Technology

Negotiating wicked problems with the power of AI

Cristobal Garcia Herrera — Wed, 22 Jul 2026 20:47:54 +0000

Negotiating wicked problems with the power of AI

Cristobal Garc… Wed, 22/07/2026 - 20:47

23 July 2026

Wicked problems, such as climate breakdown, geopolitical fragmentation and demographic transformation, do not yield to single-sector solutions. Demanding new coalitions, new models, and new levels of ambition, this annual symposium exists to address exactly that.

This year, attendees discovered that while wicked problems are AI-resistant, the technology could still play a part in accelerating their resolution.

The event, organised by Wicked Labs, a collaboration between 51�Թ�� Business School and the Royal College of Art, was made up of five sessions:

Geopolitics, wars and new policy approaches;
The pace towards net-zero society;
Corporate venturing and AI;
The future of education, industries and governments; and
Industrial futures

Through these, attendees were exposed to four key practical insights:

Look at past tech revolutions to envision emerging futures;
Embrace the AI revolution and run continuous experiments in education, companies and governments;
Foster learning ecosystems to leverage collective intelligence; and
Train curious, emphatic and resilient leaders

A unique forum for addressing how organisations can adapt in the face of disruptions, such as AI, the Wicked Symposium has also become a community of people who refuse to accept that the world's hardest problems are unsolvable.

Artificial Intelligence

Climate Change

Digital Transformation

Strategy

Technology

Digital transformation

Academic area

Management & Entrepreneurship

Off

External

Off

The sixth Wicked Symposium gathered policymakers, investors, scholars, corporate innovation managers and experts to explore what happens to wicked problems when AI enters the room.

Fergus Burnett/51�Թ�� Business School

1 minute read

Book launch on Tencent and its rise to being a global tech giant

Lou Lee — Mon, 14 Apr 2025 10:15:24 +0000

Book launch on Tencent and its rise to being a global tech giant

Lou Lee Mon, 14/04/2025 - 10:15

8 September 2026 News

Global experts explore new ways to navigate an uncertain future

7 September 2026 News

51�Թ�� Business School academics take to the stage in Lisbon

29 July 2026 News

51�Թ�� launches UK’s first master’s degree focused on AI’s economic and policy impact

1 July 2026

To mark the publication of their new book, China's 'Everything Online' Company: The Unique Innovation Model of Tencent, Professor George Yip, Emeritus Professor of Marketing & Strategy at 51�Թ�� Business School, and co-author Professor Xiaolan Fu, Professor of Technology and International Development at the University of Oxford, shared insights from their research into one of the world's leading technology companies.

Introduced by Lord Clement-Jones, Liberal Democrat House of Lords spokesperson for Science, Innovation and Technology, the event traced Tencent's evolution from its early instant messaging platform QQ to the creation of WeChat and its vast digital ecosystem spanning social media, gaming, payments, cloud computing and AI.

Drawing on years of research, Professor Yip and Professor Fu explained that Tencent's success stems not only from technological excellence, but also from the way it encourages new ideas to emerge. Their book introduces the company's distinctive OCEAN framework: Openness, Coopetition, Empowerment, Autonomy and Attentiveness as a way of managing stakeholder needs. Together, these principles help Tencent operate more like a connected ecosystem than a traditional corporate hierarchy, encouraging experimentation while allowing new ideas to scale quickly.

“I hope people left with fresh insights into how Tencent combines technology, organisation and ecosystem thinking to create innovation at scale, and why those lessons matter well beyond China.”

Professor George Yip

Emeritus Professor of Marketing & Strategy

Reflecting on the event, Professor Yip said: "The enthusiasm and engagement from the audience showed just how much interest there is in understanding one of the world's most innovative companies. I hope people left with fresh insights into how Tencent combines technology, organisation and ecosystem thinking to create innovation at scale, and why those lessons matter well beyond China, even to the UK's next Prime Minister."

