Work Life Balance When the World’s at Stake. TikTok Boom – Inside the Social Sensation, Paris goes Shhh! – and Kill a Cliché, ‘Davos Man’ edition.

Grüezi!?I’m Adrian Monck, and welcome to this LinkedIn newsletter featuring seven things that caught my attention this week.

Also this edition – Save! Save! Save! – the new millennial mantra. The car that won’t burn a hole in the atmosphere, or your pocket. And feedback please, but be nice!

Sharing is caring –?Please share this newsletter !

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1???Work Life Balance When the World’s at Stake

How do you stay sane when work is watching people die or the planet burn?

There’s a great AP story by Seth Borenstein on how scientists handle work, when their results can often have them concluding that we’re all going to hell in a handcart. And when science-denying loons attack them for – well, doing science. How do they stave off anxiety, depression, and despair?

Part of the answer is ‘accentuate the positive’. Inger Andersen heads the UN’s Environment Programme:

• “I have seen shifts on critical environmental issues such as banning of toxic material, better air quality standards, the repair of the ozone hole, the phase-out of leaded petrol and much more.
• “Hard work, underpinned by science, underpinned by strong policy and yes, underpinned by multilateral and activist action, can lead to change.”

But there’s another secret:

The coping technique these scientists have in common is doing something to help.

That rings a bell with me. I did a bit of war reporting in my twenties. It exposes you to a lot of human misery. But what protected me then was knowing that the reporting was doing something to help. It was engaging people.

BBC veteran Fergal Keane is a legendary war reporter. He’s battled PTSD for years:

• “In 30 years, I’ve reported on numerous wars and civil conflicts – from Belfast during the Troubles to genocide in Rwanda, to Iraq, Afghanistan and Ukraine.
• “But there was a less healthy aspect to my choice of work. War repeated the nervous stress, and the powerful compulsion to prove I could survive, that I had experienced as a child growing up in a home fractured by the effects of my dad’s alcoholism. In war zones I could prove I was no longer a scared child. I had a voice.”

Work is where we spend part of our lives. Protecting ourselves is important, and doing something we feel is important and worthwhile is part of that.

???Help climate scientists sleep at night – accelerate the energy transition .

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2?? TikTok Boom – Inside the Social Media Sensation

A Chinese biz writer takes a deep dive into the runaway tech success story.

That’s from TikTok star Khaby Lame , who has the platform’s second most followed account – 137 million followers, over two billion likes. He’s TikTok’s 21C Charlie Chaplin.

Tiktok is owned by Chinese internet giant Bytedance . But its inside story rarely gets told. Step forward Chinese business writer Benita Zhang , with a 20,000 word WeChat essay. (It’s here in English.)

First revelation – it was nearly called TopBuzz. Dodged a bullet there. There’s plenty of insight in Zhang’s piece but essentially it’s the tale of a young tech entrepreneur taking on industry titans and finding a winning formula after failure. Some nuggets:

• Zhang Yiming, Bytedance’s CEO, had his eyes on Facebook from the start: “Facebook fights from high to low, we fight from low to high.”?What does that mean? Zhang saw Facebook as a social network product with its focus on the centre, TikTok as a distributed recommendation product, focused on the user base.
• ByteDance’s MO was to find a product shell and plug in its strong middle office providing advanced recommendation algorithms, user growth, and monetization systems.
• Zhang’s early insistence on going after high-stakes markets such as the U.S. and Japan, combined with a sophisticated and dynamic country-tier system, contributed to TikTok’s wildfire-like growth across the globe.

One of my favourite lines?

“Chinese Internet companies believe in the concept of ‘new people doing old business’ and ‘old people doing new business.’”

This article is a great antidote to monolithic thinking about China. Would be great to see more of this kind of domestic reporting breaking out internationally.

(Hats off to Ginger River Review for the translating and sharing.)

???17 ways technology could change the world by 2027 .

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3?? People Want Feedback

They really do. But be nice.

Properly nice.

?? You’ll probably be nicer than Gordon if you get the sleep you need .

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4?? Look Away Petrolheads – It’s Drive to Survive Global Warming

China’s cheapest EV is no head turner, but it’s low on emissions – and lowest on price.

???Why electric car prices are rising even as battery prices fall .

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5?? Who are the Best Savers?

Step forward thrifty millennials, shaming their spendthrift parents.

But is saving a virtue ?

?? We’ll all probably have to work longer than our parents did .

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6???The City of Light Becomes the City of Shhh!

And no, it’s not by enforced Marcel Marceau-style miming.

???Use the quiet to read these books that can inspire real change .

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7?? RIP Davos Man

Probably like your place of work, mine too has changed for the better.

Grizzly old racist Sam Huntington coined the term ‘Davos Man’ many years ago. It’s been used to sling ‘meh’ at the place where I work – the World Economic Forum – for many a long year.

An academic study says it’s now time to consign that particular myth to history:

• “Although he is resurrected by the media every year, the Davos Man of the early 2000s is becoming an anachronism. In recent years, the WEF has evolved to focus more on the issues of social inclusion and environmentalism and to embed these issues in a host of practical frameworks.”

Change is good.

???More uplifting reading on our?book club podcast .

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If you enjoy this newsletter – please recommend it!

Best,

Adrian

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