Fall 2022 Issue

Explore the Fall 2022 issue of Stanford Business — and see how people from all corners of the Stanford GSB community are coming together to change lives, organizations, and the world.

Campus illustration by Sam Kalda

Dean’s Letter

The Diffusion of Innovation

While discussions of economic development often focus on institutions and politics, the great success stories are often the result of unleashing entrepreneurial dynamism.

How to Survive the A.I. Revolution

A human-centered approach to artificial intelligence envisions a future where people and machines are collaborators, not competitors.

Editor’s Note

Human Resources

“There is no doubt that artificial intelligence is rapidly evolving and growing more sophisticated every day. Some people believe that AI will eventually replace human workers altogether, taking away their jobs and leaving them unemployed. While it is true that AI is capable of performing many tasks more efficiently than humans, there are certain things that AI will never be able to do as well as humans.”

Such as writing editors’ notes! The above paragraph was generated by GPT-3, a language processing model that cranks out text that sounds like it was written by a human. It does a pretty good job — if you like reading term papers. For this issue’s cover story, we dispatched a real person to explore one of the biggest questions surrounding the future of AI: Will algorithms and machines replace brains and brawn? Not necessarily. In “How to Survive the AI Revolution,” experts describe an exciting alternative scenario where artificial intelligence can spur progress without replacing human ingenuity.

Before we figure out how to play nice with technology, we still have to learn how to get along with each other. Ideological polarization has plagued many countries, but the current state of U.S. politics is undeniably alarming. Americans don’t just differ on the issues — they intensely distrust and dislike those they disagree with. A recent poll coauthored by GSB professor of political economy emeritus David W. Brady found that fewer than 10% of Democrats or Republicans consider supporters of the other party intelligent, honest, open-minded, or generous. As GSB professor of political economy and director of the Hoover Institution Condoleezza Rice puts it, “We don’t know each other very well anymore.”

Not surprisingly, many members of the GSB community are focused on understanding and alleviating this problem. In “Pulling Back from Polarization,” more than a dozen of them offer their insights on what fuels political divisiveness and, more importantly, ways to cool the animosity. Though some of the longer-term fixes they propose aren’t quick, they provide plenty of ideas you can use (whether you live in the U.S. or not) to engage with people with different values and beliefs — while still agreeing to disagree. The first step is to recognize that even your fiercest adversaries are, after all, human.

— Dave Gilson

The DARC Arts: How the Wizardry of this Computer Group Helps Enable Research

When faculty need a hand unlocking data, this is who they call.

Diana Kapp, MBA ’96: What Matters to Me Now and Why

“I craved becoming a message-maker rather than a messenger.”

Thinking Inside the Box: Why Virtual Meetings Generate Fewer Ideas

For creative collaboration, sometimes you can’t beat a face-to-face meeting.

Pulling Back From Polarization

The political divide seems wider than ever. How citizens, leaders, and organizations can begin to bridge the gap.

What Separates the Hitmakers from the One-Hit Wonders

An analysis of 3 million songs explores the question: Is it better to churn out than to fade away?

Catalyst: Empowering Rural America

Leo Guzman’s company is switching electric cooperatives from coal to clean energy.

We Don’t Like Domineering Bosses. So Why Do We Put Up With Them?

When confronted with a controlling, aggressive leader, people “have more power than they think they do,” says Deborah Gruenfeld.

Foreign Exchange

From Malaysia to Milan, students who took part in the Global Management Immersion Experience over the past summer report back on what they’re bringing home.