The evening concluded with a lively audience Q&A exploring the future of innovation, digital ecosystems and China's rapidly evolving technology landscape.

Professor Yip and Professor Fu's book offers fresh insights for business leaders, policymakers, researchers and students interested in innovation, digital platforms and the future of technology.

Subscribe for research and events from the Business School

Artificial Intelligence

Big Tech

Brand

Consumers

Digital Transformation

Digital transformation

Entrepreneurship

Academic area

Management & Entrepreneurship

Marketing

Off

External

Off

51�Թ�� Business School welcomed business leaders, academics and alumni for the launch of a new book offering a rare insight into how Chinese technology giant Tencent became one of the world's most innovative companies.

2 minute read

Climate resilience in focus at London Climate Action Week

Lou Lee — Mon, 14 Apr 2025 10:15:24 +0000

Climate resilience in focus at London Climate Action Week

Lou Lee Mon, 14/04/2025 - 10:15

8 September 2026 News

Global experts explore new ways to navigate an uncertain future

7 September 2026 News

51�Թ�� Business School academics take to the stage in Lisbon

29 July 2026 News

51�Թ�� launches UK’s first master’s degree focused on AI’s economic and policy impact

29 June 2026

Delivered in collaboration with General Atlantic, the event reflected the Centre for Climate Finance and Investment's (CCFI) growing role as a convenor of interdisciplinary expertise on climate risk and finance. Discussions explored how climate-related risks such as extreme weather are increasingly affecting economic stability, infrastructure, and investment decisions, and how organisations are adapting their approach to managing these risks over the long term.

The event opened with a keynote from Abigail Ng, Chief Sustainability Officer at the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), who highlighted climate resilience as a key part of protecting economic security. This was followed by a panel discussion chaired by Rowan Douglas CBE, Honorary Practice Fellow at CCFI, and featuring Kemal Erçevik (Bank of England), Natasha Fowlie (General Atlantic), Paul Munday (S&P Global), Julian Wentzel (HSBC).

A central theme throughout the conversation was the need to integrate climate and nature risks into the core functioning of financial systems, rather than treating them separately. Speakers highlighted the importance of better data, shared standards, and clearer ways of measuring risk in order to improve decision-making across banking, insurance, regulation and investment.

“This is what CCFI is all about: a platform that brings together scholarly excellence and leading market participants to deliver effective solutions at scale.”

Dr Enrico Biffis

Academic Director of CCFI and Professor of Actuarial Finance

Rowan Douglas commented: “We now have our resilience priorities confirmed and an excellent community of financial-sector partners to mobilise with CCFI and 51�Թ��’s School of Convergence Science. Our mission is to help retrain the invisible hand to value resilience and better protect exposed assets and communities in the years and decades ahead.”

In closing remarks, Dr Enrico Biffis, Director of CCFI and Professor of Actuarial Finance and Academic, said: “This is what CCFI is all about: a platform that brings together scholarly excellence and leading market participants to deliver effective solutions at scale.”

The event underscored CCFI’s role within 51�Թ�� Business School as a bridge between academic research and industry practice, and highlighted ongoing collaboration with MAS and other partners to strengthen resilience in the face of growing climate challenges.

Panel speakers (from left to right): Natasha Fowlie (General Atlantic), Kemal Ercevik (Bank of England), Julian Wentzel (HSBC), Paul Munday (S&P Global), and Rowan Douglas (51�Թ�� Business School).

Subscribe for research and events from the Business School

Banking

Centre for Climate Finance and Investment

Finance and institutional resilience

Sustainability and climate change

Research Centre

Centre for Climate Finance & Investment

Academic area

Finance

Economics & Public Policy

Off

External

Off

The Centre for Climate Finance and Investment (CCFI) brought together leaders from finance, insurance, law, technology, policy and academia for an event on Climate Resilience & Economic Security during London Climate Action Week (20-28 June).

