Journal by getabstract - Your Daily Dose of Lifelong Learning

#getTogether

CURRENT AFFAIRS

And Related Compressed Knowledge

The COVID-19 outbreak will not only have a direct impact on our lives and economies now – the consequences will continue to preoccupy us for several years, if not decades.

Feature

getAbstract parents share their experiences and tips – an introduction

April, 1 2020 by Heather Hodel

Q&As

“As a Manager, How Can I Learn a ‘Hands Off’ Approach?”

(without having my anxiety go through the roof in the process).

“How Do I Convince My Relatives and Colleagues to Take Social Distancing Seriously?”

One uncomfortable situation, three ways to get out of it.

Recent Articles

Here is what you’ll find on our new digital platform, why we’re launching the project, and what you can expect from it.

March, 4 2020 by Thomas Bergen

“As a Manager, How Can I Learn a ‘Hands Off’ Approach?”

The New New

How Pandemics Change the World

Don’t Beat Yourself Up When Things Are Not Perfect

A Defined (But Flexible!) Routine Works Wonders

Working from Home with Kids

getAbstract Gets Moving

The Less Important Things Will Just Have to Wait (Including Laundry)

“How Do I Organize Myself When I Pursue Further Education Alongside My Job?”

“How Can I Personally Contribute to a Positive Company Culture?”

“How Can I Cope With a Possible Loss of Control in My Professional or Private Life?”

More...

Making Sense of Today

Laurie Garrett

The Coronavirus: How to Stay Safe

How you can avoid contracting coronavirus – or any disease spread by coughing and sneezing.

Foreign Policy

Zusammenfassung lesen

Maria Godoy and Allison Aubrey

It’s Time to Get Serious About Social Distancing. Here’s How.

How much isolation is enough isolation?

1E9

Zusammenfassung lesen

Adam Tooze

This Is the One Thing That Might Save the World From Financial Collapse

The Federal Reserve may become the lender of last resort to the world’s financial system.

The New York Times

Zusammenfassung lesen

Michele Wucker

Why We Ignore Obvious Problems and How to Act on Them

Beware the “gray rhino” charging right at you.

TED Conferences LLC

Zusammenfassung lesen

Ian Robertson

The Stress Test

Your success depends on the power you believe you have over the challenges you face.

Bloomsbury USA

Zusammenfassung lesen

Carmen M. Reinhart and Kenneth S. Rogoff

This Time Is Different

A sobering study that will let you know when the financial party is over – again

Princeton University Press

Zusammenfassung lesen

What's New in "New Work"

Related Channel

Corporate Culture

Your organization's atmosphere, culture and communication affect its success. They shape engagement, productivity, drive and collaboration. Today’s high fliers – Google is the most famous example – build their image on these factors. How can you make your culture good – and how good can you make it?

Zum Channel

Welcome

In the last 100 years, the world has become increasingly complex. Now, more than ever, organizations must grasp this complexity and respond to it quickly and appropriately. This new column explains how it works.

Why it makes sense to think about the purpose of work.

CORONAVIRUS

Where does the virus come from? How dangerous is it? How can you prevent contracting it? And when will a vaccine be available? Here are the daily updates.

Stay Fit

The government shut down the gyms and told us to stay home – and now my neighborhood is full of joggers. Something funny seems to be happening here.

Stay Sane

Working From Home With Kids

A Defined (But Flexible!) Routine Works Wonders

The Less Important Things Will Just Have to Wait (Including Laundry)

The One Thing That Helped the Most Was the Company’s Flexibility

More...

Q&A

The Most Frequently Asked Questions About the Corona Crisis

“Locked Up: How Do I Prepare My Family and Myself for a Coronavirus Quarantine?”

You can still make the best out of this period of isolation.

March, 18 2020 by getAbstract

“How Can I Cope With a Possible Loss of Control in My Professional or Private Life?”

Sometimes things don’t go as planned. No matter!

March, 30 2020 by Iris Peters

“How Do I Overcome Fears and Get Ahead?”

