The billionaire Chinese financier Zhang Lei was among the first to see the potential in homegrown internet companies. He talks about a career that began when he rented out comics at the age of seven

LUNCH WITH THE FT

June 20, 2014 11:59 am

Zhang Lei has Lunch with the FT

By Henny SenderAuthor alerts

The billionaire Chinese financier was among the first to see the potential in homegrown internet companies. He talks about a career that began when he rented out comics at the age of seven

It is a glorious spring Sunday, the day before commencement at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Among the many alumni returning to the campus is billionaire Chinese financier Zhang Lei, 41, who is a familiar figure here. In 2010 he announced a gift of the propitious amount of $8,888,888 to Yale School of Management, the largest donation made to the business school from one of its graduates. Read more of this post

E-books v paper? Which do our brains prefer? Research is forcing us to rethink how we respond to the written word

June 20, 2014 6:40 pm

E-books v paper?

By Julian Baggini

Which do our brains prefer? Research is forcing us to rethink how we respond to the written word

Choosing books to take on holiday has got more difficult in recent years. Now it is a question not just of what to read but how – on paper, tablet, e-reader, or perhaps even a phone – and people have strong opinions on which is best. But is there any more to the decision than cost and convenience? On this question, the answer suggested by numerous studies into the neuroscience and psychology of reading in different formats is an emphatic yes. Read more of this post

This Is Your Brain on Writing: For the first time, researchers have used fMRI scanners to track the brain activity of writers as they created fiction. The results have drawn strong reactions from other scientists

This Is Your Brain on Writing

JUNE 20, 2014

Carl Zimmer

A novelist scrawling away in a notebook in seclusion may not seem to have much in common with an NBA player doing a reverse layup on a basketball court before a screaming crowd. But if you could peer inside their heads, you might see some striking similarities in how their brains were churning.

That’s one of the implications of new research on the neuroscience of creative writing. For the first time, neuroscientists have used fMRI scanners to track the brain activity of both experienced and novice writers as they sat down — or, in this case, lay down — to turn out a piece of fiction. Read more of this post

Our Moral Tongue: Moral Judgments Depend on What Language We’re Speaking

Our Moral Tongue: Moral Judgments Depend on What Language We’re Speaking

JUNE 20, 2014

By BOAZ KEYSAR and ALBERT COSTA

ON June 20, 2003, employees of the Union Pacific Railroad faced a difficult decision as a runaway train headed toward downtown Los Angeles: Should they divert the train to a side track, knowing it would derail and hit homes in the less populated city of Commerce, Calif.? Did the moral imperative to minimize overall harm outweigh the moral imperative not to intentionally harm an innocent suburb? Read more of this post

How ancient parasite wormed its way into human life

How ancient parasite wormed its way into human life

AP, AFP-JIJI

JUN 20, 2014

LONDON/PARIS – In a skeleton more than 6,200 years old, scientists have found the earliest known evidence of infection by a parasitic flatworm, revealing how human advancement enabled a creature resembling a tiny slug to spread. Today it afflicts more than 200 million people.

Archaeologists discovered the egg of the parasite near the pelvis of a child’s skeleton in northern Syria and say it dates back to a time when ancient societies first used irrigation systems to grow crops. Read more of this post

Instinct Can Beat Analytical Thinking

Instinct Can Beat Analytical Thinking

by Justin Fox  |   1:00 PM June 20, 2014

Researchers have confronted us in recent years with example after example of how we humans get things wrong when it comes to making decisions. We misunderstand probability, we’re myopic, wepay attention to the wrong things, and we just generally mess up. This popular triumph of the “heuristics and biases” literature pioneered by psychologists Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tverskyhas made us aware of flaws that economics long glossed over, and led to interesting innovations inretirement planning and government policy.

It is not, however, the only lens through which to view decision-making. Psychologist Gerd Gigerenzer has spent his career focusing on the ways in which we get things right, or could at least learn to. In Gigerenzer’s view, using heuristics, rules of thumb, and other shortcuts often leads to better decisions than the models of “rational” decision-making developed by mathematicians and statisticians. At times this belief has led the managing director of the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin into pretty fierce debates with his intellectual opponents. It has also led to a growing body of fascinating research, and a growing library of books for lay readers, the latest of which, Risk Savvy: How to Make Good Decisions, is just out. Read more of this post

World War I: The War That Changed Everything; World War I began 100 years ago this month, and in many ways, it remains the defining conflict of the modern era

World War I: The War That Changed Everything

World War I began 100 years ago this month, and in many ways, writes historian Margaret MacMillan, it remains the defining conflict of the modern era.

