Chaos is everywhere—here’s how to accept it

Chaos is everywhere—here’s how to accept it

By Vickie Elmer 5 hours ago

Count on chaos to wear you down until you make it your ally—or at least a comfortable companion in your work and life. That’s the message from Bob Miglani, author of the new book Embrace the Chaos, which is subtitled “How India Taught Me to Stop Overthinking and Start Living.” Miglani, who has worked at Pfizer for 20 years, has plenty of experience with chaos, much of it from trips back to India for business or to see family. Often, he was left feeling stressed by the country’s chaos, noise, poverty, and crowded streets as well as his own expectations. Yet major changes and frequent uncertainty show up in almost every corner of the world, including most offices. Read more of this post

Why Is Resilience So Hard?

Why Is Resilience So Hard?

by Steven Snyder  |   12:00 PM November 6, 2013

Resilience has long been touted as an essential capability for bouncing back from leadership setbacks. Earlier this year, Rosabeth Moss Kanter advanced the conversation with an excellent article on the topic. Yet despite the overwhelming consensus and supporting evidence that resilience is vital for success in today’s business environment, the truth remains: resilience is hard. It requires the courage to confront painful realities, the faith that there will be a solution when one isn’t immediately evident, and the tenacity to carry on despite a nagging gut feeling that the situation is hopeless. In an attempt to better understand the struggle-recover process in writing my book, Leadership and the Art of Struggle, I spoke with extraordinary leaders across sectors and industries, all of whom had faced an array of challenges, setbacks, and adversity. As I listened to their stories, I began to realize why so many executives struggle with resilience. Each of the leaders I interviewed has been thrown off balance, in one way or another, by his or her ordeal. This state of imbalance manifested in a variety of ways. Some experienced anger and even rage, projecting the blame outward. Others became depressed and filled with self-doubt. Still others suffered physical symptoms, like a disruption in sleep patterns. One female executive told me: “My hair started falling out. I didn’t realize it was stress. All I knew was I could see my scalp in the mirror when I brushed my teeth.” If left unchecked, this condition of imbalance can undermine a leader’s functioning at a crucial time, making a bad situation even worse, and all but eliminating the ability to act with resilience. Anger can turn into vengeful behavior further compounding the problem by destroying relationships critical for success. Self-doubt can inhibit the proactive behaviors necessary for renewal, recovery, and advance. This risk is compounded if the leader is not aware that he or she is out of balance, as is often the case. Read more of this post

How Ethical Bean Coffee is using technology to be even more ethical

How Ethical Bean is using technology to be even more ethical

Armina Ligaya | 04/11/13 | Last Updated: 01/11/13 8:52 AM ET

Lloyd Bernhardt, co-founder and chief executive of Vancouver-based Ethical Bean Coffee, says his company, now in its 10th year, is branching out. After establishing a loyal customer base on Canada’s West Coast, the organic, fair trade coffee roaster is setting its sights eastward, as well as south of the border, Mr. Bernhardt says. But it is also looking to technology — his first professional passion, before coffee — to connect its customers with the far-flung, hard-working farmers who grow the beans in places such as Nicaragua and Ethiopia. Mr. Bernhardt spoke with Armina Ligayaabout how Ethical Bean coffee is exploring new markets, with the help of scannable QR codes and mobile phone apps. The following is an edited version of their interview. Read more of this post

Australia’s surfing capital may soon teem with tiny, lethal jellyfish, thanks to warming seas

Australia’s surfing capital may soon teem with tiny, lethal jellyfish, thanks to warming seas

By Gwynn Guilford @sinoceros 6 hours ago

Of all the creatures in the world, the Irukandji is among the most fearsome. It’s about as easy to spot as a floating sliver of cellophane. But a mere human brush with these tiny creatures causes hearts to fail and blows out blood vessels in the brain. Even those that survive are racked with suffering so extreme that it’s been given its own name (“Irukandji syndrome”). Fortunately for most, these little guys don’t travel outside a shred of the ocean in northern Australia. Read more of this post

Hezi Leibovich: Life is short, so focus and pull the right levers

Hezi Leibovich Contributor

Hezi Leibovich: Life is short, so focus and pull the right levers

Published 05 November 2013 09:50, Updated 07 November 2013 07:53

We’re on Earth for a very short time and there’s so much to achieve both personally and professionally. Since time is limited and the resources we have to accomplish these achievements are also limited, You need to ask yourself who and what deserves your precious time and resources. It’s important to focus on the people and things that matter and learn to remove the distractions in your life, the time-wasters and things that create noise and stress and add little value to your goals.

Bullseye versus scattergun

A scattergun approach, trying to be all things to all people, only makes you look like a bad shot. For all that effort, you may only get one or two hits and that cost of those hits is high compared to a bullseye approach where you set your sights on a target. Read more of this post

The Four “Cs” of Innovation: cost, convenience, caliber, and creative destruction

NOV 6, 2013

The Four “Cs” of Innovation

Sami Mahroum is Academic Director of Innovation and Policy at INSEAD.

