Money market mutual funds are convenient for individual investors and big institutions to keep money temporarily. However, their yields have been very low for years. The Federal Reserve has begun to increase the short-term interest rate it controls, and money market fund yields available to consumers have started to rise. They will climb as long as the Fed increases short-term rates. But the yield on the average big money market funds is still only roughly 0.6 percent. Considering the rate of inflation running at 8.6 percent annual rate in May 2022, that is a negative rate of return.

Money market mutual funds 

Money market mutual funds receive the reverse repurchase agreement, a.k.a. the reverse repo rate, for funds held by the Fed overnight, so it functions as a rough floor on yields. That rate stands at 0.8 percent. It was close to zero for many months.  At the moment, short-term Treasury bills, with yields in the 0.85 - 1.05 percent range, provide a practical ceiling for funds that hold government securities. If the operating expenses of money market funds exceed the income they bring in, the funds could theoretically pay negative yields.

The role of the Fed

in the current unsettled markets, many people need good places to keep their short-term cash. Money market funds could work, but with some qualifications.<ul><li>Another place for holding short-term money safely includes U.S. government bonds, which yield 9.62 percent. There are penalties if you cash them in before five years.</li><li>Bank accounts are very safe, even if the interest most pay is on average just 0.07 percent.</li><li>The Vanguard Federal Money Market Fund has a yield of 0.72 percent.</li><li>The T. Rowe Price Cash Reserves Fund is close at 0.66 percent.</li><li>The Fidelity Money Market Fund has a yield of 0.60 percent.</li></ul>

A place for cash

The yields are still very low. They don’t keep up with inflation, and if they eventually do, that’s probably not good news either.  Even if the Federal Reserve manages to reduce the rate of inflation close to its 2 percent target rate, it will slow the economy, perhaps tipping it into a recession. If the slowdown is evident, the Fed is likely to start cutting rates, creating an opportunity for nimble money market fund managers to beat inflation by a small amount.  While money market fund yields are improving, as an investment they remain a bad idea.

When rates fall again

At last, interest rates for money market funds have started to rise. But inflation means that in real terms, you’re still losing money.

Discover the world of business and economics.

economics

Economics

moneyandinvestments

Money & Investments

How Inflation May Change Where You Put Your Cash

Psychologist Dacher Keltner writes that at the heart of power is a troubling paradox: "We rise in power and make a difference in the world due to what is best about human nature, but we fall from power due to what is worst. We gain a capacity to make a difference in the world by enhancing the lives of others, but the very experience of having power and privilege leads us to behave, in our worst moments, like impulsive, out-of-control sociopaths. How we handle the power paradox guides our personal and work lives and determines, ultimately, how happy we and the people we care about will be."

Power dynamics

Keltner argues that our culture's understanding of power causes us to mishandle the power paradox. Our understanding of power was shaped by Niccolò Machiavelli's sixteenth-century book The Prince, but it is outdated today. Today, a different kind of power governs the modern world. It's softer, more relational, predicated on reputation, not force, measured by an ability to affect others positively and shift the world.

Mishandling the power paradox

Thoreau wrote, "There are many fine things which we cannot say if we have to shout." Yet, a  century and a half later, we've created a culture that equates loudness with leadership and abrasiveness with authority. Keltner adds to Thoreau's wisdom that a new wave of thinking about power shows that it's given to us by others, not grabbed. Our influence is only as good as what others think of us. Enduring power is a privilege that depends on other people to give it to us.

Thoreau’s wisdom on silence and shouting

Even if power is gained by kindness, generosity, and concern for the common good, power itself will eventually warp priorities and become less kind, less generous, and less concerned with the common good, which will erode her power. For example, poor people give a greater percentage of their income to charity than rich people. Those in power often show more entitled behaviours, drivers of expensive cars are most inconsiderate to pedestrians, etc.

Power itself eventually warp

Power in the modern world is "gained and maintained through a focus on others."  However, the more powerful a person becomes, the busier and more rushed they become, causing them to become less kind and generous. It could be that a scarcity of time rather than an excess of power is the real corrupting agent.