Fear is a bad adviser. Fortunately, there is good advice to get rid of it.

March, 24 2020 by getAbstract

“How Can I Combat Loneliness as a Remote Worker?”

Admit to and be pro-active about your feelings of loneliness.

March, 16 2020 by Sara Küpfer

“How Do You Make Remote Learning Fun and Successful?”

It’s just you and a computer screen. Yes, you can learn this way, but you will need fellow travelers to keep you on track.

March, 16 2020 by Sara Küpfer

Global Updates

The Pandemic Affects Different Parts of the World at Different Times – What Can We Learn From Each Other?

Italy

“Everything Will Be All Right” – Hopefully — Gundula Stoll (left): “A woman in our village, who used to sew underwear on contract, has made 100 face masks for everyone […] People have been painting, crocheting and embroidering rainbows with the tagline #andratuttobene - #everythingwillbeallright”

Almost three weeks into the total lockdown in Italy, there may be some hopeful signs hidden in the gloom. Yet when I last wrote about the potential impact of restrictions on people’s overall health, I thought that physical health was at the heart of the matter. Now, social and psychological health are also suffering from […]

China

For the first time in months, we are receiving good news from China: The number of domestic cases of COVID-19 reported there just dropped to zero. So, what is life like in Beijing? And what can the rest of the world – with so many problems yet to be solved – learn?

World

Michael Hudecheck, Charlotta Sirén, Dietmar Grichnik and Joakim Wincent

How Companies Can Respond to the Coronavirus

Businesses can learn from China’s experience coping with the economic fallout of the COVID-19 crisis.

MIT Sloan Management Review

Zusammenfassung lesen

More...

IN CONVERSATION

With MIT Economist Daron Acemoğlu and Nobel Laureate Robert Shiller

“The Emergence of Liberty Is Perhaps Even More Surprising than Economic Growth.”

To get an idea of the political construction of the world of tomorrow, one has to travel back in time – sometimes a few thousand years. Renowned MIT economist Daron Acemoğlu talks about the making and the most interesting findings of his new book.

“Public Attention Is Not Awarded Rationally. It Has To Be Carried by a Story” — Robert J. Shiller, Kai Nedden/laif

In his new book, economist and Nobel laureate Robert Shiller argues that he and his fellow dismal scientists need to look beyond the usual data point: Stories are what really drive decisions to spend, save or speculate.

DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

Basics, Insights and Answers

Remote

The coronavirus pandemic is currently forcing many companies to advise employees to work from home. Here are four steps to help make this organizational crisis a success.

Q&A

“As a Manager, How Can I Learn a ‘Hands Off’ Approach?”

“How Can I Combat Loneliness as a Remote Worker?”

“How Do You Make Remote Learning Fun and Successful?”

How to Lead Remote Employees in the Wake of COVID-19

“What Is Keeping CEOs Awake at Night?”

“How Can I Avoid Technology’s Negative Impacts?”

More...

Deep Dive

“Access to Much Greater Intelligence Will Be a Step-Change in Our Civilization” — Stuart Russell by Mehdi Chebil/Polaris/laif

Leading computer scientist Stuart Russell on the major breakthroughs towards the first human-level AI, its foreseeable economic and social effects – and the risks of massive pullbacks on the way.

Interview

"Many people are underestimating the pace and scope of change and aren’t thinking correctly about how it will appear this time." (Richard Baldwin; Photo by Tmi Kimmo Räisänen) — Richard Baldwin by Tmi Kimmo Räisänen

Economist and bestselling author Richard Baldwin believes that many business leaders and politicians continue to grossly underestimate the impact of digital change. Here, he explains how to position yourself correctly in competition with “Globots.”

Q&A

Definition, fallacies and responsibilities

More...

Feature

Or: How To Deal with Volatility

See Full Knowledge Container

MEET ...

The Most Important Decisions in Life Should Not Be Taken Alone. We're Here to Help!

“How Do I Manage the Transition from Teammate to Manager?”

Meet Simona, 28, recently promoted to her first leadership role

“Should I Quit and Start Something New?”

