Number of words – 3,442 Visit the average university campus and it is likely that the newest and most ostentatious building will be occupied by the business school. The business school has the best building because it makes the biggest profits (or, euphemistically, “contribution” or “surplus”) – as you might expect, from a form of … Read more

Number of words – 1,848 If power were a prescription drug, it would come with a long list of known side effects. It can intoxicate. It can corrupt. It can even make Henry Kissinger believe that he’s sexually magnetic. But can it cause brain damage? When various lawmakers lit into John Stumpf at a congressional … Read more

Number of words – 1,055 Hidden 1,000 metres under Mount Ikeno in Japan is a place that looks like a supervillain’s dream. Super-Kamiokande (or “Super-K” as it’s sometimes referred to) is a neutrino detector. Neutrinos are sub-atomic particles which travel through space and pass through solid matter as though it were air. Studying these particles … Read more

Number of words – 81 The Best Buy CEO applied what he calls the bicycle theory to the moribund company. “If you try to direct a bicycle at standstill, you fall. The key is to get moving,” Joly says. “You learn about creating energy.” Initially, he says, he wasn’t much more clear about his plans … Read more

Number of words – 97 Fish get their oxygen from water. Most of them have two pairs of nostrils, a forward facing set for letting water in and a pair of exhaust pipes for letting it out again. The question is, if humans evolved from fishes, where did the other pair of nostrils go? The … Read more

Number of words – 542 A complaint was received by the Pontiac Division of General Motors: ‘This is the second time I have written to you, and I don’t blame you for not answering me, because I sounded crazy, but it is a fact that we have a tradition in our family of Ice-Cream for … Read more

Number of words – 162 When an idealistic IBM programmer named Elliott heard Tom Watson Jr, the powerful chairman of IBM, testify before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that America’s war effort in Vietnam was poorly managed, Elliott felt compelled to react. Elliot wrote Watson a letter that said in short, if you think Vietnam … Read more

Number of words – 89 While working as the project manager of an orientation meeting for the business Faculty of University of Victoria, Janet took the initiative to create an extra special closing ceremony. Rather than just the usual congratulations and handshakes, Janet presented each teacher who came forward to the podium with the box … Read more

Number of words – 89 A manager at a hotel initiated a simple two-way activity to encourage communication between management and staff. Every month the manager asks for staff, ‘What one thing can I do better for you this month. After listening and noting the employees’ ideas the manager then tells the staff. ‘Great. And … Read more