Author: openjargon

  • 5 tips from Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang on how to run a company and manage your team

    Jensen Huang presents at a 2023 conference in Tapei
    Jensen Huang has shared some unconventional management advice over the years.

    • Jensen Huang is becoming more of a household name as Nvidia's value skyrockets amid the AI boom.
    • The CEO has some unusual management practices, including having 50 direct reports and no 1-on-1s.
    • Here are some of Huang's most notable tips when it comes to business leadership and management.

    Nvidia overtook Apple and Microsoft separately earlier this month to briefly become the world's most valuable company.

    With the AI chip company's stock skyrocketing, Huang has also seen his fame — and fortune — grow, and there are plenty of eyes on him to see how he runs one of the world's biggest companies.

    Here is some of Huang's most notable advice for leading teams and managing a business.

    Manage a lot of people

    Huang believes a CEO should have more direct reports than anyone else in an organization. He, in fact, has more than 50 direct reports, considered an unusually high number for any manager.

    "The more direct reports the CEO has, the less layers are in the company," Huang said in an interview at The New York Times DealBook Summit in 2023. "It allows us to keep information fluid, allows us to make sure that everyone is empowered by information."

    Management exists "in service of all the other people that work at the company," he said in a separate interview with Stanford's Graduate School of Business earlier this year.

    "I don't believe in a culture, in an environment, where the information you possess is the reason why you have power," he said.

    Skip the 1:1 meetings

    Huang has said he doesn't have one-on-one meetings with his many direct reports.

    "Almost everything that I say, I say to everybody all at the same time," he said at Stripe Sessions 2024. "I don't really believe there's any information that I operate on that somehow only one or two people should hear about."

    Give feedback publicly

    In the same vein, Huang also believes in giving someone feedback in front of their peers.

    "The problem I have with one-on-ones and taking feedback aside is you deprive a whole bunch of people that same learning," he said at Stripe Sessions. "Feedback is learning. For what reason are you the only person who should learn this?"

    He added the learning from other people's mistakes is "the best way to learn.

    "Why learn from your own mistakes? Why learn from your own embarrassment? You've got to learn from other people's embarrassment," he said.

    Communicate briefly and often

    Nvidia employees can expect to receive a lot of emails from their chief executive. Huang sends his staff hundreds of emails a day, many of which are only a few words long, The New Yorker reported last year.

    He expects employees to keep their email communications just as concise.

    One former Nvidia worker told Business Insider's Jyoti Mann that "you'd get in trouble for sending a super-long email to him."

    "The idea was to nail down what you have to say, send it, and if he, or others, need more information, then it's a conversation, not another email," the former Nvidian said.

    Show your work

    Huang believes showing others how you reason through a problem is "empowering."

    "I show people how to reason through things all the time — strategy things, how to forecast something, how to break a problem down, and you're just empowering people all over the place," he said in the Stanford Graduate School of Business interview.

    He continued: "If you send me something and you want my input on it and I can be of service to you and in my review of it, share with you how I reasoned through it, I've made a contribution to you. I've made it possible to see how I reason through something."

    That can lead to a lightbulb moment.

    "You go, 'Oh my gosh. That's how you reason through something like this. It's not as complicated as it seems.'"

    Read the original article on Business Insider
  • This phrase about AI not taking your job sounds smart — but is it true?

    Robot walking on a human arm
    Richard Baldwin said, "AI won't take your job, it's somebody using AI that will take your job."

    • An economist has said, "AI won't take your job, it's somebody using AI that will take your job."
    • AI seems to be a positive for many workers, but some roles are more at risk of replacement.
    • Experts advise skilling up and leaning into soft human skills as AI becomes embedded in work life.

    You may have heard a version of the phrase, "AI won't take your job, it's somebody using AI that will take your job."

    Economist Richard Baldwin said the phrase at the 2023 World Economic Forum's Growth Summit, and variations of it have been mentioned since as people discuss the potential impacts of AI.

    Baldwin told BI he wasn't sure if he coined the phrase, but the message is that AI won't replace humans, but it will give those who embrace it an advantage in the workforce.