Powerful people are busier and more rushed

Keltner offers elegant and necessary definitions of the distinct ideas comprising the constellation of power in modern society: <ul><li>Power is your ability to make a difference in the world by influencing the states of other people.</li><li>Status is the respect you enjoy from other people in your social network. Status and power often go together, but not always.</li><li>Control is your capacity to determine the outcomes in your life. You can have control but no power, such as a reclusive hermit.</li><li>Social class is a mixture of family wealth, educational achievement, and occupational prestige that you enjoy.</li></ul>

Definitions of power, status, control, and social class

Understand yourself and those around you.

psychology

Psychology

leadershipandmanagement

Leadership & Management

The Power Paradox: The Surprising and Sobering Science of How We Gain and Lose Influence

When we think of influence, we don’t generally tend to think about the influence we naturally have, which is why we probably have more influence than we think.<ul><li>Influence is so much more than social media engagement, it’s about understanding the psychology of your interactions.</li><li>Allowing yourself to look past your biases will reveal the natural influence you have in your everyday life.</li></ul>

Influence And Bias

Basing your happiness on comparisons isn’t helpful because we are hopeless at setting reliable benchmarks for those comparisons”

Everyday people have more influence than they give themselves credit for.<ul><li>Marketing, advertising, and social media influencers have created an aggressive and flashy narrative around the influence that isn’t applicable to most people</li><li>The psychology of influence is so much more than just Twitter likes, it’s about understanding your everyday interactions.</li><li>So many “influence” books claim that you need to gain influence, and that you don’t have it already—but that’s simply not true. This false narrative only bolsters our biases and causes us to ignore our natural influences.</li></ul>

Gaining Vs Natural Influence

The Invisibility Cloak Illusion: Tendency to (incorrectly) believe that you notice people more than they notice youWe almost always underestimate how many people are paying attention to usThe Spotlight Effect: Tendency to overestimate how much others notice aspects of one’s appearance or behaviorThe Barry Manilow T-Shirt Experiment: People don’t actively notice your flaws as much as you thinkThe Liking Gap: Tendency to underestimate how much a conversation partner enjoyed the conversation and how much they liked you afterwards.

The Biases That Influence Our Perception Of Our Influence

We unfairly judge ourselves on the specifics of the conversation while we judge the other person on warmth and friendliness.Based on the referenced study, the actual likeness is about 12% higher than the perception.Audience Tuning Effect: Tendency to adjust our language and context based on who we are talking toSaying is Believing Effect: When we take audience tuning too far, we begin to muddy our own reality, memory, and opinionsThanks, but No Thanks Experiment: We overestimate how awkward it is to receive a compliment and we underestimate how good a compliment makes us feel

The Blind Spots Of Our Mind

<ul><li>The average person thinks they are less social than the average person</li><li>Logically, this can’t be true, so there’s plenty of bias involved in FOMO.</li><li>We have a tendency to compare ourselves to the maximum rather than the mean</li><li>Basing your happiness on comparisons isn’t helpful because we are hopeless at setting reliable benchmarks for those comparisons.</li></ul>

Fear Of Missing Out (FOMO)

<ul><li>Engage more and worry less about getting things perfect.</li><li>By trying to avoid negative interactions, you actively limit the opportunity for positive interactions.</li><li>Interactions are usually less awkward than you think, and the results are almost always surprisingly comforting.</li></ul>

Staying Worry Free And Being Okay With Imperfection

Our biases and blindspots relating to us.

