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Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Telecom sector ramping up investments in tech as traditional growth areas slow
TORONTO — When it comes to competition between Canada's telecommunications giants, there are certain spaces where carriers have traditionally jostled with one another to emerge as the top dog. In any given quarter, the providers strive to gain the most new cellphone and internet subscribers, often through promotions or bundling opportunities. Customers are also accustomed to boasts about performance on metrics like broadband speed, call reliability or total network coverage. But as the telecoms continue to set their sights on growth and profits, some industry watchers say they will need to further diversify their investments. They point to technology services, including artificial intelligence, as an industry where telecoms can make their mark. "The big innovation comes from tech. The dream of service telcos is ... to behave like tech people," said Gérard Pogorel, an economics professor at France's Télécom Paris institute. "The idea is to move from 'telco to tech-co.'" Pogorel was among a half-dozen international experts who spoke last month at a telecom seminar in Toronto hosted by the Ivey Business School. The event focused on the role of innovation for telecom policy, along with harnessing new technologies for economic growth at a time of disruption and geopolitical challenges. Peter Cramton, an emeritus professor of economics at the University of Maryland who also spoke at the event, said big tech companies have outperformed telecom carriers globally over the past decade by "expanding across domains" to achieve exponential customer growth. "Whereas the big (telecom) carriers have struggled with, 'Well, we've got our customers, but now we've got 100 per cent penetration, so everybody is a customer and we can't expand the number of customers exponentially,'" he said. "But I think there's lots of scope for this 'telco to tech-co' transition, creating a lot of value for the big carriers that we haven't seen so far." The Big Three providers have faced a "double whammy" hampering traditional telecom subscriber growth, said Dave Heger, a senior equity analyst at Edward Jones. Consumer prices have been declining amid the rise of Quebecor Inc.'s Videotron to become a fourth national player, taking market share away from the other three. The federal government also recently scaled back its immigration targets — a change cited by the major providers as a key factor holding back customer additions in recent earnings reports. SHIFTING ASSET MIX Media and sports have long stood as key areas of diversification for some of Canada's dominant telecom companies, who over the years scooped up major television and radio stations across the country, along with ownership stakes in professional sports teams. However, some are heeding calls for a stronger presence in the tech space. Bell Canada, in recent years, has vowed to transform into a company that focuses primarily on tech services, beyond core telecom offerings. That's been backed up by a slew of announcements lately, including the launch of its services brand Ateko, which unified recently acquired tech companies FX Innovation, HGC Technologies and CloudKettle under a single umbrella. Bell is also making artificial intelligence a cornerstone of its growth strategy, announcing last month it will open six AI data centres as part of a plan to create the largest AI compute project in Canada. Investing in sovereign AI — when an entity builds and operates its own AI systems — has become "an emerging theme for telcos," said Desjardins analyst Jerome Dubreuil in a research note. "Canadian telecoms are looking for new areas of growth, and data centre operations may help if Canadian organizations are looking to partner with local operators that can also offer telecom services," he wrote last month. THE PERKS OF 'TRAVELLING LIGHT' While Bell owner BCE Inc. expands its tech portfolio, its investments in other non-core areas have waned. In addition to divesting its stake in Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment to rival Rogers Communications Inc., the company also shook up its media division last year, selling off 45 radio stations while ending some TV newscasts. Other major telecoms are also shedding assets as they look to reduce costs and shrink their debt. Telus Corp. has said it is exploring the sale of a minority stake in its portfolio of wireless towers, while Rogers is in the midst of selling a minority stake in a portion of its wireless network infrastructure. Pogorel said divestment of physical resources by telecom operators has become a "massive phenomenon" internationally. By generating cash through the sale of towers, it creates new opportunities to expand into adjacent, non-traditional sectors. "This opens space for innovation," he said, noting that in France, two-thirds of mobile towers are no longer the sole property of telecom companies. That figure stands at 79 per cent in Finland and 68 per cent in Ireland. "This is good for their balance sheet," Pogorel said. "A purely service telco travels light. It doesn't have the burden of multibillion-dollar infrastructure. Travelling light, they ... are more able to innovate." PARADIGM SHIFT The big telecom companies "are in kind of a transition phase," said Erik Bohlin, Ivey's chair in telecommunication economics, policy and regulation. "These big telcos are moving away from their infrastructure to becoming more and more software companies," he said in an interview. "The very cherished idea in Canada ... that infrastructure competition is the name of the game, that might be