agentic AI

Getting Ready for Agentic AI

An HBR Executive Live conversation with Pinterest CEO Bill Ready. by Adi Ignatius March 25, 2026 What if social media didn’t have to run on outrage to succeed? That’s a question on the mind of Bill Ready, CEO of Pinterest, who is on a mission to reorient the platform away from the attention-maximizing algorithms that…

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Leaders Underestimate the Value of Employee Joy

Leaders Underestimate the Value of Employee Joy

Company leaders have long claimed that people are their greatest asset. Yet many still design work as if employees were just one of many operational inputs, leaving their greatest assets feeling dissatisfied and unmotivated. Companies have become masters at understanding their customers. They map customer journeys, study their behaviors, and use predictive analytics to anticipate…

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The Unexpected Impacts of High Oil Prices

new video loaded: The Unexpected Impacts of High Oil Prices Our chief economics correspondent, Ben Casselman, breaks down how gasoline prices have responded to the oil crisis in the Persian Gulf, and what is in store for inflation if the price of oil remains above $100 per barrel. By Ben Casselman, Sutton Raphael, James Surdam,…

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