Jordan’s hard-won lessons for an age of existential risk
“Believe it or not, we are very optimistic about the future,” said Muhannad Shehadeh, Jordan’s deputy prime minister and minister of state for economic affairs.
These may seem blithe words coming from a country bordered by Israel, Syria and Iraq, with Iran a missile launch away. In fact, Jordan is a model of resilience. As the UK and other developed countries face threats from hybrid wars – unconventional attacks, such as disinformation and cyberattacks – and frontier technology, there are lessons to be learned.
In an Age of Deep Tech, The City Summit Bets on Human Connections
Insider Brief
The sixth annual City Quantum & AI Summit will bring leaders from technology, defense, finance, government and research to London’s Mansion House on Oct. 7.
The program will examine quantum and AI applications and risks across cybersecurity, finance, life sciences, space and national security.
The summit will emphasize plain-language discussions, cross-sector networking and governance for technologies developing faster than existing institutions and regulations
The technologies changing defense, medicine and finance are advancing faster than the institutions expected to manage them. Getting the right people in the same room is a critical step toward optimizing the good that these technologies can do, while minimizing potential adverse effects.
Global lessons from a Spanish start-up
In July, the Spanish AI/quantum firm Multiverse Computing became a European unicorn. It announced it had almost closed its €500m funding round, which would value it at around €2bn post-money.
When I joined as its senior adviser in April 2022, the firm had only 30 employees and two locations: its headquarters in San Sebastian and an office in Toronto, Canada, whose first client was the Bank of Canada.
With more than 400 staff representing over 45 nationalities and operations in more than ten locations, including San Francisco and Qatar, what lessons can start-ups glean from the firm’s trajectory?
Can teaching social skills improve social mobility?
The Cambridge Business Dictionary defines “small talk” as “polite conversation about things that are not important.” What this does not tell you is that it is a learnable skill, and the key to unlocking the door to professional advancement.
At a meeting on social mobility hosted by the Lord Mayor’s Appeal, the boss of an investment firm said about discussing art, philosophy and books that she hadn’t read, “I was smart enough to do the job but lost my voice in those conversations.”
Lessons for the workforce from the oldest person in the room
In a low growth, low productivity, low birth rate era, with the pensions time bomb ticking away, keeping people working longer is crucial. And that person could well be you, for one day you glance up from your iPhone and you are the oldest person in the room. A deliberate exercise regime and good genes are not enough to spare you. On the other hand, everyone assumes a wisdom born of experience. What should companies do to adapt, include and innovate?
Why the Benefits of Age Diversity Need to be Shouted from the Rooftops
Age has been in the news.
In the UK, we just celebrated the Platinum Jubilee of our queen, now 96-years old, and still delivering value in the workplace. In her case, that happens to be the balcony on Buckingham Palace.
In the US we have the oldest man to be sworn in as President at age 78. At age 29, Joe Biden was one of the youngest people ever elected to the United States Senate. He may be domestically unpopular - hugely unpopular – but I am not alone in being grateful that an experienced statesman is in charge during the biggest crisis to face the West since the Cold War.
Refugees can be a welcome boost for companies seeking talent
Global Britain cannot continue to overwhelm refugees from Ukraine with off-putting bureaucratic hurdles - this has dealt a damaging blow to the country’s standing. We need, instead, a recalibration of policies to attract talent. Because of UK government’s fear of immigration is out of sync with the public and the needs of the nation.
Overcoming tribal challenges
The most successful species on this planet revels in the comfort of conformity. Just think of the boost and subsequent bonhomie that comes from a ‘successful’ meeting where everyone agrees. Yet with instability as the defining condition of our times, executives must evolve to become comfortable with discomfort.
Who, in the City, would hire someone who had failed a Maths O level? Twice. Yet that is the case of Sir Robert Stheeman, one of the most successful and trusted CEOs of the Debt Management Office, which is responsible for issuing UK government debt. It didn’t seem to affect the £2 trillion – give or take a few billion – that he has issued over 17 years in the job.