Extractive summaries of and key takeaways from the articles curated from TOP TEN BUSINESS MAGAZINES to promote informed business decision-making | Week 260|September 2-8, 2022
Download this week’s edition in PDF
Download this week’s edition in Audio
Shaping Section : Ideas and forces shaping economies and industries
What flood-hit Pakistan should learn from Bangladesh
The Economist | September 1, 2022
An unusually heavy monsoon has caused havoc in South Asia this year. In May and June it inundated swathes of Bangladesh and north-eastern India, killing hundreds and displacing millions. Over the past few weeks it has battered Pakistan, where more than 1,100 people have died and at least half a million have lost their homes in the deluge.
Flood-prone countries have spent decades developing methods to contain the damage that others can readily adopt. Broadly, these fall into three categories: infrastructure adjustments, early-warning systems and efficient channels for swift financial relief. In South Asia Bangladesh has led the way on all three.
Bangladesh has for years invested in flood defences to protect its low-lying coastal regions from cyclones. Residents near the coasts and in regions farther inland that are at risk from monsoon-related flooding have been encouraged to make their houses more resistant to floods, and have received money to do so. Shelters have been put in place on raised ground, and modified to include women-only facilities and take animals, making people more willing to use them. As for early warning, researchers gather weather data down to village level to predict floods days in advance. People are warned via text messages and from the loudspeakers of mosques to leave their homes, and helped to shelters by trained volunteers. Cash and, increasingly, mobile-money transfers provide financial help without bureaucracy. All this has saved many lives. In 1970, when Bangladesh was still part of Pakistan, 300,000-500,000 people died in a massive cyclone there. A similar one in 2020 killed only about 30.
Yet it is clear that Pakistan has failed to take fully on board the lessons on offer from Bangladesh. One reason is a reluctance to heed sufficiently the threat posed by climate change, a failure that afflicts rich countries too. But the bigger reason is politics. Pakistan has been a mess, distracting from the sort of patient planning needed to build resilience against floods. The floods have hit a country already reeling from economic and political instability. Pakistan’s plight also provides a different sort of warning, about the broader impact of global warming. As climate conditions grow more extreme round the world, they are likely to produce more political instability.
3 key takeaways from the article
- An unusually heavy monsoon has caused havoc in South Asia this year.
- Flood-prone countries have spent decades developing methods to contain the damage that others can readily adopt. Broadly, these fall into three categories: infrastructure adjustments, early-warning systems and efficient channels for swift financial relief. In South Asia Bangladesh has led the way on all three.
- Pakistan has failed to take fully on board the lessons on offer from Bangladesh. One reason is a reluctance to heed sufficiently the threat posed by climate change. But the bigger reason is politics. Pakistan has been a mess. Pakistan’s plight also provides a different sort of warning, about the broader impact of global warming. As climate conditions grow more extreme around the world, they are likely to produce more political instability.
Listen to the Extractive Summary of the Article
(Copyright)
Topics: Global Warming, Flood, Pakistan, Poverty
The System pushed me out of public education: US faces the great teachers’ resignation
By Nic Querelo et al., | Bloomberg Businessweek | September 2, 2022
For decades, America’s educators have said they would’ve abandoned the job long ago were it not for their devotion to their students. But after a demanding and demoralizing two years that included Zoom schooling, culture wars, and shootings, those threats have finally become real. A Gallup Poll in February showed that K-12 educators were the most burned-out segment of the US labor force.
Now teachers are walking out by the hundreds of thousands, vowing never to return. A study by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) in March found that 44% of public schools reported teaching vacancies. By LinkedIn’s calculations, the number of teachers who quit in June was almost 41% higher than a year earlier.
Although some school districts managed to fill their vacancies to start the school year, many in rural areas and those serving low-income families are still having trouble doing so. In some cases, schools are even allowing veterans and other noncredentialed workers to step in as teachers and, in extreme cases, reducing the school week to four days.
So many teachers are resigning that a cottage industry of coaching services has sprung up to help them find new careers. Most former teachers are pursuing better-paying jobs, reinventing themselves as software engineers, executive assistants, and recruiters, according to data from LinkedIn.