tapering off just because of what is going on in technology." Telus, which also announced plans last month to open two new AI data centres, has undergone a transition of its own into the tech services space, said Carlos Cabrero, director of customer experience excellence for Telus Agriculture and Consumer Goods. "My non-Canadian friends often ask me, 'What the heck is a Canadian telco doing in the agriculture space?'" he said at the Ivey event, where he also highlighted growth of the company's Telus Health subsidiary. Cabrero said both agriculture and health are industries "historically underserved from a technological perspective." "I think there's a lot of innovation that can happen within these industries by leveraging what Telus' core competency is, which is technology and ... communication," he said. Forays into tech, like those made by Telus, have the potential to add growth opportunities that are "over and above what's available to them in the telecom industry," said Heger in a phone interview. "They're certainly looking beyond just the traditional telecom business as a way to add value and add some diversification." BALANCING ACT Bohlin praised the carriers' ambition, but said expectations should be tempered as they test out new waters. He said it's unlikely Canadian telecoms will become global leaders in producing AI software, compared with that sector's already dominant players. "There are plenty of opportunities here, but it's not like a gold mine," said Bohlin. "I think those are new kinds of meaningful diversification, but it's not ... propelling growth in the same way as the mobile revolution when everybody wanted the mobile phone." But that doesn't mean they can't carve out a niche, Bohlin said, such as by leveraging their "core competency" — delivering connectivity. He said they should increasingly seek to partner with other businesses in need of connectivity solutions in fields like agriculture and mining, along with developing Internet of Things applications that rely on connectivity to function. As the carriers chase new customers in diversified fields, that also shouldn't come at the expense of much needed investments in their core telecom networks, said Bohlin. "The telcos are in a very important role for society but they are being pressured from all directions," he said. "We take for granted the many ways these telecom networks will work." This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 8, 2025. Companies in this story: (TSX:BCE, TSX:T, TSX:RCI.B, TSX:QBR.B) Sammy Hudes, The Canadian Press Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Forbes
22-05-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Seeing How Character Eats Culture For Breakfast
Why has it been so difficult for organizations to realize the aspirational culture they seek? In a recently published article, 'Diagnosing and Implementing a Character-Based Culture,' Bill Furlong, Corey Crossan, and I describe four vexing challenges organizations encounter when attempting to define, shape, measure, and sustain an aspirational culture. Simply put, seeing these obstacles through the lens of character not only diminishes the 'fog' of culture, it provides insights, approaches and tools to intelligently and intentionally develop the culture organizations need to enable their chosen strategy. Seeing and understanding the influence of character is akin to putting on a set of glasses to see culture more clearly. Roughly speaking, 90% of what every organization seeks in their aspirational culture is represented in the middle column of Table 1. The other 10% is the nuance that comes from strategy, such as having a service or safety culture. The problem is that the realized culture of most organizations is represented by the left- and right-hand columns. In our article we describe how the micro-foundations of character can operate in under-weighted and over-weighted states, undermining the aspirational culture that most organizations seek. Aspirational culture, regardless of strategy, can be directly tied to the strength of character of people, particularly the leaders. Essentially, culture reflects character. Extensive research at the Ivey Business School and around the globe has brought clarity to what character is, how to assess and develop it, and embed it in organizational practices. When it comes to culture, Table 1 captures the essence of how culture reflects the dimensions of character as under-weighted, strong, or over-weighted. Table 1 - Character and Culture Crossan & Crossan, 2021 Individuals can readily identify the statements that best describe the culture of their unit or organization. Most find themselves on the left 'under-weighted' column, which is the aggregation of deficiencies in a dimension of character, and/or the right 'over-weighted' column, which is an aggregation of excess. The over-weighted column merits explanation. It means that individuals in the organization have significant strength in a dimension, such as accountability, but that strength is not supported sufficiently by other dimensions, leading to 'difficulty delegating; obsessive and controlling; little room for learning from failures.' Without exception, our workshops reveal that individuals would be delighted if their culture reflected the 11 statements in the middle 'strong' column, which is why aspirational culture is founded on character. People grasp the logic that these descriptors mirror a similar set of descriptors at the individual level, which is when the proverbial lightbulb goes on. They realize that culture reflects their character. And if they want to transform culture, they need to strengthen their character. For example, an executive with strong accountability realized