The Pilot
Breakwater Books: 11 Books that Made us Think in 2020
Prof. Steven Weber Joins Breakwater Strategy as Managing Director
Weber brings decades of experience in consulting, research and academia as the firm continues to grow and expand its client offering November 5, 2020 (Washington, D.C. and Berkeley, CA) Leading strategic communications and insights consultancy Breakwater Strategy announced today that Prof. Steven Weber has joined the firm as Managing Director. Weber brings over three decades […]
Early Signs of an Employee Power Flip and How Corporations Should Start Preparing
By: Lydie Neill and Jim Wyderko Throughout modern corporate history, society has benefited when corporations are strongly encouraged to act ethically and responsibly. This accountability requires corporations to recognize the responsibility they have to their consumers and stakeholders in order to uphold their reputations and continue business as usual. This is not a new concept, […]
Onboarding Online: Our Experiences Beginning a New Job Remotely & How COVID-19 is Impacting the Future of Internal Communication
By Nick Rosenberg and Ben Williams T-shirt or dress shirt? How do I get on Zoom if I don’t know my computer password yet? Do all Zoom calls require video? Does that mean I was wrong when I picked “t-shirt”? How can I add value? What is expected of me on day one? You may […]
Imagine a Tech Covenant
By Arik Ben-Zvi, CEO and President The events of the past months have opened a window of opportunity – and demonstrated the acute need – to establish a new covenant between the technology sector and the society that it is meant to serve. The events of the past months have opened a window of opportunity […]
Thoughts on Scenarios for the COVID-19 Future
By Arik Ben-Zvi, CEO and President Two weeks ago, my colleague and mentor Steve Weber of UC Berkeley and I published this paper, in which we used Scenario Thinking techniques to imagine how the coming months might play out for the country. In it, we imagined four very distinct futures for America: 1) The Invisible Enemy […]
Brands Helping and Inspiring during COVID-19
Back in March, just as many of us on the East Coast were beginning to socially distance for “a few weeks,” we wrote about how companies will need to show up for consumers and communities and looked into actions they were taking in response to the escalating pandemic. Now, just over a month later, as […]
Scenarios for the COVID-19 Future
By Arik Ben-Zvi, CEO and President Strategic planning has literally never been harder than it is at this moment. How do you plan for the future when we don’t know whether a Depression lies ahead or a rapid recovery? Or whether this disease will be with us for years, or whether a vaccine is just […]
Don’t Forget About the Younger Generation
By Jim Wyderko, Associate Each day, I seem to hear of a different friend who’s had their life uprooted by the COVID-19 pandemic. I hear of family members hospitalized, jobs lost and futures stopped in their tracks. I try to soothe the anxiety of friends with immunodeficiency disorders and comfort the disappointment of those forced […]
Lessons Learned From the Frontlines of the Last Financial Crisis
By Abbie McDonough, Vice President September 2008: It was 10:00 p.m. and my boss had just come back from a somber meeting in the U.S. Capitol with seven other members of Congress, Federal Reserve Chairman, and Treasury Secretary. He chaired the Capital Markets Subcommittee in the House of Representatives and Lehman Brothers had just crashed. […]
Survey Says: Americans Want Companies to Step Up
By Jackie Cannon, Vice President, Head of Research & Insights We are living in unprecedented times, with everyone asking themselves, “what will the other side of COVID-19 be like? What will the new normal be?” This question is fascinating to us, both at the human level as well as what it will mean for brands […]