A quick, animated, explanation of common business behavior using Hotelling’s Law to describe businesses clump together instead of spreading out.
Why do competitors open their stores next to one another? – Jac de Haan
Category: Viewing
-
Jason Fried: Jason Fried: Why work doesn’t happen at work
Fried talks about how unproductive employees are at the office. Employers are frequently trying to cram everyone into small spaces to do work (where they are frequently distracted) when, instead, they should be pushing people to go to their most productive place (where they can control the distractions). He suggests that we set aside “no talking time” in which employees do not engage one another (especially managers engaging employees), using passive communication tools (e.g. email, instant messaging) which allow the sender and respondent to communicate when it is most convenient to them and cancelling meeting that do not need to happen (or reducing the number of people tied up in those meetings).
-
Vijay Kumar: Robots that fly … and cooperate
Kumar demonstrates some really cook autonomous robots.
-
Julian Treasure: 5 ways to listen better
Treasure suggests that we need to improve our practice of listening by:- Experiencing 3 minutes a day of silence
- In a noisy environment, count the number of different channels of sound you are hearing
- Savor a single, simple, mundane sound
- Practice changing your “listening position” (switch from passive to active, critical to empathic)
- Remember, R.A.S.A. (Receive, Appreciate, Summarize, Ask)
He states that by listening consciously we can live more fully. -
Dambisa Moyo: How the West Was Lost
Moyo suggests a two-fold strategy for western economic recovery. The first is refined and directed application of educational funds aimed specifically at improving our manufacturing capabilities (to help employ the poor) and to become more closed in our trading (to allow the wealthy to strengthen our core). She notes that this is the policy of eastern nations that have continued to allow them to grow.