that because his temperance and humility were weaker, his accountability was manifesting in the over-weighted excess state, characterized by being obsessive, controlling, burdened, and unable to delegate. He grasped that his behaviors were fostering weaknesses in accountability among his subordinates, causing them to become less accountable. All of this leading to behaviors in the left and right-hand columns of the table. Although there are many cultural diagnostics, often pointing to some of the behaviors in Table 1, the lack of a coherent understanding of the architecture of character and how to develop it has crippled organizations as they seek to diagnose and transform culture. Building on the analogy of the glasses, the visual acuity associated with character arises through its development, not simply reading about it. The challenge with character is that most of us think we have clarity. However, there is significant danger in believing we have character covered, only to discover that we have substantial blind spots. It is this lack of clarity that leads to the left- and right-hand column behaviors. As a sort of vision check to help identify character blind spots, Corey Crossan and I created the Character Quotient (CQ) questions in my Forbes article, 'From Good to Great: 10 Ways to Elevate Your Character Quotient.' The QC score comprises three categories related to the 10 questions: awareness, development, and application. A high QC means that a person is aware of the interconnected dimensions of character and how they can operate in a deficient and excess state, they can observe and identify that in themselves and others, they have an evidence-based daily habit development program to strengthen their character (we call it going to the character gym), and they can confidently apply character to areas such as selection, performance management and culture transformation. Although cultivating a high QC score is a work in progress (mine is 87% even though I have worked in this space for 15 years), it provides a reasonable measure of the confidence we can place that we understand character, are actively developing it, and applying it in our organizations. There is clear evidence-based science about what character is and how to develop it, which becomes the solid foundation on which to engage the journey of individual development, taking into account the recursive relationship between the individual and their context. A great example of this is revealed in the Virtuosity Podcast between Corey Crossan and Dr. Christian Breede, a Research Analyst with the Department of National Defence, working at the Canadian Defence Academy. In the podcast, he describes his journey of character development and how it manifests in his personal and professional life. He describes that he has cultivated a better understanding of what character is, how to develop it and apply it in his context. In the podcast, Breede reflects on character in combat, saying 'Character work is not to be started in the attack position. You've got to do it before…You gotta have the sets and reps done beforehand so that when you're in those positions of having to make a quick decision, you can rely on your strength of character – your judgment is strong and you're going to make the right call.' With clarity about what character is, how it can operate in deficient and excess states, and efforts to develop it, individual character scales to organization culture. It does so through the micro-moments of conversations and actions, which reflect and shape character. This is the essence of the famous quote by Gandhi: 'You must be the change you want to see in the world.' With great respect, I would suggest we consider that the word 'be' is best understood as 'become.' When it comes to character, we are always becoming someone with more or less courage, humanity, humility, drive, and so on. The development of character involves the intentional practice of strengthening one's character, with the ultimate test being whether it holds up in various contexts, including organizational reward systems that could undermine character-based judgment, under time pressure, and adversity. This was the argument I made in my Forbes article 'Strategic Resilience and Agility: 4 Ways to Thrive in a Chaotic World.' The development of character underpins organizational agility, which underpins strategic agility. Will leaders navigate today's generational challenges of economic upheaval, geopolitical volatility and accelerating climate change through doubling down on technical or management competencies alone? Of course not. Success, or lack thereof, will reflect our leaders' judgment and decision-making, which is rooted in leaders' character. A good test of strength of character vis-a vis context is whether individuals blame the organization or the broader system for their decisions and actions. A classic example is blaming compensation and reward systems, or blaming the pressure for performance, whether that be from capital markets or other mechanisms. Although we can't ignore these pressures and influences, character-based judgment brings the needed 'practical wisdom' to operate in complex scenarios without resorting to being a victim of them. Furthermore, while today's extraordinary context challenges character, individuals with strong character-based judgment have the potential to shape that context. An example of this is how Sonja Coté from the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) embraced the opportunity to elevate character alongside competence in their executive hiring practices. Then, when the pandemic arrived in 2020, CRA was capable of delivering emergency financial relief to millions of Canadians amid