Abigail Ng and Rowan Douglas at London Climate Action Week

2 minute read

Women in tech: why I chose the Full-Time MBA at 51�Թ�� Business School

Rebecca Pike — Tue, 04 Mar 2025 09:31:29 +0000

Women in tech: why I chose the Full-Time MBA at 51�Թ�� Business School

Rebecca Pike Tue, 04/03/2025 - 09:31

27 May 2026 Student blog

The ROI of an 51�Թ�� MBA: what I learned from the Chile Global Experience Week

51�Թ��’s Global Experience Week offers students a chance to gain real-world experience, applying their learnings to global business challenges. As Naman Goyal reflects, the growth that takes place on these trips is long-lasting and impactful.

1 May 2026 Student blog

What I didn’t expect from 51�Թ��’s Full-Time MBA programme

From leading a Careers event to connecting with industry experts and gaining experience through the Student Investment Fund, Sushrut Deo explores the value of engaging with experiences beyond the Full-Time MBA curriculum.

6 February 2026 Student blog

From Bilaspur, India to London: building my global business outlook at 51�Թ�� Business School

For Full-Time MBA student Shivangi Tiwari, the move from Bilaspur, India to London has opened doors to a diverse international network, practical business education and exposure to the UK’s thriving innovation ecosystem.

4 September 2025

Student blog

At 51�Թ�� Business School, we believe that diversity plays an essential part in shaping the future of business and technology. For women working in the tech industry, building networks and supportive communities is especially valuable and is something that we actively encourage on our MBA programmes. In this blog, we hear from Sofia Baldomir, one of our Full-Time MBA Class of 2025 students, as she shares how her background in tech, combined with the opportunities available at 51�Թ�� – from collaboration with 51�Թ��’s STEM faculties to Career focused clubs – has helped her to grow as a leader in tech innovation.

Choosing 51�Թ��: a natural next step in tech leadership

My experience in an AI consulting company deepened my interest in the role technology plays in driving business growth and social impact. I’ve seen firsthand how technology is reshaping industries, unlocking new opportunities and improving lives. But to make a bigger impact in the industry, I knew I needed to expand my leadership skills and broaden my understanding of business strategies across different industries.

When I decided to pursue a Full-Time MBA, I wanted to immerse myself in an environment that would help me stay at the forefront of this innovation. 51�Թ�� Business School stood out to me because of its reputation for research and innovation, as well as its strong emphasis on STEM. The opportunity to engage with both tech experts and business leaders within the Business School’s dynamic environment felt like the perfect place to hone my skills.

Being awarded the Latin American Scholarship from 51�Թ�� Business School and the Chevening Scholarship from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office from the UK government further reinforced that this was the right move for me. I’m extremely honoured to have been selected by these two prestigious awards and given the opportunity to contribute to the 51�Թ�� community with knowledge from my background and experiences.

Learning from a diverse, collaborative community at 51�Թ��

The collaboration between classmates has been excellent. Even before the programme officially began, many of us connected through Unibuddy. My Full-Time MBA cohort includes students from a wide range of nationalities, industries and professional backgrounds, which has led to dynamic conversations and new ways of thinking.

The collaborative spirit of the programme goes beyond the classroom too. In one professional development session, we were asked to present a goal and identify the types of people we needed to connect with in order to achieve it. I was touched by how quickly my classmates offered support; it was a clear indication of 51�Թ��’s collaborative nature.

This was further reinforced by networks like the Women in SET (Science, Engineering & Technology), which allows students to connect with and advocate for women who have similar career ambitions in STEM.

And the wider 51�Թ�� community – including peers from engineering, data science and AI – has offered further invaluable learning opportunities. Projects like the 51�Թ�� Innovation Challenge allow students to immerse themselves in cutting-edge advancements that are shaping the future of business and helps to sharpen problem-solving skills and deepen understanding of tech applications across various industries.

