【推荐1】You go out for a meal and scan a QR code to order the food, but it asks for your phone number. You go back home and are asked to look into a facial recognition camera. Data collection is everywhere.

However, the personal information collected by companies can be leaked for marketing or used for (电信诈骗). According to a survey of 5,458 people by the China Consumers Association, 85.2 percent of people said they had experienced personal information leaks from applications on their smart phones. Most said they got unwanted calls or text messages afterward.

On Nov 1, the Personal Information Protection Law came into effect in China. The law has detailed rules to strengthen the protection of personal information.

The law defines personal information as any kind of information about people who are or can be identified, in electronic or other forms. So a person’s name, date of birth, ID number, address and phone number are all personal information.

There are also some kinds of personal information that are regarded as “sensitive”, such as fingerprints, faces, religious beliefs, medical health, financial accounts and all data relating to minors under 14.

According to the law, activities such as collecting, using, processing and trading of personal information will be strictly regulated. One key rule is that those handling personal information should inform users and get permission. For sensitive information, there are stricter rules on related activities. For example, in the case of a minor, approval from their parents is required.

Protection of personal information of online platform users is especially stressed. According to a report released in June on Internet development in China, the country has over 1 billion Internet users and 60 percent of surveyed applications had collected users’ information illegally. Many apps would collect users’ information even when the app was not in use. They could access the phonebook, photos, turn on the microphone and get the users’ location.

For individuals, it’s important to raise awareness of protecting personal information. Individuals need to fully understand the requests for personal information. If it’s not necessary, don’t agree. If you find that your personal data has been used illegally, you can report to consumer councils or(网络管理机构) with evidence.

【推荐2】Although Paris is often considered the city of romance, close to a million adults who call it home are single. Many single people say that France’s capital is one of the most difficult places to meet people. The complaints of this lonely group have inspired a new phenomenon known as “supermarket dating”. At Galerie Lafayette Gourmet, singles can shop for more than just the items on their grocery list. They can look for someone who has blue eyes, brown hair, and is 1.8 meters tall, or whatever may be on their romantic shopping list.

At this Paris location, single people of all ages can schedule their shopping for Thursday nights between 6:30 and 9:00 p.m. When they walk through the door, they pick up a purple basket to advise that they are looking for love. They try to arrive early because the baskets disappear quickly, and then they have to wait in line for their turn to wander the store aisles. With purple baskets in hand, shoppers can consider their romantic options while they pick out their groceries. When they are ready to pay, they can go to the checkout line for singles who want to chat.

Most of the people who look for love in the supermarket are skeptical of Internet dating. They know that it is easy to embellish (美化) one’s appearance or to lie about one’s age over the Internet. The supermarket, on the other hand, is considered a safe and casual environment in which to meet a potential match. In addition, what one finds in another’s grocery basket can say a thing or two about that person’s character or intentions. Buying pet food can be a man’s way of showing a potential match that he has a sensitive side. Women who fill their baskets with low-fat food show their healthy style of living. These days it’s possible to find much more than food at a grocery store.

【推荐1】 A core human need is validation (认可) that experience of feeling seen and understood. We long for it. We don't feel safety, belonging or mattering without it. According to Oprah Winfrey, who has interviewed thousands upon thousands of people from ordinary folks to world leaders and highly successful business people, they all ask her the same question after the interview: "Did I do OK?"

In seeking validation many people talk without listening first. We are eager to make our next point and be validated. So we don't listen. While the other person is speaking, we are arranging our next piece of brilliance and persuasion in our minds. When we're told we need to be more "present" or even told to talk less, we start out with the best intentions, but soon find ourselves competing for airtime.

As leaders, part of our job is to find our validation elsewhere and give the gift of listening to our team.

Here's how you can help yourself become a more successful listener: ask more questions. Ask questions and actually listen for the answer and keep your mouth closed until it's time to ask the next question. Try keeping the ratio of questions to you offering your opinion at 80% questions to 20% your opinion.

In a team, especially if you are learning to collaborate better, try a few meetings using a device like a talking stick (only the person holding the stick can talk) to ensure that everyone gets equal airtime. The "talking stick" concept comes from Native American traditions but can be any object that is culturally appropriate for your team﹣even a pen will do.

In the age of organizations as living organisms, listening is the skill that will help your team soar—and give them the emotional experience they long for.

【推荐2】Many organizations learned in the past year that remote work can be highly effective, with 83% of employers surveyed saying that the shift to remote work has been successful for their company, according to a PwC study. In addition, 54% of workers want to continue working remotely after the pandemic. Now that it's clear where the work is done is not as important as people once thought, the other dimension of flexibility workers fever is the freedom to determine when the work is done. A 2019 study by the International Workplace Group found that 80% of workers would turn down a job that did not offer a flexible work schedule, and 76% of workers said they'd consider staying at their current employer if they could work flexible hours.

According to a Microsoft Work Trend Report, the 9-to-5 workday is disappearing, as the increase in remote work has allowed for more flexible hours. Employees are increasingly working asynchronously, completing tasks on their own schedules, which may be different from those of their colleagues. Asynchronous work is now essential to being part of a modern, digital economy, staying competitive in the war for talent, and building a globally distributed workforce.

Tsedal Neeley, a Harvard Business School professor, told me, “Companies have to rethink what it means to be part of a modern work structure. This idea of 9-to-5 or face-time culture is actually not helpful for a digitally advanced economy.” She highlighted that the face-time culture is the need to monitor or see people in order to feel like work is advancing. However, this assumption that being productive requires seeing people do the work is not only limiting, but also unreasonable, as technology and automation are increasingly used to get work done and are not as observable as before. Asynchronous work, she says, is “a completely new mindset in line with a digital economy.”

【推荐3】Transportation and communication networks bring people together. Yet sometimes people themselves create barriers (障碍) to transportation and communication. In some countries, laws stop people from moving freely from place to place. Over the centuries, many groups of people have been denied the freedom to travel because of their race, religion, or nationality. In the Middle Ages, for example, Jews were often forbidden to move about freely within certain cities. South Africa’s government used to require black Africans to carry passes when they travel within the country. Some governments require all citizens to carry identification papers and to report to government officials when they move.

Countries set up customs posts at their borders. Foreign travellers must go through a customs inspection before they are allowed to travel in the country. Usually travelers have to carry special papers such as passports and visas (签证). Some countries even limit the number of visitors to their country each year. Others allow tourists to visit only certain areas of the country, or they may require that travellers be with an official guide at all times during their stay.

Many of those barriers to travel also act as barriers to communication. When two governments have conflicts with each other on important matters, they usually do not want their citizens to exchange news or ideas freely. Countries often try to keep military or industrial information secret.

Today, people have the ability to travel, to communicate, and to transport goods more quickly and easily than ever before. Natural barriers that were difficult or dangerous to cross a hundred years ago can now be crossed easily. The barriers that people themselves make are not so easy to overcome. But in spite of all the different kinds of barriers, people continue to enjoy travel and the exchange of goods and ideas.