The week in review

If you cut back hard enough, will that be enough to get through this? Not necessarily, according to Ioannis Ioannou, Associate Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship at London Business School.

This week, he looks at similarities with the last recession and discovers that the smartest companies didn’t just hunker down, they invested and innovated their way out of trouble.

Eliot Sherman, Assistant Professor of Organisational Behaviour, describes his research showing that productivity increases when employees are given flexibility. Watch Dr Sherman’s TEDx London Business School talk to find out more about the interplay between gender, flexibility and productivity.

Leadership

Whatever the solution it will require fresh leadership and an ability to see opportunities within those big challenges. But how are leaders adapting to the pandemic reality? Here are 5 habits you should be cultivating now, as identified by faculty.

In the next of our Resilient Founders series, produced by the Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, London Business School alumnus George Sun (MIF 2001) reveals how he has been addressing the challenges of the crisis at his edtech startup.

It was a very different challenge that faced Giles Jepson (Sloan Fellow 2008) when he was tasked with refreshing Carlsberg’s brand. In this Changemakers profile, he describes how he helped turnaround the giant brand in the face of the craft beer revolution and how the lessons learned can apply to other businesses struggling to define and solve problems they face. You can discover more stories in this inspirational series here.

Kindness

Another angle on the immediate obstacles businesses are facing is highlighted by Neeta Patel (Sloan Fellow 2009). Faced with the “vaporisation of optimism”, she reminds us all to never forget “to be honest, transparent and kind to your people”. In conversation with Jeff Skinner, Executive Director of the Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (IIE), she describes the balance she is striking when making tough decisions.

Dan Cable, Professor of Organisational Behaviour, gave a webinar in the Leading Through a Pandemic series on how to use a quarantine to improve your relationships, starting with showing gratitude to the people around you. He connects it to strong evidence that shows that this boosts wellbeing, creativity and productivity – even in lockdown.

And finally, here are some of the ways in which our students are making a difference on and off campus.