Extractive summaries of and key takeaways from the articles curated from TOP TEN BUSINESS MAGAZINES to promote informed business decision-making | Week 252 | July 8-14, 2022
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Shaping Section : Ideas and forces shaping economies and industries
Governments are ignoring the pandemic’s disastrous effect on education
The Economist | July 7, 2022
The rapid rise in school attendance masked an ugly truth: many pupils were spending years behind desks but learning almost nothing. In 2019 the World Bank found that less than half of ten-year-olds in developing countries (home to 90% of the world’s children) could read and understand a simple story.
Then the pandemic struck and hundreds of millions of pupils were locked out of school. During the first two years of the pandemic, more than 80% of schooldays in Latin America and South Asia were disrupted by closures of some sort. Even today schools in some countries, such as the Philippines, remain shut to most pupils, leaving their minds to atrophy.
Globally, the harm that school closures have done to children has vastly outweighed any benefits they may have had for public health. The World Bank says the share of ten-year-olds in middle- and low-income countries who cannot read and understand a simple story has risen from 57% in 2019 to roughly 70%. If they lack such elementary skills, they will struggle to earn a good living. The bank estimates that $21trn will be wiped off their lifetime earnings—equivalent to about 20% of the world’s annual GDP today. This should be seen for what it is: a global emergency. Nearly every problem that confronts humanity can be alleviated by good schooling.
Many of the most critical changes are not things that money will buy. But politicians talk endlessly about the importance of schooling, but words are cheap and a fit-for-purpose education system is not. Spending has risen modestly in recent decades but fell in many countries during the pandemic. Scandalously, many governments spend more on rich pupils than they do on poor ones.
At present a quarter of countries do not have any plans to help children claw back learning lost during the pandemic, according to a survey carried out earlier this year by unicef. Another quarter have inadequate catch-up strategies. The same energy that was once poured into building schools and filling up classrooms should now be used to improve the lessons that take place within them. At stake is the future not only of the generation scarred by the pandemic, but of all the pupils who will come after them. No more children should stumble through their school days without learning to read or add up.
3 key takeaways from the article
- The rapid rise in school attendance masked an ugly truth: many pupils were spending years behind desks but learning almost nothing. In 2019 the World Bank found that less than half of ten-year-olds in developing countries (home to 90% of the world’s children) could read and understand a simple story. Then the pandemic struck and hundreds of millions of pupils were locked out of school.
- The World Bank says the share of ten-year-olds in middle- and low-income countries who cannot read and understand a simple story has risen from 57% in 2019 to roughly 70%.
- At present a quarter of countries do not have any plans to help children claw back learning lost during the pandemic, according to a survey carried out earlier this year by UNICEF. Another quarter have inadequate catch-up strategies.
(Copyright)
Topics: Education, Development, Poverty
Probing reality and myth in the metaverse
By Cara Aiello et al., | Mckinsey & Company | June 13, 2022
The metaverse—like many innovations—is shrouded in mysticism and skepticism. Proponents believe that the metaverse will be revolutionary and fully transform the way we work, shop, socialize, and play. Others are more skeptical and see a hype-fueled fad that appeals to gamers and celebrities.
A survey among American consumers debunked six myths about the metaverse and help us to see that consumers across age cohorts will shape its purpose and prosperity.
Myth #1: No one knows what the metaverse is? 55 percent of the survey respondents said they had heard of at least one existing metaverse platform, such as Roblox, Fortnite, or Decentraland. Interestingly, nearly 30 percent said they had used or played at least one metaverse game.
Myth #2: The metaverse is a fad. The transition from online to immersive to metaverse is already happening. To start, more than 20 percent of the population, on a net basis, say they will spend more time online exercising, working, reading, and shopping in the future. Furthermore, people’s interest in immersive digital activities and experiences is growing. This expected shift is driven by a desire for greater convenience, connectivity, and entertainment.
Myth #3: The metaverse is for gamers. While gaming remains one of the leading experiences, consumers are increasingly looking for entertainment and shopping in the virtual world. One in five metaverse users has attended virtual live events such as concerts and film festivals. More popular interests include immersive shopping, booking, learning, traveling, and socializing.
Myth #4: The metaverse is geared to Gen Z. Research shows broad awareness and interest in the metaverse across a wide age range.
Myth #5: You can’t make money in the metaverse. Research suggests that commercial value is already scattered across different digital products and services for companies to capture. Consumers, on average, spend $219 annually on digital assets, of which more than 30 percent is on metaverse-related assets such as in-game purchases, virtual enhancements and real estate, and nonfungible tokens (NFTs). It is expected that spending habits in the metaverse to shift over time.