    In the 12 months since Baldwin shared his perspective, interest in artificial intelligence has only increased. A recent survey by consulting firm Bain & Company found that 85% of the companies surveyed said adopting AI was a top-five priority.

    As companies ramp up their AI offerings and begin restructuring their workforce, many are revisiting the question of whether AI will be a job killer or an enhancer.

    While it's still the early days of AI, we asked experts to weigh in. Should you be more worried about losing your job to a human using AI or to the AI itself?

    Workers already see the benefit of AI at this stage

    Baldwin said that AI is like a lawn mower or a power drill — it makes your job easier but it doesn't replace the human behind it. Other experts seemed to share a similar mindset that it's not advanced enough to function without direction, and for the most part, it helps people do better at their jobs.

    Jasmine Escalera, a career coach at LiveCareer said incorporating AI can help automate repetitive tasks and "free up time to focus on upskilling."

    Matt Betts, a research and development lead at leadership consulting firm RHR International, says it helps create efficiency so that consultants can focus on more impactful work, like interacting with the client.

    Data has shown a similar trend that AI has helped many workers produce high-quality work in a shorter amount of time.

    One study by MIT and Stanford from 2023 found that access to AI increased productivity by 14% on average, with a 34% impact on new or lower-skilled workers. A Morgan Stanley report indicated that workers with multiple income streams who used generative AI to increase their productivity made 21% more on average than those who didn't.

    AI may also be helping people land jobs. Career service LiveCareer surveyed 1,150 US workers in March and found that 85% of job seekers save time using AI for writing applications and 40% think AI improves their grammar, writing, and vocabulary.

    The loss of some jobs is inevitable

    AI has already redefined a number of roles and even if it doesn't take all jobs, it's bound to replace some.

    IBM used to have 800 people working in HR and now has 60 because it was able to automate repetitive tasks, according to the company's marketing chief.

    Klarna seems to be following a similar trajectory. The company said in a blog post in February that its AI assistant was doing the work of "700 full-time agents" after pumping the brakes on hiring.

    OpenAI CTO Mira Murati also weighed in on the topic at a Dartmouth event on June 8 and turned heads when she said some creative jobs may disappear, but those that could be replaced by AI "shouldn't have been there in the first place."

    Carl Benedikt Frey, a director of future and work at Oxford University, said that transportation and logistics are most likely to see outright automation moving forward. He also said warehousing, manufacturing, receptionists, cashiers, and translators are also roles that are moving toward automation or semi-automation.

    It's a good idea to skill up

    A March Goldman Sachs report found over 300 million jobs around the world could be impacted by AI. But it's impossible to predict how exactly they will change.

    Career coach Escalera said the best path forward is to lean into human soft skills while skilling up and "adopting a mindset of continuous learning." For some who are hiring, AI is becoming a prerequisite.

    Tripadvisor cofounder Steve Kaufer said on "The Logan Bartlett Show" that he asked candidates during interviews if they tried out new AI chatbots. He said software engineers who didn't experiment with AI tools usually didn't get the job.

    "I just don't understand it," Kaufer said. "And I probably don't want to work with that individual."

    CEO of global event company Empire Entertainment, J.B. Miller, said it's an "essential new skill set," especially in an industry that involves improvising. He said it cuts down time and helps with generating ideas for set designs and talent sourcing. He asks all new hires what AI tools they use.

    "There's no world where I could employ somebody who's like, I don't know how to use Excel or I don't know how to navigate the internet or do an internet search or something online like that," Miller said.

    "I think that the same is true of some of these basic, AI tools," he added.

    Read the original article on Business Insider
  • Estonia says it could hold out against a Russian attack ‘for a couple of weeks’ before NATO arrives

    A group of Estonian soldiers in uniform hold rifles and march in formation during a victory day parade in Viljandi, Estonia in June 2023.
    A group of Estonian soldiers seen during a Victory Day parade in Viljandi, Estonia, in June 2023.

    • Estonia could resist a Russian attack for two weeks before NATO support arrives, a top commander said.
    • The Baltic states have ramped up their defense amid fears Russia's aggression could turn on them.
    • Estonia shares a border with Russia. In 2024, its defense spending will be more than 3% of its GDP.

    Estonia could resist a Russian attack for two weeks before NATO support came in, a top Estonian commander said.

