It's 2011. Volatility is the new normal.
What’s the Difference: Early Adopters vs. Laggards Your greatest danger is letting the urgent things crowd out the important
The Learning Decade Swimming outside the flags
Four hundred years ago , British philosopher Francis Bacon declared that “Knowledge is Power.” And, until recently, many corporate leaders would have wholeheartedly agreed with him.
But, today, as we struggle to cope with an uncertain economy, complex globalization, and unprecedented technological transformation, executives on just about every continent increasingly believe that “Knowledge is Survival.” Companies around the world responded to the Great Recession by cutting and controlling costs to reap new eficiencies. The next challenge is growing the global economy; and corporate and government leaders now realize that learning-driven innovation is the most promising way to generate much-needed top-line revenue and the jobs that result.
Indeed, learning has gained new prominence as a critical lever for performance. And it has seeded new strategies that are creating competitive advantage and diferentiation in boardrooms, conference rooms and work environments all over the world. To be sure, not every company is a learning company; but more and more organizations recognize that learning can help solve the most vexing economic and #nancial problems of the day. As a result, we predict that the years leading up to 2020 will be known as “The Learning Decade.”
• Critical lever for performance [The Wall St. Journal suggests that more kids are their own boss in this tough economic climate. At a time when it’s hard for high school students to find the typical jobs that see them through the summer, many are opening up shop, commercializing the proverbial lemonade stand and taking it to new levels... Who’s the Boss? proverbial lemonade stand ; You could be forgiven for thinking that the cold Spring of 2011, with its cutbacks, closures, price hikes and app-frenzy is not the best of all possible times to launch a new magazine, writes John L. Walters. Especially a beautifully printed quarterly targeted at affluent, stylish city-dwellers. Yet here comes Port, an independently financed start-up spearheaded by two art directors and an editor, brimming with confidence, big pictures and long articles. Port]
• · Success is coming down to how comfortable we are with endings, Henry Cloud in Necessary Endings; Crime stories are a ghoulishly satisfying reminder that although murder is possible, it hasn’t yet happened to you.. Murder most entertaining.
• · · In 1896, the Cambridge don Solomon Schechter climbed behind a wall in a Cairo synagogue and discovered the detritus of an entire civilization ; Over-stressed parents, Bryan Caplan has some advice: Stop trying so hard. Have more kids Pay less attention to them
• · · · Bold Innovation Bold: How to Be Brave in Business and Win ; The least Indian of Indian leaders”: V.S. Naipaul's astute assessment of Gandhi, whose social conscience was forged reading Tolstoy in South Africa..; The best ideas prevail. Well, maybe not. We’re hard-wired to reject evidence and views that contradict our beliefs – these days, more than ever
• · · · · For an economist like Peter Orszag, two career paths beckon: public intellectual or Wall Street mandarin; Stiglitzism or Rubinism ; Biblionecrophilia: The conversation about print’s demise has been consumed by nostalgia. As if Amazon will forgo e-profits after recalling the tactile thrill of curling up with a musty paperback..
• · · · · · Selfless behavior has long baffled evolutionary theorists. But E.O. Wilson now claims that he can explain altruism. The response has not been kind... ; The Bible brims with contradictions, says Timothy Beal, but no matter: The Good Book is best read as a catalog of questions, not answers