Empowering future female leaders in the tech industry

I believe that self-knowledge and self-awareness are key to becoming a successful leader. And whilst the tech industry continues to be a male-dominated field, it is an area full of opportunity for women ready to lead and innovate.

Through 51�Թ��’s LEADS initiative (Leadership, Ethics, Awareness, Diversity, Society), I’ve had the chance to gain a deeper understanding of my personal leadership style and how to inspire others effectively. Understanding our individual strengths and areas for development in terms of leadership capability is essential for excelling in the business environment.

Taking the lead through the Technology, Media and Telecommunications (TMT) Club

A particularly rewarding experience has been serving as President of the Technology, Media and Telecommunications (TMT) Club. Career Clubs play a central role in the student experience at 51�Թ�� and offer an opportunity to take on leadership roles and grow professionally outside of the classroom.

My involvement in the TMT Club has allowed me to connect with students from other programmes who also share a passion for technology and innovation. Collaborating on events that bring together peers and industry professionals has been a brilliant way to learn directly from leaders in the field. As a growing European tech hub, London also offers unparalleled access to innovative companies and cutting-edge developments that we can access through the Club.

Advice for future female tech leaders

For women working in the tech industry who may be about to embark on their MBA journey or are considering studying a Full-time MBA, my advice is simple: trust yourself.

The path you’ve taken in tech is valuable and your experiences are unique. The diversity and inclusivity of 51�Թ�� Business School means that every perspective has value, so embrace what makes you stand out. An MBA can provide space to expand on those strengths and gain new perspectives.
Engage with alumni, student clubs and networks like the Women in SET and TMT Club – these resources are designed to help you grow, build confidence and connect with other students who will support you on your professional journey.
Collaborate with those around you. I’ve been amazed by the willingness of everyone to share their insights and experiences, and that’s a testament to the collaborative spirit of the Business School.

Discover more about our programme

Full-Time MBA

Programme

My journey from AI and Fintech to an MBA

4 minute read

The story behind AI community Hugging Face: Professor Erkko Autio co-authors article in The European Business Review

Evie Burrows-Taylor — Mon, 03 Feb 2025 10:53:54 +0000

The story behind AI community Hugging Face: Professor Erkko Autio co-authors article in The European Business Review Evie Burrows-Taylor Mon, 03/02/2025 - 10:53

23 January 2025

Technology

Big Tech

Listen: The Standard’s Tech and Science Daily podcast interviews Dr Mark Kennedy about Chinese AI company DeepSeek

Evie Burrows-Taylor — Mon, 03 Feb 2025 09:58:57 +0000

Listen: The Standard’s Tech and Science Daily podcast interviews Dr Mark Kennedy about Chinese AI company DeepSeek Evie Burrows-Taylor Mon, 03/02/2025 - 09:58

28 January 2025

Digital transformation

Artificial Intelligence

Digital Transformation

Technology

ITV News interviews David Shrier about DeepSeek’s emerging dominance in the technology market

Evie Burrows-Taylor — Mon, 03 Feb 2025 09:49:09 +0000

ITV News interviews David Shrier about DeepSeek’s emerging dominance in the technology market Evie Burrows-Taylor Mon, 03/02/2025 - 09:49

27 January 2025

Digital transformation

Artificial Intelligence

Digital Transformation

Technology

The Times features 51�Թ��’s new Venture Capital Fellowship

Evie Burrows-Taylor — Mon, 27 Jan 2025 12:05:17 +0000

The Times features 51�Թ��’s new Venture Capital Fellowship Evie Burrows-Taylor Mon, 27/01/2025 - 12:05

22 January 2025

Digital transformation

Technology

Digital Transformation

Education and Learning

Decentralised Autonomous Organisations rethink the role of bosses. But who really has the power?

Ying-Ying Hsieh — Wed, 15 Jan 2025 12:14:02 +0000

Decentralised Autonomous Organisations rethink the role of bosses. But who really has the power?