    The NATO country, which shares a land border with Russia, "would be able to resist an invasion for a couple of weeks," Colonel Mati Tikerpuu, the chief of one of Estonia's two army brigades, told El País.

    He said this would be "long enough until allied reinforcements arrive."

    Estonia, which has a population of just 1.4 million, says its defense spending in 2024 will be more than 3% of GDP — far beyond most NATO countries' contributions — amid deteriorating relations with Russia and alarm at the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

    As a proportion of GDP, Estonia has also given Ukraine more military aid than any other country.

    At the same time, American, British and French troops are a frequent presence at the training base Tikerpuu spoke from, some 10 miles from the border with Russia, the Spanish outlet reported — a sign of NATO's boosted approach to the region.

    In an interview in February, Tikerpuu told ERR, Estonia's national broadcaster, that "nothing can be excluded" when it comes to preparing for a possible Russian attack.

    The war in Ukraine has given Estonia something of a preview, which has helped it prepare its own forces' priorities, he told the outlet.

    Drones and artillery would be central to any conflict, he said, noting that Russia still favors massed "meat wave" attacks over the expense of using its high-precision weapons.

    Despite ramped-up military spending, Estonia's armed forces are limited; its army has no main battle tanks, and its single operational military air base, near Tallinn, has no combat aircraft.

    In 2022, its defense department announced the purchase of six US-made HIMARS multiple rocket launcher systems, to be delivered this year.

    A recent Estonian intelligence report estimated that Russia plans to station almost 40,000 troops near the border over the coming years, El País reported.

    That figure dwarfs Estonia's own active-duty force of 4,200 troops — although it has just under 40,000 trained reservists, a product of the country's conscription policy.

    Estonia's Prime Minister Kaja Kallas told Business Insider last year of her concern that Russia is "the most direct threat to European security right now."

    In March, the US approved a $228 million defense aid package for Estonia and its neighbors Lithuania and Latvia, aimed at fast-tracking military infrastructure.

    In February, the former Soviet states agreed to build a new bunker defense line along their collective 1,000-mile border with Russia, with reserve forces readied to deploy additional defenses such as mines and "dragon's teeth" anti-tank pyramids at short notice.

    Estonia is also part of a six-country coalition building a "drone wall" protecting their borders, although few details of this have emerged.

    The countries have warned of impending Russian hybrid attacks, attacks that disrupt but fall short of overt military action.

    Read the original article on Business Insider
  • Work is getting really weird

    A man sitting on a globe with shadow workers in the background

    Welcome back! "The Bear," everyone's favorite kitchen dramedy, is back for its third season. We figured out how much the characters would actually get paid working at a restaurant in Chicago.

    In today's big story, we're looking at how people are secretly outsourcing parts of their jobs, but job promotions are harder to get than ever.

    What's on deck:

    But first, strange times.


    If this was forwarded to you, sign up here.


    The big story

    Bizarro workplace

    Shadow workers are immersed in darkness behind a screen

    Let's be honest: Work has gotten really weird.

    The workplace has been in a constant state of change since the onset of the pandemic. There was the great resignation and quiet quitting. Super commuters and the overemployed.

    But now the workplace has reached its most (or least) evolved form: People paying others to do their job for them.

    The use of "shadow stand-ins" — someone you outsource parts or all of your job to, unbeknownst to your employer — is on the rise, writes Business Insider's Rob Price.

    Remote work, global social networks, and ubiquitous software tools mean workers can easily find low-paid helpers, often in India and Pakistan, to do their grunt work. Facebook and Telegram are home to thriving marketplaces for hiring this hidden labor.

    Workers hiring shadow stand-ins can be unqualified for their jobs, overwhelmed, greedy, or just lazy. And they often have, shall we say, less-than-ideal views of their employers.

    "For-profit corporations are government-sanctioned psychopaths, existing only to predatorily and parasitically earn profit," one disciple told Rob. "Corporations are owed no moral obligation whatsoever."

    The irony is the shadow stand-in ecosystem operates similarly to the companies these outsourcers so despise. Shadow stand-ins are typically paid a fraction of the salary earned by the actual employee. One employee also described to Rob struggling to deal with a shadow stand-in's sub-par work and eventually "firing" them.