Myth #6: The speed of technology will set the pace for adoption. VR is the most accessible technology at just 20 percent penetration, yet the adoption curve to date follows the trajectory of other technologies that became widely available over time. Lower cost, increasing content, and improved usability are driving adoption.
3 key takeaways from the article
- The metaverse—like many innovations—is shrouded in mysticism and skepticism. Proponents believe that the metaverse will be revolutionary and fully transform the way we work, shop, socialize, and play. Others are more skeptical and see a hype-fueled fad that appeals to gamers and celebrities.
- A survey among American consumers debunked six myths about the metaverse and help us to see that consumers across age cohorts will shape its purpose and prosperity.
- Six myths are: No one knows what the metaverse is? The metaverse is a fad. The metaverse is for gamers. The metaverse is geared to Gen Z. You can’t make money in the metaverse. And the speed of technology will set the pace for adoption.
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Topics: Technology adoption, Metaverse, E-Commerce
Why business is booming for military AI startups
By Melissa Heikkilä | MIT Technology Review | July 7, 2022
Exactly two weeks after Russia invaded Ukraine in February, Alexander Karp, the CEO of data analytics company Palantir, made his pitch to European leaders. With war on their doorstep, Europeans ought to modernize their arsenals with Silicon Valley’s help, he argued in an open letter. For Europe to “remain strong enough to defeat the threat of foreign occupation,” Karp wrote, countries need to embrace “the relationship between technology and the state, between disruptive companies that seek to dislodge the grip of entrenched contractors and the federal government ministries with funding.”
Militaries are responding to the call. NATO announced on June 30 that it is creating a $1 billion innovation fund that will invest in early-stage startups and venture capital funds developing “priority” technologies such as artificial intelligence, big-data processing, and automation.
Companies that sell military AI make expansive claims for what their technology can do. They say it can help with everything from the mundane to the lethal, from screening résumés to processing data from satellites or recognizing patterns in data to help soldiers make quicker decisions on the battlefield. Image recognition software can help with identifying targets. Autonomous drones can be used for surveillance or attacks on land, air, or water, or to help soldiers deliver supplies more safely than is possible by land. These technologies are still in their infancy on the battlefield, and militaries are going through a period of experimentation sometimes without much success. Nevertheless, many militaries are pressing forward.
Many experts are worried. One argued that this push is really more about enriching tech companies than improving military operations. Another lambasted that AI boosters are stoking Cold War rhetoric and trying to create a narrative that positions Big Tech as “critical national infrastructure,” too big and important to break up or regulate. Many warn that AI adoption by the military is being presented as an inevitability rather than what it really is: an active choice that involves ethical complexities and trade-offs. There have been some efforts to assuage those concerns. One of their key concepts is that humans must always retain control of AI systems. All such guidelines call on militaries to use AI in a way that is lawful, responsible, reliable, and traceable and seeks to mitigate biases embedded in the algorithms. But all this will compromise the efficiency, militaries are looking for from AI.
3 key takeaways from the article
- With war on their doorstep, Militaries are responding to the call that Europeans ought to modernize their arsenals with Silicon Valley’s help. NATO announced on June 30 that it is creating a $1 billion innovation fund that will invest in early-stage startups and venture capital funds developing “priority” technologies such as artificial intelligence, big-data processing, and automation.
- Companies that sell military AI make expansive claims that it can help with everything from the mundane to the lethal, from screening résumés to processing data from satellites or recognizing patterns in data to help soldiers make quicker decisions on the battlefield.
- Many experts are worried. Many warn that AI adoption by the military is being presented as an inevitability rather than what it really is: an active choice that involves ethical complexities and trade-offs.
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Topics: Technology, War, Europe, NATO
Putin’s War Threatens Europe’s Ambitious Climate Goals
By Will Mathis and Ewa Krukowska | Bloomberg Businessweek | July 7, 2022
Last summer the European Union unveiled “Fit for 55,” a radical plan to move away from carbon-based energy, which envisions deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions to meet a goal of reaching net-zero by midcentury. But Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has forced several countries to backpedal on decarbonization, at least in the short term, to compensate for cuts in fuel supplies from Russia.
Since Russian troops rolled across the Ukrainian border on Feb. 24, European countries have started to burn more coal, plan new liquefied natural gas terminals, and extend the region’s network of gas pipelines.
The climate plan announced on July 14, 2021, by the European Commission proposed tightening its existing cap-and-trade system for carbon emission permits, ramping up renewable power, and phasing out cars with internal combustion engines to slash emissions by 55% by 2030 from 1990 levels. The war in Ukraine has highlighted the degree to which those ambitions relied on gas piped from Russia to keep the lights on and factories humming while awaiting a payoff from hundreds of billions of euros in planned investment in renewables, electric cars, and technologies to cut emissions from heavy industry.