Nudge - Marketing Science Simplified✓Claim  Podcast Notes Key Takeaways “When we think of influence, we think of influences. But, we rarely think about ourselves. We don’t tend to think about the influence we naturally have, which is why you probably have more influence than you think.”– Phill AgnewInfluence is so much more than social media engagement, it’s about understanding the psychology of your interactionsAllowing yourself to look past your biases will reveal the natural influence you have in your everyday lifeVanessa and Phill explore the everyday biases that hold us back from seeing our natural influence:The Invisibility Cloak Illusion: Tendency to (incorrectly) believe that you notice people more than they notice youThe Spotlight Effect: Tendency to overestimate how much others notice aspects of one’s appearance or behaviorAnd more!“Basing your happiness on comparisons isn’t helpful because we are hopeless at setting reliable benchmarks for those comparisons”– Phill AgnewIt can’t be logically true for the average person to think they are less social than the average personEngage more and worry less about getting things perfectThe positive outcomes almost always outweigh the negativeDon’t be limited by perception—it’s usually incorrect anywayRead the full notes @ podcastnotes.orgWhen you think of influence you probably think of Beyonce, Ronaldo, or Obama. But you don’t think about yourself. In today’s show, Professor Vanessa Bohns talks about the influence you already have. She explains why we underestimate how many people like our company, why we overestimate how social our friends are, and how we change our views depending on who we’re talking to. Tune in and I guarantee you’ll learn something surprising about yourself. Vanessa’s book: https://www.vanessabohns.com/ Follow Vanessa on Twitter: https://twitter.com/profbohns Sign up for the Nudge Newsletter: https://www.nudgepodcast.com/mailing-list

podcasts

Podcasts

You have more influence than you think

Social scientists are finding users are not just editing settings on social media. Users, especially women, are editing their bodies and faces. And this practice has led to a new standard of beauty.Problematically, social scientists say this standard of beauty is nearly impossible to obtain. Some people have turned to cosmetic surgery to get the results they want. Others are grappling with anxiety or eating disorders. Researchers say it’s a growing issue impacting young people worldwide.

Fake Famous

"Slim thick" is the new body ideal. Celebrities Kim Kardashian and Nikki Minaj represent this standard — slender face and arms, large breasts, flat stomach, ample hips and a "beach-ball" butt.Only a small percentage of women’s bodies are going to be able to achieve this with the targeted workouts. In the absence of being able to achieve this, women all over the world are getting plastic surgery.

Women's 2022 Body Shape Goal

Social media now provides users with a steady stream of images that are edited to fit with the new slim thick ideal. We’re constantly staring at our phones and looking at these images and it creates a normalizing effect. It’s constant comparison, mostly of the bad kind.There are multiple types of comparison. <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352250X20300464">Upward comparison</a> occurs when a person looks at images of a person they perceive as being better than themselves. Not surprisingly, studies have found that engaging in upward comparison has a negative impact on a person’s well-being.

Hyper Comparison

Another type of comparison occurs when the social media user compares their online, edited self to their real-life body. Online editing software has evolved beyond removing red-eye or whitening teeth. Users can now make their bodies look thinner, plump lips, or remove acne.The editing tools are limitless and allow you to morph your features in any way you want.Social media has changed both expectations for the ideal body type and which facial features are now considered ideal. This new ideal includes slanted, cat-like eyes, slender noses, high cheekbones and full lips.

Our Real Self Vs The Online Image

The face we show online is the pulling of features for the exoticization of beauty.Social media users can use editing tools to achieve the look in pictures. The person might be satisfied with the photo, but that sense of self-contentedness doesn’t continue when they look in the mirror.

That Online Face You Create Does Not Exist In Real Life

Studies are seeing a connection between the editing tools and plastic surgery, a trend practitioners call “<a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8823563/">Snapchat dysmorphia.”</a> One study of plastic surgery patients found social media users who edit their photos were <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8485851/">more likely to seek cosmetic enhancement</a>. Similarly, <a href="https://academic.oup.com/asj/article/41/3/NP101/5802785?login=true">in a 2020 study</a> in Aesthetic Surgery Journal, one-third of surveyed cosmetic enhancement patients said they used editing tools. Half of the respondents said social media influenced their decision to seek cosmetic surgery or fillers.

Snapchat Dysmorphia

Beauty standards have always been set out of reach of the average person.The problem is that editing software now gives people a new vision of themselves at a time when beauty standards have morphed into an impossible idea.