    Man in suit looking up at a red ladder leaning against a bar chart that is too short to be practical

    Meanwhile, the people who are doing all the work themselves are having a tough time getting any recognition.

    The percentage of promotions being handed out continues to shrink as companies keep their belts tight amid high interest rates and uncertain economic conditions, writes BI's Aki Ito.

    And don't bank on this just being part of a broader workplace cycle. Hard lessons were learned in 2023 when companies issued wave after wave of layoffs. They now seem desperate to avoid ballooning back up in size and salaries.

    If promotions are out of the question, changing jobs has always been the best way to get a big salary bump.

    But that's proving difficult too, as the hiring of high-salaried employees has slowed considerably. And even if you do find a job posting, there's a good chance it could be fake.

    Ultimately, you're left working with colleagues who might not be working at all or are secretly on vacation. You and your boss probably don't trust each other, and you don't have work friends to commiserate with.

    Oh, and don't forget the overarching fear of your job being replaced by AI at a moment's notice.

    Like I said, work has gotten really weird.


    News brief

    Your Monday headline catchup

    A quick recap of the top news from over the weekend:


    3 things in markets

    elderly couple staring into the sun with wife carrying golden piggy bank under her arm
    1. These boomers are all smiles in retirement. Plenty of Americans are worried about stretching their savings at the end of their life, but these boomers are sitting pretty. As the owners of rare pensions and with real estate and stock portfolios that have greatly appreciated over the years, it's the golden age of retirement.
    2. No flash, but worth your cash. Construction, utility, and electrical companies in the data-center landscape are poised to be big winners from the AI boom. Traditionally viewed as a defensive and boring sector, data centers will play a key role in powering the AI models set to transform the world over the next decade.
    3. Some retail traders won't stop betting on GameStop. After Roaring Kitty broke his silence last month, interest in GameStop stock has been revived. With its latest rally, many traders can't ignore the allure of striking it rich on the meme stock, they told BI, even after losing it big the first time around.

    3 things in tech

    machine and robot arms
    1. Looking to integrate AI in your business? These consultants might be able to help. The generative AI boom has made businesses eager to implement the tech, but unsure where to begin. Here's what Bain, McKinsey, and others are telling clients.
    2. What will happen to AI progress if China invades Taiwan? Major AI chip designers depend on Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company to make crucial components. But TSMC's location puts AI — and its future — in a tricky geopolitical position. BI spoke with "Chip War" author Chris Miller, who warns about what might happen to the world's chip supply in the event of an invasion.
    3. Inside Netflix's two-CEO strategy. Netflix is the rare company with two CEOs, Greg Peters and Ted Sarandos. It's a risky setup — but so far it seems to be working. Peters explained how the big decisions get made.

    3 things in business

    a vintage Coach bag morphs into a modern Coach bag.
    1. How Coach turned its flop era into a slay. Though the designer's once-coveted handbags fell out of fashion in the 2010s, Coach's post-pandemic renaissance has been swift and fruitful. It's largely thanks to the brand's resonance with Gen Z.
    2. Why your local pharmacy may be closing. Corner drugstores across the country are shuttering, with major retailers Walgreens, CVS, and Rite Aid shutting down hundreds of stores. A string of short- and long-term challenges are contributing to their contraction.
    3. The weird, wild world of the US housing market. Real estate is defying an Econ-101 principle: the law of supply and demand. Demand is at a four-month low, supply is at a four-year high, and prices are at unprecedented heights. "It's a real head-scratcher," economist David Rosenberg said.

    In other news


    What's happening today


    The Insider Today team: Dan DeFrancesco, deputy editor and anchor, in New York. Jordan Parker Erb, editor, in New York. Hallam Bullock, senior editor, in London. Grace Lett, associate editor, in Chicago. Annie Smith, associate producer, in London. Amanda Yen, fellow, in New York.

    Read the original article on Business Insider
  • Meet CriticGPT, OpenAI’s new fix for ChatGPT’s biggest coding blunders

    OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.
    Sam Altman is CEO of OpenAI.