The region relies on Russia for about 40% of its gas and a third of its oil. With Putin weaponizing deliveries of the fuels, the EU is backing investment in infrastructure such as LNG production anyplace other than Russia and facilities to import it to the region. And it’s increasingly clear that larger quantities of coal will have to serve as a significant backup, which, until recently, was viewed as unnecessary and dangerous. Since February, carbon emissions from coal have jumped more than 6% from 2019 levels.
The situation isn’t entirely bad, as the war has jump-started investment in wind turbines, solar farms, and carbon capture and storage facilities. The EU understands that there’s only a fixed amount of carbon it can put in the atmosphere this decade and still meet its goals.
3 key takeaways from the article
- Last summer the European Union unveiled “Fit for 55,” a radical plan to move away from carbon-based energy, which envisions deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions to meet a goal of reaching net-zero by midcentury. But Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has forced several countries to backpedal on decarbonization, to compensate for cuts in fuel supplies from Russia.
- Since the Russian’s invasion European countries have started to burn more coal, plan new liquefied natural gas terminals, and extend the region’s network of gas pipelines.
- The situation isn’t entirely bad, as the war has jump-started investment in wind turbines, solar farms, and carbon capture and storage facilities. The EU understands that there’s only a fixed amount of carbon it can put in the atmosphere this decade and still meet its goals.
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Topics: Energy Markets, Europe, Clean Energy, Environment
Leading & Managing Section
Leadership in an Era of Context Collapse
By Leslie Brokaw | MIT Sloan Management Review | July 06, 2022
The phenomenon of context collapse continues to be a vexing issue for organizations. Defined as “the near impossibility, in a social media era, of intentionally and credibly managing different identities with colleagues, with family, and with friends.
One recent example is the complete fracture of the relationship between Levi Strauss & Co. and top executive Jennifer Sey. Until February 2022, Sey was a brand manager for Levi’s and was said to be a strong candidate to serve as its next chief executive. But her staunch advocacy on her personal Twitter account against COVID-19-related school closures and mask mandates for kids put her in the spotlight. She was told by the company that there would not be a path forward for her. She quit.
“You may have a private identity and a professional identity that you think are separate, and it turns out that from the company’s point of view, they’re not,” said David Kiron, editorial director of research at MIT SMR. “We can each have different points of view about where the lines should be. But context collapse he says, ‘There are no lines.’”
As the lines between public and private are getting crushed, traditional norms are toppling around what does, and should, count as private. “That raises questions about authentic leadership,” Kiron added. “It’s harder to be an authentic leader if you want to please different stakeholders with opposing interests in a transparent, digital operating environment.” The flattening of multiple identities means that customizing messages for different stakeholders — once a strategy for digital-savvy leaders — might now be a dangerous game. And what we see happening between businesses and individuals is also happening between businesses and governments.
Leaders need to recognize that they are in a whole new operating environment in which corporate free expression is penalized not because what they or the company says is a violation of a law, but because the rule-makers see it as a violation of their values. And such changes can undermine the ability of the companies to make profits. For better or worse, and in different ways, leaders might need to account for activist government officials as much as activist employees. The bottom line: Context collapse is truly reshaping how leaders need to think and act.
3 key takeaways from the article
- The phenomenon of context collapse continues to be a vexing issue for organizations. Defined as “the near impossibility, in a social media era, of intentionally and credibly managing different identities with colleagues, with family, and with friends.
- As the lines between public and private are getting crushed, traditional norms are toppling around what does, and should, count as private. “That raises questions about authentic leadership,” Kiron added. “It’s harder to be an authentic leader if you want to please different stakeholders with opposing interests in a transparent, digital operating environment.”
- Leaders need to recognize that they are in a whole new operating environment in which corporate free expression is penalized not because what they or the company says is a violation of a law, but because the rule-makers see it as a violation of their values.
(Full Article)
Topics: Leadership, Politics, Customers, Rights
Expecting a Bad Performance Review? Here’s How to Prepare.
By Susan Peppercorn | Harvard Business Review | July 07, 2022
Organizations frequently use a Performance Improvement Plan or PIP with the intention of gathering enough evidence about an employee’s underperformance to justify firing them, rather than to truly help them improve. Six steps to take before and after your review if you know your performance has been subpar.