MARGARET MACMILLAN

Updated June 20, 2014 6:43 p.m. ET

A hundred years ago next week, in the small Balkan city of Sarajevo, Serbian nationalists murdered the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary and his wife. People were shocked but not particularly worried. Sadly, there had been many political assassinations in previous years—the king of Italy, two Spanish prime ministers, the Russian czar, President William McKinley. None had led to a major crisis. Yet just as a pebble can start a landslide, this killing set off a series of events that, in five weeks, led Europe into a general war. Read more of this post

‘When People Choose, They Choose Wrong’; The author of ‘The Giver,’ a wildly popular dystopian novel, imagines a community with no war, racism or gender roles. The result: a living hell

‘When People Choose, They Choose Wrong’

The author of ‘The Giver,’ a wildly popular dystopian novel, imagines a community with no war, racism or gender roles. The result: a living hell.

SOHRAB AHMARI

June 20, 2014 6:54 p.m. ET

Bridgton, Maine

Warning: This article discusses violence, “issues of gender” and other topics unsuitable for sensitive souls.

If some activists had their way, every article, book or website that touches on anything remotely controversial would come with a disclaimer like the one above. Such “trigger warnings” aim to shield young people from those timeless features of the human experience that were once seen as the building blocks of all great art and literature, among them war, shame and differences between the sexes. Read more of this post

Can “Entrepreneur Barbie” Change Girls’ Career Ambitions?

CAN “ENTREPRENEUR BARBIE” CHANGE GIRLS’ CAREER AMBITIONS?

THE LATEST INCARNATION OF BARBIE WAS ANNOUNCED THIS WEEK–AND THIS TIME, SHE’S GOT THE BACKING OF EIGHT WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS.

BY KATHLEEN DAVIS

Barbie is far from a feminist icon, but with the introduction of “Entrepreneur Barbie” earlier this week several prominent real-life women entrepreneurs hope she’s taking a very tiny high-heeled step in the right direction.

The doll, which was launched by Ruth Hander in 1959, has had a staggering 150 jobs over the decades, and several of her careers have played heavily into stereotypes: model, ballerina, flight attendant, candy striper. Read more of this post

Why Making Enemies Can Help A Brand Succeed

Why Making Enemies Can Help A Brand Succeed

MAGGIE ZHANG STRATEGY  JUN. 20, 2014, 2:07 AM

This is part of the “Moving Forward” series offering advice to small business owners on technology, mentorship, productivity, and growth. “Moving Forward” is sponsored by Ink from Chase^®. More posts in the series »

In 1984, Apple launched a legendary Superbowl commercial that depicted Apple fans as the visionary, cool kids on the block, while the PC guys were shown as the out-of-touch nerds. The advertisement was a sensation, and the competition had everyone talking about the upcoming release of the Macintosh. Read more of this post

58 Cognitive Biases That Screw Up Everything We Do

58 Cognitive Biases That Screw Up Everything We Do

DRAKE BAER STRATEGY  JUN. 19, 2014, 1:43 PM

We like to think we’re rational human beings.

In fact, we are prone to hundreds of proven biases that cause us to think and act irrationally, and even thinking we’re rational despite evidence of irrationality in others is known as blind spot bias.

The study of how often human beings do irrational things was enough for psychologists Daniel Kahneman to win the Nobel Prize in Economics, and it opened the rapidly expanding field of behavioral economics. Similar insights are also reshaping everything from marketingto criminology. Read more of this post

5 Simple Ways To Solve Complex Problems

5 Simple Ways To Solve Complex Problems

FARNAM STREET STRATEGY  JUN. 20, 2014, 3:01 AM

Here are five simple notions, found in “Damn Right!: Behind the Scenes with Berkshire Hathaway Billionaire Charlie Munger,” that Charlie Munger, the Billionaire business partner of Warren Buffett, finds helpful in solving problems.

1. Simplify

“My first helpful notion is that it is usually best to simplify problems by deciding big “no-brainer” questions first.”