Impossible Beauty Standards

Studies are seeing connections between social media editing tools and plastic surgery.  

marketingandsales

Marketing & Sales

artsandculture

Society, Arts & Culture

How Is Social Media Morphing Our Self-Image?

For a company with staff all over the world, sharing documentation typically makes more sense than aligning schedules for a video conference.But when something’s not clicking, people just aren’t agreeing with whatever you’re trying to decide, it’s a great time to hop onto a meeting. The key is to avoid making meetings the default option for your communication needs. Instead, they should be used sparingly, and only when the desired outcome justifies their use.

Hold meetings for the right reasons

Great meetings begin with an icebreaker to get the participants feeling grounded and comfortable with one another. For example, lead your audience through a quick exercise on a Miro board, inviting them to match their mood to a spot on an emotions wheel.

If you do have to hold a meeting, start with an icebreaker

People are always looking for value in any sort of dialogue. Identify their wants and needs and appeal to them as best you can while remembering your own purpose. Reading the situation this way will help you figure out how to best communicate—for example, whether the situation calls for more yes/no questions or more open-ended inquiries.

Know the value your fellow collaborators are looking for

Good documentation is the bedrock of any modern workplace, particularly when the staff is far-flung. And you’ll want everyone to feel empowered to serve as a documentarian.Screen for that from the very beginning, from the hiring process.

Hire for and hone people’s writing skills

If your job requires cross-cultural collaboration, stop using idioms.A few terms commonly used in American business that do not translate easily for non-native English speakers:<ul><li>Bring our A-game</li><li>Come up for air</li><li>Cut and dry</li><li>Level the playing field</li><li>Off the top of my head</li><li>Zero in on</li><li>Get ahead of the curve</li><li>Put out some feelers.</li></ul>Replace them with a single word

Stick to “global English”

Collaboration has been a corporate buzzword for at least a decade, but even those who have mastered it have had to rethink their approaches at companies that are now largely remote or hybrid.

personaldevelopment

Personal Development

communication

Communication

teamwork

Teamwork

How to be a better collaborator in a distributed-workforce world

Employees who want to join the Great Resignation may underestimate the switching cost and overestimate the potential satisfaction of a new job. Instead, they should seek opportunities to job craft.  Job crafting is proactively customising tasks and relationships to create a fulfilling job. Job crafting takes self-awareness, awareness of others, and a willingness to stimulate change.

Job crafting instead of job hopping

If you're feeling stifled at work and unable to operate in ways that you know are more efficient or productive, it may be time to increase your structural resources. For example, make the decision to modify the tasks that seem unnecessary. Then, when you've made the change, document the rationale, experiment, evaluate, and iterate. Such changes can allow you to engage in more fulfilling, autonomous activities while helping to improve the organisation.

Increasing structural resources

If you feel like you're not getting new, thought-provoking feedback, advice, or mentorship, it might be time to pursue another form of job crafting, namely increasing social resources. Social resources aren't always a given. So look outside your team, department, division, or company, to find the social resources to help you grow and develop.

Increasing social resources

Increase your challenging demands if you feel bored or uninterested in your work assignments. Spend a small percentage of your time on challenging assignments that help you develop your skillset and stay relevant. It’s your job to be the best employee you can be and often requires you to create these opportunities yourself. Another option is to sit in on projects you find exciting but aren’t formally part of your responsibilities. Most of the time, you will be asked to participate.

Increasing challenging demands

Job crafting can also mean decreasing stressful tasks or relationships. <ul><li>Start by keeping track of your work activities for a few weeks. For each task and relationship, evaluate the degree to which it is energy-depleting.</li><li>Have conversations with colleagues or managers about re-negotiating your tasks or roles.</li></ul>

Decreasing hindrance demands

Job crafting can fix a person-job misfit, but it can't fix systemic issues such as misalignment with organizational values. Job crafting might not always be well-received. It could force colleagues to change when they don't want to change. Job crafters could be seen as low performers because they spend time on unassigned responsibilities.

