5 not-to-miss articles from January
Every month we present 5 articles that caught our attention for their relevance, originality and/or depth of insight. Greyscale and digital detox, the art of Ikigai, and the GAFA’s in danger ? Here is our selection for January. Happy reading!
Collective genius
“How to have a good debate in a meeting”
by Morten T. Hansen (Harvard Business Review, 10 January 2018)
As much as we all love to complain about meetings, the fact remains that in a workplace setting, we need them. The problem is when they become stilted and routine. How can you stimulate more robust discussion and debate in your meetings? Here, author Morten T. Hansen offers his 6 practical tips for “leading a good fight in meetings,” extrapolated from his research for his new book, Great at Work (Simon & Schuster, January 2018).
Strategy
« Silicon Valley, we have a problem »
(The Economist, 20 January 2018)
A January 2018 email signed by strategist Eve Smith and addressed to Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, and Google’s Sundar Pichai offers in-depth analysis of “the grave political and business risks” that the world’s tech giants currently face.
Robotics
“Walmart’s new robots are loved by staff – and ignored by customers”
(MIT Technology Review, 31 January 2018)
San Francisco robotics startup Bossa Nova has developed robots that can identify when items are out of stock or incorrectly priced or labeled, which are now roaming store aisles in 50 Walmart locations across the United States. In this interview, Bossa Nova’s Chief Technology Officer Martin Hitch explains how the robots work and describes customer and employee responses to them.
Digital detox
“Is the answer to phone addiction a worse phone?”
(The New York Times, 12 January 2018)
First popularized by tech ethicist Tristan Harris of the Time Well Spent movement, an increasing number of people are turning their phones to grayscale to make them less enticing. Here, The New York Times’ Nellie Bowles describes her personal experience of “going gray” and its effectiveness in helping her regain control over how she managers her phone usage in today’s attention economy.
Personal development
“On s’y emploie. L’ikigaï, une méthode japonaise pour trouver le job don’t on rêve,”
(France Info, 28 January 2018)
What makes you want to get out of bed in the morning? If you have trouble answering this question, you might want to look into a Japanese philosophy called Ikigaï. It is the subject of a January 2018 book, Trouver son Ikigaï, by French writer Christie Vanbremeersch, who explains in this short interview how the method can help you find direction and joy in life.
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