Addressing gaps and understanding persuasion

Each week, we delve into the reading lists of finance professionals around the world. This week, we hear from Laura Felice, CPA, CGMA, senior vice president and controller at BJ’s Wholesale Club in Westborough, Massachusetts. Here is a sampling of content that has resonated with her:

“How Diversity Makes Teams More Innovative”: Felice recommended this TED Talk from Rocío Lorenzo, who studied the value of gender diversity on innovation in companies. “Being a woman in a leadership positon in my company and looking after a team of more than 100 professionals requires me to think about the right diversity of the team on a continual basis,” Felice said. “As a company, we are dedicated to addressing the gender gap, which is why this talk is so interesting to me.”

“We’re Building a Dystopia Just to Make People Click on Ads”: Felice enjoyed this TED Talk from Zeynep Tufekci about digital persuasion architecture. “You can’t think about this one for too long, or you will never go on the internet again,” Felice said. “Digital persuasion architecture is part of our lives whether or not we want it to be.”

“How the Most Successful Teams Bridge the Strategy-Execution Gap”: Like most company leaders, Felice has limits on her time, so it’s critical to get her team to understand how to operate and execute more effectively. This Harvard Business Review article addresses the gap between strategy and execution, examining how nearly 50 leadership teams spent their time.