- Amazon becomes world’s second company to be valued at $1tn
On Tuesday, a rise in the share price of Amazon, which is listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange in the US, briefly took it above the trillion-dollar watermark for the first time.
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Bezos has become the world’s richest man in the process, with a net worth estimated at more than $167bn on Tuesday, according to Forbes.Amazon went public at $18 a share in 1997 – on Tuesday those shares hit $2,050, pushing the value of the whole company over $1tn. Amazon ended the day valued at $995bn, just short of its new record.
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/sep/04/amazon-becomes-worlds-second-1tn-company
- Why work has failed us: Because it’s making it impossible to start a family
It now costs $31,000 more (adjusted for inflation) to raise a child from infancy to the age of 18 than it did in 1960. Between 1985 and 2011 alone, the cost of childcare went up by 70%, even though wages barely grew. Given that the cost of food, diapers, transportation, and housing has either gone down or stayed the same, this increase largely comes down to the ballooning cost of paying for other people to look after our children.
This was the exact same period in which women began entering the workforce in far greater numbers. Between 1962 and 2000, women’s labor force participation increased from 37% to 61%, leading to an estimated $2 trillion in economic gains. But in a disconcerting twist, women’s workforce participation actually started declining between 2000 to 2016, dipping from 60.7% to 57.2%. Pew Research suggests that the rising cost of childcare is likely responsible for the increase in stay-at-home moms over the last decades.
https://www.fastcompany.com/90223475/american-childcare-is-an-expensive-nightmare-is-it-fixable
- A mental hack for surviving bad bosses
- Sheryl Sandberg’s New Job Is to Fix Facebook’s Reputation—and Her Own
Now, Ms. Sandberg’s mandate is to spend a majority of her time on safety and security vulnerabilities. She formed a SWAT team to do what she and other Facebookers had struggled with when faced with a crisis: bridge the gap between the technical and business sides of the company to act decisively. The new team makes recommendations to the group of Facebook’s top executives that meet every Friday—known internally as the M-team—with Ms. Sandberg running the show, according to a person familiar with the operations. The shift “from reactive to proactive detection is a big change,” Mr. Zuckerberg said in August.
Many of the changes that are being put in place to clean up the Facebook platform will be expensive and could have an impact on growth, putting a brake on the ad-revenue machine that Ms. Sandberg built. In July, when Facebook reported that a surprise slowdown in revenue growth for the second quarter was likely to continue along with an unexpected increase in costs for security and privacy, investors shaved almost $120 billion in value from the company’s valuation—the biggest one-day loss ever for a U.S.-listed company.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/sheryl-sandberg-leans-into-a-gale-of-bad-news-at-facebook-1536085230
- Consider these things before jumping ship with your coworkers
Furthermore, if you’re generally happy at work and have a bunch of colleagues leaving, that could serve as an opportunity for you to take over some of their responsibilities and prove what a valuable asset you are to the company. Being that person who shows those incoming new hires the ropes can also help you stand out to your employer and perhaps pave the way to a promotion.
On the other hand, if you’re not necessarily in love with your job and don’t see a compelling reason to stay, you might consider jumping ship along with your colleagues. This especially holds true if your work is collaborative in nature, and you feel that losing those coworkers will substantially impact day-to-day life at the office.
https://www.fastcompany.com/90228545/consider-these-things-before-jumping-ship-with-your-coworkers
SourceCast: Episode 127: Accepting Success
News You Can Use: 8/29/2018
- It’s Not Technology That’s Disrupting Our Jobs
Over these four decades we have seen an increase in the use of day laborers, office temps, management consultants, contract assemblers, adjunct professors, Blackwater mercenaries and every other kind of worker filing an I.R.S. form 1099. These jobs span the income ranks, but they share what all work seems to have in common in the post-1970s economy: They are temporary and insecure.
In the last 10 years, 94 percent of net new jobs have appeared outside of traditional employment. Already approximately one-third of workers, and half of young workers, participate in this alternative world of work, either as a primary or a supplementary source of income.
Internet technologies have certainly intensified this development (even though most freelancers remain offline). But services like Uber and online freelance markets like TaskRabbit were created to take advantage of an already independent work force; they are not creating it. Their technology is solving the business and consumer problems of an already insecure work world. Uber is a symptom, not a cause.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/18/opinion/technology/technology-gig-economy.html
- Big ‘Epic Fails’ Can Feel Like a Punch in the Gut. What Should You Do After?
Whether it’s a client, a boss or your team, don’t wait to reach out. The key is to learn all of the facts first. Together with your team, iterate a heart-felt and honest response before the end of the day via email or in preparation for a live conversation. It is important not to let more than a few hours pass so that your client and your team can see that you place a heightened yet thoughtful sense of urgency. Blame does not matter and there is no room to take a tit-for-tat approach, nor to overly explain the reasons for the perceived or qualified failure. Instead, take personal accountability for the negative experiences and/or outcomes expressed by your client. Thoughtfully respond with words that explicitly reflect the examples of failure relayed by your clients. Reiterate your company’s mission and your personal commitment to ensuring customer delight. If it makes sense, offer to refund a portion of the costs.
- The death of America’s middle class: Sky-high rent, second jobs, and 1% TV
- Sorry, Pal, I Don’t Want to Talk: The Other Reason People Wear AirPods
Dave Luis, 44, head of marketing for a hospitality startup in Dubai, heard a friend complain about insouciant colleagues wearing AirPods during business meetings.
“She found it incredibly rude and offensive,” Mr. Luis said. “I’d recently bought mine. Every time we met, she’d actually make a point of asking me to remove these from my ears.”
