Organisation culture, consumer mindset, How to Rest, Eat and more in this week’s set.

How to Sustain Your Organization’s Culture When Everyone Is Remote – While most of my work happens remotely, I used to work out a co-working space. I enjoyed the feeling of ‘going to work’ and being surrounded by other co-workers. I no longer do so, but there is no doubt that remote working can and must be impacting the culture at many organisations. “Culture is ultimately about the actions we take and make visible to others, and the meanings we invest in those — harder, but not impossible, to maintain from the kitchen table.”

Are Recent Trends Here to Stay? – Some insights from Search trends on Google on understanding consumer mindset during the Coronavirus pandemic.

The Lost Art of True Rest – When, if ever, do we really ‘Rest’? This is a question worth introspecting over, especially in the current situation.

Defund The Police – A great take on the movement against racial discrimination in the US. While the circumstances leading up to it have been very sad, it is nice to see some action being taken. This article highlights some more action that can be taken by corporates to sustain the movement and bring long-lasting and impactful change.

You’ve got five appetites — not just one – Over the past couple of years, I have consciously tried to eat healthier. I strongly feel that this is one of the best steps we can take to a healthier lifestyle. Definitely worth a read (and hopefully, action).

We have just had a very interesting day (at least in India). Yesterday, June 21, was the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, The International Yoga Day, Father’s Day and Music Day. And in India (and other parts of Asia), we got to witness an Annular Solar Eclipse.

Here are a few articles to kick off the week:

The Lifelong Exercise That Keeps Japan Moving – While Yoga is undeniably a great practice to inculcate, another nation has its own unique way of ensuring its citizens stay fit. It’s called “Rajio taiso” and is broadcast daily on Japan’s national radio, streamed on YouTube and practised daily by Japanese of all ages.

Stop Preparing For The Last Disaster – Our tendency as a society is to prepare ourselves for a repeat of the last disaster. This article makes the thought-provoking point that a better approach might be to ‘step back…look at what made us so vulnerable to it in the first place‘.

The Reasons Why People Become Incompetent At Work – Many of us might have heard this phrase in corporate life – “Every employee tends to rise to his or her level of incompetence“. But I did not know, until after reading this article, that the quote was termed by an educationalist called Laurence J Peter, back in 1969. And it continues to remain valid even 50 years on. It leads one to wonder – what is it about the corporate fascination with ‘climbing up the ladder’ that has led to the persistence of this phenomenon?

iAddiction – On a related note is this article on ‘the pursuit of dopamine‘. It states that ‘Technological change is vastly outpacing our species’ ability to adapt to an endless barrage of stimuli. This discrepancy in modulation has exploded our levels of teen depression and social chaos.‘. And it suggests that we practice the art of ‘slowing down‘ to combat this effect.

Articles about Travel, Sustainable Food, The Art of Listening and more in this week’s list:

Why travelers need to rethink their attitude to travel – There is no doubt that travel is one of the worst affected industries by the pandemic. While the industry is cautiously reopening, the recovery is going to be slow. And there is a strong likelihood that things might never go back to ‘normal’. As this articles states, “Each of our individual drives to travel will be different, but as we’re all likely to travel less, it’ll be a lot more important to really understand why we want to travel somewhere so that we can really appreciate it.”

How to feed the world without destroying the planet – This is an article from last year, but still very pertinent. As the world’s population is expected to touch 10 billion by 2050, the article looks at what would need to change across the way we produce and consume food to ensure that everyone has access to a healthy diet.

Coordination Problems: What It Takes to Change the World – “It’s possible to change things on a large scale if we are able to communicate on a much greater scale. When everyone knows that everyone knows, changing what we do is much easier.”

How to Disagree Well – Of late, I have started to see more articles trying to connect observations while working at home (typically related to family) with business situations. This is one such post. Worth a quick read.

As India unlocks, here are six ways our lives have changed forever – This article is a great summary of the impact the pandemic will have on our lives going forward. Some might, hopefully, be a short-term impact only, but others might be more long lasting. We can only wait and watch.

Are You The Global Best? – With WFH (Work From Home) becoming more acceptable, the author argues convincingly that all of us have to strive to be the best globally in whatever we do, as the old barrier of physical location slowly breaks down.

Al Jaffee Retires at 99 – Imagine working for 76 years in the same profession, and working till the age of 99! I find it hard to even grasp, but that’s precisely what professional cartoonist, Al Jaffee did, before finally deciding to retire last week.

Inside the Secret World of Russia’s Cold War Mapmakers – I have a passion for reading maps. And even if you don’t share my passion, this is still an interesting article to read.

Unlearn: The Year The Earth Stood Still – Travel is another of my passions. While reflecting on how this interruption would impact the future of tourism, author, entrepreneur and philanthropist, Bruce Poon Tip, has concluded that despite the hardships being presented to many of us, we have been given the gift of reshaping how we travel in the future.