Tag: productivity

• Positivity in life (The happy secret to better work)

  https://embed-ssl.ted.com/talks/shawn_achor_the_happy_secret_to_better_work.html

  Earlier this week I watched the above TED talk called, The happy secret to better work. It’s only 12 minutes long.

  In it, Shawn Achor argues that we’ve got it all wrong and backwards when it comes to our happiness. We constantly set (moving) goals and then tell ourselves that once we achieve those goals we’ll be happy.

  We tell ourselves that once we get that degree, buy that new home, or secure that new promotion, that we’ll be happier. And I’m definitely guilty of that sometimes. I think many goal oriented people are.

  But his argument is that if happiness sits outside of those moving targets, we’ll never be as happy as we could be. Happiness needs to sit within those goals. In other words, we need to focus on being happy today, not tomorrow.

  But the other powerful thing about this approach is that greater happiness has been shown to improve productivity. So if you simply flip this equation, you’ll probably be not only happier but more successful.

  At the end of last year, somebody told me that they were really enjoying my blog because of how positive I always seem to be about the future of cities and the world.

  And that was honestly one of the nicest things to hear from a reader, because I truly believe that optimism, not pessimism, is what moves the world forward.

  2015.01.10

• Competitiveness and currency

  The Globe and Mail published an article yesterday morning called, “Why a lower loonie is (mostly) good for Canada.” It talks about the recent decline of the Canadian dollar from parity last May to roughly USD $0.92 today. But that the drop is essentially because of a rising US dollar. 

  Irrespective of what’s causing the devaluation though, the article takes the tone that it’s generally good for the country:

  “On net, this could be seen as a good thing because it’s making Canadian goods and services more competitive,” said Michael Devereux, a professor at the University of British Columbia’s Vancouver School of Economics.

  But this viewpoint always gets me concerned. 

  Canadian goods and services shouldn’t be competitive because they’re cheaper; they should be competitive because they’re the best damn good and services in the world. And so my fear with statements, like the one above, is that it almost makes us believe that a weak dollar is a prerequisite for competitiveness. It’s not.

  In fact, research done by Professor Walid Hejazi at the Rotman School has shown that a weak Canadian dollar actually lowers productivity levels and creates a disincentive for innovation. Why bother to innovate when you can always get your goods and services to market at a lower cost than your competitors?

  Thankfully, the outgoing Senior Deputy Governor of the Bank of Canada (and upcoming Dean of the Rotman School), Tiff Macklem, has acknowledged this perspective. In a talk at Queen’s University last January, he said:

  “What should Canadian businesses do? First, don’t count on a weaker Canadian dollar. Hoping for a weaker Canadian dollar is not a business plan. A sustainable export strategy cannot rely on expectations of a more favourable exchange rate, since Canada is likely to remain an attractive investment destination.”

  That sounds like good advice to me.

  2014.01.12

• The 25-Hour Work Week, And Other Radical Ideas For Better Employee Productivity

  I dont care when you work how you work or where you work. In an excerpt from her upcoming book author Rana Florida explores unconventional ideas for…

  The 25-Hour Work Week, And Other Radical Ideas For Better Employee Productivity

  2013.08.15