an unprecedented health crisis, one of the first signs that the pandemic could indeed be managed. There is a clear case that the development of character is a critical underpinning of culture, but there is so much more. Seeing, experiencing, and applying the development of character to culture will open the door for seeing many more possibilities, both personally and professionally. Regardless of the challenge or opportunity, the foundation of character will remain critical. The logic for why character is indispensable is clear, as is the evidence. In 2015, Fred Kiel wrote the book 'Return on Character: The Real Reason Leaders and Their Organizations Win,' paving the way for extensive empirical work exposing how the foundations of character influence a variety of key performance indicators. In 'Cracking the Code: Leader Character Development for Competitive Advantage,' Corey Crossan, Bill Furlong, and I share the extensive research conducted at the Ivey Business School, which demonstrates a correlation between character and leader effectiveness, resilience, well-being, promotional potential, and numerous other key performance indicators. The famous saying 'all roads lead to Rome' aptly describes character. Think of it as the bedrock, the DNA, or the cornerstone of many things, including culture. Essentially, wherever competence resides, character belongs. The greater the competence, the more need for character to harness it. Investments in character development yield benefits for cultural transformation, as well as numerous other benefits related to well-being and sustained excellence. An example of this is revealed in the article my co-authors and I published in IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management 'Leader Character in Engineering Projects: A Case Study of Character Activation, Contagion, and Embeddedness,' where we describe the year-long activities of a University Formula Race team, revealing how character can change how competencies are enacted. The bottom line is that character development is indispensable and should be the first point of consideration, given its foundational influence. It not only eats culture for breakfast, but virtually everything that matters to us personally and professionally.
Forbes
08-05-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Strengthening Leader Character Without Self-Righteousness And Moral Superiority
The passing of Pope Francis, the ensuing Conclave, and the selection of Pope Leo XIV have brought leader character to the forefront, prompting questions about how leader character differs from religious leadership, and importantly, what it means to strengthen character without succumbing to self-righteousness and moral superiority. There are two considerations. The first is that the same set of character dimensions matters whether in business or religious leadership. At the Ivey Business School, we describe effective leadership as character, competence, and commitment. While there are differences between business and religious leadership in terms of where a person chooses to commit their leadership or the competencies associated with that commitment, the same dimensions and strength of character apply. As revealed by the extensive research of Martin Seligman and Christopher Peterson in their 2004 book 'Character Strengths and Virtues,' the character required to lead is universal, across contexts, sectors, cultures, and even religions. Furthermore, developing leader character is not simply about morals and ethics, but it underpins judgment, decision-making, well-being, and sustained excellence. Although the same dimensions of character underpin business and religious leadership, these dimensions of character do not presuppose a specific set of values, beliefs, policies, or perspectives. Therefore, the second consideration is that developing strength of character is counter to being self-righteous or morally superior. As Lorelei Rollings, Director General of Culture and Innovation at the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, stated in her podcast on character development, "When you deeply care about an issue, it's character that stops you from becoming self-righteous and dogmatic." For example, a person with strong justice, accountability, courage, drive, and integrity will need strength in dimensions such as temperance, humility, and humanity to exercise the necessary judgment, avoiding self-righteousness and dogmatism. Because strength in a character dimension can operate in an excess vice state when not supported by other dimensions, there is a danger of unbalanced character manifesting in the dangerous space of being self-righteous. However, as Rollings points out, the way to counter that danger is through intelligent and intentional character development. In the pursuit of elevating character alongside competence in higher education and organizations, it is essential to understand the interconnected dimensions of character. In a Forbes article, "Addressing the Crisis of Leadership Character," I describe how sound judgment and decision-making are grounded in virtue ethics and character development. The basic tenet of virtue ethics is that who we are matters, not simply what we do, how we do it, or why. As Forbes Contributor Jonathan Westover writes, "Unlike the 'ends justifies the means' mentality of utilitarianism or the duty-based approach of deontology, virtue ethics is about who we are." Although we may have different values and perspectives, the first test of judgment is to address whether there are any shortcomings in the character dimensions. This understanding of character's role in judgment and decision-making is enlightening and informs our approach to