Some of my thoughts from the post yesterday were around the value of flexibility in resource allocation that training gives an organization: if you can teach people practical skills rapidly you can more easily flex to respond to new needs. 

Two interesting pieces on Clocking In. Their deep dive title piece is around how companies are investing in training due to tight labor markets. The other is a piece on Bloomberg about how millennial males (25-34) are less likely to be working than for other age and gender cohorts. 

A number of my conversations yesterday turned around the idea of taking action towards a larger goal while being overwhelmed with day-to-day work. This kind of “everything is on fire” operating is demoralizing - the team only achieves a proportion of the work they know needs to be done, and they will rarely do the surprising work which wins plaudits. 

Interesting conversation this morning on the changing nature of work at the bottom end of earnings, and education. 

Following on from the last post - are there choices that can improve your personal or corporate situation under impending automation? 

Some things are easier to automate than others, and while the automated process is generally cheaper to perform than the not automated equivalent, it usually requires some up front investment. This leads to a disparity in what tasks get automated.

Interesting write up on the state of the Future of Work space from MIT. While there isn’t a lot new in there, its an excellent survey of the major trends and thinking across business and policy. 

In an airport today I saw an ad for the second collected notes on the Chinese system of government by Xi Jinping. I appreciate there is a purpose to this kind of writing beyond sharing actual principles of governance, but the idea of a sitting leader describing their governing principles is an interesting one.

I read an excellent book some years back, Specialization & Trade by Arnold King that reframed the basic economic principles around those to factors, and the ladder of progress they created. It’s a compelling argument that I (think!) I’ve largely internalised, but in terms of a practical experience, I continually underestimate the power and effectiveness of proper specialisation. 

A good brand can increase the value of a product. Aswath Damosaran I recall used the example of Coca Cola’s margins being significantly higher  than that of a Canadian soft drinks producer as being driven by the power of the brand. Companies invest significant time and money in their brand, even well outside of FMCG, because of the sustainable, defensible advantage that comes with a strong brand.