FT: ““Like jumping from a bridge.” That was how one employee at French telecoms operator Orange described a skills programme that has helped old-school engineers to master cloud-based technologies, while managers retrain in roles such as cyber security. Thankfully, Orange does not just wait for people to sink or swim; it gives them a safety net. “When we offer a worker the chance to change jobs, it’s not six months in the classroom,” says Vincent Lecerf, executive vice-president of human resources and group transformation at Orange. Instead, the individual joins a new team — on their existing salary and the promise of continued employment — in an approach that, from day one, interleaves on-the-job learning with formal instruction and coaching. “What makes the difference is not just the quality of the training but of the mentor — the feeling that as a learner you’re supported,” Lecerf adds.”
Ads as Cues: “Why do we see both advertising and powerful consumer habits for well-known and intrinsically similar brands? We offer an explanation based on the idea that, as in Bordalo et al. (2020), a consumer is more likely to demand a good if she recalls the pleasure it gave her in the past. In turn, the consumer is more likely to recall goods that are consumed more frequently and more similar to cues, subject to interference from other goods. Our model yields context-dependent brand habits where ads work as memory cues. It predicts that ads: i) are more effective for more habitual consumers and ii) exhibit spillovers, within and across products, that are stronger for more habitual consumers and for goods with more similar ads. Using data from NielsenIQ and Nielsen we find support for these predictions in 20 undifferentiated and highly advertised product categories. Memory offers new insights on how advertising affects market competition and consumer welfare.”
The Deseret 50: The 50 people, organizations and ideas changing philanthropy.
WSJ: “Criminals increasingly use generative AI to mimic real people’s voices and con their loved ones out of money. If you receive a call from someone who sounds just like your grandson and says he needs money or a gift card, the best thing to do is hang up and call your grandson. But if the voice is so convincing that you can’t bear to do that, ask for your family code word. If the caller can’t produce it, hang up. Likewise, if you are legitimately in trouble and need to call a loved one for help, say the code word so your relative knows it’s really you. People who haven’t implemented a family code word have been burned by bad actors.”