leadership. Every leader has the opportunity to assess their strength of character relative to the 11 dimensions and to understand whether what could be a virtue manifests as a deficient (underdeveloped) or an excess (unsupported) vice, which could compromise judgment and well-being. With Pope Francis, much has been written about his strengths in humility and humanity, both of which are often lacking in most leaders. As Forbes contributor Jeetendr Sehdev wrote in describing Pope Francis, 'What struck me from the beginning was how instinctively he understood the visual language of humility. He refused the papal palace and chose to live in the Domus Sanctae Marthae. He waved off the ornate shoes and kept the black ones he'd brought from Argentina. He didn't just humanize the Church. He localized it. Suddenly the Catholic brand wasn't emanating from the Apostolic Palace in Vatican City—it was radiating from the margins.' A key insight is that although the development of humility and humanity are essential, each person will have a different development path. Strength of character requires incredible judgment, or what Aristotle described as 'practical wisdom.' The test of character is whether we have strengths across all 11 character dimensions. Because character can be assessed and developed, understanding the character strength of leaders is foundational. The many accounts of Pope Francis' life, including his own 2025 autobiography, reveal that who he became and how his character developed were fundamentally shaped by his life events and dedication to cultivating virtues. By all accounts, Pope Francis became a man with strong humility and humanity through his repeated actions that cultivated their embodiment. Yet, cultivating virtue is not simply a spiritual practice reserved for religious leaders, nor should it be the happenstance of having a good upbringing or mentors. I often ask the following questions regarding character development: Who are you becoming while you are busy doing? Who do you want to become? Virtues and character development can be understood through different lenses, including theology, philosophy, psychology, education, business, and exercise science. When my colleagues and I began researching character development after the 2008 Global Financial Crisis, we were fortunate to build on the research of Peterson and Seligman. Their research helped bridge the gap between theology, philosophy, and psychology by identifying character behaviors that satisfy 10 criteria, establishing those behaviors as virtuous. The next bridge was porting their work into organizations and finally drawing on exercise science to better understand character as habit development. Whereas philosophical traditions associated with character and its development make distinctions between intellectual and moral virtues, for example, character application in organizations tends not to make those distinctions. While the terms ethical and moral need not modify the use of the term character, the understanding and application of character require the virtue ethics foundations that inform it. As Craig Titus writes in his 2017 Journal of Positive Psychology article, 'In a complex view of virtues, like that of Aquinas (1265-1273/1981), virtue does not simply refer to good acts: virtuous acts of care and concern, justice, patience, and perseverance (act-based dimensions of virtue). Virtue also modifies one's cognitive and affective capacities and habits, giving virtuous tendencies to act again.' Titus describes psychologist Seligman's morally neutral approach to virtue as a weakness. Although virtue ethics and character development can be pursued without the morality label, doing so requires guarding against mechanistic or instrumental applications that lose touch with the essence of character development in virtue ethics. At the same time, traditional methods of character development, which have relied on exemplars, guidance on what constitutes a 'good' person, and practices to reflect on one's actions, are proving insufficient. It is the integration of various interdisciplinary lenses of character development, where art and science can merge. In Cracking the Code: Leader Character Development for Competitive Advantage, Corey Crossan, Bill Furlong, and I describe how to do it. Elevating character alongside competence in higher education and organizations requires a paradigm shift to recognize that wherever competence resides, character belongs. It also requires a paradigm shift from treating character development as something to be taught or caught from exemplars to acknowledging that, because it is a complex habit, it can benefit from the extensive research and practical application arising from exercise science. Reflecting on Gaps and Possibilities The 11 interconnected character dimensions and their associated behaviors, along with an explanation of how they can manifest in deficiency and excess, regardless of good intentions, have provided a much-needed roadmap for character development. In addition, drawing on exercise science to embrace what it takes to develop character as sustainable habit change is a paradigm shift. Because it is easy to underestimate what it takes to understand, develop, and embed character in organizations, Corey Crossan and I offer 10 pulse-check questions that comprise the Character Quotient, a method for individuals and organizations to assess their current stage on the character development journey. The passing of Pope Francis and the election of Pope Leo offer an opportunity to reflect on character, how to develop it, and, more importantly, what we can do as individuals and organizations to leverage that insight and elevate character alongside competence.
