Guest Thinkers — February 22, 2011

The best business gurus in the world

The Wall Street Journal recently unveiled its picks for the best business gurus in the world. These gurus – led by Gary Hamel, Thomas Friedman, Bill Gates and Malcolm Gladwell – regularly command $75,000 speaking fees and million-dollar book deals, in addition to the undying appreciation of top corporate CEOs around the world. While most of the names in the Top 20 are instantly recognizable to just about anyone who picks up FORTUNE or Business Week from time to time, there were definitely a few names that sent me scurrying to Google to find out more (Ikujiro Nonaka, anyone?).

[image: Big Ideas]

a computer generated image of a human brain.

Thinking

The great free will debate featuring Michio Kaku and Steven Pinker

Who — or what — really controls your mind?

Building destroyed by the Halifax Explosion. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.

The Past

The largest accidental explosion of all time

More than a century ago, Halifax suffered an accidental blast one-fifth the size of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

a collage of photos of a man with a hat and a book.

High Culture

6 great books with wildly unreliable narrators

Dive into the twisted truths and concealed realities told by literature’s most unreliable narrators.

a group of five matches on a pink background.

The Well

Signs you’re burned out — and how to bounce back

If you don’t feel better after the weekend, the “burnout paradox” could explain why.

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7 min

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with

Laurie Santos

Starts With A Bang

The trick to instantly identifying JWST images

If you can identify a foreground star, the spike patterns are a dead giveaway as to whether it’s a JWST image or any other observatory.

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As John Maeda points out in his bestselling book The Laws of Simplicity, companies can unlock a tremendous amount of innovation by embracing the principles of simplicity.