Data points

Published February 6, 2023
An artisanal gold miner pans for gold at the Karakaene gold mine. Karakaene has one of the largest artisanal gold mining sites in southeastern Senegal, close to the border of Mali. The town in recent years has more than doubled in size with the recent gold rush, allegedly attracting migrant workers from 19 different African countries.—AFP
An artisanal gold miner pans for gold at the Karakaene gold mine. Karakaene has one of the largest artisanal gold mining sites in southeastern Senegal, close to the border of Mali. The town in recent years has more than doubled in size with the recent gold rush, allegedly attracting migrant workers from 19 different African countries.—AFP

Making one-on-one meetings effective

People who don’t have one-on-ones with their managers are more likely to leave their organisations. And although skipping these meetings might give some time back to managers, they are more likely to miss out on opportunities to build trust and alignment within their teams. Feelings of anxiety, awkwardness, or dread that these one-on-one conversations often generate stem from a misalignment in expectations. Managers and employees frequently lack a shared purpose and set of goals for this time together. Ultimately, a one-size-fits-all approach won’t work; the goal of each meeting will vary based on the different human beings involved and the current situations they face. Some individuals might want to use check-ins to focus mostly on building a personal connection, while others might want to tackle career development and coaching.

(Adapted from “Five Ways To Make Your One-On-One Meetings More Effective,” by Jessica Wisdom, published by MIT Sloan Management Review)

Inflation in the US

The engine of the US economy — consumer spending — is starting to sputter. Retail purchases have fallen in three of the past four months. Spending on services, including rent, haircuts and the bulk of bills, was flat in December, after adjusting for inflation, the worst monthly reading in nearly a year. Sales of existing homes in the US fell last year to their lowest level since 2014 as mortgage rates rose. The auto industry posted its worst sales year in more than a decade. It’s a stark turnaround from the second half of 2020, when Americans lifted the economy out of a pandemic downturn, helping the US avoid what many economists worried would be a prolonged slump. Now the forces that helped keep spending high are unwinding, while inflation remains elevated. Annual inflation remained above 5pc in December for the 19th straight month.

(Adapted from “The US Consumer Is Starting To Freak Out,” by Harriet Torry and Joe Pinsker, published on January 30, 2023, by The Wall Street Journal)

Can the dodo come back from extinction?

Colossal Biosciences, a biotechnology startup that promises to resurrect woolly mammoths, is now the first “de-extinction unicorn,” with a valuation said to be over $1bn before bringing back a single lost species. Reintroducing mammoths to Alaska or dodos to Mauritius sounds unrealistic, even silly, and has drawn scepticism from paleo-geneticists and other experts who worry that the effects of de-extinction would be unpredictable. Yet Colossal has continued to draw support from investors, including celebrities. Company insiders regularly bring up the space race when discussing the company’s prospects as an example of a seemingly-impossible goal that was not only eventually reached but also generated collateral inventions that we still use today. The influx of cash comes as the financial world has taken a new interest in the biodiversity crisis.

(Adapted from “This Billion-Dollar Startup Wants To Bring Back The Dodo,” by Josh Saul and Sarah McBride,” published on January 31, 2023, Bloomberg)

Are you difficult to work for?

Having high standards as a new manager isn’t a bad thing. It shows that you expect a certain quality of work from your team members and trust them to deliver. If your standards are attainable and clear, you can use them to motivate people and evaluate their work. But if your standards are too high, you’re setting your team (and yourself) up to fail. Your excellent performance and work habits likely got you to where you are today. But now your job is to guide others. You need to understand that the way they execute a project or task may be different from your way — and that both ways can be right. What you can do: start by lending an empathetic ear. Ask your team members: “What do you need from me and the company to do your work effectively?” Then listen. Your goal is to set them up for success by understanding how they like to communicate, removing barriers, and providing them with the resources they need.

(Adapted from “Are You A Difficult Person To Work For?” by Tutti Taygerly and Luis Velasquez, published by HBR Ascend)

Published in Dawn, The Business and Finance Weekly, February 6th, 2023

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