Apple : Leadership in times of crisis: three ways to build resilience

Leadership in times of crisis: three ways to build resilience
The best value 15-inch laptop out there has a surprising design that will split the room
How to watch Dispatches from Elsewhere: stream online from anywhere in the world

Leadership in times of crisis: three ways to build resilience

Posted: 28 Apr 2020 05:30 AM PDT

There is no leadership manual for dealing with a once-in-a-century global health emergency—no script to guide what you should say to team members, customers, and stakeholders in your business.

Right now, everyone’s leadership skills are being tested in ways we could have barely imagined a month ago. It’s not just a question of how resilient our organisations are and how quickly they can adapt to lockdowns and restrictions on travel. It’s a challenge to our resilience as human beings.

When Stewart Butterfield, the founder of Slack, tweeted the story in recent days of how his business was responding to the Covid-19 emergency, he prefaced his comments with a simple introductory note: “I’m a human. I worry about my family and am deeply concerned about the millions whose jobs and health are at risk.” It was the right starting note.

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I’ve always believed that great leadership is forged in the crucible of adversity, but great leaders are those who respond with empathy and vulnerability even when making the toughest decisions. We all need reserves of determination and positivity at precisely the moments those qualities are stretched thin.

Where do those reserves come from? Here are four ways to build resilience:

Own your resilience

Meet one of the most remarkable people I know, Debra Searle. She is a successful entrepreneur, author, and television presenter—and she’s been twice-honoured by the Queen for her achievements in her native UK and beyond. She has a mental toolkit that served her well through one of the toughest tests imaginable: rowing across 3,000 miles of ocean by herself in a boat built for two.

Debra’s tips range from “running the movie”— visualise yourself confronting and overcoming the challenging times ahead—to choosing your attitude every day.

“This is the one thing I had a choice about,” Debra says. “Every day I made an attitude choice: I said it out loud. It had to be a positive attitude. Negative attitudes were banned on the boat.”

Keep communicating

Keep talking. Keep listening. Our team has been communicating openly on multiple channels as the coronavirus crisis has developed and after the decision to ask staff to work remotely. There are virtual meetings, recorded sessions, emails, and I’ve opened my schedule to anyone in the business to book time for a conversation. And those conversations have ranged from the current crisis, to our customer response, to just having a laugh about our home office hijinks.

The most important message is how to embrace the ‘“new normal’” for the entire team. We all need to prioritise and support our family during times like these. For some, the new normal might look like two working adults competing for internet bandwidth at home taking turns to respond to the cries of a toddler or two. For others, it might be taking care of at-risk parents or relatives. But whatever the new normal is for each colleague, there’s one thing they all needed to know from their leader: prioritise your family and your wellbeing. If anything has to give in life right now, let it be work.

When it's all done, reflect and learn

When this crisis abates—and it will in time—the temptation is for leaders to rush ahead without a backward glance. But part of resilience is learning lessons. Former US Navy SEAL Commander Mark McGinnis describes this as part of the “Corporate Battle Rhythm”—a full cycle of planning, briefing, execution and debriefing.

“After a mission, we come together immediately in a very hallowed environment where there’s no rank, no blame, no privilege, no seniority, and we sit down and talk unemotionally about the successes and failures of the mission. It’s important to capture both,” he says.

“The successes because we want to continue to do things that are working and the failures because we can’t afford to make the same mistake twice. If we repeat mistakes in my world it has catastrophic results.”

And the outcome of a SEAL team’s debrief isn’t just kept within the mission squad. The lessons are open to every SEAL, from the top to bottom rank. “I’m accelerating everyone’s experience, whether they’re going out and doing operations or not,” says Mark.

Take the time to reflect and hold a debrief; no two crises are the same, but there will be lessons to learn from your organisation’s response to Covid-19.

Lead as though your children are watching

In essence, times of crisis challenge leaders to be the best versions of themselves. I’m reminded of an idea that Sean Pederson of Trek Bicycles came up with a few years ago: “Lead as though your children are watching.” It’s great advice. And right now, if you’re reading this while you’re working at home, they probably are.