Ying-Ying Hsieh Wed, 15/01/2025 - 12:14

More blogs

9 September 2026 Knowledge

Decentralised Autonomous Organisations rethink the role of bosses. But who really has the power?

27 August 2026 Knowledge

Do big bonuses really affect employee behaviour?

3 August 2026 Knowledge

Why making AI too easy to use is a risk for business

9 September 2026

Article at a glance

Intended to democratise organisational governance, new research from Ying-Ying Hsieh, Phanish Puranam and Noam Gelman-Hofstadter suggests power in most DAOs is rather centralised.
Autonomy is often used to mean both automation and independence. DAOs promise decisions executed by code and freedom from external control, but most still rely on human judgement and third-party platforms.
DAOs stand as an important experiment in alternative organisational governance, offering lessons for conventional companies seeking to democratise decision making and decentralise power.

DAOs are a blockchain-based alternative to traditional governance structures. Rather than a conventional hierarchy of executives and managers, DAOs aim to give members a more direct role in decision making, with some decisions executed automatically by smart contracts.

The idea is that decisions are voted on, self-executed, and recorded on a blockchain, making them visible to all members to ensure transparency and accountability at scale. This in turn reduces bureaucracy and administrative overheads, making the organisation more democratic, innovative and agile.

Take MakerDAO as an example. In March 2020, a crash triggered by COVID-19 left the organisation with serious liquidity issues. Rather than executives deciding what to do, a novel solution that surfaced informally in a community channel was debated by risk assessors, smart contract code reviewers and ordinary members, and was then approved through a formal vote.

But has the DAO model really resulted in power being shared more democratically across the board? Our research, the largest systematic empirical examination of DAOs to-date, addresses this question.

Surprisingly centralised

We found that more than 80 per cent of voting rights in the average DAO are controlled by less than 1 per cent of addresses (and multiple addresses may be controlled by single members). That means power is concentrated within a small group, though unlike in a conventional firm, this emerges through token ownership and low turnout rather than deliberate structure.

Another factor is the gap between membership and participation. We observed that the average DAO has 5,024 members, but only 709 voters and 10 proposers, with over half of all proposals receiving fewer than 12 votes. While everybody is entitled to vote, having lots of members does not necessarily mean lots of people have a meaningful say.

“While everybody is entitled to vote, having lots of members does not necessarily mean lots of people have a meaningful say.”

Whales and delegates

One key issue is the existence of ‘whales’ and ‘delegates’, i.e. those who control a large number of voting tokens. Whales hold their tokens outright, and are free to vote however they like, including on their own proposals. Delegates, by contrast, are granted voting power on behalf of other members, but this power is conditional: they can lose their delegate status if they vote against the wishes of those they represent

This distinction matters. Whales pose a greater threat to true decentralisation than delegates, because their unconditional voting power answers to nobody but themselves. And because holdings are visible on the blockchain, the position of whales may be known beforehand, which can make the result of a vote feel like a foregone conclusion. Delegates, despite holding real voting weight, rarely use it unilaterally, as going against their delegators’ wishes risks their position.

Whales can also buy more tokens to sway contested decisions. In many cases, a large share of voting tokens are locked in vesting arrangements held by founders and early investors – in the average DAO, vesting tokens equal 38 per cent of liquid holdings. When these are unlocked, voting power can be further concentrated, exacerbating the issue.

Autonomy and algorithmic governance

There is a question as to how autonomous DAOs really are. ‘Autonomy’ can mean two different things: automation, i.e. decisions executed without human involvement, and independence, i.e. freedom from outside control.

Most DAOs attempt both, but often achieve neither. We found that only around 8 per cent use on-chain governance, where votes are recorded and executed automatically via blockchain. The rest rely on off-chain voting through third-party platforms, with humans viewing results and carrying out decisions – the opposite of blockchain automation, though not completely independent of all oversight.