2. Numerical Fluency Read more of this post

22 Quotes That Take You Inside Elon Musk’s Brilliant, Eccentric Mind

22 Quotes That Take You Inside Elon Musk’s Brilliant, Eccentric Mind

DRAKE BAER STRATEGY  JUN. 20, 2014, 12:49 PM

When Robert Downey Jr. found out that he was going to play Iron Man in the movies, he said, “We need to sit down with Elon Musk.”

That’s because Musk — colonizer of Mars, transformer of cars, shepherd of solar panels — is the closest thing we’ve got to a superhero.

Born in South Africa, he sold his first software — a game called Blastar — when he was only 11. He went on to found and sell a startup to Compaq for $300 million in 1999, and parlayed that into a major stake in PayPal, which eBay bought for $1.5 billion in 2002. Read more of this post

New Spore: Singapore grassroots leader mocks old lady at CPF dialogue

Grassroots leader mocks old lady at CPF dialogue

June 15th, 2014 |  Author: Editorial

It was reported that a 76-year-old former teacher was in tears when she spoke at a CPF dialogue session organised by MP Hri Kumar at Thompson Community Centre yesterday (14 Jun) [Link].

Read more of this post

Don’t just learn to code-learn to keep learning

Don’t just learn to code—learn to keep learning

By Zach Sims June 19, 2014

Two and a half years ago, when I started Codecademy, investors and friends alike told me and my colleagues that programming wasn’t something people were interested in learning. With an estimated 100,000 programmers employed in the US, it wasn’t likely that there would be a global movement for people to learn what we, instead, thought was the most fundamental skill of the 21st century. Read more of this post

Winning An Argument: “If you want to win an argument, ask the person trying to convince you of something to explain how it would work.”

Winning An Argument

June 10, 2014 by Shane Parrish

We spend a lot of our lives trying to persuade others.

This is one of the reasons that Daniel Pink says that we’re all in sales.

Some of you, no doubt, are selling in the literal sense— convincing existing customers and fresh prospects to buy casualty insurance or consulting services or homemade pies at a farmers’ market. But all of you are likely spending more time than you realize selling in a broader sense—pitching colleagues, persuading funders, cajoling kids. Like it or not, we’re all in sales now. Read more of this post

How 3 Friends Pooled Together $60,000 And Built Elite Daily, A Website With 40 Million Readers

How 3 Friends Pooled Together $60,000 And Built Elite Daily, A Website With 40 Million Readers

ALYSON SHONTELL TECH  JUN. 15, 2014, 7:48 AM

The Elite Daily founders are all under 30.

Elite Daily, a news website with 55 employees and 40 million monthly uniques, just raised a $1.5 million convertible note (a type of debt) from Greycroft, Vast Ventures, Red Sea Ventures, and angel investors. Read more of this post

What GM can learn from the rise and fall of Saturn; Lessons from GM’s “moonshot” could help the automaker’s leadership in the current crisis

What GM can learn from the rise and fall of Saturn

Doron Levin

@FortuneMagazine

JUNE 13, 2014, 11:13 AM EDT

Lessons from GM’s “moonshot” could help the automaker’s leadership in the current crisis.

Saturn Vues, Outlooks, Auras and Skys still motor on the American road, as do plastic-body Saturn SC sedans. The discontinued models of a discontinued Saturn brand are rolling, bittersweet reminders of an earlier – and ultimately, unsuccessful – attempt by General Motors to reinvent itself. Read more of this post

Arthur Laffer: still ahead of the curve, the man with a simple tax plan; Arthur Laffer advised Reagan and Thatcher to cut taxes to raise revenues. He explains why that remains true

Arthur Laffer: still ahead of the curve, the man with a simple tax plan

Arthur Laffer advised Reagan and Thatcher to cut taxes to raise revenues. He explains why that remains true

According to Laffer, a flat tax would discourage “gaming” of the system, level out the playing field and ultimately generate more revenues

By Szu Ping Chan

4:00PM BST 14 Jun 2014

There are many things Arthur Laffer could be accused of. Sitting on the fence isn’t one of them.