An educator exodus not only has worrisome implications for the future of the profession and generations of children, it’s also disquieting for what it says about the value the country places on a career dominated by women. About 76% of the 3.5 million US public school teachers were female in the 2017-18 academic year, the latest available NCES data show. As women abandon the field for industries in which pay is higher, stress lower, and creative thinking more valued, education could see a generation-long brain drain.
It’s only going to get worse. Almost 2 in 5 teachers plan to quit in the next two years, according to a June survey of members of the American Federation of Teachers union. Chief among the reasons are salaries that haven’t kept up with inflation, student behavioral problems that have gotten worse during the pandemic, and a lack of respect as schools have become the latest political battleground.
3 key takeaways from the article
- For decades, America’s educators have said they would’ve abandoned the job long ago were it not for their devotion to their students. Those threats have finally become real.
- A Gallup Poll in February 2022 showed that K-12 educators were the most burned-out segment of the US labor force. An educator exodus not only has worrisome implications for the future of the profession and generations of children, it’s also disquieting for what it says about the value the country places on a career dominated by women. It’s only going to get worse. Almost 2 in 5 teachers plan to quit in the next two years.
- Chief among the reasons are salaries that haven’t kept up with inflation, student behavioral problems that have gotten worse during the pandemic, and a lack of respect as schools have become the latest political battleground.
Listen to the Extractive Summary of the Article
(Copyright)
Topics: Burned Out, Education, USA
How will Europe survive Russia’s winter gas squeeze?
By David Meyer | Fortune Magazine | September 5, 2022
As Europe tries to figure out solutions for its rapidly deepening energy crisis—which threatens to deliver mass bankruptcies and social unrest this coming winter—Germany’s government has decided it will be essential to go after energy firms’ profits.
On Sunday, Berlin unveiled a gargantuan €65 billion support package for households and energy-intensive companies, to help them deal with the soaring cost of power, and to rein in inflation. That’s more than double the amount of relief that has already been offered since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in late February, which triggered the crisis. To fund this bailout of consumers and industry, the government will place a levy on the profits of energy producers who are using sources other than natural gas.
The price of gas is the big problem in Germany, and indeed across most of Europe—wholesale energy prices are determined by the most expensive source that is needed to meet demand at the time, and with Russia having strangled its gas supplies to Europe, the stratospheric ascent of gas prices means higher electricity prices for all, even if the underlying generation uses cheaper sources like wind or nuclear.
So the German government will target the profits made by power producers “that don’t have such high production costs and give them back to the citizens,” Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Sunday, promising “many, many billions” of euros in additional revenue.
Hitting energy firms with the windfall tax is not actually the most drastic measure Europe’s leaders could take. Some would like to see radical reforms of the energy-pricing system that would effectively decouple gas prices from the broader mix.
3 key takeaways from the article
- As Europe tries to figure out solutions for its rapidly deepening energy crisis—which threatens to deliver mass bankruptcies and social unrest this coming winter—Germany’s government has decided it will be essential to go after energy firms’ profits.
- On Sunday, Berlin unveiled a gargantuan €65 billion support package for households and energy-intensive companies, to help them deal with the soaring cost of power, and to rein in inflation. That’s more than double the amount of relief that has already been offered since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in late February, which triggered the crisis.
- To fund this bailout of consumers and industry, the government will place a levy on the profits of energy producers who are using sources other than natural gas.
Listen to the Extractive Summary of the Article
(Copyright)
Topics: Energy, Europe, Russia
Leading & Managing Section
Strategic courage in an age of volatility
By Michael Birshan | McKinsey & Company | August 29, 2022
We’re living in a world where new shocks—the war in Ukraine, the return of inflation—have been layered onto earlier shocks—a deadly global pandemic, supply chain disruptions—that in turn were layered onto, and dramatically accelerated, long-standing trends such as digitization and sustainability. CEOs, board members, and other business leaders share with the authors a common sentiment: this combination of shocks has created perhaps the most challenging environment management teams have ever faced—and one that likely won’t change anytime soon.
