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What Self-Awareness Really Is (and How to Cultivate It)

Archi Trujillo/Getty Images Self-awareness seems to have become the latest management buzzword — and for good reason. Research suggests that when we see ourselves clearly, we are more confident and more creative. We make sounder decisions, build stronger relationships, and communicate more effectively. We’re less likely to lie, cheat, and steal. We are better workers who […]

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Masterful salesmanship has pushed Salesforce to ever-greater heights via The Economist Business

Benioff’s guide to upsellingVISIBLE from nearly every corner of San Francisco and from up to 30 miles away, the new skyscraper that will be the headquarters of Salesforce, a software giant, stands 1,100 feet (326 metres) tall, making it the highest building in America west of Chicago. On January 8th, after four years of building, workers will start moving in.Those who know Salesforce’s founder, Marc Benioff, find his firm’s new digs fitting. As creator of a firm that caters to salespeople, he is himself a fiercely ambitious salesman. In its 2018 fiscal year, which ends on January 31st, Salesforce is expected to reach $10bn in annual revenue for the first time. It plans to more than double that figure over the next four years. Even…

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South Korea’s antitrust tsar has a good shot at taming the chaebol via The Economist Business

AS KIM SANG-JO was preparing last May to make the switch from snappy shareholder activist to a regulatory role as South Korea’s fair-trade commissioner, he had a simple message for the country’s big conglomerates: “Please do not break the law.” Not one to make bosses quake in their brogues, exactly. And yet the chaebol, as the country’s family-controlled empires are known, are responding to his call for reform. Addressing complaints about governance, a few have brought far-flung businesses into a simpler holding-company structure. Others have set up funds to provide support to suppliers, which have long accused the giants of treating them badly. Another group is paying out record dividends to once-disregarded shareholders.Mr Kim was preaching, if not yet to the converted, then to the…

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Canada frets about anonymously owned firms via The Economist Business

WHEN reports surfaced in 2016 of foreign students with no known income buying homes worth millions of dollars in Vancouver, locals said it was yet more evidence that foreigners were inflating prices in Canada’s dearest property market. It was also evidence of a home-grown problem. The students turned out to be figureheads for anonymous firms whose ultimate owners cannot be identified because the information is not legally required by the land registry. Canadian authorities are concerned about the abuses caused by such opacity. The property market may well be attracting foreign criminals and corrupt officials seeking to launder dirty money, notes David Eby, the attorney-general of British Columbia.Other countries have taken steps to make sure that anonymous ownership of firms does not help criminals. In…

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As China gets tough on pollution, will its economy suffer? via The Economist Business

LEO YAO thought he had nothing to fear from the environment ministry. Before, when its inspectors visited his cutlery factory, he says, they generated “loud thunder, little rain”. After warning him to clean up, they would, at worst, impose a negligible fine. Not so this time. In August dozens of inspectors swarmed over his workshop in Tianjin, just east of Beijing, and ordered production to be halted. His doors remain shut today. If he wants to go on making knives and forks, he has been told that he must move to more modern facilities in a less populated area.Mr Yao’s company, which at its peak employed 80 people, is just one minor casualty in China’s sweeping campaign to reduce pollution. For years the government has…

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After a bumper 2017, will 2018 be kind to the financial markets? via The Economist Business

AFTER a bumper year for financial markets in 2017, can 2018 be anything like as good? Much will depend on the global economy. The rally in stockmarkets stretches back almost two years, to the point when worries about an era of “secular stagnation” started to diminish.The first pieces of economic data to be published in January—the purchasing managers’ indices (PMI) for the manufacturing sector—were pretty upbeat. In the euro zone the index recorded its highest level since the survey began in 1997. China’s PMI was stronger than expected, and America’s index showed new orders at their highest level in nearly 14 years.The obvious question is whether the markets have anticipated the good news about growth, and pushed share prices to a level from which returns…

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A bond dispute threatens the future of Islamic finance via The Economist Business

