These top business resources will help you in several ways this month: tune in to a podcast that weighs in on how tech news affects everything else, install lighting that might restore your work-life balance, and read a book that champions doubting yourself.
The Best New Business Book to Read: Think Again by Adam Grant
In his new business book, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know, workplace psychologist and host of the popular WorkLife podcast Adam Grant asks us to forget being right for a minute and, instead, question tightly held views that might hold us back. Grant, who writes about creativity, leadership and career on LinkedIn and for The New York Times, offers well-researched analysis in an engaging, even fun voice. This time, the Originalsauthor teaches readers how to listen to arguments that challenge us and revel in being wrong. .
The Best Subscription for Entrepreneurs: Exploding Topics Pro
You might already be a fan of the weekly newsletter from Exploding Topics, the platform that analyses search and chat data to identify trends before they hit the mainstream. Now these forecasters offer Exploding Topics Pro, a paid subscription that alerts users to trending topics six months before the mainstream picks them up. This intel is potential gold for any entrepreneur interested in discovering emerging markets or the next big thing before it’s even medium-sized. A 14-day trial costs $US1; monthly subscriptions start at $US47.
The Life-friendly Home Office Tool: Philips Hue Ambience bulbs
Anyone with a home office knows it can be challenging to keep the office and home parts of life separate. You might consider Philips Hue Ambience bulbs, which you can program to radiate a bright light during the day before they automatically shift to a warmer, softer mode in the evening as a reminder that it’s time to down tools. Syncing lights to an app on your smart device means you can also control the lights away from home.
SEE ALSO: Connect 101: How to Set up and Connect a Smart Home
The Best Podcast for Business and Society: Brainstorm
In Fortune’s Brainstorm podcast, journalists at business media company Fortune look at how a single technology affects everything — and everyone. This warm and lively podcast has insights for SMEs as it canvasses Fortune’s tech reporters alongside candid executives and business experts. In one episode, Zoom COO Aparna Bawa offers her top video call tips, learnt while working and leading a team remotely from a desk outside her pantry (so she could hear her kids). Extremely worthwhile listening.
The Best New Piece of Tech: Samsung Galaxy S21 Series 5G
Samsung’s latest smartphone, the Galaxy S21 Series 5G, is particularly handy if your work involves photography or video content creation for your brand, or social media scheduling. It has a slew of features designed to improve the visuals you create, including a 108 megapixel camera, 8K video recording and an artificial intelligence feature that enhances and adjusts pictures based on surroundings (such as how much light is available). It’s also the first device in the Galaxy S series to work with a stylus pen so you can make notes and annotate images on screen in your own handwriting.