Meet Brittany, 40, Director of Sales Operations

Meet Carl, 48, designer (and part-time artist)

FREE ACCESS

Because Extraordinary Challenges Require Extraordinary Responses

SELECTED CHANNELS

Compressed Knowledge on the Latest Topics

2019–20 Coronavirus Pandemic

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an infectious viral respiratory disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), also known as “novel coronavirus.” Reports in December 2019, from Wuhan, China, first cited the disease, which has spread globally, resulting in the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic that affects people and businesses worldwide.

Zum Channel

Working from Home

Remote work has been a trend long in the making, and indeed the current Coronavirus pandemic has forced many to work from home. The advantages for employees, companies and society are plentiful: save time commuting, cut greenhouse gas emissions, relieve traffic congestion, increase employee satisfaction, increase workforce diversity, save money on office space and much more. But remote work also comes with its challenges – for leaders as well as employees. Learn how to structure your day, organize your communication, build trust and foster team spirit.

Zum Channel

Crisis Management

If your organization faces a crisis – whether a public health emergency, a natural disaster, or a public relations or product calamity – you often can make it better or worse for your people by how you manage it before, during and after. Eventually, a crisis will hit. You won’t be able to prevent it, but you can prepare for it, overcome it and emerge stronger.

Zum Channel

HUMOR

Column: The World, According to a German Physicist

A transatlantic comparison

CLASSIC ADVICE

The Greatest Books of All Time (And Their Collected Knowledge for Everyday Life)

The Bold, the Beautiful and the Murderous

Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray Or: Why You Should Embrace Aging Gracefully

Kafka’s The Metamorphosis Or: How Not to Wake Up Feeling Like a Pest

Henry David Thoreau’s Walden Or: How to Escape the Rat Race (and Make Peace with Woodchuck Cravings)

We are asked this question again and again, especially by business customers. So, we’ll give the answer in a monthly column – and with one of the greats of literature.

February, 5 2020 by getAbstract

LEADERSHIP

Wanna Grow a Leader?

Unboss Your Company

To Thrive In Modern Economy, Forget Doing Things the Old Way

During his business career, Lars Kolind was group chairman of Grundfos, the world’s largest manufacturer of water pumps. It might sound like a staid business, but this role led Kolind to groundbreaking epiphanies.

Related Channel

Leadership

One for all and all for one: This strategy only works if you set a good example as a leader. Learn how to stimulate your employees so they perform to the best of their abilities.

Zum Channel

Interview

“People Who Don’t Feel Respected Will Not Want to Show Up Every Day and Contribute to Your Organization.”

A millennial herself, Crystal Kadakia provides globally relevant insight into her generation in her book, The Millennial Myth. Here, she shares some of her thoughts on how to attract millennial talent.

No More CEO-Nightmares

“What Is Keeping CEOs Awake at Night?” — Photo by Darius Bashar on Unsplash

There are about a thousand click-bait articles out there with this title – but only one library of compressed knowledge that has enough answers at hand to call those nightmares “a thing of the past” within the next eight (or fifteen) clicks.

Top Summaries

Robert J. Anderson and William A. Adams

Mastering Leadership

This can be your leader development book for life. It’s a bold promise, but this work delivers.

Wiley

Zusammenfassung lesen

John C. Maxwell

Leadershift

John C. Maxwell says leaders can deal with baffling new challenges by making important “leadershifts.”

HarperCollins Leadership

Zusammenfassung lesen

Steven G. Rogelberg

The Surprising Science of Meetings

Save time and energy by facilitating better meetings. (Hint: the best ones are 48 minutes long.)

Oxford University Press (USA)

Zusammenfassung lesen

Gretchen Anderson

Mastering Collaboration

Formal collaboration inside organizations seldom works. Here’s what does.

O’Reilly Media

Zusammenfassung lesen

Stephen R. Covey

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

To be highly effective, just initiate, focus, prioritize, connect, cooperate, improve yourself and let others win. Whew.

