The corporate matrix is dead.

As the coronavirus crisis has set in, workflows are transitioning to asymmetric and entrepreneurial teams, especially at tech companies.

Many organizations elsewhere have failed to get rid of the corporate matrix. The matrix creates dual reporting relationships for a single employee — one functional, one product-oriented. Ideally, the structure facilitates greater operational flexibility than the military-style chain of command hierarchy preceding it. Divisions within the matrix are supposed to act as microenterprises, exposed to and changing with market conditions.

In many matrix organizations, the reality is different. Work priorities are unclear and decision-making is slow…

To whomsoever much is given, much is required — words that trace back to the Bible, words paraphrased throughout the ages, words more prescient than ever.

What is required of us as citizens of the United States of America? It’s simple — we must vote!

As the founder and CEO of Uptake, a technology company serving global industry, I’ve made the decision to make Election Day (Tuesday, November 3rd) a company holiday. I’m challenging each member of the Uptake team to use that special day not only to vote but also as a provocation to volunteer five (or more) hours…

In this moment, one truth arises above all else: Black lives matter.

I do not claim to understand the experience of being Black in America. I do, however, claim to care that the experience of being Black (or any skin color, ethnicity, or orientation) in America should bring with it the same rights and privileges and protections and treatment as that of being White.

E plurbus unum. Out of many, one. One family.

‘There comes a time when silence is betrayal.’ This is a good time for all of us to reread the prophetic words of Martin Luther King Jr…

I’m fascinated with rituals. While habits are defined as “regular tendencies or practices,” rituals represent a higher level activity, “a solemn ceremony consisting of a series of actions performed according to a prescribed order.” Whether or not you realize it, your rituals are part of your secret formula for getting stuff done — and doing it well. Your rituals help define you — your beliefs, your activity, your soul.

I’ve been exposed to the spectrum of Native American rituals that have defined their culture for centuries: healing ceremonies, bonding activities, tributes to the deceased, and personal quests that put one…

This post is part of a series in which LinkedIn Influencers share the best advice they’ve ever received. Read all the posts here.

When Jeopardy! producers told Arthur Chu he’d been selected as a contestant, he knew he wasn’t ready. But instead of giving in to eventual defeat, Chu hunkered down and began scouring the game show’s forums, watching — and rewatching — classic episodes on YouTube and even turning to IBM’s Jeopardy! contestant, the computer Watson, for inspiration.

And when Chu finally stepped behind the Jeopardy! podium a few months later, he changed the game. …

Used car dealers get a bad rap. Sure, they have enshrined themselves in our society by their cheesy commercials, their sometimes sleazy business deals and, not to mince words, the often shoddy cars they offer for sale. But really, that’s not the fault of the car dealers — it’s human nature. A quirk of behavioral economics — the lemons problem, to be exact.

What’s a lemon, precisely? It’s a car you can’t distinguish by just looking at it. It’s the type of car that seems great on a test drive — and then, as soon as you sign the title…

In 2012, a team of ex-Google employees decided to launch their own company: a venture capital firm of sorts with a twist called Upstart. While traditional venture capital structures give funding to companies, Upstart’s financial backers monetarily support individuals. All they ask for in return is a share of future income. What do these budding entrepreneurs put that money toward? Some invest it directly into their companies. Others toward improving their tech knowledge through coding classes. But many funnel it into the primary credit constraint facing twentysomethings today: student debt.

Collectively, Americans owe $1.2 trillion in college loans — that’s…

It’s rare that someone will question your love for your own children, but 10 years ago my friend Brandon did just that — and it changed the way I view my relationship with my daughters — now ages 15 and 16 — forever.

At the time, the last of Brandon’s three children was heading off to college. We were ambling along Lake Michigan on a warm, breezy day when I allowed the conversation to veer off from the subject seemingly always on my mind — business — to a subject closer to my heart: our children. …