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MIT Sloan School of Management | Office of Communications
+ THREE INSIGHTS FOR THE WEEK
November 23-27, 2020
1. Some platforms saw business explode during the pandemic, while others had to pivot to adapt to changing circumstances and the economic downturn.
Those trends and others are the focus of the 2020 MIT Platform Report issued recently by the MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy.
Other platform industry trends and insights covered by the report include:
• The future of platform hiring.
• How “super apps,” or apps that combine several mobile experiences, may be the next big thing.
• Requirements for platform success.
• Insights from leaders at Siemens, Intuit, and Ping An Insurance Group of China.
2. After two years researching the interplay between jobs and technology, MIT’s Task Force on the Work of the Future last week released a final report. Its conclusion: Despite fears to the contrary, a robot-driven jobs apocalypse is not on the immediate horizon.
“The Work of the Future: Building Better Jobs in an Age of Intelligent Machines,” found that technology takes jobs away, but also provides new opportunities, MIT News reports.
Other findings from the research:
• Rather than a robot revolution in the workplace, momentous impacts of technological change are unfolding gradually — giving policymakers, educators, and hiring organizations time to respond and adapt.
• Decades of technological change have polarized the earnings of the American workforce, helping highly educated white-collar workers thrive, while hollowing out the middle class.
• Improving the quality of jobs requires a modernization of labor policies regarding the federal minimum wage, unemployment insurance, and collective bargaining laws and processes.
• Fostering opportunity and economic mobility necessitates cultivating and refreshing worker skills — particularly for those without four-year college degrees.
• Investing in innovation will drive new job creation, speed growth, and meet rising competitive challenges.
3. Julia Abramovich grew up in a household where you could be whatever you wanted, regardless of gender. Now she spreads that lesson to other women both at work and in her role co-leading the women’s advancement initiative of the MIT Sloan Boston Alumni Association.
In a recent Q&A, Abramovich, MBA ’02, a principal at KPMG, shared thoughts on her career and how she supports other women professionally:
On the power of speaking up: I never accepted that the gender gap would hinder my professional growth. I was pretty comfortable advocating for myself, and even more so as I progressed past entry-level roles. I know many people don’t feel as confident speaking up, and it’s something we need to focus on when helping mentor and develop young women in the workforce.
On supporting other women: I mentor a lot of young women, and it is so rewarding to see them succeed and get promoted. At KPMG, my team just launched a new women’s development program designed to help high-potential women accelerate their careers in business development.