Alex Shootman is CEO at Workfront

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The best value 15-inch laptop out there has a surprising design that will split the room

Posted: 27 Apr 2020 08:00 PM PDT

15.6-inch laptops are slowly falling out of favour, pushed to the sidelines by the smaller 13.3-inch and 14-inch models, seen by many as being more portable. That form factor though has its advantages, especially if you’re after a business laptop.

A big screen means that you have more real estate for your keyboard and most 15.6-inch laptops will have a dedicated numeric keypad, a boon for bean counters, spreadsheet aficionado and those that rely on ASCII codes.

At just under $350 excluding shipping and tax, the Teclast F15 is almost certainly the best value 15.6-inch laptop on the market right now, for a number of reasons. This one has an all metal body with a large touchpad and a backlit keyboard.

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The quad-core Intel Celeron N4100 CPU is paired with 8GB of LPDDR4 memory and a 256GB M2 SATA solid state drive. Don’t discard the Celeron CPU too fast; according to CPUBenchmark, it is as fast as an Intel Core i3-7020U which is no mean feat.

And that’s not all; the device is thin (only 15mm thick) and 1.8Kg in weight, with a 7mm bezel and a 91% screen-to-body ratio. How have they managed to achieve that? The engineers have brought in a barrel hinge and shove most connectors at the back. A very rare feature across laptops and for a good reason; you can’t see where you’re plugging stuff.

There’s two USB 3.0, a HDMI and one microSD port at the back with a DC socket and earphone jack on either side of the F15.

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How to watch Dispatches from Elsewhere: stream online from anywhere in the world

Posted: 27 Apr 2020 03:53 PM PDT

Created by and starring Jason Segel (How I Met Your Mother, Forgetting Sarah Marshall), Dispatches from Elsewhere is a mysterious drama show about to reach its conclusion in the US and begin gripping UK audiences. Read on to find out how to stream the show online from anywhere, including the season finale.

The at times surreal show follows four ordinary people that share the common denominator of feeling like there’s something missing in their lives. The foursome are brought together after stumbling upon a puzzle "hiding just behind the veil of everyday life".

As they begin to accept the mysterious challenges thrown up by the puzzle, they come to find that the mystery winds deeper than they imagined, exposing them to a world of possibility and magic.

Despite being given very little in the way of clues, the mystery of the game maintains the character’s intrigue, with each piece of the puzzle, or 'Dispatches from Elsewhere', bringing them closer to the answers they seek.

Alongside Segel, the show boasts an all-star cast which includes Andre Benjamin (whom you might know better as Andre 3000 from Outkast), Sally Field, and Richard E Grant. One of the most unique shows of the year so far, keep reading to find out how to watch Dispatches from Elsewhere from anywhere in the world.

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Watch Dispatches from Elsewhere online from outside your country

While many US cable subscribers will find it easy to watch Dispatches from Elsewhere online thanks to AMC's website and app, it gets a bit more complicated if you find yourself abroad and want to tune in to watch the show.

Fortunately, there's an easy solution. Downloading a VPN will allow you to watch Dispatches from Elsewhere online live as it airs, no matter where you are. This simple bit of kit changes your IP address so that you can access episodes live or on demand as they become available, just as if you were lying on the sofa getting your lockdown on.

How to watch the Dispatches from Elsewhere online for free it the US

FuboTV: Offering access to more than 100 channels including AMC, FuboTV costs just $54.99 a month but you can bag a free trial first to see if it's right for you. Based on our experience, it's a particularly good option for fans of top TV shows like Better Call Saul who also love sports, as FuboTV offers quality Premier League live streams plus NBA coverage, NFL games and much more.
AMC Premiere: AMC's paid-for app lets you watch episodes of shows like Dispatches from Elsewhere live and ad-free on most major devices and can be had for just $4.99 a month. You'll need to confirm your TV provider to sign-up, but provided you can do that, there's usually a free trial available for eligible customers.
Amazon Prime Video: Buy individual episodes of Dispatches from Elsewhere in HD for just $2.99 a pop - or grab yourself all of season 5 for a mere $24.99. Just remember that you won't be able to watch the new Dispatches from Elsewhere episode until after AMC has aired it live on Monday night.
YouTube TV: It's a hefty $44.99 but that price gets you access to over 70 channels including AMC, so the latest episodes of Dispatches from Elsewhere will be at your fingertips after they've aired live on Monday night.