EDITION 845
23 NOVEMBER 2020

As another week slips by, here are 10 things which caught my attention and may have escaped yours. So grab a brew and find out what's new.

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1. How to be a good manager. The first rule of management is that it is a different skill than leadership. Leadership is about setting a vision and aligning the work around it. True management is, rather, about bringing out the best in the people. This isn’t easy: management is one of the hardest jobs in the world. The following ideas should help: READ MORE

2. PM to reveal road map for ‘normal life’ by Easter. Boris Johnson is set to outline a road map tomorrow to bring back “normal life” by Easter next year, according to a Downing Street source. Meanwhile, a tougher three-tiered system of local restrictions will come into force in England when the lockdown ends on 2 December. The PM is also expected to announce details of how families can see different households at Christmas. BBC

3. Officials in Brussels say Brexit deal 95% agreed. European Union officials believe a Brexit deal is 95% agreed. At a meeting of the most senior diplomats in Brussels on Friday morning, they were briefed about the state of Brexit talks by the European Commission's Secretary General Ilze Juhansone, who told them the legal text of a trade deal was now finalised in almost all areas, covering almost all subjects. Sky News

4. Europe’s most diverse industries. Which companies and industries are leading the way on diversity? The FT and Statista compiled a list of 850 companies after consulting 100,000 workers across 16 European countries. French co-operative Biocoop came in first, followed by German semiconductor group Infineon and Dutch-based travel firm booking dot com. The healthcare, travel and restaurant sectors scored best on gender diversity, while construction and oil and gas companies lagged behind. Oil and gas groups, however, led on disability, alongside banks and IT firms. The Financial Times

5. Working through unclear situations. Even in the best of times, we all confront both uncertainty and ambiguity in our professional lives. We rarely have all the information we'd like, and the choices we have don't always seem clear. In these tricky situations, we fixate less on challenges themselves and more on identifying what we consider to be successful outcomes. Taking the time to understand our personal definition of ideal results helps identify what matters most to us, and it opens our eyes to the next steps we need to take. Editor

6. Asia forms world’s biggest trade bloc. Fifteen Asia-Pacific countries signed the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), forming the world's biggest trade bloc. The deal brings together Southeast Asia, China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand - or a third of the world's population - to lower tariffs and promote trade and investment in the region. First proposed in 2012, the deal is absent India, which withdrew on fears that local industries would be hurt by imports. It also does not include the US, which in 2017 left the Trans-Pacific Partnership, another Asia-focused mega agreement. Reuters

7. Hamilton crowned Britain’s most influential black person. Lewis Hamilton has been named as the most influential black person in Britain. The Formula One driver tops the Powerlist 2021, ahead of Public Health England’s regional director for London, Professor Kevin Fenton, and the musician and philanthropist Stormzy. Hamilton has combined record-breaking achievements on the track with raising awareness of racial injustice. The Guardian

8. Husbands ‘thrilled’ if they earn more than wife. A study has found that husbands feel a thrill if a pay rise widens the gap between their earnings and those of their lower-paid wives. However, the researchers found that women do not experience an ego boost if the tables are turned. The stereotype of the male breadwinner may still be bigger than we give credit for. The Sunday Times

9. Book of the week. This year’s presidential election may have largely been a referendum on Donald Trump’s time in office, but the fact remains that in just over two month Joe Biden will be inaugurated as the 46th president of the United States. And although Biden has already had a long political career, serving 36 years in the Senate, followed by eight years as Obama’s vice-president, relatively little has been written about him. Joe Biden: American Dreamer, by journalist Evan Osnos, written shortly before Biden’s victory, is the first major attempt to look at Biden’s career and predict what type of president he will be. Editor

10. The bottom line. The new hourly “real living wage” which is voluntarily paid to those aged 25 and over (£10.85 in London), an increase of 20p (and 10p), and not to be confused with the statutory National Living Wage of £8.72 (£10.75). A fifth of UK employees are paid less, says the Living Wage Foundation. Daily Express