- Reflect on your assumptions. Before jumping to conclusions about how your manager may evaluate you, take some time to check your assumptions in the weeks prior to your review, when there’s still time to turn things around. You can ask for the feedback from your seniors inlcuding question: What have I done in the last six months that has contributed the most to the company? In addition to asking for feedback, you can also ask the questions to yourself. Such questions and your answers will enable you to focus on the specific work you need to do to improve rather than on an amorphous goal.
- Gain perspective. If you sense your teammates are frustrated with you, don’t avoid the issue or guess — ask them before it’s too late! Addressing the situation prior to your review can remove this red flag from your record. If you’re not sure how your team perceives your contributions, ask questions such as if you could change one part of how I interact with the team, what would it be?
- Invite your manager for a conversation. Rather than waiting for a formal performance review, reach out to your manager to discuss your development prior to your review. Capture your key accomplishments and send them ahead to your boss to jog their memory and avoid recency bias.
- Own your mistakes. In contrast to being blindsided after the fact by negative feedback, taking control of your situation by admitting errors and planning how you will improve your areas of risk is likely to result in respect from your manager and team. Once you’ve fessed up to your boss about the dropped ball, create a detailed action plan that may involve creating a timeline, reprioritizing your tasks, learning new skills, and/or reexamining how you come across to colleagues. Share your development plan with your manager and ask for the support you need to improve, such as removing organizational constraints.
- Follow up. Once you’ve committed to your action plan and gained buy-in for it, set a date with your manager for a follow-up meeting in three months to make sure you’re making the needed improvements.
- Demonstrate that you care about doing better. Showing that you care is a top reason separating employees are retained after messing up. Backbone combined with humility are the qualities leaders look for in their direct reports.
3 key takeaways from the article
- Organizations frequently use Performance Improvement Plan with the intention of gathering enough evidence about an employee’s underperformance to justify firing them.
- By preemptively taking action if you expect to receive a bad performance review, you may be able to steer a different course for yourself and avoid a foregone conclusion.
- Six steps to take before and after your review if you know your performance has been subpar include: reflect on your assumptions and ask for the feedback from your seniors; gain perspective, if you sense your teammates are frustrated with you; invite your manager for a conversation; own your mistake and develop a plan to not to drop the ball again; set a date with your manager for a follow-up meeting on revised plan; and demonstrate that you care about doing better.
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Topics: Personal Management, Performance Review
Effective Leadership In The World Of Hybrid Management
By Roberta Matuson | Forbes Magazine | July 12, 2022
Much of the basic management advice still holds, such as treating people the way you’d like to be treated and allowing people the opportunity to figure out how to best do the tasks you’ve assigned. However, leading people remotely requires some adjustments in your management style. Five important factors to consider when managing remotely.
- Set boundaries. It’s too easy for work to flow into leisure time and vice-a-versa when working from home. As the leader, you are the one who must set the boundaries. These boundaries should be explicit. Set the example by not sending emails outside the official hours. If you expect people to be at their desks at certain hours of the day, then say so.
- Be there for your people. Being there for your team must be a priority. Stories of employees waiting weeks to speak with their boss are all too common. Consider setting up “office hours.” Set aside a specific time weekly to be fully available to your team.
- Not everyone is cut out for remote work. You may have people working remotely on your team who need more team interaction than others, and their work may reflect this. If this is the case, consider assigning a buddy or a mentor to them. You may also have people on your team who should not be working remotely. You may require them to be in the office five days a week or decide it’s best to part ways.
- Be more intentional in your communication. In the past, you may have gotten by with a quick hello while passing by someone’s desk. Now that bumping into people in the office is happening much less; you must be more deliberate in your communication. When you need to speak with someone on your team, consider picking up the phone. Be sure to acknowledge employees for a job well done, rather than assuming they know you are delighted with their work.
- Be emotionally available to your team members. Many people are still struggling to figure this whole hybrid work thing out. Let your employees know that you understand the challenges associated with hybrid work and are open to discussing how to improve this experience for them.
2 key takeaways from the article
- Much of the basic management advice still holds, such as treating people the way you’d like to be treated and allowing people the opportunity to figure out how to best do the tasks you’ve assigned. However, leading people remotely requires some adjustments in your management style.
- Five important factors to consider when managing remotely: set boundaries between business and leisure time, be there for your people, not everyone is cut out for remote work so bring them to the office or say good-by, be more intentional in your communication and be emotionally available to your team members.
