Call it the age of the mega merger. Across industries, some of the biggest companies are joining hands and creating even bigger companies.

Kison Patel, the CEO of software company DealRoom, remembers working for a private equity firm trying to do a deal not long ago. His firm bombarded the target company with requests for information — including repetitive requests for the same information, often in Excel spreadsheets. Eventually, the seller got fed up and walked away.

Large corporations are under attack from every corner. A group of states are fighting the proposed acquisition of Sprint Corp. by T-Mobile US. The Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission are investigating tech giants including Facebook and Alphabet’s Google for antitrust violations. Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren is proposing breaking up the big tech companies.

Artificial intelligence and big data offer some of the most exciting prospects for medicine. But making good use of the data is another story.

The potential uses of data are exploding. But so are the regulations to keep that in check.

In this episode of Looking Ahead, Al Dominick discusses the impact of human capital concerns on leadership teams at public companies and fast-growing private companies with Matt Stinner of Semler Brossy and Kellie Huennekens of Nasdaq Center for Corporate Governance.

Companies have embraced diversity as a way to enhance dialogue, broaden thinking, better represent customer perspectives and drive innovation.

In August, the Business Roundtable redefined the purpose of the corporation to include a commitment to all stakeholders, not just shareholders. Will companies start paying C-suite executives based on how happy the employees are? Will they get annual bonuses if the company tops the list of Consumer Reports?

JPMorgan & Chase CEO Jamie Dimon has called investors who use proxy advisors “lazy” for blindly following advice on matters like executive compensation or mergers. Now, he and other corporate executives may be getting some relief.