In praise of the (good) middle manager
^ADJ: Good middle managers are undervalued, but critical for realizing strategic change initiatives and maintaining productivity within the company - are you investing enough in middle-management capability?
6 Strategic Concepts That Set High-Performing Companies Apart
Strategic concepts come in and out of fashion as the needs and dynamics of the marketplace change. Research and analysis of today’s landscape identifies six key strategic concepts that set outperforming companies apart: Borrow someone’s road, partner with a third party, reveal your strategy, be good, let the competition go, and adopt small scale attacks.
^ADJ: Key takeout: "Outperformers are 70% more likely to explicitly cite the use of running business experiments in which the goal is to learn. This speaks to the growing adoption of agile, “act, learn, build” approaches over traditional “prove-plan-execute” orientations"
The Power of Celebration. A Greatly Underutilized Business Tool
^ADJ: Highlights how celebrations strengthen the bonds within communities, allow individuals to feel appreciated for their contributions, and generate positive recognition for the community from external parties - do you do enough of this?
Saving Seconds Is Better Than Hours
^ADJ: The main idea is that saving small amounts of time, even just seconds, on daily tasks and processes can add up to significant time savings over the course of a year.
How People Are Really Using GenAI
There are many use cases for generative AI, spanning a vast number of areas of domestic and work life. Looking through thousands of comments on sites such as Reddit and Quora, the author’s team found that the use of this technology is as wide-ranging as the problems we encounter in our lives. The 100 categories they identified can be divided into six top-level themes, which give an immediate sense of what generative AI is being used for: Technical Assistance & Troubleshooting (23%), Content Creation & Editing (22%), Personal & Professional Support (17%), Learning & Education (15%), Creativity & Recreation (13%), Research, Analysis & Decision Making (10%).
Acquired: Renaissance Technologies on Apple Podcasts
Recommended Podcast: Acquired - every company has a story, having released over 190 podcasts this podcast series just gets better and better.
The Inner Scorecard: How Warren Buffett Mastered Life
^ADJ: Key takeout: "When you have an internal scorecard, no one can define success for you but you"