News You Can Use: 10/30/2019
Photo by Mihai Surdu on Unsplash
- Why you should ditch team building activities and just let people get to work
Forget the rock-climbing excursions; instead, give team members meaty tasks to accomplish together (and I’m talking about real work, not fake tasks here). The most effective way to strengthen team bonds is by having people work together and accomplish results as a group. Winning the three-legged race may be exhilarating (or embarrassing for those who don’t love the cheesy), but overcoming a work challenge or solving a thorny problem is a much more effective way to get your team closer together.
https://www.fastcompany.com/90408773/4-things-you-should-do-instead-of-team-building-activities
- The Phone Call Isn’t Dead, It’s Evolving
Talking was the most popular way to communicate via cellphone in the fall of 2012, with 94% of survey respondents having done so in the prior week, according to consumer-research firm MRI-Simmons. By the spring of 2019, talking had fallen to least popular, behind texting, emailing, posting to social media and using chat apps, with just 45% reporting doing it in the prior week. In other words, less than half had used their phone for an actual phone call.
Multiple people I interviewed said when the phone rings unexpectedly, they assume someone has died. But some app developers and investors think voice communication over the phone isn’t the problem, just the act of making a phone call itself. Between the rise of smart speakers and Apple’s wireless AirPod earbuds, and the ubiquity of group messaging and video chat, they’re betting now might be the time for voice to make a comeback.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-phone-call-isnt-dead-its-evolving-11571457605
- What causes an economic recession?
- Zuckerberg defends Facebook as bastion of ‘free expression’ in speech
Zuckerberg defended the company’s decision to allow misinformation in political advertising on the platform, despite high-profile pushback against the policy.
“Given the sensitivity around political ads, I’ve considered whether we should stop allowing them altogether,” Zuckerberg said. “But political ads are an important part of voice – especially for local candidates, up-and-coming challengers and advocacy groups that may not get much media attention otherwise. Banning political ads favors incumbents and whoever the media covers.”
And he also seemed to brazenly rewrite the site’s beginnings, which were reportedly as a “hot or not” game for Harvard students to play, as a platform to share perspectives after the beginning of the Iraq war.
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/oct/17/mark-zuckerberg-facebook-free-expression-speech
- Debt-ridden GE abruptly freezes pensions on 20,000 employees
The company announced today that it was going to pre-fund about $4-5 billion of estimated minimum ERISA funding requirements for 2021 and 2022 and offer a limited time lump-sum payment option to approximately 100,000 eligible former employees who have not started getting their monthly pension payments yet.
According to GE, these moves will cut its pension deficit by about $5-$8 billion and its industrial net debt by approximately $4-$6 billion.
Wall Street seemed to like the decision. GE’s stock was $8.63, up 6 cents or 0.70%, in pre-market trading.
https://www.fastcompany.com/90414035/debt-ridden-ge-abruptly-freezes-20000-employee-pensions
News You Can Use: 10/25/2017
- Dear Silicon Valley: America’s fallen out of love with you
In his famous book Zero to One, Peter Thiel writes, “Competition is for losers. Be a monopoly.” And that philosophy has come to prevail—the average venture capitalist would say that in a portfolio of 20, they are OK with 19 losers and one grand slam. Follow that to its logical conclusion: for every billionaire Peter Thiel, Silicon Valley, you’re OK with 19 broke people. It’s no wonder that inequality is at a 100-year high, entrepreneurial activity is at a 40-year low, and eight men control half the world’s wealth.
Over the past fifteen years, big has crushed little in Silicon Valley, to an increasing degree. The former giant-slayers like Apple and Google have become giants themselves, shutting out or buying up new entrants.
https://techcrunch.com/2017/10/08/dear-silicon-valley-americas-fallen-out-of-love-with-you/?ncid=rss
- Why Corporate Tax Cuts Won’t Create Jobs
In other words, if we are serious about growth, competitiveness and job creation, we should look elsewhere besides the tax code for answers. We can remain open to immigrants in search of better economic opportunities. We can invest in our public schools and universities. We can upgrade vital business infrastructure such as airports, land transportation systems, the internet backbone and our power grid. We can heighten our vigilance about anti-competitive behavior and regulatory capture by very large corporations that make it difficult to start new businesses.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/09/opinion/corporate-tax-cuts-entrepreneur.html
I am not a fan of this practice, especially when States are trying to get companies to move in (see SourceCast Episode 87), but sadly it is reality for the cities and States being left behind NYC, Chicago, and San Fran). - Are We Born Optimistic? Or Is It a Coping Skill We Learn as Adults? | Lori Markson
- Just Got Passed Up For A Promotion? Do This Next
Although you might be fuming, it’s important that you take a step back from the situation and give yourself the opportunity to cool off before doing anything else. You certainly wouldn’t want to lose control and torpedo the professional reputation you’ve strived so hard to build before you’ve had to the chance to gather all the facts.
https://www.fastcompany.com/40479877/just-got-passed-up-for-a-promotion-do-this-next
- In Eric Ries’ new book, he tells companies to turn every unit into a cash-strapped ‘startup’
You first have to look at whether you’re treating the people who work for you like entrepreneurs or something different; if you’re expecting your product managers to achieve instantaneous success, that’s not [the standard] to which you were held in the early stages of your company.
Along the same lines, if you aren’t [giving teams] clear, metered funding, how are they going to have that scarcity? It’s that mindset, that hunger, that let’s you say “no,” [to dawdling]. [Companies have to fight] that entitlement funding because the more money you have, the less you want to expose yourself to risk.
Photo: Clem Onojeghuo
Productivity Bulletin: 4/3/2015
- Convince someone you are correct by asking the right questions:
For example, “Why do you think this would be a good idea?” or “What do you think the advantages would be?” It sounds obvious, but letting someone persuade themselves will mean they are more confident of their decision in the long term – as if it had been their idea all along.
http://lifehacker.com/subtly-convince-someone-youre-correct-by-asking-the-rig-1693349163
- Marie Forleo: Secret Weapon For Leading A Happy Team
I am not a big fan of Marie, but I am curious what you guys think about this video and her overall presentation (I generally opt to not include her content, but will change that if you see value). Seriously… what is her background?
Link: http://www.marieforleo.com/2015/03/love-languages/ - Isaac Asimov’s Advice for Being Creative (Hint: Don’t Brainstorm)
As someone who makes a living on creative insights (how else to describe proof solving), I’m sympathetic to Asimov’s take. While group activities like brainstorming might be useful for lightweight projects, like coming up with a new slogan for an advertisement, if you’re instead trying to solve an unsolved proof, or, more pressingly, improve ballistic missile defense, there’s no way to avoid learning hard things and then thinking hard about what you learned, hoping to tease out a new connection.
http://calnewport.com/blog/2015/03/27/isaac-asimovs-advice-for-being-creative-hint-dont-brainstorm/