This offers a wider lesson beyond DAOs. It is tempting to view the trend of businesses increasingly handing decisions to AI tools as a form of self-sufficiency, in which processes run themselves free of human oversight. But if DAOs are any guide, automating decisions does not bring independence – it substitutes reliance on people for reliance on digital infrastructure and the third parties who run it.

What businesses can learn

Ultimately, our evidence suggests that DAOs deviate from the decentralised, autonomous ideal organisation design they were built around. However, this is not to say that they fail as an innovation. Rather, they stand as an important experiment in alternative organisational governance. They are best understood as a distinct organisational form in their own right – something closer to a financialised community or an algorithmic commons than either a corporation or a traditional community.

Conventional companies can also borrow elements of the DAO model, experimenting with giving employees, customers and other stakeholders a more direct voice in decision making. The MakerDAO example shows how this can work in practice – collective decisions settled through proposing and voting – even under urgent conditions that would normally require centralised, top-down control.

This article draws on findings from “Neither community nor corporation? A deeper look at decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs)” by Dr Ying-Ying Hsieh (51�Թ�� Business School), Professor Phanish Puranam (INSEAD) and Noam Gelman-Hofstadte (DeepDAO Ventures Ltd), published In Industrial and Corporate Change.

Big Tech

Data

Digital Transformation

Digital transformation

Entrepreneurship

Knowledge Categories

Management

Strategy & Leadership

Technology

Academic area

Management & Entrepreneurship

Decentralised Autonomous Organisations (DAOs) promised an alternative to traditional hierarchies, but truly distributing power within them has proved more nuanced than it first appeared.

4 minute read

Off

Why making AI too easy to use is a risk for business

Chengwei Liu — Wed, 15 Jan 2025 12:14:02 +0000

Why making AI too easy to use is a risk for business

Chengwei Liu Wed, 15/01/2025 - 12:14

More blogs

9 September 2026 Knowledge

Decentralised Autonomous Organisations rethink the role of bosses. But who really has the power?

27 August 2026 Knowledge

Do big bonuses really affect employee behaviour?

3 August 2026 Knowledge

Why making AI too easy to use is a risk for business

3 August 2026

Article at a glance

Leaders should design AI workflows to preserve the human ability to evaluate, challenge and build on AI-generated outputs, new research reveals
Deliberate friction, requiring human input and thinking, can help avoid an AI-driven degradation in critical thinking within organisations.

As the saying goes, “necessity is the mother of invention”: a lack of easy solutions forces us to come up with innovative ways to tackle complex problems. Artificial intelligence (AI) offers an alternative approach, providing instant solutions with little human effort required. While this can certainly increase productivity, it may also reduce “necessity” in the sense of needing to innovate, think creatively and come up with novel approaches to get things done.

Is this a problem? Perhaps not in the short term, as less work means lower costs and more resource capacity for businesses. But in the long term, it may pose an existential threat by atrophying the critical faculties we need to produce new thinking and develop innovative solutions. We call this “the productivity trap”.

Our research looks at this from an organisational perspective. It shows that when “good enough” solutions become free for anyone in the organisation to access, facilitated by AI, the rate of reuse goes up, while the rate of independent exploration and experimentation goes down. Over time, this sees teams increasingly converge on a limited number of approaches.

Avoiding the productivity trap

This creates a significant tension for business leaders: how to balance the cost and efficiency benefits of AI with the erosion of creative thinking among individuals and teams.

One option is to simply limit or slow AI integration, but that comes with clear opportunity costs in short-term savings and long-term efficiency gains. At the same time, ignoring the dangers of the productivity trap could see an organisation lose its USP and cutting edge in the eyes of the market, or be caught off guard by an unexpected challenge.

The solution lies in what we call “strategic friction” – adding a small hurdle to individual use of AI in order to raise the total level of knowledge at the organisational level. This works because when people are required to invest some effort in order to use ready-made findings, they naturally learn and produce new knowledge for others to build on.