STOCKMARKETS in the Gulf do not observe Christian holidays, but still had a generally quiet day on December 25th. Shares in Dana Gas, an exploration business listed in Abu Dhabi, however, did make some noise, leaping by 13.2% on Christmas Day, to complete a buoyant six months for the stock (see chart). The surge may owe something to the company’s recent arbitration victory against the regional government of Iraqi Kurdistan, over $2bn it and its consortium partners are owed in overdue payments. But it also hints at shareholders’ belief that Dana will not be forced soon to satisfy its own creditors. They have been up in arms since the firm refused to honour a $700m Islamic bond, or sukuk, that matured in October.Dana says it…

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Many happy returns: new data reveal long-term investment trends via The Economist Business

DATA-GATHERING is the least sexy part of economics, which is saying something. Yet it is also among the most important. The discipline is rife with elaborate theories built on assumptions that turned out to be false once someone took the time to pull together the relevant data. Accordingly, one of the most valuable papers produced in 2017 is an epic example of data-retrieval: a piece of research that spells out the rates of return on important asset classes, for 16 advanced economies, from 1870 to 2015. It is fascinating work, a rich seam for other economists to mine, and a source of insight into some of today’s great economic debates.Rates of return both influence and are influenced by the way firms and households expect the…

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Europe’s sprawling new financial law enters into force via The Economist Business

AFTER years of rule-drafting, industry lobbying and plenty of last-minute wrangling, Europe’s massive new financial regulation, MiFID 2, was rolled out on January 3rd. Firms had spent months dreading (in some cases) or eagerly awaiting (in others) the “day of the MiFID” when the law’s new reporting requirements would enter into force. One electronic-trading platform, Tradeweb, even gave its clients a “MiFID clock” to count down to it.Apprehension was understandable. The new EU law, the second iteration of the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (its full, unwieldy name), affects markets in everything from shares to bonds to derivatives. It seeks to open up opaque markets by forcing brokers and trading venues to report prices publicly, in close to real time for those assets deemed liquid.…

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How One Company Made Its Analytics Investment Pay Off

David Malan/Getty Images In the age of rapid advances in data science and artificial intelligence, many organizations still struggle to incorporate advanced analytics capabilities into their business models. True incorporation requires bold decisions about reorganizing the business to make analytics a key component of strategy. Here we present the case of Grupo Financiero Banorte (GFNorte), […]

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Are America’s airports the worst in the world? via The Economist Business

SOME airports are known for being the antithesis of elegance. The reputation of Luton Airport in Britain was famously trashed by a television advert for Campari, a posh drink, in the 1980s. In the clip, a well-dressed man offered a drink of the stuff to a fashion model on holiday and asked, “Were you truly wafted here from paradise?” She replied in her full cockney accent, “Nah, Lu’on Airport!” Its reputation as a place to fly from has never quite recovered since. In August it was named Britain’s worst airport by Which?, a consumer group.But at least Luton’s terminals are modern and safe—and that cannot be said of others around the world. In this week’s print issue, Gulliver’s colleagues…Continue reading

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Is the bubble only starting? via The Economist Business

READY for a melt-up? Investors are generally upbeat about the prospects for equity markets this year but one intrepid fund manager thinks it is likely that American share prices could rise 50% in the next six months to two years. Perhaps the biggest surprise is the identity of that pundit: Jeremy Grantham.Mr Grantham, one of the founders of the fund managment group GMO, is best known for a cautious approach to valuations; he was one of those who got out of the dotcom boom well before the top. His firm’s most recent prediction for seven-year returns are for an annual loss of 2% from US largecap equities; indeed among all the asset categories, only cash and emerging market equities and bonds and cash are expected…

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Meet @amarisland, a Real-Life Gem Sorceress To learn more about… via #Instagram Blog