PARIS – Innovation is now widely acknowledged to be a prerequisite for sustainable economic growth. Whether the changes are profoundly disruptive, or merely provide incremental improvements in products, services, or business models, the results boost an economy’s long-run productivity. And innovation is necessary not only for developed economies, but also for emerging markets, which are receiving diminishing returns from simply transposing advanced economies’ best practices. But, while every country needs to innovate, the tried and tested approaches do not work for all markets. Read more of this post

Everything You Think You Know About Thomas Edison Might Be Wrong

Everything You Think You Know About Thomas Edison Might Be Wrong

ALISON GRISWOLD NOV. 6, 2013, 12:53 PM 13,674 8

Thomas Edison did not try 10,000 times before inventing the light bulb, nor did he labor in a dusty workshop by himself. That’s according to David Burkus, author of “The Myths of Creativity,” who says America’s favorite innovation story may have been the result of a tremendous publicity push. In his book, Burkus debunks the popular tale of Edison and what he calls the “lone creator myth.” His claim? That we love the story of the solo-genius, the starving artist, the one brilliant man against the world — even if it’s not always true. Read more of this post

Outsource Your Way to Success: Want to get ahead in life? Pay others to do the boring stuff

November 5, 2013

Outsource Your Way to Success

By CATHERINE RAMPELL

Jon Steinsson and Emi Nakamura do not have enough time to do everything they need to do. They’re recently tenured, highly productive rising stars at Columbia University, as well as parents to an infant. But they have a secret weapon helping them prioritize: Econ 101. One of the oldest, if not entirely intuitive, principles in economics is comparative advantage, developed by the British economist David Ricardo in the early 19th century. As introductory econ students all learn, it explains why countries and companies ought to outsource the production of lower-value goods and services, even if they can produce them more efficiently themselves. Read more of this post

Gerald Ratner – the rise and fall of a rough diamond

November 1, 2013 7:19 pm

Gerald Ratner – the rise and fall of a rough diamond

By Natalie Graham

Gerald Ratner, 63, created a jewellery empire in the 1980s, with 1,500 stores in the UK and 1,000 in the US. Beside Ratners, The Ratners Group consisted of H Samuel, Ernest Jones, and Watches of Switzerland. The entrepreneur is best known for making aspeech at the Institute of Directors in 1991 in which he described one of his products as “total crap”. The remark cost him his business and his job. Before his exit at 43 the company was making profits of £125m a year. Today, he runs the web-based jewellery retail business geraldonline.com and is an after-dinner speaker. Read more of this post

15 Inspirational Books For Entrepreneurs

15 Inspirational Books For Entrepreneurs

NOV. 6, 2013, 5:38 PM 2,049

Every once in a while, you read a book that changes you — inspiring your career, clarifying your goals, challenging your thinking. The right book can give you the courage to start your business, the reality check that you’re not yet ready or the quiet affirmation that you’re not alone in your fears or ambitions. It can set you on your path to success. We asked our expert contributors to name the one book that most influenced and inspired their careers. Their responses ran the gamut from fiction to history to business to self-help books. Here’s a sampling of 15 of our experts on the books that most inspired them and why. Read more of this post

Here’s Why Only Children Are More Successful

Here’s Why Only Children Are More Successful

JENNA GOUDREAU NOV. 6, 2013, 11:32 AM 3,301 2

First-born children perform better in school, have higher IQs, and are more likely seen as high-achieving by their parents, according to a recent study. As the theories go, earlier-born children may be more successful because they get better genes, more parental attention, and more careful parenting. As someone who has no siblings myself, I couldn’t help but wonder: Are “only” children, who are by definition first-born and receive all parental attention, the highest achievers?  Read more of this post

The Rise and Rise of Yo-Yo Ma

The Rise and Rise of Yo-Yo Ma

11-06 15:53 Caijing

The world’s greatest cellist connects musical traditions from around the world

He has won 16 Grammy Awards,performed for puppets and presidents,and has worked with Bobby McFerrin and the Kalahari Bushmen. He has recorded bluegrass and Baroque, twinned Bach and Kabuki dancing, and saluted Brazil. If it can be done, Yo Yo Ma has done it – and with nothing left to prove, all he can do is break new ground.This month, the living legend comes to Beijing to premiere composer Zhao Lin’s Double Concerto for Cello and Sheng. Another first. Read more of this post

Brett Blundy goes overweight on underwear and buys other half of Bras N Things; His other investments include stakes in homewares chain Adairs, jewellery retailer Diva and tourism venture BridegClimb

Andrew Heathcote Rich Lists editor

Brett Blundy goes overweight on underwear and buys other half of Bras N Things

Published 06 November 2013 10:24, Updated 07 November 2013 07:53

Brett Blundy is back in full control of the Bras N Things chain. Singapore resident and Rich 200 list member Brett Blundy has bought back the other half of women’s underwear chain Bras N Things after selling it to private equity investors in 2008. The purchase price is undisclosed, but last year’s annual report shows the business had revenue of $153 million in 2012 and net assets of $127 million. An IPO of Bras N Things was planned in 2011 but never eventuated. It had been expected to raise about $400 million. Read more of this post