The Guardian
11-04-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
$2,150 for an iPhone? Trump tariffs are ‘category 5 price storm for US consumer'
The AI-generated video of tired-looking Americans making mobile phones, which circulated widely on social media this week, was a pointed vision of a post-tariff world. But Donald Trump wants it to become reality for Apple. The iPhone maker is one of the biggest victims of the US president's realignment of the global trading order because its flagship product is assembled in the epicentre of Trump's protectionist ire – China. 'The iPhone is a quintessential representative of a global supply chain,' says Fraser Johnson, a professor at Ivey Business School in Canada and an Apple supply chain expert. More than 1,000 components from all over the world go into an iPhone but they are largely put together in China. Apple is secretive about its production details but analysts estimate that about 90% of its iPhones are assembled in the country. This is deeply problematic for the California-based firm because Trump has imposed 'reciprocal' tariffs – a tax on imports – of 125% on goods imported into the US from China. On Thursday it became clear a separate 20% fentanyl-linked border tax would be levied on top of this, taking the total burden to 145%. Apple faces paying a hefty sum on any iPhone brought into the US, which is likely to be passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices. Investors in one of America's golden stocks have panicked at the prospect of its sales suffering as a consequence. Although shares in Apple have recovered some of their losses since Trump's 'liberation day' announcement on 2 April, the company had still lost more than $300bn in value as of the close of trading on Wednesday. In an example of potential price increases, analysts at investment bank UBS have warned that the price of an iPhone 16 Pro Max (with 256GB of storage) could rise by 79% from $1,199 (£915) to about $2,150 (£1,600), based on a total tariff of 145%. Dan Ives, analyst at US financial firm Wedbush Securities, who has described the Chinese tariffs as a 'category 5 price storm for the US consumer', has warned that the cost of entirely moving iPhone production to Apple's home country would be prohibitive for the company – and customers. 'The reality is it would take three years and $30bn in our estimation to move even 10% of its supply chain from Asia to the US with major disruption in the process,' Ives wrote in a note to investors this week. 'For US consumers the reality of a $1,000 iPhone being one of the best made consumer products on the planet would disappear.' He added that if the phones were solely US-made then the cost would more than treble. 'If consumers want a $3,500 iPhone we should make them in New Jersey or Texas or another state.' While the tariffs apply to US imports, some analysts warned that iPhone and other Apple product prices could go up elsewhere in response. Wamsi Mohan, analyst at Bank of America, said he expected any rises to be across the board geographically and not limited to the iPhone's largest market, in case prices get out of sync. 'While Apple has not commented on this, we expect prices will be changed globally to prevent arbitrage,' he said. Alternatively Dipanjan Chatterjee, vice president at Forrester Research, said Apple could make other markets bear the cost. 'If there is a cost impact in the US for certain products, but the market is far more competitive there, the company may choose to keep prices flat in the US while recovering the lost margin elsewhere in its global portfolio,' he said. It is not just iPhones that could rise in price. More than 5o% of Apple's Mac products and 80% of its iPads are assembled in China, according to US investment bank Evercore. Apple watches are largely put together in Vietnam, which must pay a 10% tariff under Trump's 90-day pause, rising to 46% afterward if the president reverts to his 'liberation day' rate. The TikTok post showing American workers making mobile handsets – to a soundtrack of Chinese music – is unlikely to be copied by Apple, according to Prof Johnson. The vast majority of Apple iPhones are assembled in China by manufacturing contractors like Foxconn, a Taiwanese firm. 'The US economy is not set up to be able to assemble mobile phones. They don't have the facilities or the flexible labour,' he said. 'To train 200,000-300,000 people to come in and assemble iPhones is simply not practical.' The White House expressed confidence this week that Apple would move iPhone manufacturing to the US, pointing to the company's announcement this year of a $500bn investment in the country. However that pledge covered commitments such as building servers for its artificial intelligence products, Apple TV productions and 20,000 new jobs in research and development – not a promise to make the iPhone stateside. Sign up to Business Today Get set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning after newsletter promotion In 2017 Apple's chief executive, Tim Cook, said the company relied on countries like China for manufacturing because of the sheer depth of their skilled workforce. 