Limitations of job crafting

Here is another type of worker benefit that gained speed due to the shift to remote work.


career

Career

Job hopping shouldn’t be your first instinct. Try ‘job crafting’ instead

There are nearly eight billion people alive today. Everyone has a story. Each has seen something different and thought something unique and extraordinary you can't understand. Similarly,  you have experienced stuff they wouldn't believe. While technologies evolve and circumstances change, many behaviours across generations and geographies are universal.

People are so different, yet have the same reactions and insecurities

Tribes are everywhere - countries, states, parties, companies, industries, departments, investment styles, economic philosophies, religions, families, schools, majors. Everyone loves their tribe because there's comfort in knowing that people understand your background and share your goals. But tribes have their own rules, beliefs, and ideas that you disagree with. Yet you support it or become blinded by loyalty because you don't want to risk being shunned by the tribe.

Everyone belongs to a tribe and underestimates how influential that tribe is on their thinking

So much of history has been recorded in the world, yet the most prolific over-sharers disclose maybe a thousandth of a percent of what they've been through and what they're thinking. Most people only share what they want you to see. This gives a false view of success. Most things are harder than they look and less fun than they seem. We're exposed only to the highlight of what people want you to know to increase their own chances of success.

What people present to the world is a tiny fraction of what’s going on inside their head

... But observers mostly judge you in binary terms, right or wrong. The idea that something can be likely and not happen, or unlikely and still happen, is one of the world's realities. The best you can do is make decisions where the odds are in your favour. Yet, most of what people care about is, "Were you right or wrong?". People crave certainty. They're not interested in a 60% chance of a recession happening. If someone says "There is going to be a recession this year," they offer something to grab on that feels like you can be in control of your future.

Prediction is about probability and putting the odds of success in your favor.

When you're in the middle of a powerful trend, it's difficult to think how it can turn the other way. We often don't see that what turns trends around usually isn't an outside force. It's when a subtle side-effect of that trend starts to erode. For example, when there's a crisis, people get motivated. When they get motivated, they solve problems. When they solve problems, crises tend to end.

Nothing too good or too bad lasts indefinitely

Jerry Seinfeld had the most popular show on TV. Then he quit. He later stated that the only way to identify the top is to experience the decline, which he wanted to avoid. Most people insist on knowing where the top is. The only way to find the limits is to keep pushing until we’ve gone too far.

Optimism and pessimism always overshoot

We like people who have extreme, outlying success because they do things other people would never consider. However, they are extreme in every way, good and bad. It's dangerous to admire a person for their good traits but start emulating their bad traits because you think that's what made them great.

People who think in unique ways you like also think in unique ways you won’t like

Exploiting an opportunity to its full extent has a terrible side effect: When all opportunity is exploited, and there is no room for error, any system exposed to volatility and accident will eventually break. For example, people strive for efficient lives where no hour is wasted. But when no hour is wasted you have no time to wander, explore or let your thoughts run free – which can be some of the most productive forms of thought. The paradox: maximum efficiency is essential for surviving the short run, while room for error is essential to survival in the long run.

We are pushed toward maximizing efficiency in a way that leaves no room for error

Wherever information is exchanged – wherever there are products, companies, careers, politics, knowledge, education, and culture, the best story always wins. Great ideas explained poorly can go nowhere while old or mistaken ideas told compellingly can start a revolution.

The best story wins

Complexity sells better. Charge a client for ten sentences of advice, and they'll leave in disgust. Give them a phone-book-size elaboration, and they'll pay you a fortune and refer their friends. <ul><li>This is because length shows effort and thoughtfulness.</li><li>Things you don't understand create a mystique around people who do. When they understand stuff you don't, you tend to take what they say at face value.</li><li>Complexity gives a comforting impression of control.</li></ul>

We are swayed by complexity when simplicity is the real mark of intelligence

We all want to believe in the outcome we want, even if it's unlikely to come true. The higher the stakes, the truer this becomes. If you desperately need a solution and a good one isn't known or available to you, the path of least resistance is the willingness to believe anything.

