Latest news with #Harvard Business School
Fast Company
2 days ago
- Business
- Fast Company
This AI startup lets you ask data questions in plain English—and gets you answers in seconds
PREMIUM Julius, an AI-powered tool used at Harvard Business School, turns natural language queries into instant charts and insights. [Animation: Julius] BY Listen to this Article More info 0:00 / 4:51 Businesses have spent the past decade or more amassing vast amounts of data on customers, sales, and nearly everything else measurable. Yet everyday employees—and even C-suite leaders—often struggle to work directly with these datasets, which typically require specialized technical skills to access, analyze, and query. Julius AI, a startup founded in 2022, claims to have a solution. It offers AI that allows users to ask questions in plain English, like 'Why is our revenue going up?' or 'Can I see a pie chart of sales by region?' The system then automatically generates code in languages like Python to deliver the required answer or data visualization, often within seconds, along with a written explanation of the process. Previously users would have needed to submit questions to their company's data science team, wait for clarifying questions, and then receive a response or link to a chart. Now they can simply talk to Julius. 'They can just ask questions and get instant insights,' says founder and CEO Rahul Sonwalkar. 'And then they [can] ask a lot of follow-up questions.' advertisement The Early-rate deadline for Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies Awards is on September 5, at 11:59 p.m. PT. Apply today. Subscribe to see the rest. Already Subscribed? Login. GET UNLIMITED ACCESS TO FAST COMPANY Enjoy the latest trends from the world-leading progressive business media brand just $1 Join for $1 Sign up for our weekly tech digest. SIGN UP This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Privacy Policy ABOUT THE AUTHOR Steven Melendez is an independent journalist living in New Orleans. More
Forbes
22-07-2025
- Business
- Forbes
The Mental Shift That Makes You 14% More Likely To Save For Retirement
Taking time for self-reflection can help individuals envision a future life beyond their primary ... More working years, transforming retirement from a distant, abstract destination into a familiar stop on life's journey. Researchers affiliated with Harvard Business School recently conducted a decade-long longitudinal study on retirement behavior—tracking 14 individuals closely over ten years and surveying 106 more—revealing comparative insights into different retirement transition approaches. Their findings, published in the 2024 Harvard Business Review article Retirement Without Regrets, present contrasting case studies, map common phases of retirement transition, and highlight behavioral frameworks retirees have used to increase their retirement success. A key takeaway: retirees often struggle when their vision of happiness is unclear or lacks purpose. Charting a course for retirement is difficult without a clear destination. The study illustrates this by contrasting two knowledge workers' post-career lives—one who proactively envisioned a fulfilling retirement found happiness quickly, while the other became isolated and unhappy. Think of two people embarking on separate open-road adventures; the one with a map will likely enjoy a more efficient trajectory. Feeling a stronger connection to one's future self may encourage more retirement saving. Building on this, another study, titled Back to the Present: How the Direction of Mental Time Travel Affects Similarity and Saving, explores deliberate foresight. Led by Katherine Christensen, assistant marketing professor at Indiana University, the research asked whether feeling a stronger connection to one's future self would encourage more retirement saving. After 20 experiments, the answer was a clear yes. The potentially game-changing retirement research found that more than 80% of the time, individuals imagining their future start by thinking about the present. Leveraging this, Christensen and her team flipped the typical mindset—by asking participants where they wanted to end up instead of where they were or how they would get there, they helped people overcome natural cognitive biases and adopt more productive saving behaviors. The 14% Difference Time in the market typically beats attempts to time market fluctuations. Therefore, long-term planning can play a crucial role in unlocking the financial flexibility that helps to allow retirees to sleep well at night, free from the fear of depleting their nest egg. In one experiment analyzing over 6,700 customers of a Swedish fintech company, individuals with low-balance savings accounts were 14% more likely to invest in a long-term savings product when prompted to think about their future selves first. The simple prompt used was: 'The year is 2034… rewind back to 2024 and consider saving for 2034 you,' according to contributing author Hal Hershfield. In one experiment analyzing over 6,700 customers of a Swedish fintech company, individuals with ... More low-balance savings accounts were 14% more likely to invest in a long-term savings product when prompted to think about their future selves first. This straightforward mental technique might give future retirees a measurable edge with real financial impact. If they simply take the time to fully imagine their future retirement before mentally rewinding to the present, they may increase their chances of making more effective long-term investment decisions. Revisiting