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Topics: Leadership, Remote work, Work-life balance
Enterpreneurship Section
7 Tips to Recession-Proof Your Business, From Leaders Who Have Been There
By Ali Donaldson | Inc Magazine | July 8, 2022
Do you want to shore up your company’s chance of survival by recession-proofing before the turbulence hits? What to do? Inc believes the best source of advice is founders who’ve been through it. Seven precautionary measures you can take from these founders are:
- Listen to employees and customers. You cannot stop the business cycle from shifting, but you can give yourself enough time to get ready. One of the ways to gauge current conditions and future expectations are by listening to the most anecdotal of data sources: your clients and employees. With rare exceptions, a recession is not something that should ever catch a company off guard if you are in regular communication with your customers and you’re asking the right questions about what they’re seeing in their business, you get real-time insights into where things are headed. It also helps to pay attention to the conversations among your own team.
- Use the pandemic as a case study. After two and a half years of Covid-19 closures, and supply chain disruptions, the business owners feel ready to confront a potential recession. Everything that’s happened has prepared them for the next hurdle. Businesses embrace conservative accounting and prioritize profit over growth.
- Don’t rush layoffs. Staffing back up will not be easy, so make layoffs your last resort.
- Defer funding. If you do not need to raise money, do not raise money. Taking whatever steps are necessary to extend the runway until conditions improve.
- Become indispensable. During any downturn, customers will be looking to cut costs. To avoid becoming another line item that can be subtracted from their budget try to find ways to make your product essential. One of the ways to become indispensable is to strengthen your existing customer relationships. More than just providing value, it becomes even more important during a downturn to document that value for clients.
- Maintain perspective. While you need to be prepared for a potential downturn, keep a sense of perspective. There are cycles, but everything is going to end. If you’re too focused on that short term, it very well will hurt you in the long term when things do recover. So keep decision making anchored in the long-term.
- Stay entrepreneurial. Concentrate on what you can control. Approach the recession like any disruption. It’s an opportunity for you to find new ways to provide value, new revenue streams, and new business lines.
2 key takeaways from the article
- Do you want to shore up your company’s chance of survival by recession-proofing before the turbulence hits? What to do?
- Seven precautionary measures you can take from the founders who experienced recession are: listen to employees and customers, use the pandemic as a case study to make your business more resielent, don’t rush layoffs, become indespensible, maintain long-term perspective and stay entrepreneurial.
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Topics: Entrepreneurship, Recession, Small business
6 Proven Business Marketing Strategies to Grow During a Recession
By Jed Morley | Entrepreneur Magazine | July 11, 2022
As a large or small business, it’s essential to have a plan if a recession hits. Luckily, there are several recession-proof business marketing strategies that you can use. These marketing ideas will help your business continue to find success, even during a recession.
Strategy 1: Focus on customer experience. The best businesses know that happy customers give great reviews and spread the word quickly. It’s much easier to market your business when customers have already mentioned your company as one of their favorites. In fact, word-of-mouth marketing is a critical factor in 74% of purchase decisions. It drives six trillion dollars of spending every year. There are a few ways you can improve the customer experience: provide quality products, provide high-quality customer service, and always look for ways to improve.
Strategy 2: Improve your conversion rates with automatic emails. All businesses can improve their conversion rates. By promoting your content through email marketing, you can ensure that you’re reaching each one of your customers and getting them excited about your products.
Strategy 3: Analyze your competitors. Analyzing your competitors is one of the smartest strategies you can use. By analyzing your competitors’ content and their backend search engine optimization (SEO), you can capitalize on what they fail to do.
Strategy 4: Use social media to engage with customers. Social media is a fantastic way to get your business in front of the eyes of larger audiences. By having a robust social presence and a solid social media strategy, you can drive interested consumers to your online store. It’s also important to build a strong social media presence through exclusive content. You need to ensure that it’s only available to your customers on your social media sites. This will encourage a strong relationship between your customers and your brand, which will drive up your conversion rates by encouraging customers to share your content with their friends and family.
Strategy 5: Use content marketing to attract customers. Content marketing is a strategy that allows you to attract potential customers by providing them with informative and valuable content. With content marketing, you can reach a larger audience of interested consumers and drive sales and traffic to your online store. Some tips are: create a blog and keep it updated and publish content that inspires customer interaction.
Strategy 6: Don’t forget to track your progress. With this final strategy, you can see if your marketing strategies are working. By using a backend analytics tool, you can confirm that you’re actually seeing growth. This will allow you to tell if the marketing strategies that you’re using are really working.
2 key takeaways from the article
- As a large or small business, it’s essential to have a plan if a recession hits. Luckily, there are several recession-proof business marketing strategies that you can use. These marketing ideas will help your business continue to find success, even during a recession.
- 6 of such marketing strategies are: focus on customer experience, improve your conversion rates with automatic emails, analyze your competitors, use social media to engage with customers, use content marketing to attract customers, and don’t forget to track your progress.
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Topics: Entrepreneurship, Recession, Business Recovery
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