One way that business success can be achieved is by learning from the insight and experience of business leaders, entrepreneurs, and economists, and applying it to the issues we face today. Developing the right skills and strategies to tackle the year ahead is imperative, so our picks for the business books you need to read focus on the challenges we are likely to face, and the ideas you need to overcome them.
Encompassing ideas across leadership, marketing, branding, economics and ethics, our pick for the best business books should equip you with everything you need for the year ahead.
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IMAGE: Joshua Gans is a professor of strategic management and the Jeffrey S. Skoll Chair of Technical Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the Rotman School, where is he also the Chief Economist... view more
Credit: Joshua Gans
February 8, 2021
New Book Says by Engaging in Rapid Frequent Screening We Can Control the Pandemic. The Pandemic Information Solution.
Toronto - Covid-19 is a global pandemic inflicting large health and economic costs. In his previous book, The Pandemic Information Gap: The Brutal Economics of COVID-19 (The MIT Press, 2020), economist Joshua Gans explains that those costs have been so large because governments and others have lacked the information needed to control the pandemic. Unless we know who is infectious, we can't break the chains of transmission, which results in the escalation of our problems. Pandemics, he writes, are information problems.
Last modified on Mon 15 Feb 2021 07.00 EST
The first thing I ever bought on Amazon was an edutainment DVD for babies. I donât recall making the purchase, but the data is unequivocal on this point: on 14 November 2004, I bought Baby Einstein: Baby Noah â Animal Expedition for the sum of £7.85. My nearest guess is that I got it as a Christmas present for my nephew, who would at that point have been one year old, and at the very peak of his interest in finger-puppet animals who cavort to xylophone arrangements of Beethoven. This was swiftly followed by three more DVD purchases I have no memory of making. Strangely, I bought nothing at all from Amazon the following year, and then, in 2006, I embarked on a PhD and started ramping up my acquisition of the sort of books that were not easily to be found in brick-and-mortar establishments. Dry treatises on psychoanalysis. Obscure narrative theory texts. The occasional poetry collection. Everything ever published by the American novelist Nicholson Baker.
The Israelites had crossed the Red Sea. The impossible had happened. The mightiest army in the ancient world – the Egyptians with their cutting-edge, horse-drawn chariots – had been defeated and drowned. The children of Israel were now free. But their relief was short-lived. Almost immediately they faced attack by the Amalekites, and they had to fight a battle, this time with no apparent miracles from God. They did so and won. This was a decisive turning point in history, not only for the Israelites but for Moses and his leadership of the people.
The contrast between before and after the Red Sea could not be more complete. Before, facing the approaching Egyptians, Moses said to the people: “Stand still and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today ... The Lord will fight for you; you need only be silent.” (Ex. 14:13) In other words: do nothing. God will do it for you. And He did.
Happiness hacks: Here are three ways to a happier you
Get some indoor plants, take back your time, and do resolutions the right way.
Scientific studies have shown that plants — like these succulents at Home Grown Plants in Farmersville — can improve indoor air quality, boost creativity and reduce our stress.(Clare Miers)
Resolve to rephrase
Swedish researchers say that New Year’s resolutions rooted in starting or adopting new habits are more likely to succeed than those that take away, avoid or quit something. In a December study published in scientific journal
PLOS ONE, Stockholm University and Linköping University researchers suggest that simply rephrasing your resolution can lead to lasting change. “For example, if your goal is to stop eating sweets in order to lose weight, you will most likely be more successful if you say, ‘I will eat fruit several times a day’ instead,” the researchers wrote. “You then replace sweets with something healthier, which probably means you will lose weight and also keep your resolution.” The study analyzed resolutions made by 1,066 people, following up each month over one year.
Road to IPO: Coinbase’s Power Struggles
“Some people lead by loyalty and inspiration. Balaji [Srinivasan] leads by fear and by money,” says Nathalie McGrath who, as Coinbase’s VP of People, watched as infighting engulfed the company.
Balaji’s style as he led the charge for a non-corporate vision of crypto was abrasive but effective. For someone who by all accounts did not work well with others, [Coinbase’s former CTO] was remarkably good at office politics. Anyone in his way got edged aside with alacrity. Balaji either fired them outright or, through back-office maneuvering, stripped them of influence until, totally demoralized, they quit on their own accord.