the open-road journey parallel: setting the GPS ahead of time improves the odds of arriving on schedule—and spotting roadblocks before they hit. The Return Trip Effect The return trip effect—the feeling that the journey home is shorter than the journey out—is often attributed to the way uncertainty stretches our perception of time. Christensen and colleagues suggest this cognitive quirk applies not just to miles but to years—shaping how people perceive the future and, critically, how they relate to retirement savings. Taking time for self-reflection can help individuals envision a future life beyond their primary working years, transforming retirement from a distant, abstract destination into a familiar stop on life's journey. Practiced consistently, this exercise may help clear the fog of retirement uncertainty The exercise begins by vividly imagining retirement: 'What is life like? Where do I live? How do I spend my days?' Once that vision crystallizes, individuals mentally rewind to the present and ask, 'What small step can I take right now to increase the probability of that future?' Practiced consistently, this exercise helps clear the fog of retirement uncertainty, creating a mental framework that drives action today in service of the life envisioned tomorrow. Bottom Line Future obligations rarely spark the same urgency as today's immediate needs and desires. It's all too easy to put saving off until another day, as instant gratification often wins out over long-term planning. Rather than battling human nature head-on, the Back to the Present study reveals that with discipline and mindfulness, individuals can tangibly connect with their future selves—transforming retirement planning from conceptual to constructive. Whether viewed as a life hack, a mental technique, or a form of introspection, the driving idea of ... More this cognitive time travel is clear: Retirement isn't just about growing a bank account. Whether viewed as a life hack, a mental technique, or a form of introspection, the driving idea of this cognitive time travel is clear: Retirement isn't just about growing a bank account. It's about buying the opportunity for peace of mind. The sooner a current or future retiree envisions their ideal life, the easier it becomes to take the first step toward building it. When practiced with consistency and intention, this exercise may help convert today's modest savings into tomorrow's purpose-filled retirement.
Forbes
17-07-2025
- Health
- Forbes
Psychological Safety: Take A Risk With No Penalty Or Punishment
. As mentioned previously in this column, we are most effective when we talk so other people will listen and when we listen so other people will talk. And not necessarily in that order. Call it whatever you wish, but people get along better and produce superior results in an atmosphere of psychological safety. Dr. Amy Edmondson is a renowned expert in that very subject. She's a leadership professor at Harvard Business School and the author of seven excellent books and many dozens of case studies and academic articles. Her pioneering work on psychological safety has helped spawn an impressive body of academic research in management, healthcare, and education. You want to learn more about psychological safety? Amy Edmondson is a prime resource. One of her early research papers had the provocative title of 'Learning from Mistakes is Easier Said Than Done.' It focused on error rates of hospital medical teams. Dr. Amy Edmondson 'The better teams had higher error rates, not lower rates, than other teams,' Edmondson says. 'This seemed counterintuitive. Then we identified the underlying cause. The better teams didn't make more mistakes than others, they were simply more willing to report them. They felt a sense of psychological safety that enabled them to talk about and learn from their errors. That's why they were the better teams.' Edmondson quotes Winston Churchill as saying, 'Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.' She talks about 'failing well'—which requires a willingness to tolerate failure when we're exploring new territory. She's not referring to errors that could be catastrophic or reputationally harmful. It's about smart risk taking, she says. It's about preventing preventable failures. For example, don't mix up the sugar and the salt when you're baking. So called 'best practices,' Edmondson says, are the result of pioneers being willing to fail well. One common misconception about psychological safety, she says, is that it's just about being 'nice' or having people feel comfortable all the time. 'Learning can be uncomfortable,' she says. 'Honest feedback can be uncomfortable. Acknowledging and talking about mistakes can be uncomfortable. Psychological safety is not about always getting your way. It's about feeling free to speak up candidly, even if your ideas are not always accepted by others.' Edmondson says that in today's world 'we are only one high quality conversation away from success or failure. If we don't have those conversations, we're at risk. If we do have them, we're much better off.' What is her advice to first-time team leaders who are determined to help their people thrive in the workplace? 'Show up as a learner,' she says. 'Show up curious. Show up passionate about the opportunities the team has, but equally passionate about inviting other voices in the discussion. That mindset and behavior will enable others to being their best thinking to the table.' Psychological safety: it's the confidence that you can take a risk without being penalized or punished.