Mr. Luis posted a poll on his Facebook page asking for opinions about wearing the devices during meetings. He said he was surprised to find that only 9% of his 80-plus friends found it acceptable.
- The secret to getting work done in an open office
Where people sit is another consideration. “You can’t mix sales, which is naturally a loud process, with developers, designers, or writers,” says Fried. “They go at a different pace. Different jobs require different environments. People who need to make noises are special; we’ve made focus the primary default.”
By making choices and implementing strategies, Basecamp employees can be focused and undistracted even though spaces are all out in the open. “You don’t have to feel like you have to hide to find quiet; quiet is the default here,” says Fried. “Noise is the exception, and it’s in isolated spaces.”
https://www.fastcompany.com/90218546/the-secret-to-getting-work-done-in-an-open-office
News You Can Use: 8/15/2018
- 5 Signs Your Employees are Nearing Burnout
Forty-four percent of workers said a serious business mistake or shortcoming has been the result of a miscommunication at some point in their professional experience. And 18 percent said that miscommunication lost a sale — a third of those sales valued above $100,000.
For efficiency and profitability’s sake, miscommunication is one thing you don’t want running rampant around the workplace. Sadly, when employees are overworked and overstressed, miscommunications are inevitable — and they’re often a sign that you need to hire more people, clean up processes or redistribute existing projects from certain employees.
- Are middle children really going extinct? Here’s a reality check
Sadly, statistics from Pew Research back up this up. In honor of Middle Child Day, which is today, the research organization parsed some of the demographic data around family size to dig deeper into the question of middle child extinction. Broadly speaking, middle children in America are a lot less common than they were 30 years ago. In 1976, 65% of American mothers aged 40-44 had three or more children, Pew writes. By 2016, that number had fallen to just 38%.
https://www.fastcompany.com/90216974/are-middle-children-really-going-extinct-heres-a-reality-check
- Is War With China Inevitable?
- Why You Should Get Good at Small Talk
It’s quite beautifully phrased that “Small talk brings us into the present moment with one another.” You might have been thinking about two different things, or feeling separated by unfamiliarity, but even a point of contact over your favorite coffee flavor (uh, mocha?) can make you feel like you’re sharing an experience with someone. A small experience. Big experiences come with big talks, and you will build to that together.
https://lifehacker.com/why-you-should-get-good-at-small-talk-1828174579
- How to Actually Make Money as a Travel Blogger or Lifestyle Brand
Before you start dreaming up an online course, ask yourself how to best serve your community. “It’s actually been proven that only 3 percent of people will ever complete the course. I don’t want people spending money on my stuff if they’re not going to implement,” she shared. Instead, she asked herself, What’s the best way to get in front of them and make it so valuable that they absolutely love it? She went on to create experiences and workshops that helped people learn and implement right away.
“Get back to basics — to caring about your community and your customers and asking them all the time, ‘What matters to you? What’s important?’ And then [work backwards and create a solution] for them.”
Photo by Joshua Rawson-Harris on Unsplash
News You Can Use: 8/1/2018
- Tesla asked suppliers for money back to boost profitability
In a memo sent to several suppliers requesting money back, Tesla said the cash back would be necessary for Tesla’s “continued operation” and that it was an investment in “long-term growth.”
Of course, this news won’t make Tesla investors happy. If a company needs to request money back from its supplier to achieve profitability, that doesn’t seem like a sustainable business model. That’s not to mention that it is sure to make future suppliers leery of working with Tesla. As one manufacturing consultant who isn’t involved with Tesla told the WSJ: “It’s simply ludicrous and it just shows that Tesla is desperate right now. They’re worried about their profitability but they don’t care about their suppliers’ profitability.”
https://www.fastcompany.com/90206411/tesla-asked-suppliers-for-money-back-to-boost-profitability
- You Need a Strategy If You Hope to Keep Your High Performers
High performers are put on the hardest projects — over and over again. You know they can deliver and really, it’s only logical to put your best people on the most important projects. But when top employees are under constant pressure while also being asked to help out with smaller ad hoc tasks that aren’t related to their work, these demands can be a fast track to burnout. Communicating with your high performers and taking the time to rein in some of these additional projects and requests will not only show your top performer that you are a source of support who values their time, but it’ll also clear their desk to work on the projects that really matter.
- John Oliver Calls Facebook ‘History’s Most Profitable Data-Harvesting Machine’ – NSFW
- Big tech warns of ‘Japan’s millennium bug’ ahead of Akihito’s abdication
The Japanese calendar counts up from the coronation of a new emperor, using not the name of the emperor, but the name of the era they herald. Akihito’s coronation in January 1989 marked the beginning of the Heisei era, and the end of the Shōwa era that preceded him; and Naruhito’s coronation will itself mark another new era.
But that brings problems. For one, Akihito has been on the throne for almost the entirety of the information age, meaning that many systems have never had to deal with a switchover in era. For another, the official name of Naruhito’s era has yet to be announced, causing concern for , calendar printers and international standards bodies.
It’s why some are calling it “Japan’s problem”.
- Forbes suggested Amazon should replace libraries, and people aren’t having it
A Forbes contributor wrote a short piece titled “Amazon Should Replace Local Libraries to Save Taxpayers Money,” arguing that libraries should be shuttered in return for Amazon opening bookstores in local communities. At the gist of the writer’s argument is that Starbucks has replaced libraries as a friendly place to go and read and streaming services like Amazon Prime Video have replaced video rentals, which many local libraries had provided.
Photo by Roberto Nickson (@g) on Unsplash