As a result, more distinct approaches survive, fewer individuals give up on exploration and experimentation, and the organisation is less at risk of getting stuck with a limited range of solutions. This relies on a mechanism known as “absorptive capacity”, which is the ability to build expertise by stacking new learning onto existing knowledge. This helps people to grow understanding, allowing them to evaluate, adapt and improve ideas rather than just copying them.

"When people are required to invest some effort in order to use ready-made findings, they naturally learn and produce new knowledge for others to build on."

Friction with purpose

The key to using strategic friction is not to create bureaucratic hurdles for the sake of it. Instead, it’s about keeping enough friction in the system so that people need to understand ideas before reusing them, helping them to continue to learn and develop rather than stagnate.

Leaders should calibrate this carefully; too little friction can limit innovation, while too much might slow everything down. Equally, not every task requires friction; routine, simple tasks where speed is the goal will benefit less than those where the organisation needs staff to think, learn and develop.

At the organisational level, this means moving from a model where users ask AI questions and receive simple solutions, to one where users have to contribute their own understanding to receive useful outputs. To achieve this, leaders could consider requiring staff to submit documented independent work before being allowed to use AI for a task.

At the system level, AI platforms can be customised to ask for a user-generated input before providing an output. For example, an analyst asking AI for a risk assessment could first be required by the interface to upload their own hypothesis and list of variables. The AI would then build on this human input in a reciprocal, conversational process that sees the two parties collaborating, rather than the user simply delegating work to the AI.

Getting the right staff mindset in place can help too. Traits to look out for include an unwillingness to accept or rely on AI-generated work at face value. Instead, workers should take the time to see what’s missing, test the assumptions and adapt it to fit the context. This requires the ability to spot errors, omissions and incorrect assumptions in AI outputs, as well as the ability to explain why these things are problems.

Building a workforce with these skills may see a shift from targeting those who can give the right answers to those who can identify the right processes. Leaders should be looking for “builders” rather than “free-riders”, choosing those who instinctively understand the limits of AI capability, question its outputs, and provide their own inputs to ensure the results are useful.

Discover more insights by Dr Chengwei Liu

Read 'Using AI Can Stifle Innovation. But It Doesn’t Have To.'

Artificial Intelligence

Digital Transformation

Digital transformation

Knowledge Categories

Technology

Academic area

Management & Entrepreneurship

AI can boost efficiency at work, but it may also weaken the experimentation and critical thinking that drive innovation. Leaders should introduce strategic friction to help preserve judgement, learning and creativity.

5 minute read

Off

Technology

Negotiating wicked problems with the power of AI

Negotiating wicked problems with the power of AI

Share

The sixth Wicked Symposium gathered policymakers, investors, scholars, corporate innovation managers and experts to explore what happens to wicked problems when AI enters the room.

Book launch on Tencent and its rise to being a global tech giant

Book launch on Tencent and its rise to being a global tech giant

Global experts explore new ways to navigate an uncertain future

51�Թ��� Business School academics take to the stage in Lisbon

51�Թ��� launches UK’s first master’s degree focused on AI’s economic and policy impact

Subscribe for research and events from the Business School

Share

51�Թ��� Business School welcomed business leaders, academics and alumni for the launch of a new book offering a rare insight into how Chinese technology giant Tencent became one of the world's most innovative companies.

Climate resilience in focus at London Climate Action Week

Climate resilience in focus at London Climate Action Week

Global experts explore new ways to navigate an uncertain future

51�Թ��� Business School academics take to the stage in Lisbon

51�Թ��� launches UK’s first master’s degree focused on AI’s economic and policy impact

Subscribe for research and events from the Business School

Share

The Centre for Climate Finance and Investment (CCFI) brought together leaders from finance, insurance, law, technology, policy and academia for an event on Climate Resilience & Economic Security during London Climate Action Week (20-28 June).

