Some choices are obvious. And when Mathieu Darche (BCom’00) became the general manager and executive vice-president of the National Hockey League’s New York Islanders, he almost immediately did away with the team’s requirement that players be clean shaven.

“Making that change was low-hanging fruit,” Darche says. “I won’t dictate the players appearance. I want them to be themselves.” After that, the decisions got more difficult. The NHL draft and player free agency were both held shortly after Darche was hired. But he was prepared. “I never felt overwhelmed,” he says.

The conversation around AI and automation has taken a sharper turn. A US Senate report released by Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders in Fall 2025 cautioned that over the coming decade, AI and automation could destroy 100 million jobs in the United States.

But will Canada experience something similar? Maybe not, according to Simon Blanchette, a lecturer at McGill Desautels. “As an economy, Canada and the US are structured very differently,” Blanchette told HR Reporter.

More than 99% of Air Transat pilots voted to authorize a strike by their union, if necessary. Pilots at the charter airline are seeking more job security, better working conditions, more compensation, and better quality of life.

The strength of the union’s mandate didn’t come as a surprise to Prof. Karl Moore. “The threat of a strike over the holiday season—when airlines are at their busiest—is a good negotiating tactic,” Moore told cbc.ca. 

The inaugural Scope AI Thon challenged McGill’s Master of Management in Analytics students to design strategic AI roadmaps, not code, addressing complex social issues for Centraide of Greater Montreal.

Over two sessions in November, teams explored ethical data use, feasibility and bias while working on problems such as digital inclusion and access to community services.

During McGill's 2025 Indigenous Awareness Weeks in September, Desautels hosted two events on reconciliation literacy and the role of business in supporting economic empowerment for indigenous communities. Dr Niigaan Sinclair, Anishinaabe writer, columnist, and Professor of Native Studies at the University of Manitoba joined Dr. Veldon Coburn for a conversation on progress since the Trush and Reconciliation Commission’s Final Report.

Are managers of large investment funds good investors on a personal level? Not necessarily, says Patrick Augustin, Associate Professor of Finance at McGill Desautels. “There can be a correlation, but also not,” says Augustin. “It’s very difficult to beat the market, on average. We see people doing it, but it raises the question of is it luck, or is it skill? That being said, we can always limit mistakes.

Concertgoers are increasingly facing a seemingly impossible battle for tickets, often losing out to resellers who quickly inflate prices. Marketing and analytics professor Vivek Astvansh argues this stems from a structural failure making live entertainment unaffordable for the average fan. Astvansh attributes the sharp price increase to three factors: demand significantly outpacing supply; the ticketing market being a near-monopoly, with Ticketmaster (owned by Live Nation) controlling 70% of sales; and the absence of laws regulati