The authors research on corporate resilience shows that defense-only postures tend to lead to median company performance, while offense-only stances deliver a mix of occasional wins plus some catastrophic failures. The best leaders and companies are ambidextrous: prudent about managing the downside while aggressively pursuing the upside. These leaders are thinking about the next decade, not the next month. These leaders, who are both prudent and bold, are honing three types of edge to create “alpha” in organizational performance: in insights, in commitment, and in execution.
- The insights edge. When volatility is high, an insights edge generates great value. It may not be possible to be right every time, but seeing accurately through the fog 10 percent more often than your rivals is a substantial competitive advantage. That requires investing the resources, time, and effort to go beyond conventional analysis of conventional data that generate conventional wisdom. An insights edge comes from granularity, depth, and diversity.
- The commitment edge. As important as knowing what to do is doing it promptly and with sufficient ambition. The half-life of decisions has collapsed, requiring more frequent evaluations of whether choices made a few months or even weeks ago still make sense. What differentiates bold leaders and leadership teams isn’t moving in the right direction—which most do eventually—but doing so decisively before others have mustered the collective confidence to commit. In the face of uncertainty, these leaders’ mindset is to act and adjust, not watch and wait.
- The execution edge. The ability to execute well is always valuable, of course, but just as volatility drives up prices of stock options, it likewise raises the value of strategic options—the ability to rapidly pivot in response to changing conditions. Once you have the commitment to act, capturing the value of those actions requires an execution edge, especially in situations where moving first confers an advantage. A central source of an execution edge is speed: getting things done fast and well.
3 key takeaways from the article
- Most of today’s CEOs, board members, and other business leaders shared a common sentiment: combination of shocks has created perhaps the most challenging environment management teams have ever faced—and one that likely won’t change anytime soon.
- Research on corporate resilience shows that defense-only postures tend to lead to median company performance, while offense-only stances deliver a mix of occasional wins plus some catastrophic failures. The best leaders and companies are ambidextrous: prudent about managing the downside while aggressively pursuing the upside.
- Ambidextrous leaders, who are both prudent and bold, are honing three types of edge to create “alpha” in organizational performance: in insights, in commitment, and in execution.
Listen to the Extractive Summary of the Article
(Copyright)
Topics: Strategy, Business Performance, Volatility, Uncertainty
Leading with Confidence in Uncertain Times
By Don A. Moore and Max H. Bazerman | Harvard Business Review | August 31, 2022
Ignoring the uncertainty and pretending you can make perfect predictions is either disingenuous or delusional. There are tools for thinking through uncertainty and using it to plan and make decisions. Five tools for thriving in an uncertain world are:
- Think in Expected Values. The essence of rationality is selecting the course of action with the highest expected value. The logic underlying expected values acknowledge that the future is uncertain and our decisions should reflect that. Some of the uncertainty in the world is simply irreducible. In a complex world, we should forecast with humility. Give up on the pretense that you can anticipate precisely what will happen. Usually, though, the answer isn’t to just shrug your shoulders and say “I have no idea what will happen.” Instead, think about the range of possibilities and the likelihoods of each. Explicitly considering how you might be wrong can help you be more humble.
- Use the Wisdom of the Crowd. Even experts tend to have too much confidence in their estimates, and most of us have too much confidence that we can find the right expert. The Wall Street Journal asks expert economists to predict key economic outcomes for the upcoming year. There is huge variation in their predictions. How should you use the distribution of expert forecasts? Many would use the advice of the top expert. A different approach relies on the wisdom of crowds. Averaging the estimates of all of the economists in the WSJ survey is a better strategy than selecting the estimate of the best predictor from the previous year. But averaging the top five predictors from the previous year outperforms a simple average all of the economists’ opinions.
- Calibrate Your Confidence. Many self-help and business books could leave you with the impression that your challenge in life is to maximize your confidence. Wrong. Striving for maximum confidence can lead to all sorts of bad decisions. Both, overconfidence and underconfidence, are biases you should try to banish from your expected value calculations.
- Hedge Your Bets.
