Bill Fischer

Experts estimate USAID cuts are leading to 88 deaths PER HOUR. A UN office called these “the deepest funding cuts ever to hit the international humanitarian sector.” If funding isn't resumed, they estimate an additional 10 million cases & 2 million preventable deaths by 2030: tb.impactcounter.com

An image with a black and white background and a Latin American immigrant and a title Schröinger's Immigrant. On the left, it reads, "Lazily collecting all the welfare." On the right, it reads, "But also somehow taking all the jobs."

Silicon Valley’s Leadership Lessons Silicon Valley is increasingly the preferred alternative source of leadership lessons for both business and government organizations. Why is that. and what can we learn?

Silicon Valley has become an alternative source of leadership and organization ideas for mature, successful, market-leading incumbent firms in search of renewed vitality. Join @jimpulcrano.bsky.social to relect on his >25 years of first-hand SV experience: www.forbes.com/sites/billfi...

On Feral Library Card Catalogs, or, Aware of All Internet Traditions A Guest Post by Cosma Shalizi

"Large models should not be viewed primarily as intelligent agents but as a new kind of cultural and social technology, allowing humans to take advantage of information other humans have accumulated."
via @delong.social
www.programmablemutter.com/p/on-feral-l...

ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, & Co.: They Are Not Brains, They Are Kernel-Smoother Functions If your large language model reminds you of a brain, it’s because you’re projecting—not because it’s thinking. It’s not reasoning, it’s interpolation And anthropomorphizing the algorithm doesn’t...

"If your large language model reminds you of a brain, it’s because you’re projecting—not because it’s thinking."

ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, & Co.: They Are Not Brains, They Are Kernel-Smoother Functions open.substack.com/pub/braddelo...

American academics seek exile as Trump attacks universities Professors flee elite US institutions in the face of what many characterise as a direct assault on education and science

You don’t build for the future by losing your academics.
I am proud to be associated with IMD!

giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...

Analysis | Johnson’s budget resolution is livin’ on a prayer In today’s edition … Trump endorses Ramaswamy for governor of Ohio.

MAGA Mike Johnson says, "Just pray this through for us." He's asking the Lord to deny Medicaid to millions of people and cut SNAP funds so children go to bed hungry.
He's that kind of Christian.

Opinion | You’ll Have to Take My Glass From My Cold, Wine-Stained Hand People are turning away from drinking. But a glass of wine offers transcendent benefits that, for me, far outweigh the risks.

“How many people in your life are talking about beauty and respect for tradition these days?”
www.nytimes.com/2024/10/26/o... via @NYTOpinion

Leading For The Future: Disorder, Trauma, Growth New research indicates that speaking of organizational transformation without including its impact on top management can be hazardous to the individuals involved.

This is a profoundly different way to think about leaders & leadership: leaders as creators of chaos; leaders who are able to learn from chaotic experiences & grow as a result; leadership as a contact sport; and one that is inherently personal.

www.forbes.com/sites/billfi...

Beware Of Zombie Ideas: Old Ideas That Haunt Decision Making Many ideas live beyond the useful age, and yet still remain influential. Such, zombie ideas haunt organizational decision-making, raising the likelihood of lost relevance

Zombie ideas may have worked in the past, but their continued utility in the future is questionable. Yet, they never disappear, just like the living dead; and, we all know that nothing good is going to come from hanging out with the living dead!
www.forbes.com/sites/billfi...

Bill Fischer on LinkedIn: #imdimpact #druckerforum #peterdrucker #vienna #management #nextmanagement Slaying Zombie ideas: The old advice that holds organizations back At a conference designed to celebrate new ideas, it seemed important to recall that not…

Zombie ideas that never die, are everywhere, haunting our decision processes. Beware these frustrators of future progress. They may be familiar but they could also be well beyond their expiration date.
⁦‪@GDruckerForum‬⁩

www.linkedin.com/posts/bill-f...

The Washington Post says it will not endorse a candidate for president The Washington Post’s publisher announced Friday that it will not make an endorsement in this year’s presidential contest, for the first time in 36 years, or in future presidential races.

“Democracy Dies in Darkness”: @washingtonpost & Jeff Bezos have chosen darkness; I choose to cancel my subscription
www.washingtonpost.com/style/media/...

How a Distinctive Beauty Brand Fell Apart, Sinking Almost $700 Million With It When the private equity firm Carlyle bought Beautycounter, the skin care brand that people sold at kitchen tables, everything changed.