Free Press

Zusammenfassung lesen

Chris Lewis and Dr Pippa Malmgren

The Leadership Lab

Leaders use long-term thinking, situational fluency and qualitative measures to turn change into progress.

Kogan Page Publishers

Zusammenfassung lesen

See Full Knowledge Container

SPOTLIGHT

Says Who?

SKILLS UPDATE

Photo by Noémi Macavei-Katócz on Unsplash

Yes, there is. A new survey by getAbstract reveals the different learning approaches of Generation Zers, Millennials and Baby Boomers.

It’s an open secret that The New Yorker is one of our favorite magazines. Sometimes, however, the great articles are just the beginning of a learning path. For example, when it comes to the improvement of home office skills and habits.

Do years of individual experience overpower more sophisticated models of judging when it comes to real-world decision making?

December, 5 2019 by getAbstract

“As a Manager, How Can I Learn a ‘Hands Off’ Approach?”

“How Do I Organize Myself When I Pursue Further Education Alongside My Job?”

“How Can I Personally Contribute to a Positive Company Culture?”

“How Can I Cope With a Possible Loss of Control in My Professional or Private Life?”

“How Do I Overcome Fears and Get Ahead?”

“What Is the Secret of Remote Working?”

“How Can I Combat Loneliness as a Remote Worker?”

“How Do You Make Remote Learning Fun and Successful?”

More...

>> NEW FRONTIERS

Series: Ten Big Questions That Will Preoccupy Public Dialogue

We live in revolutionary times – at once deeply unsettling but also filled with the potential of transforming human lives for the better. This series introduces you to ten big questions that will preoccupy public dialogue of the near future.

ONE: Is Capitalism at a Breaking Point?

TWO: The Next Society

TAKE A BREAK!

On the road to curating good books for our readers, we’ve learned a bit about bad ones. Click here for the abstract.

QUICK FIX

Your Solution, Only Two Clicks Away

“How Can I Get My Financial Life in Order?”

In need of a financial road map, but no idea where to start? There you go!

March, 6 2020 by getAbstract

“How Do I Gain Energy and Enjoy Better Health?”

No Sweat: Find your motivation and set goals!

March, 6 2020 by getAbstract

“How Can I Improve My Ability to Remember?”

Implement a seven-step program to control and optimize your memory!

March, 6 2020 by getAbstract

FEATURES

FOCUS: Climate Change — Photo by USGS on Unsplash

Perhaps this year, after all the attention gathered by climate strikes in 2019, will be the year of practicable proposals for climate solutions.

Invisible women, 25 pairs of shoes, and the long-awaited end of unnecessary meetings – here are this year’s reading recommendations from different departments at getAbstract.

December, 19 2019 by getAbstract

TALKS

DEMOCRACY

NEW WORK

INNOVATION

Efosa Ojomo, Clayton M. Christensen and Karen Dillon

In one of his last interviews, economist Clayton M. Christenen, who passed away in January, argues that only innovation can lift nations out of poverty.

January, 31 2020 by Michael Wiederstein

CHINA

Kai Strittmatter, Foto Anton Turovinin (Piper Verlag) — Kai Strittmatter by Anton Turovinin (Piper Verlag)

The "Middle Kingdom" is back. But not the way one had imagined in the West: While the Chinese economy is growing, the freedoms of the population are dwindling, says China expert Kai Strittmatter.

November, 21 2019 by Michael Wiederstein

WORKPLACE

In his book Open to Think, Dan Pontefract offers strategies for cutting through the clutter, thinking more clearly and making better decisions. His prescription: be more deliberate with your time.

ECONOMICS

“You Can Watch the March of Ideas from the Minds of Economists and into Our Lives.”

After decades of free-market policies in the United States and Britain, working-class voters are in full revolt. In The Economists’ Hour Binyamin Appelbaum surveys the last half-century and sees an obvious path from the economics of Milton Friedman, Arthur Laffer and others to today’s disgruntled masses.

Learning at the Speed of Life

Start Your Learning Journey Today