As I prepare to hear to the Northern hemisphere to London through Los Angeles, I am dismayed to hear about the quashing of the mask mandates on US flights. The final part of my trip north will carry a bit more Covid risk than I had bargained for.
By the time you get this week’s issue, I will still have the hurdle of getting a Covid-negative supervised RAT no more than 24 hours before I will be allowed to board my Air New Zealand flight on Sunday. Wish me luck for that, as well as my back injury which I wrote about in my last post. The physio assessment was thorough and the exercises prescribed seem to be doing the trick.
Back straight, pelvis tilted, and fingers crossed.
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The war in Donbas
This week, I’m starting with a fellow Substack writer I’ve been reading recently: Yasha Levine, a Soviet-American journalist.
He wrote this week on the Russians pushing their war forward in Donbas, Ukraine, where he re-posts an article that he originally wrote in 2014: Refugees, neo-Nazis, and super patriots: Heading into the Ukrainian war zone. It’s a long read but full of valuable insights.
Starting a new job? Healthy boundaries start here
You might be heading overseas, or looking for a change wherever you are. However you find yourself in a new job, there’s no time like starting to make sure you have healthy and helpful boundaries in place. You don’t want to fall into the common trap of setting expectations too high - for others, or yourself. Here are some tips on how to set yourself up to succeed.
Is this you?
I’m married with two children, aged seven and 12. Maybe it’s the effects of the pandemic…, but both my husband and I feel exhausted and beaten down by life (which sounds very whiny, since we are healthy and OK financially). We have no family close by, though we do have supportive friends.
My older child is coping with low mood and depression (and speaking to a counsellor, which is helping), has angry meltdowns and worries about climate change and the war in Ukraine. I share their concerns but try to encourage them not to think about it before bed.
I worry whether ours is a happy house. I feel we are in a negative pattern of feeling frustrated by the kids’ behaviour, their fussy eating patterns, and just generally. It feels like at weekends the kids whine, we nag, and there isn’t much joy or fun in our lives. My husband is involved, present, kind and caring, but serious and quiet – so he does not bring a zest for life or a fun side with the kids. This is usually my role, but even if we have those moments, they feel outweighed by the day-to-day bickering and tedium of nagging them to do things.
I feel guilty that I am not an example of optimism. Can we change the mood in our house?
Here’s the response - it’s worth reading, even if this picture doesn’t fit you exactly.
“Maybe you feel guilty that your children aren’t having a whiz-bang-pop childhood, but a lot of what you describe is very ordinary, and life is about the ordinary.”
Remember Gap? What happened?
I know everyone is focused on what is happening with Elon Musk and Twitter right now, but here’s a brand you may not have heard of for a while. Whatever happened to Gap, and why is it trending again?
A number of retail experts with whom I spoke were baffled by Gap’s discordant product output, which includes not only Yeezy Gap but also a home goods collaboration with Walmart. “I come back to the question: Who are you?” said Stephens. “What do you stand for as a brand? And what can consumers look to you for?”
This is a fascinating long read on how consumer tastes have changed, and how trends can resurrect brands again. We shall see if this can work for Gap too.
Beyond the paywall this week:
How to find a mental health app that works for you
Why do liars seems to get away with it so easily?
How to move past, “We’re doomed”
7 Guided meditations for these uncertain times
Why the “sandwich approach” to negative feedback may not be so great
A guide to every step you need to take for online security
Why we will continue to see more robots than humans in space
The snack vending machine and its enduring appeal
Learning to backflip in just one hour
What we can learn from how women heads of state led in the first wave of COVID-19
Why do liars seems to get away with it so easily?
If we accept that sometimes it's acceptable to tell lies - maybe the little ones that don't have major consequences and smooth the path of life - then why is it that some people are better at it than others? People who think they are good at lying seem to have a few things in common, like using a range of strategies such as keeping statements clear and simple, and a lower use of avoidance.
“Prolific liars rely … a great deal on being good with words, weaving their lies into truths, so it becomes hard for others to distinguish the difference, and they’re also better than most at hiding lies within apparently simple, clear stories which are harder for others to doubt.” - Dr Brianna Verigin, Maastricht University
Read a summary, a here’s a link to the original paper.
More robots than humans in space?
We are heading into a period of incredible space activity over the next few years, even if collaboration on the ISS starts to take a back seat. What with the first Artemis mission taking place as early as next month, and SpaceX targets for Mars launches and landings in the middle of this decade, how will these vehicles and exploration be controlled? It’s likely to be a continuation of remote exploration from here on earth, and increasingly sophisticated autonomous vehicles and other robots. Perhaps humans will continue to take a back seat for longer than we think. Check this out for more.
Every step you need to take for simple online security
This is a great article from The Wirecutter that will continue to be updated over the next few weeks with more steps that everyone can take, as well as advice for handling circumstances that require extra attention. Some of these steps take minutes or even seconds to complete, but others are more complex. The overall aim here is to develop a strong security baseline for your online life that doesn’t require much effort to maintain but truly makes your digital life more secure. With that in mind, it’s better to inch your way forward rather than wear yourself out thinking too much about it all. It’s well worth the effort.
Maybe I won’t make that sandwich after all
Have you ever used the “sandwich approach” to give negative feedback to your direct reports? You sandwich the negative feedback between two pieces of positive feedback. It’s a common method, but the sandwich approach may be undermining both your feedback and your relationships with your direct reports.
Read the full article here, and an original paper on this very topic here too.
How to find a mental health app that works for you
how do you make an informed decision about whether to add a mental health app to your phone? The New York Times asked several experts for guidance. Made free for you to read through my Substack.
7 Guided mediations for these uncertain times
These audio meditations are just 5 minutes long, and made free for you to access via my Substack. You’re welcome.
We love snacks from machines
Vending machines are so very, very popular, even though there have occasions when they have delivered more than a snack.
Vending machines do kill their human patrons every so often. A US study in 1998 recorded 37 deaths and 113 injuries over a 20-year period, which amounted to an average of 1.85 kills per annum. This statistic, never formally updated or corrected since, sometimes prompts the claim that vending machines are deadlier than sharks.
So, what’s behind the indestructible appeal of the (potentially lethal) robotic snack?
Learning from how women led during COVID-19
A virtuous leader influences others by role-modelling ethically desirable behaviours. The highlights included in this original paper published in Organizational Dynamics includes:
How women leaders led better through COVID-19 because they led with virtues
Virtues-strategies can help all managers to lead better through crisis
The key crisis virtues are humanity, justice, prudence, courage, and temperance
Wisdom and transcendence also support good crisis leadership.
Thanks for reading
Enjoy the weekend and your week ahead: I’ll be posting from London.
Look out for a chat thread from me where you can ask about my experience of international travel now New Zealand’s borders have opened up - exclusively for paid subscribers.
-Sarb