Top articles of the week | March 21

March 21, 2020

Every week, we put together a list of our top 5 articles of the past week. Happy reading!

Wikipedia Is the Last Best Place on the Internet Wired (reading time: 19 minutes)

Wikipedia’s existence and quality of information feels rather quaint today. Of course it makes sense to move the vast store of human knowledge and history online. This wasn’t always the case though. The site was derided by many and in many regards is still far from perfect. It’s amazing to see the army of contributors diligently contribute in keeping articles updated. The business model is a non-profit and it has bold ambitions for the future.

Happy Talk versus Hard Talk David Sacks (reading time: 4 minutes)

“Happy Talk, a basic failure to admit problems until it is too late.” David Sacks makes the argument that the number one killer of startups is happy talk, the inability to confront problems early. He uses Winston Churchill to prove his point. When Churchill was named prime minister in 1940, he took over at a moment of heightened crisis. His speeches didn’t sugar coat the situation. This is a short quick read that I really enjoyed and the Churchill reference won me over easily.

2020 Tech Trends Report Future Today Institute (reading time: 25 minutes)

This is a fantastic report that I highly recommend. It lays out with clarity the most important technological trends of this decade. The report is quite long and the summary provides a good overview. There’s so much great information and is presented with a neat strategic framework.

Strategic Planning in a Fast-moving Environment Christine Schmid (reading time: 5 minutes)

We simply don’t have the luxury to plan on two- or three-year horizons anymore. Amen, to that. Long-term planning is a luxury that very few industries (if any) can afford anymore. In technology, the environment is so dynamic that planning cycles need to be much shorter.

The objective of strategy is to finding new business models which means experimentation at scale. This, in effect, means bringing strategy closer to innovation.

How Will Things Be Different When It’s All Over? BCG Henderson Institute (reading time 7 minutes)

In anticipating this new post-crisis world and seizing opportunity in adversity, we need to think consider several shaping forces: new learnings, new attitudes, new habits and new needs.

What will happen once the crisis is over? No one can predict the future for sure. The economic impact will vary by sector and emergent opportunities will appear. BCG shares how companies can take advantage of these opportunities.