Your willingness to believe a prediction is influenced by how much you need it

Everyone's a little bit blind to how the world works. The gap between how you feel as an outsider can be miles apart from how you feel when experiencing something firsthand. Jason Zweig of the Wall Street Journal wrote: "If I ask you in a questionnaire whether you are afraid of snakes, you might say no. If I throw a live snake in your lap and then ask if you're afraid of snakes, you'll probably say yes." Most of your disagreements would disappear if you could see the world through the lens of your opponent or experience what they have in life.

It’s hard to empathize with other people’s beliefs if they’ve experienced parts of the world you have not.

Daniel Kahneman states that it is "easier to recognize other people's mistakes than our own." When you make a mistake, I judge it based only on what I see. But when I make a mistake, there's a long and persuasive monologue in my head that justifies bad decisions and add information others won't notice.

Justifying your mistakes in your own head in a way you can’t do for others.

In evolution, time and not the little changes move the needle. We can learn a lesson from that: You do not need extraordinary change to deliver extraordinary results. Take investing, for example. Compound interest gives the best return over a long period. Yet, linear thinking is so much more intuitive than exponential thinking. It's easier to ask, "How can I earn the highest returns?" Yet, it's more important to ask, "What are the best returns I can sustain for the longest period of time?"

An underappreciation for how small things compound into extraordinary things

The hardest part in healthcare is getting patients to do what a doctor asks of them. Patients don't follow advice because they couldn't afford it, or it was too intimidating, or they didn't have time. Nothing you diagnose or prescribe matters until you've addressed that reality with patients because even a perfect solution makes no difference to the patient who doesn't follow it. Many things in life work like that: investing, relationships, health, careers. We know what we should do isn't difficult. However, it requires effort.

 The gap between knowing what to do and actually getting people to do it

When thinking about future risks you tend to think in isolation. Success can bring pride, contentment and independence. But it’s rarely what you thought it would be before achieving it. If you think of your future self living in a new mansion, you imagine leisure and everything feeling great. But people in mansions can get the flu, have psoriasis, become embroiled in lawsuits, fight with their spouses.

We’re bad at imagining how change will feel because there’s no context in dreams

Consider 100-year events. One-hundred-year floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, financial crises, frauds, pandemics, political meltdowns, economic recessions. The chance that these events will occur is less than 1%, which is very low. But there's a good chance that any of them will happen in one year. There is a 1% chance of a new disastrous pandemic, a 1% chance of a crippling depression, a 1% chance of a catastrophic flood, a 1% chance of political collapse. Yet, the odds of it happening the next year is uncomfortably high.

We are blind to how fragile the world is due to a poor understanding of rare events.

We can't avoid frustrations, but we can ask, "What is the optimal amount to put up with so I can still function in a messy and imperfect world?" If you can't tolerate it or are averse to differences in opinion, emotions, inefficiencies, or miscommunication, then the odds of succeeding in anything that requires other people is zero.

The inability to accept hassle, nonsense, and inefficiency frustrates people who can’t accept how the world works.

philosophy

Philosophy

problemsolving

Problem Solving

How People Think

Curiosity can help employees perform better, reduce stress and burnout, and forge meaningful connections at work.At a time when companies are struggling to re-engage an exhausted workforce and retain workers in a tight job market, managers can tap into curiosity to help boost employee happiness and jumpstart innovation.

Curiosity and employee experience

<ul><li>Many organizations try to get employees to mix within and across groups, hoping new insights will emerge.</li><li>Social anxiety hampers some people from stretching themselves.</li><li>Productivity goals can also get in the way of workers following an intriguing idea.</li><li>Employees worry they risk being criticized if they pursue novel ideas on the clock.</li></ul>

Networking can be awkward

<ul><li>In a study, after receiving the curiosity-piquing missives, employees were more likely to send messages to people outside their immediate departments and to people in the company they'd never contacted before.</li><li>The "network churn" increased by 19 percentage points in response to an additional "curiosity" email, compared to 14 percentage points for executives in the control group.</li></ul>

