【推荐1】As you may have noticed, despite years of efforts to get more women into management, most company bosses are still men. Encouraging women to be more confident isn’t the best way to deal with the leadership gap between males and females. As a matter of fact, women have greater chances of becoming bosses in the opt-out model than they do in the opt-in model.

In the opt-in model, women often undervalue their own skills. Some come from cultures that teach them to be modest; others fear seeming too active. Therefore, women are less confident and tend to work more years than men do before applying for a promotion. They basically need to feel super ready.

The researchers decided to overturn the model: What if all qualified applicants running for leadership roles have the choice to give up if they want to? This so-called opt-out model pushes companies to keep hiring employees unless the staff take steps to show they don’t want to participate.

Researchers tested the idea in the lab. In a series of experiments, more than 1,000 men and women worked in teams on a variety of tasks. They were all evaluated on the quality of their work, and the highest performers naturally became bosses unless they actively gave up. Surprise: The management male/female gap narrowed in the opt-out model.

In another group where people needed to opt in to be considered for a leadership role, the imbalance continued, even when women knew they were top performers and would surely become the boss if they applied. The suggestion is that all those efforts to support equality have little effect unless it is naturally accepted that women are suitable for leaderships.

Opt-in models are everywhere in the workplace. Being aware of the problem and then finding ways to change the models is really important. If women have to opt in, the message is “you shouldn’t consider signing up unless you think you’re really competent and competitive." In an opt- out system, however, the message is everyone is qualified and under consideration. It’s a policy that basically brings better choices for managers and it is really good for the future of organizations.

【推荐3】China’s BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) has become the top guidance service provider for domestic Gaode Map, according to a statement released by the Beijing Institute of Space Science and Technology Information.

Based on the average number of satellites called by domestic navigation apps for each positioning, BeiDou satellites have been called the most, 30 percent more than the second-ranked GPS. Although the news only became public on Wednesday, the BDS has actually long overtaken GPS in serving domestic map apps, according to Liu Dingding, a Beijing-based experienced market analyst.

Gaode Map has used BeiDou satellites to make more than 210 billion positioning calls each day. The combination of BDS and map navigation is providing better services to the public. Map apps users can check the number of BeiDou satellites currently offering service in real time during navigation. Another domestic map giant, Baidu Maps, also announced an official switch to the BeiDou system on September 30, with daily positioning uses exceeding 100 billion for the first time.

BeiDou playing a dominant role in the domestic navigation sector is of great significance. For starters, as a homegrown technology, it is free from external interference (外部干扰), and it could ensure data and information security. In addition, the positioning quality of BDS has proved on many occasions to be much better than GPS, Liu said. He also noted that the application of BDS in navigation apps is only the tip of the iceberg. The system has been widely used in many industrial and agricultural sectors, from port management and grain production to providing disaster relief.

An intelligent farm in Handan, North China’s Hebei Province, has installed BeiDou-supported positioning and navigation devices, automatic steering (自动驾驶) devices and remote-control devices on autonomous tractors to sow seeds and spray pesticides. BDS has seen fast development and use overseas too, with BeiDou products, technologies and services applied in more than 120 countries and regions.

【推荐3】It’s been almost a year since our third and last child graduated from stakes high school. Looking back, I can see now that there were some parenting mistakes we could have avoided. I share them so that you don’t have to repeat them.

I wish I had dealt with peer pressure better. During the senior year, it seems like every conversation I had at a school meeting ended up being about college. It made me anxious to see my kids’ classmates applying part of my brain kicked in with “Oh yeah? My kid has better scores than yours he could get in anywhere yours can!” I probably passed some of that stress to my kids, who didn’t need to deal with my anxieties on top of their own. Everyone has their own path. It doesn’t matter what anyone else is doing --- the only person that matters is your son or daughter.

I also worried about their social lives. It made me anxious that my kids didn’t seem to have the common teen interest in school dances or parties but preferred to have a few friends over for a movie sometimes. I can now say this: worrying about their social lives was a total waste of time and energy. I should simply have enjoyed them being at home. They saved their focus for things like Physics and History. And they are doing just fine in college.

I simply thought teenagers would go to bed when they were tired. I didn’t realize the addictive(上瘾的) power of video games or texting. My daughter slept with her phone in her bed for at least two years. If I could do it again, every kid would have been required to leave the phone in the kitchen before bed.

I’m proud to say that today we have three college students who are well-prepared young adults in spite of every parenting mistake I made in high school to delay(推迟) that.