article thumbnail

What Is The Job Metaverse Is Trying To Do?

The Horizons Tracker

While the metaverse sprang to public attention with the renaming of Facebook earlier this year, the phrase was coined back in 1996 in Neal Stephenson’s book Snow Crash, in which the science fiction author described an immersive version of the internet that was accessed via virtual reality.

article thumbnail

When Will this Low-Innovation Internet Era End?

Harvard Business Review

Then there's another view, which I heard from author Neal Stephenson in an MIT lecture hall last week. Stephenson was clearly trying to be provocative. But he's not alone in the judgment that we're not actually living in an era of great innovation. Stephenson was clearly trying to be provocative.

Insiders

Sign Up for our Newsletter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

article thumbnail

Don't Like the Message? Maybe It's the Messenger

Harvard Business Review

I wrote a post here at hbr.org on whether the Internet era has been a time of world-changing innovation or a relative disappointment. It was inspired by comments from author Neal Stephenson, who espoused the latter view in a Q&A at MIT. This was brought home by an experiment I inadvertently unleashed last week.

article thumbnail

Why Business Leaders Need to Read More Science Fiction

Harvard Business Review

Singapore has overtaken Silicon Valley as the world’s innovation hub after FDA regulation prompts a brain drain from California. Neal Stephenson’s The Diamond Age inspired Jeff Bezos to create the Kindle ; Sergey Brin mines Stephenson’s even more famous Snow Crash for insights into virtual reality.

article thumbnail

The Stakeholders You Need to Close a Big Deal

Harvard Business Review

The champions I’ve known have been motivated by a host of related factors – generating personal visibility, drawing attention and resources to their domain, or being perceived as innovators. The decision maker at AT&T was CEO Randall Stephenson. With that, Stephenson felt he could defend his decision.

article thumbnail

People Suffer at Work When They Can’t Discuss the Racial Bias They Face Outside of It

Harvard Business Review

To drive home the urgency, the coalition’s website, CEOAction.com , directs visitors to research showing that diverse teams and inclusive leaders unleash innovation, eradicate groupthink, and spur market growth. At the Center for Talent Innovation, we wanted to look into these suspicions. But as Tim Ryan, U.S.

Ryan 8
article thumbnail

Can Being Overconfident Make You a Better Leader?

Harvard Business Review

Randall Stephenson, then CEO of AT&T, famously said , “I told people you weren’t betting on a device. As such, our findings are consistent with research showing that overconfident CEOs are better innovators. You were betting on Steve Jobs.”