While they can’t tell the whole story of 2024, seven charts stood out as stark visualizations of key themes and trends that shaped business and management — and the state of the world. They’re reminders of what’s important, and what’s at stake, and include: what everyone is really doing with gen AI, how economies respond to populist leaders, the long tail of layoffs, a new way to measure loneliness at work, the challenges of getting to net zero, what we can learn from beer and boycotts, and what the future of work might look like.