At 73, the man dubbed the “father of supply-side economics” is as strong in his conviction today that high taxes stifle growth as when he advised former US president Ronald Reagan in the 1970s and Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s. Read more of this post

Start-Ups Need a Minimum Viable Brand

Start-Ups Need a Minimum Viable Brand

by Denise Lee Yohn  |   1:00 PM June 13, 2014

Sometimes it seems like Steve Jobs’ notorious reality distortion field has extended to all of Silicon Valley. Some eager entrepreneurs think their new product is so brilliant and so unlike anything else out there, that they just need to make it available and people will start clamoring over it. Other start-ups develop a core technology that has myriad possible uses and they’re not quite sure which will be most appealing, so they plan to just put it out on the market and let customers decide. Read more of this post

No Innovation Is Immediately Profitable

No Innovation Is Immediately Profitable

by Scott Anthony  |   11:00 AM June 13, 2014

The meeting was going swimmingly.  The team had spent the past two months formulating what it thought was a high-potential disruptive idea. Now it was asking the business unit’s top brass to invest a relatively modest sum to begin to commercialize the concept.

Team members had researched the market thoroughly. They had made a compelling case:  The idea addressed an important need that customers cared about. It used a unique asset that gave the company a leg up over competitors. It employed a business model that would make it very difficult for the current market leader to respond. The classic fingerprint of disruptive success. Read more of this post

History Backs Up Tesla’s Patent Sharing

History Backs Up Tesla’s Patent Sharing

by James Bessen  |   9:31 AM June 13, 2014

Yesterday, Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, the electric car company, announced that Tesla would make its patents freely available to competitors. To many people this announcement seemed surprising if not shocking. After all, the conventional wisdom holds that patents are essential to keep competitors from imitating innovations, especially for small startup companies. If rivals imitate, they will drive down prices, wiping out the potential profits on innovation, thus making it difficult or impossible to earn a return on R&D investments. Read more of this post

The Secret to Alibaba’s Culture Is Jack Ma’s Apartment

The Secret to Alibaba’s Culture Is Jack Ma’s Apartment

by Walter Frick  |   9:00 AM June 19, 2014

In 2002, the year Alibaba.com first became profitable, founder Jack Ma gathered a handful of employees in his office and told them there was a secret project that they had the opportunity to join. But to do so, they would need to resign from Alibaba, work from a secret location, and refrain from telling friends or family or Alibaba staff about this new start-up they would be building.

This decision — to bet the company on a new and distinct business — was the first such move by Ma, but it would become the cornerstone of Alibaba’s strategy. Today, Alibaba looks more like a conglomerate than a typical tech company, with a diverse set of businesses operating largely independently. That transformation began with Ma’s decision to launch Taobao, the consumer commerce site that would dash eBay’s hopes in China and propel the Alibaba Group to even greater success. Read more of this post

The importance to SMEs of being focused; Spring S’pore urges SMEs to specialise, and boost tie-ups with German SMEs

The importance to SMEs of being focused

Spring S’pore urges SMEs to specialise, and boost tie-ups with German SMEs

The Business Times – June 20, 2014
By: MINDY TAN

Mr Tan: ‘Find your own unique selling proposition and focus on that.’ – PHOTO: ARTHUR LEE

AT a factory that specialises in the manufacture of glass lenses in Germany, Spring Singapore deputy chief executive Ted Tan’s simple question – why don’t you outsource this to Singapore? – was met with a surprising answer. Read more of this post

Chinese tycoon invites 1000 impoverished Americans to have lunch with him in New York in an attempt to show fellow tycoons that there is more to life than “luxury goods, gambling and prostitution”

Chinese tycoon invites 1000 impoverished Americans to have lunch with him in New York

June 19, 2014

Tom Phillips

Chinese billionaire philanthropist Chen Guangbiao, whose previous media stunts include bottling clean air and selling it to highlight China’s pollution problems. Photo: Yuan Jianmin

A Chinese billionaire has announced plans to invite 1000 impoverished Americans for a meal in New York’s Central Park in an attempt to show fellow tycoons that there is more to life than “luxury goods, gambling and prostitution”.

Chen Guangbiao, a recycling magnate from the eastern province of Jiangsu, issued the invitation to his “charity luncheon for 1000 poor and destitute Americans” through two prominent advertisements placed in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal this week. Guests will be given $US300 ($319) to spend on “occupational training” as well as lunch at the Loeb Boathouse restaurant in Manhattan’s Central Park.