Curiosity broadens networks

<ul><li>In a second study, the research team applied the same approach to about 300 adults in a variety of industries but used text messages instead of email.</li><li>When asked about their networking afterward, respondents reported reaching out to more new contacts when their curiosity was piqued-on average 7.3 new contacts over a month compared to 4.5 for those who did not receive the messages.</li></ul>

Little nudges with big impact

<ul><li>Managers should formally work curiosity into learning goals as part of employee performance.</li><li>Curiosity causes us to ask and engage and talk across differences, so we can work to leverage our unique perspectives.</li><li>Another way to spur curiosity is through managers modeling it themselves.</li></ul>

How managers can put curiosity to work

People are worn out after two years of upheaval. Research by Francesca Gino shows how stoking curiosity can help employees not only re-engage with their work, but find more happiness.

corporateculture

Corporate Culture

Are Your Employees Languishing? Try Piquing Their Curiosity

The great resignation has shown that many employers are changing to jobs with better perks such as flexibility, work-life balance or pay. But there is also a growing narrative that employees are quitting based on how well corporate values align with their own. Emerging data suggests employees are becoming more ethically driven. 80% of US and Canadian workers surveyed stated it was important that company values matched their own. But, there is a disconnect. Only 57% of employees reported their values did align, and only half of the respondents stated that a misalignment would cause them to quit.

Great resignation is driven by values

In the past two years, the combination of the pandemic, racial injustice and political polarisation has created a widespread sense that people expect businesses to lead in values. Workers are leaving their jobs because of workplace culture. This trend is changing how workers decide where to work. The younger employees value a company's ethics more than previous generations.

The visibility of values

Reports of mass resignation over a company's ethics may be inflated. Not every employee whose values are misaligned with their employer is ready to leave. Instead, they may push for the organisation to shift its values by staging walkouts or organising diversity and inclusion efforts. For other workers, monetary or other incentives may be too good, and employees may focus on the positives instead.

Resignation over company ethics overblown

Countless research over decades shows that people want to work for organisations with values in line with their own. However, the conditions the Great Resignation has created, such as an overabundance of positions for workers to pick from, better perks and higher salaries, have given some people the chance to select companies that align with their values. The difference is that workers have greater leverage. However, the trend that favours the workers could be short-term. Workers' options may dry up. If employees feel they don't have alternatives, they are less likely to change jobs.

The long-term picture

It’s easy to say you’ll leave a job over ethics – but are workers really moving on, especially if they don’t get an offer that’s just as sweet?

business

Business

Are workers really quitting over company values?

History is not so much the story of great people steering events. History is what happens with the networks of men and women - when the networks trade, fight, complete, consume resources or lend support. Niall Ferguson, historian-by-trade, studies network science and has found six historic networks laws. By understanding these laws, we can discover how to use them strategically.

Networking is central to history

Individuals tend to associate and bond with others similar to themselves - known as homophily. This can be seen at school or in the boardroom. When we make our networks more inclusive and cultivate good relationships, we don't narrow our networking potential but expand it.

Birds of a feather

In a famous letter experiment, Stanley Milgram showed roughly six degrees of separation between any two random individuals. Other studies suggest that social media lessened the degrees of separation. We can use this knowledge to make networking less intimidating. Your network has more connections than you think. So reach out to them.

It's a small world

Your network structure is as important to spread ideas as the content. Superconnectors are the influencers, policymakers and people who are known throughout history. Their status as superconnectors is one reason why they remain famous. If you learn to recognise superconnectors, you can use their connections to your advantage. For example, if a superconnector shares your product or name, it will spread through their connections.

Identify the superconnectors

Networks are complex systems whose behaviours are hard to predict: For example,  superconnectors can become outcasts, new networks can form, or new combinations can make stronger connections. Keep observing and tapping into new networks. While you may feel comfortable in the current paradigm, don't let it become stagnant. Continually pursue improvements.

Networks never sleep

Networks have interactions; they can meet, combine, and fight. Because networks network, you and your company have much more connections than you can imagine.

Networks network with networks through networks

Some nodes are better connected than others. This creates influencers. Some networks benefit from a hierarchical structure, such as the military, while others benefit from being more equal, such as university members.