EDITION 761
15 APRIL 2019

As another week slips by, here are 10 things which caught my attention and may have escaped yours. This newsletter is sent to 50,000+ subscribers each Monday. Please share on social media and forward to your colleagues and friends so they can subscribe, learn and engage. I'd be very grateful if you did.

1. How to react to criticism. As you lean-into the challenges and new opportunities that come with them, remember that criticism is a natural process of the leadership journey. Since criticism is never easy to handle, keep the following five tips in mind to ensure you handle it wisely. [MORE]
    
2. Attitudes in Great Britain to Northern Ireland. Asked how they would prefer Northern Ireland to vote if it held a referendum on its future, 18%of adults in Great Britain said they hoped it would choose to leave the UK and join the Republic of Ireland. 36% would prefer that it chose to stay in the Union, 45% don’t mind or don’t know. 77% of people in Britain have never visited Northern Ireland, and a further 15% have only visited once or twice. The I newspaper
    
3. British firms quitting social media. In a post to its 202,000 Twitter followers, the cosmetics company Lush said it was “tired of fighting algorithms and did not want to "pay to appear" in newsfeeds. Last year pub chain Wetherspoons cut itself off from social media. It comes as a host of nations - including the UK, US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand - weigh industry regulations for technology firms. LinkedIn
    
4. Corbyn destined for Downing Street finds new analysis. Jeremy Corbyn would be bound for 10 Downing Street after a general election that would see the Conservatives lose 59 seats, according to a poll of polls. The analysis found that Corbyn's party would be left the largest in the House of Commons. The President of the British Polling Council said Brexiteers had been “drawn back to either Ukip or Nigel Farage's Brexit Party”. The Sunday Telegraph
    
5. We give our jobs meaning, not the other way around. Studies show that having a sense of professional purpose can lead to greater levels of satisfaction and reduce burnout. But such meaning doesn’t materialise on its own. Instead, it’s something we must build ourselves. Identifying your “because” – why you are doing what you are doing, in work and in life – allows you to assign new meaning to old routines and improve your day-to-day outlook. [MORE]
    
6. Apple remains Britain’s most-cherished brand. The Silicon Valley tech giant beat 1,600 other companies to claim top spot in the annual Business Superbrands survey, which measures “quality, reliability and distinction from rivals”. The 2,530 business experts placed Microsoft, Emirates and British Airways as runners up. The Times
    
7. Parkinson’s sufferers accused of being drunk. One in five Britons living with Parkinson’s disease have been accused of being drunk because of their poor balance and slurred speech, a new survey suggests. The study by Parkinson’s UK found that 10% have been laughed at in public and 57% have cancelled plans or gatherings because they were worried about their symptoms. The Independent
    
8. Surprise as best place to live in the UK is revealed. Salisbury has topped a list of the best places to live in the UK, just a year after a novichok poisoning attack hit the city. The Wiltshire city was judged to have a “real collective spirit” in the wake of the poisonings. The Isle of Dogs in the London borough of Tower Hamlets is named as the best place to live in the capital. BBC
    
9. The first-ever photo of a black hole revealed. A massive feat that saw the collaboration of 200 astronomers and nine telescopes around the world. The black hole, which was 55 million light-years away from Earth, was found in Messier 87, a galaxy in the constellation Virgo. The event allowed scientists to test Einstein’s theories of gravity and general relativity under the most extreme conditions in the universe. The Guardian
    
10. The bottom line. Mandatory gender pay reporting is now in its second year at large companies but has so far made little difference to the stubborn pay gap between men and women. Despite some big swings at certain companies, the median gap stands at 11.9%, almost unchanged from 11.8% a year ago. Back to the drawing board? The Financial Times