UAE adopts a 4½ day work week – which country will be first to 4 days a week?

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United Arab Emirates is the first country in the world to adopt a 4½ day workweek across the government. At the same time it switched from a Friday-Saturday weekend, as is common in Muslim countries, to a break extending from Friday afternoon through Sunday, aligning its calendar with Western countries. Private employers are expected to follow suit.

In a country that has a Minister of Happiness, the government emphasised the social as well as economic benefits.
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As long as the universe is changing… there will be opportunities

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All change creates both challenges and opportunities.

All life is change: being born, growing, learning, maturing, dying, evolving.

Society is continually transforming: moving from the past to the future, building on our human history, creating new and unique manifestations of humanity.

Our world is morphing: the turning of the seasons, the movement of the continents, shifts in climate and flora and fauna, both natural and anthropogenic.
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Designing effective hybrid work: leveraging the 5 reasons for offices to exist

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As we emerge from the pandemic, in most countries office work is resuming at scale, meaning doing hybrid work well is a priority for every organization. This topic currently makes up a considerable portion of my client work.

Many workers and executives have learned to appreciate the many positives of remote work, yet for many reasons very few companies will dispense with offices, since they can play a valuable role in highly productive organizations.
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Is taking equity in individuals the future of venture capital and human potential?

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News that the investment firm of former Facebook VP Sam Lessin, Slow Ventures, has invested $1.7 million in YouTuber Marina Mogilko has reinvigorated the debate over whether investing in individuals is a good idea.

The deal gives Lessin 5% of Mogilko’s creator earnings for the next 30 years, but only if her earnings reach a certain threshold.

I first wrote about this idea in 2010 in a piece Will there be capital markets for people?, in which I looked at what had already happened in the space, and then again in 2012 writing about the startup Upstart, which tried to establish the same model. (Upstart subsdquently reverted to a more traditional personal lending model based on AI predictions, went to IPO last year and is now valued over 10x hgher at more than $20 billion).
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The value of agents for professional speakers: 6 drivers to move to the next level

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I have been a professional speaker for a little over 20 years, with my first solid paid gig in January 2000. I have undertaken many other ventures over the years, but I have been speaking consistently throughout, with it often being my primary source of income given the frequently long payback period for startups.

I recently reached a significant threshold in my speaking career. I am now represented by Provoke Management, an elite speaker management company. I was honored to be invited by its co-founder, author and speaker Brett King, and I’m delighted to be working with the exceptionally experienced Jay Kemp and Tanja Markovic at Provoke, with my talented colleagues including the likes of Jim Marous, Dave Birch, Robert Tercek, and Jo Ann Barefoot.
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LinkedIn enters the freelancer service marketplace: the implications

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LinkedIn has today entered the service marketplace business. This is substantial news in the rapidly evolving work landscape.

Now anyone can use LinkedIn’s ‘Open to Work’ feature at the top of their profile to indicate availability to provide services, either local or remote, across 250 pre-defined categories (shortly expanding to 500), with for now no fees (or direct invoicing) for freelancers or clients. LinkedIn’s intention is to develop the feature substantially.
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Factors for success in the new era of hybrid work

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We are at a critical juncture in the evolution of business and work. After almost a year of concerted vaccination programs throughout the developing world, COVID is shifting from a pandemic to being endemic, still likely to be present indefinitely, but contained and allowing us to resume relatively normal lives.

This is leading to a gradual—or sometimes rapid—resumption of office-based work. A minority of organizations appear to be intent on reverting to work structures very similar to those before the pandemic, with standard office hours, five days a week the norm. That is an enormous missed opportunity. This is a time to move forward rather than look back. 
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Nancy White on powerful facilitation practices: self-awareness, don’t do it alone, experiment, commitment

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Facilitation is arguably the most valuable skill in the world. If you can help people to be collectively more intelligent, you unlock vast wealth. Facilitation can also be applied to individuals, in assisting them to apply their capabilities to achieve what they want.

‘Facilitate’ means to make easier. If you can ease the path to people working well together, beautiful things can happen.

A while ago on The Virtual Excellence Show I interviewed Nancy White, recognized by many as a master facilitator in both virtual and physical spaces for the last couple of decades.

Here is a segment of our broad-ranging conversation in which Nancy shares deep insights into developing facilitation skills. Recommended! Watch the video, or read the full transcript below.
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The continued growth of the economy of individuals

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I recently spoke to Steve Poor, chairman of Seyfarth Shaw, one of the world’s top 100 law firms, for his Pioneers and Pathfinders podcast.

I greatly enjoyed our far-ranging conversation, which delved deep into the future of work and as far as the future of society. You can listen to the whole episode below.

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Thought landscape: Thinking, Technology, Business, Humanity

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In order to gain more clarity for myself on what is important to me, I have created a draft Thought Landscape of primary topics, arranged across four related themes: Thinking, Technology, Business, and Humanity. This will be useful for me in filtering information and guiding the frameworks I develop on these topics.
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