All they do is splurge on luxury goods, gambling and prostitution and very few of them sincerely live up to their social responsibility.  

The restaurant, which featured in the 1989 film When Harry Met Sally, describes itself as “the ultimate urban oasis” and “a haven for romantics and nature lovers”.

Mr Chen said he hoped that the lunch, which he expected to cost about $US1 million, would boost relations between China and the US and change perceptions of wealthy Chinese.

“I want to spread the message in the US that there are good philanthropists in China and not all are crazy spenders on luxury goods,” he told Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post on Wednesday.

The tycoon, whose past stunts include selling canned air to raise awareness of pollution and smashing a Mercedes Benz to draw attention to global warming, also hoped to serve as a role model for Chinese billionaires.

He said: “There are many wealthy Chinese billionaires but most of them gained their wealth from market speculation and colluding with government officials while destroying the environment.

“I can’t bear the sight of it, because all they do is splurge on luxury goods, gambling and prostitution and very few of them sincerely live up to their social responsibility.”

It was not immediately clear whether Mr Chen’s guests would be offered a set menu at the Central Park feast or be allowed to choose from the restaurant’s a la carte lunch menu, which features dishes such as Lemon-Oregano Crusted Salmon and Yellowfin Tuna Sashimi with Tobiko Caviar and Jalapeno Wasabi Vinaigrette.

In a 2010 interview with The Telegraph, Mr Chen said he hoped to build a “charity army” of wealthy Chinese business people who would pump large chunks of their profits back into society.

Leading in the 21st century: An interview with Shell’s Ann Pickard on Distributed Leadership

Leading in the 21st century: An interview with Shell’s Ann Pickard

After building a career in Africa, Australia, and now the Arctic, the Royal Dutch Shell executive vice president has developed core leadership principles to safeguard employees and the environment.

June 2014

Distributed leadership

Sprints and marathons

Knowing when to listen

Ann Pickard, the executive vice president, Arctic, at Royal Dutch Shell, built her career in the far-flung corners of the global oil-and-gas industry. In this interview with McKinsey’s Rik Kirkland, she discusses her leadership principles, the impact of listening, and the satisfaction of empowering all employees. An edited transcript of Pickard’s remarks follows. Read more of this post

The Science Behind Hangovers Is Terrible

The Science Behind Hangovers Is Terrible

DINA SPECTOR SCIENCE  JUN. 14, 2014, 1:36 AM

Everyone has their own hacks for relieving the symptoms of a hangover, but there’s still no single hangover cure that’s proven to work.

Sure, people have asked tons of questions about what causes morning hangovers and how we can alleviate that pounding head, I-want-to-puke feeling, but apparently we just don’t have very good answers. Read more of this post

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzWK-x5WlXk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzWK-x5WlXk

This Is The Biggest Ad In India Right Now And It’s Absolutely Terrifying

KATIE RICHARDS ADVERTISING  JUN. 14, 2014, 8:50 AM

In a world where younger generations are becoming more tech-savvy and social media crazy, kids are using cell phones and Facebook almost from the time they are born. At least that’s what MTS Telecom’s latest ad for its 3GPlus Network is saying. Read more of this post

A guide to (mis)communication: In the UK, it is important to finish meetings by summing up key points; but in France they can end with an ambiguous ‘Et voilà!’

June 13, 2014 1:09 pm

A guide to (mis)communication

By Gillian Tett

In the UK, it is important to finish meetings by summing up key points; but in France they can end with an ambiguous ‘Et voilà!’

In recent months, a wry little document called the “Anglo-Dutch translation guide” has been tossed between the email boxes of bankers, diplomats, business people and journalists. This lists phrases that are commonly – and completely – misunderstood when English and Dutch people talk to each other. Read more of this post

Over pumpkin soup, the Nobel Prize-winning economist Edmund Phelps talks to the FT’s Martin Wolf about creativity and innovation

June 13, 2014 1:16 pm

Edmund Phelps

By Martin Wolf

Over pumpkin soup, the Nobel Prize-winning economist talks to the FT’s Martin Wolf about creativity and innovation

Ihave arranged to meet Edmund (Ned) Phelps, director of the Center on Capitalism and Society at Columbia University, at the Kongress Hotel in Davos during the World Economic Forum. It is old-fashioned and very Swiss. Read more of this post