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The article discusses the recent CrowdStrike outage, which caused crashes on millions of Microsoft Windows PCs and servers. The update released by CrowdStrike was faulty and required manual intervention to fix. The authors emphasize the need for senior business leaders to provide resources, support, and guidance during such events. They also suggest questions that executives should ask to mitigate the impact of future outages and improve resiliency, including the need for transparency, architectural changes, and extensive testing in change processes and disaster recovery planning. [Extracted from the article]

Generative AI has the potential to either widen or remove barriers to the racial economic gap in the United States. It could increase the racial wealth gap, as Black Americans currently only capture about 38 cents of every dollar of new household wealth. Black workers are also overrepresented in jobs at risk of automation, which could impact their upward mobility. However, developing nonautomatable skills and focusing on the eight pillars of Black economic mobility can help mitigate these negative effects. On the other hand, gen AI has the potential to address inequitable access to healthcare and improve outcomes for Black communities. For example, AI can be used to identify risk factors earlier in pregnancies, potentially helping thousands of Black babies be born at term. AI can also enhance access to banking services for Black Americans through targeted marketing, personalized financial plans, and compliance monitoring. It is crucial for leaders to apply gen AI with an equity lens and ensure responsible and inclusive use. [Extracted from the article]

Companies have made lots of DEI commitments but have struggled to show progress. The DEI council at one manufacturing company, for example, was struggling to sustain its momentum after several years of programming designed to improve diversity, equity, and inclusion at the company. But the leaders and companies that adopt a systematic approach to DEI strategy development will be better able to create near-term improvements in employees' everyday experiences at work while making steady progress on longer-term DEI objectives. Some launch DEI initiatives without establishing a clear baseline: Where has the company been, where is it going, what resources does it need to create DEI impact, and how will it know that its DEI strategy has succeeded?. [Extracted from the article]

The Black technology workforce Black people make up 12 percent of the US workforce but only 8 percent of employees in tech jobs. Organizations have worked to improve representation among Black employees and executives in technology-related jobs across industries, but there is more work to be done. The company launched a lauded program that relied on volunteer employees to mentor HBCU students and teach courses but did not provide employees with incentives to participate. (9 pages) B While the number b and variety of tech jobs have grown steadily over two decades, the technology workforce has not evolved to reflect the makeup of the American workforce. [Extracted from the article]

The organization restructured its IT teams to break down organizational silos and encourage more collaboration and reoriented its technology solution development around end-user needs. In an agile organization, self-managing teams identify their own procurement needs instead of relying on a centralized procurement department. Furthermore, because public-sector organizations often don't have the required in-house capabilities, they tend to rely on external vendors more than private-sector companies do - especially for technology services. Organizations that have done this well have used their vendor relationships to foster innovation, productivity, and the active transfer of skills to in-house employees. [Extracted from the article]