Meet @amarisland, a Real-Life Gem Sorceress To learn more about her world, follow @amarisland on Instagram. Twenty-eight-year-old Amaris Rivera (@amarisland) is an artist, a Taurus and a gem sorceress. “I have always felt an incredible bond with the earth,” says Amaris, who lives in San Diego, California. At just 2 years old, she kicked off her collection, picking up rocks from her own backyard or traveling with her family to rock hunt or even explore abandoned mines in search of new additions. “Their beauty and energy are undeniable,” she says of her connection to crystals and minerals. “Even if you don’t believe in their energetic, healing qualities, it’s impossible not to be in awe of the fact that these beautiful treasures grow naturally within our…

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2018 will be the year that large, incumbent companies take on big tech via The Economist Business

ACCORDING to Ginni Rometty, IBM’s boss, the digital revolution has two phases. In the first, Silicon Valley firms make all the running as they create new markets and eviscerate weak firms in sleepy industries. This has been the story until now. Tech firms have captured 42% of the rise in the value of America’s stockmarket since 2014 as investors forecast they will win an ever-bigger share of corporate profits. A new, terrifying phrase has entered the lexicon of business jargon: being “Amazoned”.The second phase favours the incumbents, Ms Rometty believes, and is starting about now. They summon the will to adapt, innovate to create new, digital, products and increase efficiency. The schema is plainly self-serving. IBM is itself fighting for survival against cloud-based tech rivals…

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Planning Your 2018 Content

Your content marketing strategy’s success for 2018 depends on the types of content you create and how you reach your audience. As long as you pay attention to emerging trends, you should find success in reaching your goals over the course of the year. Start by giving attention to these four opportunities for growth. Publish […]

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When Bureaucracy Is Actually Helpful, According to Research

william bout/unsplash “Bureaucracy” has become a catchall term for the many ways in which organizations squander workers’ potential. From needless paperwork to delusional project timelines, administrative overhead can prevent workers from doing the meaningful tasks that contribute to the organization’s bottom line. Employees perceive bureaucracy to be an immovable beast, blocking their path toward efficient, satisfying work lives. […]

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Weekend Hashtag Project: #WHPresolutions2018 Weekend Hashtag… via #Instagram Blog

Weekend Hashtag Project: #WHPresolutions2018 Weekend Hashtag Project is a series featuring designated themes and hashtags. For a chance to be featured, follow @instagram and look for a post every week announcing the latest project. The goal of #WHPresolutions2018 was to take photos and videos that capture the feeling of fresh starts and new goals. Each week, we feature some of our favorite submissions from the project, but be sure to check out the rest here.

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Hiring the Best People

Patty McCord, Netflix’s former Chief Talent Officer, sees hiring as constant matchmaking. Building a team of people that gets amazing work done, she says, requires managers to really know what they need, and for HR to actually understand the workings of the business. She says money should not be the reason someone leaves and that […]

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24 Content Marketing Predictions for 2018

Digital Transformation Contently grew up a lot in 2017. Instead of just going through the motions, we thought about how content marketing was maturing, refined our mission, and conducted research to find out as much as possible about our clients and the industry at large. If we learned anything from last year, it’s that marketers […]

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Meet the Bengal Cat Who Will Inspire Wanderlust Make sure you… via #Instagram Blog

Meet the Bengal Cat Who Will Inspire Wanderlust Make sure you never miss one of Suki’s trips! Follow @sukiicat on Instagram. Hello, world! It’s time to meet today’s adventurous #WeeklyFluff. Suki (@sukiicat) is a beautiful Bengal cat who resides in Canada. This high-energy, fierce feline is amazingly adaptable, making herself at home and posing for the perfect shot wherever her humans take her.

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Make Civility the Norm on Your Team

Jakob Owens/Unsplash We all want to come to work and be treated with kindness and respect. Unfortunately, my research shows that there is rampant incivility in most organizations. I found that 98% of the workers I surveyed over the past 20 years have experienced rude behavior and 99% have witnessed it. And the situation seems […]