Technology & Innovation — September 16, 2011

Lessons from the World’s Top Employers

Jobs are key to economic growth so what can be learnt from the organizations that create the most employment? Global is the way to go and consumer orientation is key.

bigthinkeditor

What’s the Latest Development?

If jobs are the major hurdle to economic growth, and they are, what can we learn from the world’s largest employers on how to create more of them? First of all forget any idea that the public sector can’t create jobs, and start thinking of the best way for it to do so because governments create jobs. The world’s largest employer is the U.S. Department of Defense. China’s armed forces and its state utilities, the U.K.’s national health service, and India’s railway system are all major employers.

What’s the Big Idea?

Earlier this week, The Economist published a chart of the world’s largest employers and most of them succeeded by going global. Walmart and McDonald’s have grown because they have outposts around the globe, and Hon Hai Precision Industry (which makes everything from iPads to iPods to iPhones) succeeds because it manufactures for export around the world.

a computer generated image of a human brain.

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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

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a group of five matches on a pink background.

The Well

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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

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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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