Culture eats Strategy for breakfast!
The demise of Beautycounter provides vivid testament to the continued wisdom of this adage, and why so many private equity acquisitions fail to pay off.
via @NYTimes

www.nytimes.com/2024/07/10/b...

The folly of the pro-Trump plutocrats Many business leaders dismiss fears of a return of the former president to the White House — they are wrong to do so

“Biden may be old. But Trump is crazy and, alas, is is not amusingly crazy; he is dangerously crazy.” @martinwolf @FT

The folly of the pro-Trump plutocrats on.ft.com/3zjajtv

America’s Innovation Readiness Is Not Ready Innovation may be a currently fashionable term, but that does not mean that organizations are prepared for what comes next.

America’s Innovation Readiness is Not Ready

www.forbes.com/sites/billfi...

Peter Orszag wants to reimagine Lazard. Will his bankers let him? Barack Obama’s economist has brought star power to a faded investment bank, but rank and file have doubts about his plan

“A thousand bankers can bring me a thousand deals . . . there is very little differentiation. It’s the people who can challenge me on how I think about the world who are unique.”
Dan Schulman, former PayPal CEO
#Lazard via @FT

on.ft.com/3yOLvJx

The Canvas Revolution Much of leadership's legacy concerns having the answers for decison-making. Canvases suggest good questions, and a design-attitude, can change how we approach leading.

We are witnessing a Canvas Revolution, where questions > answers, and where a design-attitude > decision attitude. What I am learning is that the cultural implications of business models are so much more important to Leadership than we have been teaching. www.forbes.com/sites/billfi...

How the Atlantic Went From Broke to Profitable in Three Years. A new #businessmodel: high-profile writers -> higher quality journalism, offering fewer stories free & no longer discounting subscriptions, raising prices for annual subscriptions .. & it is working!

Oscar night, tonight, is a big night for Virtuoso Teams. We have two contenders, Oppenheimer and Bernstein, in contention for well-deserved awards. More than simply entertainment, these are stories of teams and leadership coming together to outperform in innovation.

The IMD_MIT Driving Strategic Innovation program starts in just one month… a lifetime in our fast-moving world. Join us, with ⁦‪@AlexOsterwalder‬⁩ ⁦‪@JimPulcrano‬⁩ ⁦‪@HowardHYu‬⁩ Duncan Simester ⁦‪@clockspd‬⁩ for all things innovation

www.imd.org/innovation/d...

Thinking about how current change could change your life? Join Abhijit Bhaduri & myself, Wednesday, March 8, discussing Career 3.0, and what it means for you and your orgaization.

Edward R. Murrow and the invention of broadcast journalism is a disruption/transformation story that still speaks to our times. Leadership at its best, from within an otherwise bureaucratic organization! @Forbes
www.forbes.com/sites/billfi...

Celebrating athletic wins & carrying guns wherever we want: one is protected by the constitution, and other isn’t. What does that tell us about our societal values?
www.nytimes.com/live/2024/02...

“It’s up to the parents if they don’t want their child to read a book, It shouldn’t be up to politicians.”
www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2024/...

“Extraordinary though Musk’s achievements have been, a board must be more than a fan club.”
#FT

on.ft.com/3OA0YSL

Bloomberg, today, asks the question: “Can AI Unlock the Secrets of the Ancient World?
lnkd.in/gyDDF54t

Another world we are gaining insights into, from these same ancient scrolls, is the future of AI-enhanced work: wix.to/J53pzdt
Read the original article, free of paywalls.

Leadership in the waning period of an industry’s generational S-curve can be perilous. Smartphones could be facing this soon. What can we learn from this event?

www.forbes.com/sites/billfi...

Creativity and Chaos, two concepts so different, but so frequently paired together, were discussed in a panel at the @druckerforum on organizations & leadership need to be reinvented if our flirtations with chaos are to reliably lead to new ideas: lnkd.in/eH5XB_ZX

AI scientist Fei-Fei Li: ‘Maths is pretty clean. Humans are messy’ The China-born technologist on Silicon Valley’s ‘bro’ culture — and her mission to keep AI safe for humanity

“We still have very unique interdisciplinary thinking. We have unique interdisciplinary data. And we have the youngest and most daring minds.”
“If we [academic AI] lose that centre of gravity, then the other centre of gravity is driven by capitalism” [&, worse, politicians]
Fei-Fei Li