It took Adam Satariano less than an hour. Writing in The New York Times last year, he explained that he had started work at 8.49am. He responded to emails, browsed the news and scrolled Twitter. (As a journalist, it’s just possible that reading a newspaper and flicking through social media could count as “work.”) At 9.14am he started editing an upcoming story and read through his interview notes...
It’s the moment every sportsman waits their life for. Ollie Robinson was 27 years and his career as a professional cricketer had been troubled. Fired at 20 from one team for “unprofessional conduct”—he preferred partying to training—he found his way to a different team. He knuckled down, worked hard, and rebuilt his reputation. Seven years later, he received what every professional cricketer...
For Paul Buchheit, it was often a side project. Google’s employee number 23 would take on ideas that caught his eye and see if he could get them to work. While employed on Google Groups, he took the code and built a new email interface with an in-built search mechanism. That code became Gmail, a service that now has about 1.5 billion users. AdSense too had been an idea that Googlers had talked...
As Covid spread across India, Flipkart, the country’s answer to Amazon, sent its staff to work from home. Six months later, the company asked some of those employees to describe their experience. It was generally positive. Pallavi Nanda, a new senior manager in talent branding, was happy to be able to spend more time with her family. Ritesh Savio Rodrigues, an assistant manager of social media...
PruittHealth, an organization that operates about 100 nursing homes and assisted living centers, had a problem. Its workers were hesitant about taking a Covid vaccine. Care workers tend to be low-paid and are often distrustful of government. Many had already suffered from the disease, costing them sick leave and even vacation days. They weren’t in a rush to be the first to take a vaccine that...
It was the final of the 2015 women’s soccer World Cup. Fifteen minutes had passed and already the USA was leading Japan 3-0. Two of the goals had come from Carli Lloyd who had scored twice in the first five minutes of the game. Lloyd received the ball in the middle of her own half. She took one touch then another, caught up with the ball on the halfway line, glanced towards the goal, then belted...
It’s hard to avoid advertisements for Amazon Prime. If you’re not already a member, Amazon will ask why not whenever you open the website or browse Amazon videos on your television. Joining is as easy as pushing a button. Amazon, the inventor of the one-click purchase, makes buying smooth and easy. Nothing should get between a customer reaching for their wallet and the company charging their card...
People in China are used to seeing new constructions rise quickly. Sites are filled with workers, noise, sparks, shouting, and the constant movement of multiple cranes swinging heavy loads to high floors. Within a few weeks, what started as an empty plot has developed into a deep hole, then tall scaffolding, and finally the skeleton of a building, waiting for cladding. Few buildings, though, have...
Elon Musk wasn’t happy. The team building his Starship rocket system, which is intended to fly to Mars, weren’t working hard enough. It was one o’clock on a Sunday morning and they weren’t in the workshops, hammering steel, and designing thrusters. So he called an all-hands meeting. In the middle of a weekend night, he had everyone assemble at SpaceX’s south Texas site and demanded to know why...
It’s a story we’ve now come to expect. A high-flying executive leading an important industry turns out to be a bully, a toxic influence on their workplace, and a bad manager. Troy Young, the former chief executive of Hearst, is only the latest in a long line of top executives to face accusations before falling on his sword. Like many senior officials, the allegations against Young include...
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