Women in tech: why I chose the Full-Time MBA at 51�Թ��� Business School

Women in tech: why I chose the Full-Time MBA at 51�Թ��� Business School

The ROI of an 51�Թ��� MBA: what I learned from the Chile Global Experience Week

What I didn’t expect from 51�Թ���’s Full-Time MBA programme

From Bilaspur, India to London: building my global business outlook at 51�Թ��� Business School

Choosing 51�Թ���: a natural next step in tech leadership

Learning from a diverse, collaborative community at 51�Թ���

Empowering future female leaders in the tech industry

Taking the lead through the Technology, Media and Telecommunications (TMT) Club

Advice for future female tech leaders

Discover more about our programme

Share

My journey from AI and Fintech to an MBA

The story behind AI community Hugging Face: Professor Erkko Autio co-authors article in The European Business Review

Share

Listen: The Standard’s Tech and Science Daily podcast interviews Dr Mark Kennedy about Chinese AI company DeepSeek

Share

ITV News interviews David Shrier about DeepSeek’s emerging dominance in the technology market

Share

The Times features 51�Թ���’s new Venture Capital Fellowship

Share

Decentralised Autonomous Organisations rethink the role of bosses. But who really has the power?

Decentralised Autonomous Organisations rethink the role of bosses. But who really has the power?

More blogs

Decentralised Autonomous Organisations rethink the role of bosses. But who really has the power?

Do big bonuses really affect employee behaviour?

Why making AI too easy to use is a risk for business

Article at a glance

Intended to democratise organisational governance, new research from Ying-Ying Hsieh, Phanish Puranam and Noam Gelman-Hofstadter suggests power in most DAOs is rather centralised.

Autonomy is often used to mean both automation and independence. DAOs promise decisions executed by code and freedom from external control, but most still rely on human judgement and third-party platforms.

DAOs stand as an important experiment in alternative organisational governance, offering lessons for conventional companies seeking to democratise decision making and decentralise power.

Surprisingly centralised

Whales and delegates

Autonomy and algorithmic governance

What businesses can learn

Share

Decentralised Autonomous Organisations (DAOs) promised an alternative to traditional hierarchies, but truly distributing power within them has proved more nuanced than it first appeared.

Why making AI too easy to use is a risk for business

Why making AI too easy to use is a risk for business

More blogs

Decentralised Autonomous Organisations rethink the role of bosses. But who really has the power?

Do big bonuses really affect employee behaviour?

Why making AI too easy to use is a risk for business

Article at a glance

Leaders should design AI workflows to preserve the human ability to evaluate, challenge and build on AI-generated outputs, new research reveals

Deliberate friction, requiring human input and thinking, can help avoid an AI-driven degradation in critical thinking within organisations.

Avoiding the productivity trap

Friction with purpose

Discover more insights by Dr Chengwei Liu

Share

AI can boost efficiency at work, but it may also weaken the experimentation and critical thinking that drive innovation. Leaders should introduce strategic friction to help preserve judgement, learning and creativity.

51�Թ�� Business School academics take to the stage in Lisbon

51�Թ�� launches UK’s first master’s degree focused on AI’s economic and policy impact

51�Թ�� Business School welcomed business leaders, academics and alumni for the launch of a new book offering a rare insight into how Chinese technology giant Tencent became one of the world's most innovative companies.

51�Թ�� Business School academics take to the stage in Lisbon

51�Թ�� launches UK’s first master’s degree focused on AI’s economic and policy impact

Women in tech: why I chose the Full-Time MBA at 51�Թ�� Business School

Women in tech: why I chose the Full-Time MBA at 51�Թ�� Business School

The ROI of an 51�Թ�� MBA: what I learned from the Chile Global Experience Week

What I didn’t expect from 51�Թ��’s Full-Time MBA programme

From Bilaspur, India to London: building my global business outlook at 51�Թ�� Business School

Choosing 51�Թ��: a natural next step in tech leadership

Learning from a diverse, collaborative community at 51�Թ��

The Times features 51�Թ��’s new Venture Capital Fellowship