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For its 50th anniversary, Zara has partnered with 50 designers and creators for a collection you might not expect from a fast-fashion mall brand. The Spanish fashion retailer unveiled its 50th anniversary collection at Paris Fashion Week with collaborators that include photographer Annie Leibovitz, supermodel Cindy Crawford, stage designer Es Devlin, and musician Robbie Williams. Available worldwide beginning Oct. 6, the collection does include plenty to wear (Leibovitz contributed a photo for a t-shirt), but what stands out most are the non-apparel items. This is about a whole lot more than clothes. Devlin, whose build stages for artists like Adele, Beyoncé, …

For leaders today, the pressure to do more with less feels relentless. Leaner teams, flatter organizations, and the rise of productivity tools such as Slack, Notion.ai, and Monday.com promise efficiency but often deliver the opposite: more reporting, more deliverables, and the demand to be “always on.”​​Organizations are increasingly falling into the “acceleration trap,” taking on too much too quickly and undermining their effectiveness and well-being. Sandra, a senior leader in the tech sector, saw this firsthand. After a reorganization left her team stretched thin, she slipped into a “9-9-6” routine—working nine to nine, six days a week. Gallup’s research shows unma…

May has only just begun, but already, it has not been a good month for the tech industry in terms of layoffs. Since the month started, several prominent names in technology have announced layoffs, some involving a significant number of workers. Here are the companies involved in the latest round of tech layoffs Panasonic Holdings The iconic Japanese electronics giant, founded over a century ago, announced on May 9 that it would eliminate 10,000 jobs. That reduction equates to about 4% of Panasonic’s total workforce, reports Bloomberg. According to Panasonic CEO Yuki Kusumi, the cuts are to better prepare the electronics maker for the next few decades. The compa…

At a time of skyrocketing costs in the U.S., looming tariffs, and fears of a recession, New Yorkers are finally getting some good news: Over 8 million people in the Empire state will receive a sort of stimulus check, or officially, an “inflation refund check” this year, according to Democratic governor Kathy Hochul. The refunds come as Americans continue to battle high inflation, driving up prices on everything from housing to groceries, stemming from the global COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath. While inflation has steadily decreased from its 2022 high of 9.1%, prices have not re-adjusted to levels before the pandemic, according to Newsweek. Last week, Hochul s…

I was asked to be the keynote speaker recently for an important conference at Rutgers Business School on the future of business education. I thought it would be helpful for business school leadership and students and for recruiters of business school graduates to recap my message in this Playing to Win/Practitioner Insights (PTW/PI) piece. It is called The Future[s] of Business Education: Two Strategy Paths. And as always, you can find all the previous PTW/PI here. Audience participation The conference attendees were mainly U.S. business school deans and other senior faculty members. The array of deans was quite impressive with deans from leading schools including …