    • ChatGPT might be able to write lines of code, but it's often full of errors.
    • OpenAI thinks it's found a solution to the problem: CriticGPT.
    • The new model is designed to help AI trainers get sharper in identifying ChatGPT's coding mistakes. 

    OpenAI is starting to get serious about the hunt for bugs lurking in code generated by ChatGPT.

    Since its release, the AI chatbot has impressed the developer community with its ability to produce code in programming languages such as Python and Ruby. Yet it's also given developers reason to be dubious: code produced by ChatGPT is often full of mistakes.

    A study published in August 2023 by researchers at Purdue University found ChatGPT's responses to questions about code in the developer forum Stack Overflow were wrong 52% of the time, after assessing it for "correctness, consistency, comprehensiveness and conciseness."

    What's worse, the researchers found, was that the mistakes were often tough to identify: ChatGPT's seemingly "articulate" responses made it difficult to spot the errors.

    OpenAI seems to have recognized the problem, and is responding with a new solution: CriticGPT.

    The new model, revealed by the startup last week, has been built to "catch errors in ChatGPT's code output." In OpenAI's telling, the tool based on its GPT-4 model sounds like it could be a huge help to developers.

    "We found that when people get help from CriticGPT to review ChatGPT code they outperform those without help 60% of the time," the company said in a blog post.

    'Fewer hallucinated bugs'

    To begin, OpenAI is limiting CriticGPT's access to AI trainers. In practice, that means humans whose job involves reviewing answers produced by ChatGPT — through reinforcement learning from human feedback (RLHF) — will get assistance from CriticGPT to assess for accuracy.

    OpenAI says CriticGPT will offer humans AI that "augments their skills, resulting in more comprehensive critiques than when people work alone" in reviewing ChatGPT answers and "fewer hallucinated bugs than when the model works alone."

    Their hope is that this will boost a review process becoming increasingly tricky. OpenAI has acknowledged that the more advanced its AI models become, the harder it can be for AI trainers "to spot inaccuracies when they do occur."

    The bigger problem this can lead to, the company said, is increased difficulty in aligning models with their intended objectives "as they gradually become more knowledgeable than any person that could provide feedback."

    A future where models produced by AI companies actually become more knowledgeable than a person using them is not yet in sight, but AI researchers focused on safety have been busy thinking about how to keep such models in check to ensure they pose no threats.

    Such researchers include Jan Leike, who quit OpenAI in May over safety concerns and happened to be one of several coauthors on the paper explaining how CriticGPT works.

    https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

    OpenAI admits there are some limitations to CriticGPT.

    For now, it's only handling answers from ChatGPT "that are quite short." AI models are also still susceptible to hallucinations that can be missed by AI trainers, OpenAI said.

    Still, Sam Altman's company seems keen to boost its chatbot's coding chops by trying to catch its errors. CriticGPT clearly has a long way to go, but shows that OpenAI is at least trying to tackle the problem.

    Read the original article on Business Insider
  • Biden’s aides said his debate performance was poor because he struggles to function after 4 p.m.: report

    US President Joe Biden
    US President Joe Biden's debate against Trump could have disastrous consequences.

    • Biden's aides defended his debate performance, citing his limited optimal hours, Axios said.
    • Biden performs best between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., aides told the publication.
    • Some blamed his poor performance on over-preparation by aides, according to the Washington Post.

    Joe Biden's aides have defended his poor debate performance, saying he struggles to function outside a six-hour window during the day, according to Axios.

    The publication, citing people close to the president, said Biden works best between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.

    According to the anonymous aides, who spoke to Axios, Biden is more likely to make verbal mistakes and become tired outside this time period or while traveling abroad.

    Business Insider could not independently verify the comments.

    Biden's aides have also come under fire. According to the Washington Post, some in Biden's inner circle blamed his poor performance on over-preparation.

    Others said that too many aides were involved in his weeklong preparations at Camp David, according to the report.

    Biden and Trump went head-to-head in their first debate of the year on Thursday at 9 p.m. ET in Atlanta.

    Commentators and politicians deemed the debate disastrous for Biden and questioned whether he was too old for another term as president.

    During parts of the debate, Biden, 81, made confusing statements and appeared to forget what he was saying mid-sentence. For example, when asked about the national debt, Biden stumbled and said, "We finally beat Medicare."

