If you had to define the indispensable power of a leader, which would you pick? Would it be probing intelligence? Boundless energy? Or perhaps just being lucky? One ability may not come to mind for many, but really should. For if there is a talent that every boss needs to master, it’s the ability to say the same thing over and over and over again without seeming bored. More
Friends help each other out. Tesla’s boss, Elon Musk, may well have been grateful when Donald Trump said he would buy one of its electric vehicles (EVs) on March 11th. Yet that was the least the president could do for his bureaucracy-basher-in-chief. The day before Mr Trump had helped bring on a fall of over 15% in Tesla’s share price, amid a wider sell-off sparked by his trade policies and his warning that America’s economy faced a “period of transition”. The subsequent Trumpian endorsement will not be enough to apply the brakes to Tesla’s declining sales and slumping share price. More
Just hours after the launch on March 6th of Manus, a Chinese artificial-intelligence (AI) bot, a flood of visitors caused its registration site to crash. Butterfly Effect, the company behind the bot, claims its technology outperforms that of OpenAI, maker of ChatGPT. It is now granting previews by invitation only as it struggles to handle the traffic. Scalpers are said to be selling registration codes. More
AT THE START of the year dealmakers around the globe were sharpening their pencils. Donald Trump’s incoming administration was promising to slash corporate taxes and tear up red tape in the world’s mightiest economy. Political leaders in other large markets at last appeared to grasp that in order to keep up with America, they had better put innovation and economic growth ahead of caution (in risk-averse Europe) or common prosperity (in Xi Jinping’s China). More
Alongside the crisps in the snack aisle, supermarkets are now stacking shelves with roasted chickpeas, cheese bites and beef jerky. An array of high-protein alternatives is appearing alongside low-fat and low-sugar foods. Dairy sections are packed with hard-to-pronounce fare such as skyr and kefir. High-protein diets have become mainstream. On social media, food and fitness influencers recommend protein. Celebrities have made it trendy to look strong, rather than skinny. A trend is verging on an obsession. More
Surveys of office behaviour are not scientific. In a global poll conducted last year by Kickresume, a firm that helps create cvs, 85% of people said they had experienced an annoying co-worker. That means the remaining 15% are either sole traders or liars. But surveys can still reveal truths about what gets people riled up. The Kickresume survey put credit-stealing top of the list of irritating colleague behaviour, as did a survey of British workers in 2022 by Perspectus Global, a research firm. Another recent poll, this time of American workers and conducted by BambooHR, crowned taking credit for employees’ ideas as the worst managerial trait of all. More
That women earn less than men in rich countries is so well-known it is often met with a shrug. The gender wage gap is one of ten indicators in our annual “glass-ceiling index”, ranking how women fare in the workplace. On most measures, including representation on boards and in parliaments, countries improve each year. But across the oecd, a club of mostly rich countries, the median gap is stuck at 11.4%, up from a low of 11.1% in 2020 (see chart) despite policies designed to narrow it. More
“Defence is now by far the most dynamic sector of German industry,” says Armin Papperger, chief executive of Rheinmetall, Germany’s biggest arms producer. Until recently no one, including Mr Papperger, the firm’s boss for the past 12 years, would have believed it. But as European countries prepare for a big boost to defence spending, Rheinmetall and its peers, including Hensoldt, a maker of electronic-warfare equipment such as radars, and Renk, which manufactures military vehicles, are scaling up production as quickly as they are able. More
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