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Innovation doesn’t happen in a straight line. A wide diversity of perspectives and experiences is needed to spark the new connections so critical to innovation.

With the current volatility in the global economy and ongoing technological innovation and disruptions, gender diversity is more important than ever.

Despite highly publicized handwringing over geopolitical uncertainty, corporate misbehavior, and the job-killing potential of artificial intelligence, the 21st CEO Survey reveals surprising faith and optimism among chief executives in the economic and business environment worldwide. Ironically, it is the CEOs who have been in office longer—11 to 25 years—who are rosiest in their assessment of the global economy and their own organization’s prospects. They’ve weathered the previous storms and can see the opportunities ahead.

When it comes to preparing their people for the future, U.S. CEOs know there’s work to do. They’re increasingly concerned about finding the right skills for growth.

Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policies are becoming more and more popular, and with good reason. As the capabilities of tablets and smartphones continue to rapidly expand, the mobility revolution has been a boon for businesses and employees alike, enabling greater productivity and more flexibility. BYOD amplifies those efficiency gains, reducing administrative headaches for the business and encouraging employee participation. The key is to find an appropriate balance that protects the business while allowing employees to take advantage of the technology.

The number and scope of women-owned businesses have risen at an unprecedented rate. In an era of new opportunities, this paper profiles eight courageous and resilient women who share their personal stories and the lessons they learned building successful businesses. One theme that emerged from these women’s stories was the critical role of mentorship; another key factor was access to capital.

At the heart of risk management is a gloomy truth: You can never achieve zero risk. In a world of limited resources there are always tradeoffs to be made: how much to invest here and how much there, how much risk to tolerate and how much to mitigate or insure against. To answer those questions, risk quantification is necessary—to estimate how likely an outcome is to occur and more importantly, what will the cost be; translating complex real-world events into dollar figures that can enable rational decision making is critical to effective risk management.

Workplace harassment costs employers millions of dollars every year through poor employee morale, higher absenteeism, reduced productivity and costly settlements and lawsuits. Employers need to create the right culture, supported by appropriate policies and training. With the recent stunning revelations from Hollywood, the Media and Washington have clearly signaled that sexual harassment remains a serious social issue.

Now that the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act is law, it is helpful to have a checklist for determining how tax reform changes your employee benefit programs and a chart outlining the key benefit plan limits for 2018. Also in this issue of HR Focus, we revisit what sexual harassment is and what employers should be doing to prevent it, address it and help protect themselves from potential liability.

The Tax Reform Act contains sweeping changes and impacts all taxpayers, from individuals to businesses, and the rules for each category are different.