MIT Sloan Management Review Fall 2019

EXECUTIVE BRIEFINGS

84 MIT SLOAN MANAGEMENT REVIEW FALL 2019 SLOANREVIEW.MIT.EDU

have a rhythm that alternates on and off? The authors’ research suggests that alternation is essential

for work that involves problem-solving. While always-on connectivity helps employees coordinate and

gather information, people produce less innovative, less productive solutions without dedicated

unplugged time. By achieving more and more connectivity, humans are becoming a bit like passive

nodes in a machine network: They are getting better at processing information but worse at making

decisions from it.

It takes strong leadership to create an effective rhythm that alternates between rich interaction and

quiet focus. This article explores what that means in practice for managers and illustrates how they can

avoid common problems.

REPRINT 61102

It’s Time to Tackle Your Team’s Undiscussables

Ginka Toegel and Jean-Louis Barsoux pp. 37-46

In 2008, Theranos engineer Aaron Moore created a mock ad for a proto-

type of the company’s blood testing device. It was intended as a prank to

amuse his colleagues. The ad described the device as “mostly functional”

and said it included “leeches” among its “blood collection accessories.”

An alternative reading of his spoof is that it was not just a joke but a

desperate bid to raise a taboo subject: The device didn’t work as promised,

and company leaders were hiding that fact.

While this was an extreme case, the underlying issue — team undis-

cussables — is all too common. Undiscussables exist because they help

people avoid short-term conflicts, threats, and embarrassment. But they

also prevent the inquiries and challenges essential to both completing tasks

and promoting learning. The authors’ work with dozens of senior manage-

ment teams reveals that a team’s capacity to discuss what is holding it back is what drives its effective-

ness. They have observed this dynamic across hundreds of teams in a range of settings. Drawing on this

experience, they have developed a framework, a set of diagnostic questions, and some targeted solutions

to help teams address their own undiscussables.

Teams struggle with four types of undiscussables: They think but dare not say, as was the case at

Theranos; they say but don’t mean, reflecting discrepancies between what the team says it believes or

values and how it behaves; they feel but can’t name, because their feelings are difficult to express con-

structively; and they do but don’t realize, so their unproductive behaviors go unaddressed and lead to

inefficiencies and poor performance. Surfacing and removing undiscussables is never a one-off exercise.

To prevent the buildup of new ones, leaders must regularly make time for inward-focused team talk.

REPRINT 61108

Casting the Dark Web in a New Light

Keman Huang, Michael Siegel, Keri Pearlson, and Stuart Madnick pp. 48-55

With cyberattacks increasingly threatening busi-

nesses, executives need new tools, techniques, and

approaches to protect their organizations. Unfor-

tunately, criminal innovation often outpaces their

defensive efforts. Attackers always seem to be one

or two steps ahead of the defenders. Are they

more technically adept, or do they have a magical

recipe for innovation that enables them to move

more quickly?

If, as is commonly believed, hackers operate

mainly as isolated individuals, they would need