    "I spent half my career being criticized for being the youngest person in politics. I was the second youngest person ever elected in the United States Senate — and now I'm the oldest," Biden said when asked to address concerns about his age during the debate.

    His aides' comments seem to contradict Biden's own argument that age shouldn't be a factor in the presidential race.

    "My fellow Americans, the issue facing our nation isn't how old we are: It's about how old our ideas are," he said during the State of the Union address in March.

    "You can't lead with ancient ideas that only take us back," he added.

    He made a similar point during an interview with MSNBC host Stephanie Ruhle in May.

    "I have acquired a hell of a lot of wisdom and know more than the vast majority of people," he said. "And I'm more experienced than anybody that's ever run for the office. And I think I've proven myself to be honorable as well as also effective."

    Biden admitted he performed poorly, but downplayed its importance.

    "I don't walk as easy as I used to, I don't speak as smoothly as I used to, I don't debate as well as I used to," he said to the crowd in Raleigh, NC.

    "I know how to tell the truth. I know right from wrong. And I know how to do this job, I know how to get things done," he added.

    Representatives for the Biden campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

    Read the original article on Business Insider
  • The only way Biden would reverse course is if he’s offered a ‘dignified’ way out: report

    President Joe Biden speaks at a post-debate campaign rally on June 28, 2024 in Raleigh, North Carolina.
    President Joe Biden's campaign is showing cracks after a disastrous debate performance last week.

    • Some Democrats working for Joe Biden believe he would only step aside if given a "dignified" exit.
    • Biden is facing pressure to drop out of the race after his disastrous debate performance.
    • According to The New York Times, Biden's family is urging him to continue his campaign.

    Some Democrats working for President Joe Biden believe he would only step aside for another candidate if he was afforded a "dignified way out," according to The New York Times.

    Unnamed sources told The Times that Biden would only bow to pressure to go if he could "claim credit" for defeating former President Donald Trump in 2020, restoring the country, and paving the way for the next generation of Democrats.

    According to The Times, the sources said Biden is a proud man, but stepping aside is not out of the question, though they estimated the odds of him trying to stay in the race were still 4 or 5 to 1, or at least 80%.

    The newspaper also noted that Biden's family is urging him to continue his campaign despite concerns raised by his poor debate performance against Trump on Thursday, which highlighted long-standing concerns about his age.

    Over the weekend, The Times said Biden met with his wife, children, and grandchildren at Camp David, who did not dispute that the president had performed badly in the debate.

    However, according to a source familiar with the conversations, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, they maintained a united front and believe he is still capable of serving another four years.

    Another anonymous source told The Times that Biden's son, Hunter Biden, recently convicted of three felony charges, was among the strongest voices encouraging his father to stay in the race.

    The White House did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

    The newspaper reported that family members, excluding First Lady Jill Biden, were frustrated with Biden's staff, including Anita Dunn, a senior White House advisor, and Bob Bauer, the president's personal attorney, who role-played as Trump during debate rehearsals.

    One person familiar with the conversations also mentioned concerns about Ron Klain, the former White House chief of staff, who oversaw debate preparations, according to The Times.

    The newspaper, citing an unnamed source, said the family had questions about whether the president was overloaded with statistics and why Biden was allowed to look pale during the debate.

    Klain, however, told The Times that it was certain that Biden would stay in the race.

    "He is the choice of the Democratic voters," Klain told the outlet. "We are seeing record levels of support from grass-roots donors. We had a bad debate night. But you win campaigns by fighting — not quitting — in the face of adversity."

    A recent CBS News/YouGov survey, based on a national sample of 1,130 registered voters, found that 76% of voters believe Biden shouldn't be running for president, with 46% of Democratic registered voters thinking the same.

    Read the original article on Business Insider
  • 2 managers at the World Economic Forum, which hosts the glitzy Davos conference, said the N-word in front of staff: report

    world economic forum davos
    Two managers at the World Economic Forum used the N-word in front of employees, per the Wall Street Journal.

