BUSINESS
Social media engagement is a double-edged sword for CEOs
X (Twitter), though combative in its vibe, is easier for company chiefs to use and bridge information gaps with customers
TRENDS
Can Ancient Greece teach us how to dump bad politicians?
'Negative' elections: In the earliest form of democracy around 508 BC, male landowners voted each year to send "candidates" they didn’t favour into exile.
SPORTS
Happy Birthday, Rohit Sharma: Why Rohit Sharma is one of cricket's most likable superstars
Rohit Sharma proves that you don't need to fit any superstar mold to be adored. He's talented, successful, yet eminently approachable. That mix of 'Hitman' on the field and chilled-out regular guy off it is what makes him such a consistently well-loved figure.
TRENDS
AI reshapes reality: Profits may lag, but change is here
AI startups raised $42.5 billion in 2023, with generative AI alone attracting 48 percent of that. Profits, though, are not yet visible. For all the revenues OpenAI has generated, it needs tens of billions of dollars more to fund its plans. Alphabet and Microsoft investors too have expressed concerned about the mounting costs of AI developments in recent months. On ground, AI hasn’t been the game changer these large companies had hoped for.
ENTERTAINMENT
50 years of The Towering Inferno: Why Paul Newman, Steve McQueen, William Holden, Faye Dunaway & Fred Astaire's disaster thriller kept audiences glued to the edge of their seats
From Fire! (1901) to The Towering Inferno (1974) and Titanic (1997) - the throughline in Hollywood disaster films that America can't seem to get enough of - and why Indian audiences initially rejected similar offerings from Bollywood.
TRENDS
Only in Kolkata: Why adda discussions over tea & smokes are central to Bengal's ethos
In dissing the 'adda intellectual', Sanjeev Sanyal has missed some key points. Once defined as a 'place... (for) careless talk with boon companions', the adda is an integral part of the Bengali identity. So, give us this day our daily adda.
TRENDS
4 years of Covid pandemic: Our collective amnesia around Covid 19
The WHO declared Covid-19 a pandemic on March 11. 2020. Four years on, what's changed? What has remained the same? Is life after Covid any different? What did we learn from the pandemic years? And what have we forgotten?
BUSINESS
Insider trading | How Rajat Gupta fell from the pinnacle of power to the ignominy of incarceration
For Rajat Gupta, the reputational damage was huge. McKinsey, the firm he led for nine years, removed his name from the company's alumni directory.
TRENDS
Remembering Sumant Moolgaokar who kickstarted Tata Motors successful journey
Legend has it that JRD Tata handpicked Sumant Moolgaokar to lead Telco. In 1949, Moolgaokar joined Telco as director-in-charge and in 1954, the company signed with Daimler-Benz to manufacture trucks in the country. Years later, Ratan Tata attributed the idea for building a Tata passenger car also to Moolgaokar.
BOOKS
Book Review: India’s mittelstand is robust and raring to go, notes 'Beyond Three Generations'
While family businesses constitute about 75% of the Indian economy a whopping 90% of them are MSMEs. The new book 'Beyond Three Generations: The Definitive Guide to Building Enduring Indian Family Businesses' profiles a dozen such enterprises, their business dimensions and what such firms should not do.
TRENDS
Rising olive oil prices throw light on the plight of farmers in war-torn Palestine
Olive oil's rising prices: Drought in Spain and cutting of olive trees in Gaza are contributing to the global price rise. Beyond the economics, though, it is the story of the olive farmer in the West Bank that is most poignant. For many of them olive oil harvesting is the only source of income and a bond with their antiquity.
TRENDS
Byju's & Paytm woes: Rockstar founders need to accept the limits of their power
When star startups fall: It takes extraordinary skills to build a market leader like Byju’s or Theranos or China Evergrande or Paytm or WeWork. But perhaps these companies became victims of their founders’ success and the adulation they received.
TRENDS
From 'Banegi Apni Baat' with Irrfan Khan to 'Tara', Zee was once the voice of a changing Indian society
Indian serials of the 1990s reflected a society clamouring for openness and freedom. Many of these serials were on Zee back then.
TRENDS
Belt and Road struggles of Indian men
Short history of men's belts as utilitarian objects to hold the pants up, symbols of valour, a sword / tool belts for hanging and carrying useful things, and even indicators of skill levels.
TRENDS
At 95, Tintin's charm is undimmed
Tintin in the 21st century: The Blue Lotus cover by Herge was bought for $3.9 million in 2021 and the original of King Ottokar’s Sceptre went under the hammer for $12 million in 2016. Over half a million copies are still sold in France every year, and in Tamil Nadu, Prakash Publishers has a fresh translation for diehard comics aficionados.
INDIA
The big challenge for leaders is knowing when to quit
It is the old cliché, you should go when people ask why and not when.
TRENDS
100 years of EM Forster's A Passage to India: Viewing India through the lens of a Raj era classic
A Passage to India is a powerful assay into the muddled relations between the rulers and the ruled. Today, the passage of Forster’s book has come full circle.
TRENDS
Punjab’s crippling debt is an insult to the Partition era refugees who drove its success
Punjab’s accumulated debt in the past year-and-a-half has crossed Rs 47,000 crore, and its outstanding debt is now nearly 50 percent of its GDP. This is a state whose GDP per capita rank was No. 1 till about 1981.
TRENDS
Year Ender 2023 | Book lists are so last century
Year end lists of books read has enshrined itself in our minds and socio-cultural spaces as the intellectual ornament to be flashed to show supremacy. Yet even the best editors can't agree on which books to read and why.
TRENDS
Paint the town peach fuzz, says Pantone
For the last two decades the Pantone Color Institute based in New Jersey, US, has provided annual colour prompts to industry to tweak merchandise colours in its bid to marry business and marketing in one fell swoop.
TRENDS
KBC contestant Alolika Guha’s joie de vivre is the only life hack we need
Kaun Banega Crorepati TV show contestant Alolika Bhattacharjee Guha’s infectious laughter and joyful banter with show host and actor Amitabh Bachchan prove that money can't buy you happiness.
TECHNOLOGY
Rising debate around Artificial Intelligence is the surest sign that it is here to stay
A safe and equitable future, is that what we can hope from AI? Maybe, with careful bioethics, yes, indeed.
CRICKET
Loss aversion: The psychological inevitability of India’s loss in the World Cup final
There is an asymmetric relationship between loss aversion and winning, with the pain of losing being twice that of gaining.
INDIA
Remembering Indira Gandhi, a feminist before her time
By grabbing power and then proceeding to secure her position, Indira Gandhi laid the way for women in India in a way that is difficult to imagine today when women still need the support of male MPs to reserve a place for them in Parliament.
