EDITION 789
28 OCTOBER 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.
- How to do small talk. Office workers have become increasingly adept at avoiding small talk, hurriedly diving into their computer screens, headphones on. That’s a mistake. Small talk builds rapport and trust, which helps grease the wheels of working life. It may even help you get promoted. But making the leap can be anxiety-inducing. Here’s how to do it. [MORE]
- Most UK voters now think the EU referendum was a bad idea. A majority of UK voters now think it would have been better never to have held a referendum on Brexit, according to a new poll. Researchers found that 57% of UK adults surveyed said that they believed it would have been better not to have had a public vote in June 2016. Just 29% of voters believe it was the right move. The Observer
- Where’s the happiest place in the UK? According to the government’s latest ‘happiness index’ it’s Lancashire’s Ribble Valley. The Office for National Statistics conducts the survey to look “beyond purely economic factors for how the nation is doing”, measuring personal well-being, happiness, anxiety and how worthwhile people think their lives are since 2011. Meanwhile, four London boroughs were rated as being the most miserable. Country-wide, Britons’ wellbeing has improved: the average happiness score rose to 7.56 out of 10 in the year to March. City AM
- Yale study finds people with posh voices get hiring boost. Having an accent perceived as upper class can help secure a job, according to a team at Yale University. They found that interviewers made immediate assumptions about socio-economic class based on the first few words they heard – and deemed upper class people more likely to be good at the role for which they were being interviewed. Daily Mail
- Employees respond better to women-led companies. A recent Peakon study found that employees of women-led companies, meaning those with more than 50% female leaders, feel a stronger connection to the company and their products. When over 60,000 employees were asked the question of "how likely is it that you would recommend [Company Name] products or services to friends and family," those at women-led companies answered 0.6 points higher than employees at male-led companies. Inc
- Britain has 2.46m dollar millionaires. That’s the fourth highest number of dollar millionaires in the world, according to Credit Suisse’s Global Wealth Report, which found that residents of the UK are on average among the richest in the world. Switzerland topped the rankings with assets per adult of $564,650 (£439,252), followed by Hong Kong at $489,260 and the US at $432,370, with the UK ranked ninth. Australia fared worst (down $28,670). Overall, despite trade tensions, global wealth rose by 2.6% driven by the US and China. The Times
- Exodus of young viewers puts BBC in danger. Media regulator Ofcom is warning that the BBC is under threat because younger viewers are turning away from the national broadcaster, which could affect future support for the existence of the licence fee. Less than half of Britons aged 16 to 24 watched any BBC television channels in an average week last year. The Independent
- High street job losses estimated at 85,000. The British Retail Consortium (BRC) has estimated that 85,000 high street retail jobs have been lost in the UK in the past 12 months. Latest figures show the number of retail employees in the country in the third quarter of the year was 2.8% lower than in the same period one year ago – the 15th consecutive quarter of year-on-year decline. BBC
- When to trust your gut. Relying on your instinct gets a bad rap, but there are times when it is useful, even advisable. During high stakes situations where there simply isn’t enough information to make a reliable prediction, going with your gut - the kind you have gained from experience - can push you off the fence in time to benefit from whatever decision you make. Such calls can be critical, particularly in emergencies, where no decision may be the worst decision of all. Harvard Business Review
- The bottom line. A fresh opinion poll has put the Tories 16 points ahead of Labour. The survey found that support for the Conservative Party rose three points to stand at 40 per cent, while Labour was unchanged on 24 per cent. The Lib Dems slipped one point to 15 per cent while Nigel Farage's Brexit Party was on 10 per cent. The Guardian
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