Search

Gogo, the inflight Internet company, recently underwent significant transformation. The ecosystem for business operation had shifted rapidly. These changes required the company to quickly adapt elements of its business strategy to increase focus on both innovation of new technology and mature operational practices in order to grow and scale the business globally. To enable these changes, the way employees worked together inside the organization also needed to be transformed. This was the impetus to change the PM process. At its core, the philosophy driving Gogo’s changes to PM centered on building a culture of agility. Internal research in partnership with leaders, people managers, and individual contributors was conducted along with external research. Based on the findings from this research, PM practices were redesigned to focus on changes in four key areas: (1) creating a feedback-rich environment; (2) ensuring focus and alignment on meaningful goals; (3) building a cadence for reflection and planning at both the organization and group levels and between employees and their managers; and (4) enabling a culture of development. This case provides insight into the first 2 years of Gogo’s journey—beginning with the discovery process and continuing through the design, implementation, and evaluation (inclusive of ongoing adaptation). Throughout the process, significant time and energy were invested in stakeholder engagement, which was imperative for making significant cultural change stick.

Immunometabolism and regulation of mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (mROS) are critical determinants of the immune effector phenotype of differentiated macrophages. Mitochondrial function requires dynamic fission and fusion, but whether effector function is associated with altered dynamics during bacterial responses is unknown. We show that macrophage mitochondria undergo fission after 12 h of progressive ingestion of live Streptococcus pneumoniae (pneumococci). Fission is associated with progressive reduction in oxidative phosphorylation but increased mROS generation. Fission is enhanced by mROS production, PI3Kγ signaling and by cathepsin B, but not by inflammasome activation or IL-1β generation. Reduced fission following PI3Kγ or cathepsin B inhibition is associated with reduced mROS generation and bacterial killing. Fission is associated with Parkin recruitment to mitochondria, but not mitophagy. Fission occurs upstream of apoptosis induction and independently of caspase activation. During macrophage innate responses to live bacteria mitochondria shift from oxidative phosphorylation and ATP generation to mROS production and microbicidal responses with a progressive shift towards mitochondrial fission.