'In the US you could have a meeting of tooling engineers, and I'm not sure we could fill the room. In China you could fill multiple football fields,' he told Fortune. With a domestic US manufacturing drive unlikely, Apple has reportedly been turning to other players in its supply chain. Reuters reported on Thursday that Apple was focusing on its manufacturing base in India, where about 10% of iPhones are assembled, after stepping up production to beat the tariffs. It said the company had chartered cargo flights to ferry 600 tonnes of iPhones – equivalent to many as 1.5m handsets – from there to the US. According to the Wall Street Journal, Apple is preparing to divert Indian-made phones to the US as a stopgap while it attempts to obtain an exemption on tariffs, as it did during the first Trump administration. Chatterjee says he would be surprised if Apple raised prices 'right off the bat'. They will look for a waiver on tariffs and probably take a short-term hit on their profit margins. 'If they could have priced [iPhones] higher they would have done it already,' he adds. 'So they would rather not go higher.' Johnson adds that companies like Apple probably have an inventory stockpile covering 30-60 days' worth of demand, which could help cushion prices. Meanwhile, American consumers are braced for market turmoil reaching their door. Jeff, 76, who lives in New Jersey, recently bought a new iPhone 16 Max Pro for his wife and an iPad as well. The semi-retired physician, who has spent his career working with companies to transform US healthcare, thought about replacing older tech devices as soon as Donald Trump began his second term. 'I anticipated that there would be chaos, more chaos, in the supply chain, and probably more chaos in pricing of goods that had any element coming from China specifically,' he says. 'When I bought them I thought who knows where they're [tariffs] going to go but it's going to be worse for American consumers, because Apple, everybody is going to raise prices,' he adds. Apple was contacted for comment.
Forbes
02-04-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Unlocking The Neurodiversity Advantage In The Workplace
By creating environments that support neurodiversity, your organization will gain a universally more ... More dynamic, capable workforce. In today's complex, innovation-driven world, fostering diversity is a strategic imperative, a point that was driven home globally on Dec. 3 when United Nations observed International Day for Persons with Disabilities. While diversity discussions historically have focused on race, gender, and cultural background, many employers have started to focus on another previously marginalized group: the neurodiverse community, people whose brains are wired differently than neurotypical individuals. This diverse group includes those with autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), dyslexia, and a wide range of other differences. It's a topic I often discuss with my colleague Johanna Benesty, who claims that embracing neurodiverse teaming unlocks competitive advantage. She provides three strong arguments: 1) Because of the unique ways in which neurodivergent individuals see things and approach challenges, neurodiversity offers a reservoir of untapped talent potential in specific domains. 2) The unique brains of our neurodivergent colleagues create new opportunities for organizations to improve teaming, combining the strengths of neurodivergent and neurotypical thinkers into a team more powerful than one consisting of neurotypical-thinkers alone. In the same way that neurodiversity is often referred to as a 'hidden disability,' Benesty argues, for some individuals. it also can obfuscate superpowers – capabilities or attributes that allow an individual to perform far above average on a certain dimension. 3) By better understanding the neurodivergent among us, we better understand everyone with whom we work or interact. Underappreciated And Underutilized According to genetics specialists at the National Institutes of Health, 'an estimated 15-20% of the world's population exhibits some form of neurodivergence.' And, they all bring unique perspectives and strengths to their tasks. Yet, they are vastly underappreciated and underutilized in most workplaces. Recognizing and embracing such individuals not only supports inclusion, but offers organizations a powerful path to unlocking productivity, innovation, and resilience. As Robert D. Austin and Gary P. Pisano, professors at Ivey Business School and Harvard Business School, respectively, noted in Harvard Business Review a few years back, 'Many people with these disorders have higher-than-average abilities' and possess 'special skills in pattern recognition, memory, or mathematics.' Yet, it has been estimated that unemployment and under-employment among those with neurodiverse talents may be as high as 85% to 90%—due, in many cases, to the nature of