    • Two World Economic Forum managers used the N-word in recent years, employees told The Wall Street Journal.
    • The nonprofit's founder said he will step aside as executive chairman as part of a planned transition.
    • The WEF is seen as a champion for inclusive workplaces and gender equality.

    Two managers at the World Economic Forum used a racist word in front of employees in recent years, The Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday.

    According to the Journal, which interviewed more than 80 current and former employees, employees faced gender discrimination and racism, among other issues, at the Switzerland-based nonprofit.

    Best known for its annual conference in Davos, Switzerland, the nonprofit brings together top voices in government, business, and research. The Forum also publishes regular reports on economic growth, climate action, and inclusive workplaces. Staffed by about a thousand employees, the Forum brought in more than $400 million in 2022-2023, per its annual report.

    Six Black employees told the Journal they were denied promotions or were otherwise sidelined at work. The Journal also reported two instances in which white managers used the N-word in front of Black employees.

    A spokesperson for the Forum referred Business Insider to a statement denying the accusations in the Journal's article.

    "The high standards we set for ourselves are supported by a framework that includes clear principles, a zero-tolerance policy towards any form of harassment and discrimination, mandatory training for all staff, confidential reporting channels, and a thorough investigation process," the statement read. "It is deeply disappointing that The Wall Street Journal is knowingly publishing demonstrably false assertions to mischaracterize our organization."

    In the statement, the group did not specify what in the article was inaccurate.

    A leading voice on DEI

    In one 2018 incident, then-operations chief Jean-Loup Denereaz belittled a Black woman on his team in front of the office, saying, "What can you expect from a N–," the Journal reported, citing people familiar with the incident.

    Employees also said Denereaz made other distasteful remarks, including inappropriate comments after a sexual harassment complaint was brought to him, the Journal reported.

    The Forum told the Journal that Denereaz was fired in 2018, days after the N-word incident. He did not respond to BI's request for comment or comment to the Journal.

    In a separate incident, a white South African manager, Margi Van Gogh, used the N-word in front of a Black woman while talking about the Danish and South African words for chocolate-covered marshmallows in 2022, the Journal reported, based on documents and interviews.

    The Black woman, who reported to Van Gogh, raised her concerns with the N-word in an email to her. In a subsequent discussion, Van Gogh "cried about her ancestral guilt" and suggested the Black employee initiate a DEI training, per the Journal. Human resources at the Forum denied her resources for the training, and there was no follow-up from Van Gogh, people familiar with the matter told the Journal.

    Van Gogh did not respond to a request for comment from BI or comment to the Journal. The Forum told the Journal the matter was resolved.

    The Forum also told the Journal that it was aware of three allegations of racial discrimination since 2020 and that each was investigated.

    These incidents at the Forum are especially striking because the nonprofit has tried to position itself as a leading voice on gender equality and creating equitable workplaces. In 2022, the group founded the DEI Lighthouse Program to identify workplace DEI initiatives and publish regular reports about DEI efforts.

    In a late May memo to staff, Forum founder Klaus Schwab said he planned to step aside as executive chairman as part of a planned transition. The announcement came after Schwab wrote to the Journal, concerned over the paper's reporting. His family remains heavily involved with the Forum and with a sister organization.

    Read the original article on Business Insider
  • The latest ‘House of the Dragon’ episode confirms the civil war was started because Alicent got mixed up over some names. The internet is in stiches.

    Olivia Cooke as Alicent and Emma D'Arcy as Rhaenyra in front of multiple candles in a dark room.
    In the latest episode of House of the Dragon, Rhaenyra (Emma D'Arcy) visits her stepmother, Alicent (Olivia Cooke), to figure out how they can stop the brewing civil war.

    • Warning: spoilers for "House of the Dragon" season two, episode three.
    • The series officially confirms that King Viserys did not want Aegon II to be his successor.
    • Fans are now mocking Alicent Targaryen for starting a civil war over a simple name mistake.

    The latest episode of "House of the Dragon" confirms that Westeros' civil war started because two Targaryens have the same name and fans can't stop laughing at this plot point.

    The brewing civil war started officially in season one, episode eight, after King Viserys Targaryen (Paddy Considine) accidentally caused confusion over who should succeed him in episode seven.

