From the Frozen North

January 15, 2024

Good morning! Do more of what you do best — and keep getting better at it… and better. It’s Snuggle Weather. Albeit the gas meter (or the wood pile) is spinning — depleting — faster, there is something perversely wonderful about snuggling up against a merciless North Wind  as it stings the toes and bites the nose… or is it the other way around? To what degree is productivity affected in really cold weather?  Has anyone studied it? Consider just ONE of thousands of variables:  Clothing.  Putting it on, taking it off, hanging it up, drying it out, layers upon layers of it. Farewell, so-long, safe journeys to a husband and wife team who died last week just two days apart; we knew them as friends and mentors for 50 years.

• It’s difficult for this writer to find reliable data on the number of workers and businesses/ organizations taking the day off from work today.
  • And so, about the best we can do is report it appears to be about half; most of the government, of course, at all levels, and then maybe about 30% of non-government organizations — and thus, the affiliated and associated workers.
• What are the next generations thinking?
  • Sixty youth gathered recently at last year’s World Economic Forum and here are the prioritized data from those next generations:
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Inclusion
    • Climate Justice
    • Civic Empowerment
    • Education and Access
    • Authentic Leadership
    • Each of these needs a more in-depth explanation, but this might be enough to whet your whistle.  Youth at the World Economic Forum
• And, as long as we’re working on lists, what are the latest trends in foods and drinks?  (Severson, New York Times)
  • Bold, Maximalism, Collaboration  (Where’s the boeuf?!)
    • No idea what collaboration means when it comes to foods and beverages
  • High quality ingredients
  • Spectacular value
  • … a fantastic experience to take me away from the daily news…
  • Snacks, schnacks, snacks… and more snacks, small bites (Remember, Spain invented these?)
  • Water
  • Buckwheat
  • Anything pickled
  • Anything infused… especially with levander 
  • Flavour/ Colour of the year:  Peach, more specifically, the fuzz of peach… 
  • Soup, bone broth and beyond
  • Chilled red wine (gasp!)
• This is the experts coaching and guiding the experts:  McKinsey’s Prediction for the eight CEO priorities in 2024
  • “It’s a tough job and getting tougher all the time.”  (Hatami/ Segel, 2024)  [Editorial comment:  True!]
    • Surprise, surprise, surprise:  Artificial Intelligence
    • Outcompeting with Technology
    • The energy transition — “time is short” (Ibid.)
    • What’s your superpower?
    • Learn to LOVE your middle managers  (And, discover why)
    • Geopolitics
    • Navigating the road to courageous growth
    • A new lens on the macroeconomy   Eight CEO Priorities for 2024
• From The Economist:  “Didn’t a spate of studies during the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrate that remote work was often more productive than toiling in the office?  Unfortunately for the believers, new research mostly runs counter to this, showing that offices, for all their flaws, remain essential.
  • A good starting point is a working paper that received much attention when it was published in 2020 by Natalia Emanuel and Emma Harrington, then both doctoral students at Harvard University. They found an 8% increase in the number of calls handled per hour by employees of an online retailer that had shifted from offices to homes. Far less noticed was a revised version of their paper, published in May by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The boost to efficiency had instead become a 4% decline.
  • The researchers had not made a mistake.
  • Rather, they received more precise data, including detailed work schedules. Not only did employees answer fewer calls when remote, the quality of their interactions suffered. They put customers on hold for longer. More also phoned back, an indication of unresolved problems.
  • The revision comes hot on the tails of other studies that have reached similar conclusions.”  (The Economist, 2024)
• Next week:  If we can find the words, The Origins of Music — and why are there only 88 notes?!