In this hot August edition of ARC Reads we continue to share the latest tech and business articles that have piqued our interest.

What We're Reading This Month

Creating Stability Is Just as Important as Managing Change - When we think about change at work today, we tend to assume its inevitability and focus our attention on how to manage it — what methods and processes and technology and communication we need to put in place to have it move ahead more smoothly. Of course, some change is necessary, and some is inevitable. But not all of it. What the scientific literature on predictability, agency, belonging, place, and meaning suggests is that before we think about managing change, we should consider the conditions that people need at work in order to be productive. More here.

The greening of planes, trains and automobiles - As the world races to decarbonize everything from the electricity grid to industry, it faces particular problems with transportation — which alone is responsible for about a quarter of our planet’s energy-related greenhouse gas emissions. The fuels for transport need to be not just green, cheap and powerful, but also lightweight and safe enough to be carried around. Article.

Identify — and Develop — Your Natural Strengths - When we think of self-improvement, we tend to focus on our weaknesses. But that means we often underestimate our strengths — or even don’t recognize them at all. In this article, the author explains why we’ve developed this focus on weakness, and she then lays out a program for identifying and developing our strengths, with a particular focus on natural abilities that we might take for granted and therefore overlook. What is your biggest weakness?

‘Sleeping on it’ really does help: 4 recent sleep research and tech breakthroughs - Twenty-six years. That is roughly how much of our lives are spent asleep. Scientists have been trying to explain why we spend so much time sleeping since at least the ancient Greeks, but pinning down the exact functions of sleep has proven to be difficult.  During the past decade, there has been a surge of interest from researchers in the nature and function of sleep. New experimental models coupled with advances in technology and analytical techniques are giving us a deeper look inside the sleeping brain. Here are some of the biggest recent breakthroughs in the science of sleep.

Do These 5 Emotionally Intelligent Things Within 5 Minutes Of Meeting Someone - What’s the point of networking if not to get other people to like you? Sure, you need new contacts to see you as interesting, competent, professional, and potentially valuable to them—but if they don’t also find you likable, nobody will feel motivated to reach out later and work with you.  The reason why all comes down to emotional intelligence, the set of skills and qualities that   The reason why all comes down to emotional intelligence, the set of skills and qualities that allow people to form deeper, closer relationships with others.

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