the recruitment and hiring processes, which often involve networking and behavioral interviews. Adaptation Required, Results Worth the Effort Adapting workplaces to accommodate neurodiverse individuals can initially require managers and teams to adjust workflows and communication. These adaptations may temporarily impact productivity, but research by Pisano and others shows the long-term returns can be substantial. For example, JPMorgan Chase's Autism at Work program reported up to 48% higher productivity in specific roles filled by neurodivergent employees, demonstrating that neurodiversity can be a catalyst for high performance. And SAP's Autism at Work program, which began more than a decade ago, now includes more than 160 employees across 25 job types in 14 countries. It is credited with sparking productivity and innovation gains, as well as helping to foster a more empathetic, engaged workplace. Neurodiverse Strengths Neurodiverse individuals bring a range of unique abilities to the workplace, including: Intense Focus: Many individuals with autism or ADHD demonstrate remarkable concentration, often referred to as 'hyperfocus,' which enables them to deliver exceptional results, especially in complex tasks. Pattern Recognition: Autistic individuals, in particular, may excel in recognizing patterns in large data sets, making them especially valuable in analytical and technical roles. Sensory Awareness: Heightened sensory perception is extremely valuable in fields like design and quality control, where attention to detail is essential. Empathy and Emotional Insight: Contrary to stereotypes, neurodiverse individuals, especially those with ADHD, often display profound empathy, strengthening collaboration and team cohesion. Creative Problem-Solving and Adaptive Learning: Neurodiverse thinkers frequently approach challenges from non-linear perspectives, contributing fresh insights and adaptability to problem-solving. By focusing on such strengths, organizations can move beyond stereotypes, recognizing the untapped potential within neurodivergent employees. Adopt A Neurodiversity Agenda For organizations to harness neurodiverse talent effectively, thoughtful strategies are essential. Here are some suggestions, both big and small, that can help your organization help neurodivergent individuals thrive: Make neurodiversity a central part of your broader hiring and workforce program. Embrace universal design in the workplace by including closed seating and focus rooms, since open seating can be a sensory challenge for neurodiverse individuals, and by offering flexible spaces, noise-canceling options, or alternative lighting to reduce sensory overload and enhance comfort. These and other measures can lower barriers to access and normalize the learning and working needs of neurodiverse colleagues. Make reasonable accommodations accessible and user-friendly. Reasonable accommodations, or workplace adjustments that enable employees with disabilities to perform the essential functions of their jobs, are critical, enabling productivity and showing neurodiverse employees that they are heard and valued. Accommodations could include speech to text software, closed captioning on virtual meetings, ergonomic office tools, or strategically timed breaks in the workday. Train managers for inclusive leadership, equipping them with the tools necessary to understand neurodivergent strengths and potential. Awareness training can help leaders see neurodiversity as a source of competitive advantage rather than a challenge to be managed. Activate neurodiverse talents by aligning neurodiverse individuals' roles with their unique capabilities. Examples include assigning tasks requiring meticulous attention to detail or creative problem-solving and purposefully balancing neurodivergent and neurotypical team members to create symbiotic, high-performing teams with complementary skills. It's essential to remember that neurodiversity exists on a spectrum, meaning all of us exhibit unique cognitive traits to some degree. Embracing neurodiverse team members who may be further along this spectrum encourages managers and leaders to unlock the hidden potential within everyone. As my colleague Hillary Wool, co-founder of AccessAbility@BCG, told me: 'Thoughtful management of neurodiverse individuals is good management, period. It means considering how you can harness the potential of your employee and meet their needs—partnering with them to think creatively about what tools, accommodations, or working norms may help them deliver their best work and feel valued for their contributions.' Unlocking the neurodiversity advantage requires an intentional strategy and often additional effort, but the rewards—ranging from increased productivity and innovation to a richer, more inclusive workplace—are worth it. By focusing on individuals' strengths and creating environments that support neurodiversity, your organization will not only gain from the talents of neurodivergent employees, but from a universally more dynamic, capable workforce.
