Peter Fisk: The human and economic impacts of COVID-19

We are sharing with you this new post writed by our speaker Peter Fisk "The human and economic impacts of COVID-19 … What should business leaders do now, to support people and society, whilst also sustaining their businesses?   It’s a difficult time. All around us, the news updates on television screens and social media are relentless as COVID-19 multiplies across our cities, nations and continents. The human tragedy, concern for our loved ones, frustration at politicians, admiration for health workers, disbelief at those still socialising, adaptation to new routines under quarantine or lockdown, affects us all. As a society there is a huge concern for each other, whilst as business leaders we know we have to keep our businesses going too.   In years to come we will look back, sociologists and economists, at the way in which we behaved, and the positive and negative impacts it had. Questions will rage about the causes and effects. From the impact of climate change and urbanisation that likely sparked the leap of the virus from animal to human, the global connectedness of travellers that accelerated the contagion’s spread, to the panic buying of some, and the total lack of social responsibility…
0

The unthinkable pact survivors of crashed flight 571 had to make

We share with you an extract of this article published in 'News.com.au'. "Surviving a deadly plane crash would be considered by many to be a miracle.   But for the survivors of flight 571, the catastrophic crash was merely the beginning of another horror story — one that just 16 of them would make it out of alive, but only after they made an unthinkable pact. Members of a college rugby team and their relatives on Uruguayan Air Force flight 571 were travelling from Uruguay’s capital Montevideo to Santiago, Chile, for a rugby game.   Along with the 40 on board there were five crew on the chartered flight on October 13, 1972 — Friday the 13th. The plane, a twin-engine turboprop, was only four years old.   Human error caused the plane to crash into the Andes mountain range in Argentina, just shy of the border with Chile.   As heavy clouds obscured the peaks of the Andes as the plane flew overhead, the inexperienced pilot-in-command thought the plane was approaching the Chilean city of Curicó, when it was really up to 70km away. So as the plane descended, it flew dangerously close to a mountain.   Once the flight…
0

Joseph Stiglitz: “Market Concentration Is Threatening the US Economy”

We share with you an extract of this article published by Joseph Stiglitz in Project Syndicate. "Rising inequality and slow growth are widely recognized as key factors behind the spread of public discontent in advanced economies, particularly in the United States. But these problems are themselves symptoms of an underlying malady that th/?p=5475e US political system may be unable to address. (more…)

Peter Fisk: “Leaders and Loonshots … how to see around corners in the quantum economy … What are the best new ideas in business?”

We share with you an extract of this article published by Peter Fisk.   "Thinkers50 was established almost 20 years ago out of a desire to find the best ideas in business.   Every two years it seeks to rank the thought leaders of business – based on the ideas that have created most resonance in the business world, the most distinctive and communicative, the most practical and impactful. (more…)
0

Sergi Corbeto, 7 (alternative) steps to digital transformation

The science (or is it an Art?) of Management is like a kite in the sky. It is subject to currents that can be difficult to control. We twist and turn according to trends and unpredictable gusts of wind. Sometimes we simply hold tightly onto the rope and hope the whole thing doesn´t get too tangled. In other situations, we even dare to turn cartwheels. Recently, a great flurry of whirlwind is stirring up everything. It is called Digital Transformation. Below I´ve drawn up a quick guide (an “alternative” one – Oh Yeah!) to at least stop the kite flying off and, at best, let you loop the loop over and over again.     1 - Get rid of the word Digital. We are being sold, not without reason, the idea that the longevity of organizations depends on the expertise with which we digitize the henhouse. But in reality, it is not exclusively about technology. In fact, the great hullaballoo is fundamentally anthropological. It’s all about designing organizations and processes that put the users at the center of it all. It's about people becoming more “People” than ever.The time has come to embrace the most genuine and unstoppable humanist…
0

Bisila Bokoko, “A Cultural Hybrid”

  I am inordinately held up in Manhattan’s unpredictable traffic even as Bisila Bokoko waits endlessly for me at the Les Ambassades patisserie in Harlem. She has promised to show me around the African-American neighborhood with its vibrant alfresco cafes, arty hotspots and cultural hubs. She is about to finish her third cappuccino and a plate of Senegalese rice when I show up, hoping she hasn’t left. But despite the two-hour wait, she’s a picture of calm. We soon walk the streets to Apollo Theater, the legendary Harlem performance hall, ending our May evening jaunt at Red Rooster, the restaurant run by Ethiopian celebrity chef Marcus Samuelsson, another famous African export. The place is packed for a week night and there are many regulars by the stylish smoke-filled bar who wave to Bokoko. All along, we have been chatting about Africa, a continent she visits more than three times a year. Her kohl-lined eyes light up every time she mentions her umbilical cord connection to the land of her dreams. Bisila Bokoko is many things at the same time – businesswoman, motivation speaker and TV personality – but she is also a wine entrepreneur, and very much like the boutique…
0

Tim Berners-Lee was honored with the Turing Award

Tim Berners-Lee, the researcher who invented the World Wide Web and is one of the world’s most influential voices for online privacy and government transparency, has won the most prestigious honor in computer science, the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) A.M. Turing Award. Often referred to as “the Nobel Prize of computing.       ACM cited Berners-Lee for “inventing the World Wide Web, the first web browser, and the fundamental protocols and algorithms allowing the web to scale.” This year marks the 50th anniversary of the award. A principal investigator at MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) with a joint appointment in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Berners-Lee conceived of the web in 1989 at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) as a way to allow scientists around the world to share information with each other on the internet. He introduced a naming scheme (URIs), a communications protocol (HTTP), and a language for creating webpages (HTML). His open-source approach to coding the first browser and server is often credited with helping catalyzing the web’s rapid growth.   “It is an honor to receive an award like the Turing that has been bestowed to…
0

Rahaf Harfoush, society’s changing interpretation of creativity

Rahaf Harfoush on her role on Obama’s 2008 campaign, social’s role in integrated campaigns and society’s changing interpretation of creativity.   Rahaf Harfoush was a full-time volunteer member of Barack Obama’s digital team in the lead-up to the 2008 presidential election, working primarily in the team that managed social networks, as well as working with email, SMS, design, blogging and video. She turned her experience into a book, using the campaign as a case study to document the innovative use of digital tools in that campaign in Yes We Did! An Inside Look at how Social Media Built the Obama Brand. She’s now a New York Times best-selling author and has published a second book The Decoded Company. A third book is in the works. Harfoush also runs boutique consultancy Red Thread and teaching innovation in Sciences Po’s MBA program in Paris. She is a Strategist, Digital Anthropologist, who focuses on the intersections of emerging technology, innovation, and digital culture. She is the founder of Red Thread, a boutique consultancy and think tank that helps organizations translate innovation trends into strategic opportunities. She teaches “Innovation & Emerging Business Models” at Sciences Po’s MBA program in Paris     Obama 2008 is a famous early example of a social media-led…