Meeting with your boss

Regular one-on-one meetings with your boss may seem like a routine way for them to check in on your work, but these conversations can influence your future growth and success. Here are five ways to make the most of them: 1) Know what you need. Before each meeting, consider any short-term problems you’re facing, as well as your long-term goals. 2) Be curious. Go into every meeting with the goal of wanting to learn from your manager. 3) Build rapport. Use your meeting to get to know your manager on a personal as well as a professional level. 4) Ask for feedback. Not only does this give you what you need to improve your performance, but it also signals your receptivity to your supervisor’s point of view. 5) Receive feedback well. By making a conscious effort to remain positive even in these tough moments, you can transform challenging feedback into a tool for growth.

(Adapted from “How to Get the Most Out of a One-on-One with Your Boss,” by Steven G. Rogelberg et al, published by HBR Ascend)

Automating labour

In Denison, Iowa, a robot spends eight hours a day slicing apart hog carcasses at a plant owned by Smithfield Foods. It serves a dual purpose: producing more ribs for barbecues and smokers, while helping ease the US meat industry’s long-running labour shortages. Meatpackers are increasingly looking to robots for help. Smithfield, the largest US pork processor, began rolling out automated rib pullers at its pork plants several years ago, which company officials said helps leave less wasted meat on the bone and relieves workers from some of the industry’s most physically demanding jobs—allowing workers to be reassigned from pulling loins or ribs to food-quality inspection jobs. A $300 million, cutting-edge Tyson Foods chicken processing plant that opened in late 2023 in Danville, Va., is designed to maximize efficiency. It can churn out 20pc to 30pc more chicken nuggets, strips and wings with 250 fewer people compared with an older, similar plant in Arkansas.

(Adapted from “Meet The Robots Slicing Your Barbecue Ribs,” by Patrick Thomas, published on April 9, 2024, by The Wall Street Journal)

US vs China tech wars

Flows of information and energy underpin all economic activity, and advanced technologies support both. Hence the sky-high stakes in the tech wars between America and China. Started during Donald Trump’s first term in office, between 2017 and 2021, they have continued under Joe Biden. China’s leader, Xi Jinping, bridles at America’s export controls on “chokehold technologies”. The struggle is reshaping relationships and supply chains the world over. And its costs are mounting. Estimates vary, but the IMF reckons that the elimination of high-tech trade across rival blocs could cost as much as 1.2pc of global GDP each year — about $1tr. The temperature of the confrontation is likely to rise over the coming years. Neither Mr Biden nor Mr Trump will shrink from challenging China, perhaps the issue which enjoys the highest level of bipartisan support in Washington. And for China to back down from what it sees as its rightful place in the global order is unthinkable for Mr Xi.

(Adapted from “The Tech Wars Are About To Enter A Fiery New Phase,” by The Economist, published on April 25, 2024)

US GDP growth disappoints

With consumer spending rising less quickly and federal spending down, growth in gross domestic product came in at 1.6pc for the first quarter — short of the 2.2pc economists had forecast. But despite the slower-than-forecasted increase, US economic growth is still holding up better than previously expected. At the end of last year, real GDP growth in the first quarter was expected to be less than 1pc. Consumer spending continues to be the main driver of growth and economists expect that to continue, albeit at a slower pace as the year goes on, so long as the US labour market holds up. That economic strength could, however, keep the Federal Reserve on pause for a good part of the year.

(Adapted from “US GDP Growth Disappoints,” by Barron’s, published on April 26, 2024)

Published in Dawn, The Business and Finance Weekly, April 29th, 2024