- Communicate Uncertainty with Confidence. In their book, Decision Leadership, the uathors advise leaders to distinguish the confidence with which they report what they know from the certainty of their forecasts. You do not need to pretend you can perfectly predict an uncertain future to come across as decisive. Research by Celia Gaertig and Joe Simmons shows how leaders can thread this needle. Gaertig and Simmons found that the most credible forecasts reported uncertainty with confidence.
3 key takeaways from the article
- Ignoring the uncertainty and pretending you can make perfect predictions is either disingenuous or delusional.
- Five tools to plan and make decisions in an uncertain world are: Think in Expected Values, Use the Wisdom of the Crowd, Calibrate Your Confidence, Hedge Your Bets, and Communicate Uncertainty with Confidence.
- The lesson is to learn as much as you can about the uncertainties in our complex world. Reflect honestly on the unpredictability of the future. Make the best probability estimates you can, and use them to inform the most accurate expected value calculations. You will never know for certain that they are right, and you will always wish you had more information so as to reduce your uncertainty. But if you keep track and keep score, you can improve your calibration and get better with time.
Listen to the Extractive Summary of the Article
(Copyright)
Topics: Decision-making, Leadership, Uncertainty
Closing the Governance Gap in Joint Ventures
By James Bamford and Geoff Walker | MIT Sloan Management Review | August 22, 2022
Companies are entering into joint ventures at an unprecedented rate. Across a wide range of industries, firms are using JVs and other partnerships as a way to make their businesses more sustainable and to gain access to capabilities, capital, and scale. JVs also has increased the shareholders’ risk exposure, often in ways that are hard to manage. Nature of JVs also makes managing risk via good governance even trickier and more important.
The authors in-depth investigation of more than 100 joint ventures around the world shows that the median JV has in place barely 50% of the basic practices of good governance. Once the partners are aligned on the venture’s purpose and operating model, five things are key to getting the mechanics of JV governance right.
Board posture. Think about possible board models on a continuum of engagement — from a hands-off “corporate-style board” to a highly interventionist “board of managers,” with a few models in between. Then, an explicit conversation with management about the JV board’s posture will make it clear what to expect. Board posture might change over time.
Board composition. Boards are only as good as the people on them. In JVs, board composition introduces a number of unique features. For starters, it is often valuable to have each shareholder designate a lead director — a first among equals of its board representatives. Another best practice in JVs is to limit the number of nondirectors in board meetings.
Board time allocation and workings. JV boards tend to do a good job — and spend a substantial amount of time — managing the current financial and operating performance of the JV. This is hardly surprising, given that most JV directors are finance or operating executives within their parent companies. Conversely, JV boards tend to not spend enough time on other areas — notably, strategy and talent, where the typical JV board spends a median of just 15% and 10% of its time, respectively.
Board committees. Effective JV boards will limit the number of committees and legislate that each committee have at least one board director on it, ideally as chair, to help preserve the board-CEO relationship. And, to avoid confusion, effective JV boards sharply define each committee’s scope, composition, and powers in a charter that is endorsed by the full board and shared with all committee members.
Internal shareholder governance. The work of internal shareholder governance includes such critical activities as supporting the company’s JV board directors, managing internal approvals and audits, coordinating services and support to the JV, and ensuring that the venture is receiving the needed expertise and other help from the company to succeed.
3 key takeaways from the article
- Companies are entering into joint ventures at an unprecedented rate. Across a wide range of industries, firms are using JVs and other partnerships as a way to make their businesses more sustainable and to gain access to capabilities, capital, and scale.
- JVs has also increased shareholders’ risk exposure, often in ways that are hard to manage. Nature of JVs also makes managing risk via good governance even trickier and more important.
- Five things are key to getting the mechanics of JV governance right: each shareholder designate a lead director in the board of directors; board members ought to spend time on strategy and talent in addition to managing the current financial and operating performance of the JV; sharply define each committee’s scope, composition, and powers; and ensure an effective internal shareholder governance.
