Business & Economics

Don’t read the comments. Old advice, yet more relevant than ever. The tools we once hailed for their power to connect people and spark creativity can also be hotbeds of hate, harassment, and political division. Platforms like Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter are under fire for either too much or too little moderation. Creating and maintaining healthy online communities isn’t easy.

Over the course of two years of graduate research at MIT, former tech journalist and current product manager Anika Gupta interviewed moderators who’d worked on the sidelines of gamer forums and in the quagmires of online news comments sections. She’s spoken with professional and volunteer moderators for communities like Pantsuit Nation, Nextdoor, World of Warcraft guilds, Reddit, and FetLife.

In How to Handle a Crowd, she shares what makes successful communities tick – and what you can learn from them about the delicate balance of community moderation. Topics include:
-Building creative communities in online spaces
-Bridging political division—and creating new alliances
-Encouraging freedom of speech
-Defining and eliminating hate and trolling
-Ensuring safety for all participants-
-Motivating community members to action

How to Handle a Crowd is the perfect book for anyone looking to take their small community group to the next level, start a career in online moderation, or tackle their own business’s comments section.

Essential skills for today’s leaders: learn how to embody your ethics, earn your team’s trust, and dismantle toxic work culture

Leaders and managers everywhere are learning the importance of creating safe, satisfying workplaces rooted in principles of social justice. But many of us who try to lead with ethics and integrity struggle with embracing a position of power and authority. You might worry about “being bossy,” unintentionally disrespecting others, or making the wrong call—and in the process, put your mind and body under so much stress that you burn out.

Somatic educator and coach Pavini Moray argues that the secret to being an ethical, inspirational boss is rooted in our own bodies. In more than 30 simple exercises, reflections, and daily practices, you’ll learn how to:

-Nurture trust with clients and coworkers
-Ground and re-center when you’re thrown off by a mistake or problem
-Soothe the “Ouch!” of negative feedback
-Break away from grind and hustle culture
-Turn workplace conflict into a source of positive change and growth
-Help your employees voice their own needs and feel heard
-Understand the nuances of consent beyond contract negotiations
-Gracefully acknowledge mistakes
-Repair relationships with employees, colleagues, and clients

Drawing from client case studies and their own experience as a manager, Moray teaches foundational embodiment practices—breath, grounding, observing, centering, and moving—through concrete examples that show how to use these skills in a variety of common workplace settings. By learning to practice embodied leadership presence, you can become a boss who truly listens to your employees; leads with inspiration; and brings your whole self to work every day.

Transform your career or your business with these simple tips and tricks to make virtual working easier than ever before – office no longer required.

The remote work revolution is here. Even before COVID-19 created the largest remote work experiment in history, the business world was already gravitating toward virtual workplaces. Suddenly organizations as big as Twitter are learning that their employees don’t need an office in order to get great results. How to Thrive in the Virtual Workplace shows how to stay productive, feel like part of a team and make the most of remote working.

Robert Glazer shares the principles, tactics and tools his company has developed in more than a decade of successfully working as a joined-up but 100 per cent remote workforce, as well as interviewing other leaders in the sector about what works for them. As founder and CEO of Acceleration Partners, an organization with 170 employees who all work from home, Glazer has been recognized with dozens of awards for its industry performance and company culture. Here, he shares a step-by-step guide to building a culture of flexibility and trust, hiring and communicating effectively – both internally and externally – as a successful remote business.

From former Vice journalist and executive producer of hit Netflix documentary Fyre comes an eye-opening look at the con artists, grifters and snake oil salesmen of the digital age—and why we can’t stop falling for them.

We live in an age where scams are the new normal. A charismatic entrepreneur sells thousands of tickets to a festival that never happened. Respected investors pour millions into a start-up centered around fake blood tests. Reviewers and celebrities flock to London’s top-rated restaurant that’s little more than a backyard shed. These unsettling stories of today’s viral grifters have risen to fame and hit the front-page headlines, yet the curious conundrum remains: Why do these scams happen?

Drawing from scientific research, marketing campaigns, and exclusive documents and interviews, former Vice reporter Gabrielle Bluestone delves into the irresistible hype that fuels our social media ecosystem, whether it’s from the trusted influencers that peddled Fyre or the consumer reviews that sold Juicero. A cultural examination that is as revelatory as it is relevant, Hype pulls back the curtain on the manipulation game behind the never-ending scam season—and how we as consumers can stop getting played.