The Art (and Science) of the Bounce Back: Organizational Lessons From UVA’s Historic National Championship

Professor Sean Martin takes a look at the UVA men’s basketball NCAA Tournament championship and the leadership and organizational behavior lessons on display for a team that suffered the greatest upset in the history of the tournament just 1 year prior.

Darden Ideas to Action offers words of wisdom from six experts for graduates (and anyone else) on how real people with a real sense of purpose can make the workplace more productive, responsible and, well, happy.

Data science is used to predict everything from crimes to Yelp reviews. Darden Professor Michael Porter is leading the practice of predictive modeling, finding patterns in human behavior in hopes of benefiting society.

As AI blurs the lines between human-made and AI-generated creative output, it raises important questions: What counts as “real” creative output in the age of AI? Does using AI in the creative process change how leaders should manage creative teams? Lillien Ellis, assistant professor at UVA Darden, delves into these questions in a new case.

In an AI-powered economy, characterized by sweeping technological advancements and fast-changing customer preferences, brands face a complex challenge. To survive, they need to build AI and machine learning into their marketing toolkits. Professor Rajkumar Venkatesan’s AI Marketing Canvas can help guide them through that that process.

The secret to driving innovation might not be creating more novelty — but knowing when to strategically scale back. Research from UVA Darden’s Lillien M. Ellis that examines the development of “Avatar,” the biggest box office success in film history, shows that reducing novelty in some areas leads to greater creative and commercial success.

How can companies stop spinning their wheels and make real progress toward diversity and inclusion? This case study looks at how JPMorgan Chase worked on getting managers to recruit the best talent from the largest talent pool.

Churchill and Lincoln deliberately solicited the opinions of those who were willing to challenge them. Leaders may be best advised to evaluate where loyalty lies: the leader’s self-interest or the organization’s mission? Professor Detert discusses courageous leadership — necessary to get us through COVID-19.

Much about 2021 looked like 2020. But as the world adapted to ongoing pandemic life, we also had to stay nimble in the face of uncertainty. We tried to roll with the punches. 2021 saw new developments and challenges, as well as existing issues that evolved. Here, we look at themes and observations Darden experts explored over the course of 2021.