Listen to the Extractive Summary of the Article
(Copyright)
Topics: Joint Ventures, Corporate Governance, Board of Directors, Teams
Why You Procrastinate At Work And 7 Ways To Break The Cycle
By Bryan Robinson | Forbes Magazine | September 5, 2022
Procrastination (the action of delaying or postponing something) is a self-defeating pattern of behavior we all do at some point to survive under pressure. A recent study showed that people procrastinate because the desire for immediate positives is stronger than the desire to delay negatives. Call it a friend without benefits because it helps you avoid the inability to complete something but the avoidance can sabotage your career. 7 Strategies To Break The Cycle of procrastination are:
- Flip Your Perspective. Instead of thinking negatively of the dreaded work task, consider the long-term benefits. Instead of dreading the climb, contemplate how good you will feel at the top of Mount Kilimanjaro. When a project feels like an uphill struggle, focus on the positive aspects of finishing it before the weekend so you can enjoy the days off.
- Avoid Labeling Yourself. Learn to think of your procrastinator as a part of you, not as you, referring to it in the third person as he or she and talking to it, separates you from it. Stepping back and observing this part with an impartial eye lessens the self-judgment and keeps you from clobbering yourself.
- Translating self-imposed pressure into language that reflects choices such as “I can,” “I get to,” “I want to” or “I plan to” liberates you from the shackles of dread and procrastination, enabling you to proceed with the task.
- Curb Your Perfectionism. Perfection’s iron-fisted grip causes you to set unrealistic goals. You’re less likely to procrastinate when you see goals as doable and reachable. Permitting yourself to perform a task imperfectly tricks the emotional brain and reduces any resistance to completing the task.
- Set Priorities. Simply choosing one item from your to-do list that you can be accomplished quickly than completing it can give you a jump-start and lift the burden of procrastination. If you have several items on your list, you can distinguish between essentials and non-essentials and work through the tasks that need immediate completion one at a time.
- Take Micro-steps. Breaking down the work project in short time chunks of five minutes keeps you from feeling overwhelmed by the big picture. Studies show that taking doable micro-steps helps you realize the task isn’t as difficult as you thought, allowing you to break through postponement and move to completing your task.
- Reward Yourself. Your brain is hardwired to seek pleasure and avoid pain, and it loves a reward. After you complete a small portion of a task—not before you complete it—give yourself a payoff.
3 key takeaways from the article
- Procrastination (the action of delaying or postponing something) is a self-defeating pattern of behavior we all do at some point to survive under pressure.
- A recent study showed that people procrastinate because the desire for immediate positives is stronger than the desire to delay negatives. Call it a friend without benefits because it helps you avoid the inability to complete something but the avoidance can sabotage your career.
- 7 Strategies To Break The Cycle of procrastination are: Flip Your Perspective, Avoid Labeling Yourself, Translate self-imposed pressure into language that reflects choices, Curb Your Perfectionism, Set Priorities, Take Micro-steps, and Reward Yourself.
Listen to the Extractive Summary of the Article
(Copyright)
Topics: Personal Management, Time Management, Procrastination
Entrepreneurship Section
4 Things Good Leaders Do When Facing Obstacles That Bad Leaders Don’t
By Marcel Schwantes | Inc Magazine | September 5, 2022
Effective leaders put aside their expertise to get the best out of colleagues. They heighten the collective genius of those in their organizations. And in doing so their teams overcome obstacles that, at first glance, seemed insurmountable. Ineffective leaders, on the other hand, flex their expertise in the moment. They feel good about their decisions, while their colleagues feel isolated, unheard, and undervalued. And as a result, their organizations whither away in response to challenges.
Dr. Richard Winters, author of You’re the Leader. Now What?: Leadership Lessons from Mayo Clinic noted four specific things effective leaders do (and less effective leaders don’t do) as they face obstacles.
- Effective leaders map their decisions. Effective leaders use a decision-making process that best fits each decision’s domain. For example, when challenges are clear and predictable, they leverage best practice and common sense. When problems are complicated and expert advice is required, they seek the advice of specialists. And when situations are complex with emotions running high, they unite colleagues to create shared reality before deciding on how to proceed.
- Effective leaders are coaches, not mentors. Ineffective leaders mentor. They counsel colleagues based on their own experience. While their intent may be honorable, they dispense advice that ignores the differences of their colleague’s situation. “Effective leaders coach.” “They view colleagues as experts of their own experience and they challenge and support their colleague’s thinking.” Additionally, they ask open-ended questions. They help each colleague make sense of the world so they may plot effective action from their own unique perspective.