    At the beginning of the episode, Viserys reiterates that his first daughter, Rhaenyra (Emma D'Arcy), is his heir. But just before the king dies at the end of the episode, he hallucinates and talks about an Aegon being "the prince that was promised" to unite the realm.

    It is clear to the audience Viserys is talking about "The Song of Ice and Fire" prophecy, but Alicent Targaryen (Olivia Cooke), who is in the room at the time, believes her husband is talking about their son Aegon II (Tom Glynn-Carney), so she puts him on the throne in the next episode.

    In season two, episode three finally confirmed that Viserys was talking about Aegon the Conqueror, Viserys' grandfather.

    In the latest episode, Rhaenyra sneaks into King's Landing to talk to her stepmother, Alicent Targaryen, about how they can stop the impending civil war over who should rule Westeros.

    Paddy Considine as an old Viserys Targaryen in "House of the Dragon" season one, episode 8.
    Viserys Targaryen (Paddy Considine) dies of old age in season one, episode 8.

    While explaining her decision to support Aegon as king to Rhaenyra, Alicent claims Viserys called Aegon "the prince that was promised to unite the realm."

    Rhaenyra is shocked when Alicent mentions these words, revealing to Alicent that Viserys was actually talking about the prophecy of "The Song of Ice and Fire," conceived by Aegon the Conqueror.

    Yes, The Dance of the Dragons war began because Alicent got confused about two Targaryens named Aegon.

    "The Song of Ice and Fire" prophecy is meant to be kept between the Targaryen kings and queens, meaning Viserys likely thought he was talking to Rhaenyra on his deathbed in season one, episode seven.

    Alicent seems to realize her mistake but knows it is no longer possible to rectify the error and stop the war.

    This new development was not adapted from George R. R. Martin's "Fire and Blood" novel, the series' source material. Still, fans seem to have welcomed the change, making multiple memes about Alicent's realization of her mistake.

    While "House of the Dragon" is already a global hit series, its weekly release format allows fans to talk and joke about each episode individually, creating bigger hype for the show.

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    If the Targaryens learn one thing from this entire mess, they should start giving their children different names.

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  • Airbus agrees to pay $1 for Spirit AeroSystems assets in deal sparked by Boeing 737 Max blowout

    An aircraft of the model A220 is on the runway at the Airbus delivery centre near Toulouse.
    Spirit AeroSystems produced several parts for the Airbus A220 and A350.

    • Airbus has agreed to acquire assets of Spirit AeroSystems for $1.
    • It will also be compensated with $559 million from the aviation manufacturer. 
    • The bulk of Spirit is being bought by Boeing in the wake of the Alaska Airlines blowout.

    Airbus has agreed to buy assets from a major aviation supplier for a symbolic $1 price tag, the planemaker announced Monday.

    Spirit AeroSystems, which was part of Boeing before being spun off in 2005, is being carved up following January's Alaska Airlines blowout.

    Boeing is paying $4.7 billion to buy back Spirit AeroSystems, the companies announced Monday.

    However, the deal also requires Airbus' involvement because Spirit supplied the European planemaker with several key parts.

    Airbus said it has entered a binding term sheet agreement which will see it acquire the production of "major activities related to Airbus." That includes building A350 fuselage sections, as well as the pylons, wings, and mid-fuselage for A220 jets.

    Plus, Airbus would be compensated with $559 million from Spirit AeroSystems.

    This isn't the first time that Airbus has picked up assets on the cheap. The A220 began life as the Bombardier CSeries, but financial issues saw Airbus buy a 50% stake for one Canadian dollar in 2018. That was later raised to 75% in a $591 million deal.

    Spirit built the fuselage of the Alaska 737 Max that lost its door plug in midair and sparked a crisis at Boeing. Weeks after the incident, Boeing began negotiations to buy back the firm in an attempt to improve its quality-control processes.

    In a preliminary report, the National Transportation Safety Board said Spirit sent the plane to Boeing's factory with damaged rivets. The door plug was then opened to solve this, but it wasn't bolted back into place before being delivered to Alaska Airlines, per the report.

    The fallout has seen Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun announce his resignation, and the Justice Department consider criminal charges against Boeing, which could be announced this week.

    Read the original article on Business Insider