Morning Advantage: Confessions of an Oil Man
HBR.org 2012-08-06
In this lengthy book review in n+1, oil investor Gary Sernovitz is unapologetic for his line of work. "I understand why people dislike oil companies," he writes, "Though I do not understand why they dislike them more than other companies, or why the dislike is never muted by guilt-by-associated-consumption." Yet Sernovitz, reviewing Steve Coll's Private Empire: ExxonMobil and American Power, isn't afraid to dive into introspection. "I wonder how I will feel about what I am now doing in twenty years. I daydream of finding a job in which I can cast off the heavy weight of that unloved and distrusted word: oil. But even if I stop being part of the production of oil and gas, I will still almost certainly be consuming it... And how do we measure these distances of complicity? In cubits, with our forearm? In inches, with a ruler? Or in microns with something modern and electronic — and probably powered by coal or gas or oil." Thought-provoking reading for anyone who has ever ridden in a car, used a plastic bag, or felt conflicted about their own career path.
OBJECTS MAY BE CLOSER THAN THEY APPEAR
Business Blind Spots (Management Issues)
Everyone has blind spots — but in business, they can really leave a mark. In this piece, James Kerr tells the story of Swiss watchmakers, who invented Quartz technology but didn't think anyone would want it. When the Japanese jumped on the innovation, the Swiss lost 50,000 jobs, and watched as their share of the timepiece market plunged from 65% to 10%. Blind spots, of course, don't usually have such a calamitous effect. But Kerr suggests that it's still important for us to keep our perspectives fresh. His tips range from taking dance lessons to altering your commute.
Social Media's Untapped Productivity Payoff (McKinsey Global Institute)
It’s 9:00am. Already, you’ve received so many emails that you feel ghost vibrations from your phone even when it isn’t ringing. Your inbox is clogged with LinkedIn updates and a hundred new tweets await you. You must be using social media to its full potential, right? Wrong. A new report from McKinsey Global Institute suggests that we haven’t even begun to unlock the productivity value of social technologies. *Gulp.* By Carla Yengo-Kahn
Ker-ching!
How to Boost Your Medal Count in Seven Easy Steps (Grantland) For Extra Savings, Look in Your Trash (Christian Science Monitor) Stocks Perform Better if Women Sit on the Board (Bloomberg)