- Effective leaders shine a light on fears and worries. “Ineffective leaders ignore the fears and worries of colleagues. They ignore the resistance. They hope it will go away. But it won’t. Effective leaders shine a light on fears and worries. They acknowledge the resistance and face it head-on. Then, they work with colleagues to figure out how together they might mitigate fears and worries as they move forward.
- Effective leaders embody organizational values. Ineffective leaders speak of organizational values, but do the opposite. They promote teamwork but make decisions alone. They talk of respect but speak over colleagues. They champion stewardship but spend their way out of challenges. “Effective leaders embody organizational values. Their behaviors reflect their values. They walk the talk, even when things are difficult.
3 key takeaways from the article
- Effective leaders put aside their expertise to get the best out of colleagues. They heighten the collective genius of those in their organizations. And in doing so their teams overcome obstacles that, at first glance, seemed insurmountable. Ineffective leaders, on the other hand, flex their expertise in the moment. They feel good about their decisions, while their colleagues feel isolated, unheard, and undervalued. And as a result, their organizations whither away in response to challenges.
- Dr. Richard Winters, author of You’re the Leader. Now What?: Leadership Lessons from Mayo Clinic noted four specific things effective leaders do (and less effective leaders don’t do) as they face obstacles. These are: effective leaders map their decisions, they are coaches, not mentors, they shine a light on fears and worries, and they embody organizational values.
Listen to the Extractive Summary of the Article
(Copyright)
Topics: Leadership, Crises, Teams
6 Ways to Effectively Navigate Market Turbulence in the IT World
By Steve Taplin | Entrepreneur Magazine | September 5, 2022
As technology changes, the challenges could present the perfect opportunity for IT leaders to deliver more business value than ever. Successful IT leaders identify these changes and promptly adapt to these evolving challenges. 6 measures to remain in business even as the world recovers from an economic recession are:
- Find and retain talent with modern skills. And as a result of rapid growth of new technologies more businesses could face an IT skills gap where the supply of qualified IT professionals does not match the necessary IT skills. While most IT firms have a digital strategy, only a few have the skills to deliver these strategies. One way to do this is to pay a premium for quality skills or outsource IT consultants while you scout for new talents.
- Learn what works for your business. Use a data-driven approach to mitigate business risks and generate profits. Gather enough information before making any significant changes to your company. Assess the facts, metrics and data you have to guide strategic decisions that align with your business goals, objectives and initiatives.
- Allocate a reasonable budget to data management. Set aside a different budget for data initiatives such as data analytics and machine learning. The special budget allocation could translate to substantial cost savings through proper implementation. Amid a rapidly changing IT world, strong data practices will be essential for the new age of doing business.
- Set up a ransomware strategy. Malware software holds your business ransom by encrypting files on an infected network or computer and making them inaccessible. And so, you’re forced to pay ransom to restore the file access. Unfortunately, these attacks are on the rise. CIOs and CTOs must take a proactive approach to combat the risk of a ransomware attack.
- Practice innovation leadership. Urgent challenges that call for innovation include: working with limited resources, meeting business needs quickly, creating specific solutions in the form of products and services that are not currently in the market, and embrace decentralized software.
- Capitalize on consistency. When you are consistent in your business, you can quickly gain valuable insights into your market, learn from your mistakes and possibly identify a new market niche. Keep learning from market insights through the good, the bad and the ugly. Consistency will help you identify challenges and, in turn, opportunities that you can turn into a lucrative business idea.
2 key takeaways from the article
- As technology changes, the challenges could present the perfect opportunity for IT leaders to deliver more business value than ever. Successful IT leaders identify these changes and promptly adapt to these evolving challenges.
- 6 measures to remain in business even as the world recovers from an economic recession are: find and retain talent with modern skills, learn what works for your business, allocate a reasonable budget to data management, set up a ransomware strategy, practice innovation leadership, and capitalize on consistency.
Listen to the Extractive Summary of the Article
(Copyright)
Topics: IT, Growth, Uncertainty, Leadership
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.