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Today's collaborative and creative leaders engage in six boundary spanning practices.

We should aim not for faster information but faster decision making — not the same things.

Want to increase sales of a bundle of goods or services that includes both pleasurable and utilitarian items? Research suggests that a discount will increase sales more effectively if it's offered on the pleasurable item.

There are three important ways in which customer relationship management (CRM) practices often fail.

The Web has made it easier than ever to reconnect with long-lost professional colleagues. Does it pay to do so?

Project networks provide the expertise to handle complex, knowledge-intensive team projects.

All companies collect data, and they want to act on that data, but they also want to make sure it is accurate. Better to wait on a decision until you have the absolutely correct information than act based on partial information. That might make sense, but it's the wrong way to go, say the top two executives at Attivio, a privately-held enterprise software company. The problem with focusing on getting the numbers too right is that most companies sacrifice speed for accuracy. Companies have been trained to think about data all wrong, say Ali Riaz and Sid Probstein, CEO and CTO respectively of Attivio. Analytics don't have to be based on super-precise data, they say. "The report doesn't have to be perfect. It needs to capture the behavior, not the totality of it." For analytics to work, companies need a new philosophy around leadership, decision-making, and performance management. One important element is the ability to consider a bigger picture and frame within which to consider the new kinds of data that is being gathered. Riaz and Prostein spoke with MIT Sloan Management Review editor-in-chief Michael S. Hopkins about the stifling downside of the quest for perfect data, why "eventually consistent" is a concept every company should take to heart, and how to deal with the need for speed.

The 2010 Sustainability Report by MIT Sloan Management Review and BCG sees two camps of companies.

Companies need to understand and manage the rising threat of online public complaining.

Sustainability assessment tools are increasingly becoming a predictor and opportunity finder for efficiency in a company's business practices. Duke Energy, a Charlotte, N.C.-based electric power company that supplies and delivers energy to approximately 4 million U.S. customers, uses something it calls the Duke Energy Sustainability Filter to encourage innovation and resource efficiency throughout the company. The tool has already saved the company millions, including over $2 million over six months in startup process for their combustion turbine plants. Roberta Bowman, who has served as senior vice president and chief sustainability officer for Duke Energy since 2008, says that the filter is a lens through which every decision in the company is made. "It's is the tool for conversation and decision-making," she says. The filter employs a series of questions around four key areas: "connection," "efficiency," "balance," and "grandchildren." The filter is one of the tools Duke shares with other organizations looking to evaluate their own risks and practices from a sustainability standpoint. "There is an openness to sharing approaches and techniques that works," says Bowman. "There is sharing and learning at a utility level, and also at a global industry level, from the World Business Council for Sustainable Development to Corporate Economic Forum." In this MIT Sloan Management Review case-study interview, Bowman explains how the filter developed, and why she hopes it puts her out of a job some day.