Sarah Green

Sarah Green Carmichael is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist and editor. Previously, she was an executive editor at Harvard Business Review. The prospect of being sucked out of a faulty airplane at 16,000 feet is enough to bring tears—to anyone’s eyes. But showing emotion is tricky for leaders. Business books that emphasize cultivating mental toughness to deal with adversity overlook what really matters. Working from home offers more flexibility, which should make it easier to see our friends. That largely hasn't happened. Motherhood that comes too early has a lasting and harmful impact on career prospects. By the time a new role or title is awarded, some workers already have one foot out the door. Corporate leaders and rank-and-file employees still don't agree on whether productivity suffers at home. The conflict is hurting everyone’s performance. There's no better time to recognize an economist whose research should inform our thinking on flexibility and couple equity. The notion that employees are juggling a second job on the sly speaks to bosses’ fears about managing out-of-sight workers. Men are more likely to get promoted, a new study confirms, while women have to make an extra effort to convince bosses they're up to the task. The end of pandemic-era subsidies threatens to unwind much of the progress made in pushing the women’s labor-force participation rate to a record. Men are doing more household labor than they used to, but ingrained attitudes make it hard to narrow the gender gap. Generative AI will change work for young professionals but their reasoning skills will still be needed. Rosalind Brewer was the lone African-American woman to helm a company in the S&P 500. Men took on more household responsibilities during the pandemic, but work attendance rules risk undercutting that progress. The hiring practice helps managers find workers but tends to benefit White men most. rProven methods for improving workforce DEI – such as blind resumes and using structured interviews – should be unaffected by the legal threats. In a tight labor market, skilled workers will remain wary of employers who don't offer WFH flexibility.