Technology & Innovation — April 9, 2010

The Humble CEO

Charismatic, forceful leaders have a tendency to produce volatile company performances, writes David Brooks. He imagines an alternate executive model: the “humble hound leader.”

bigthinkeditor

A weekly newsletter featuring the biggest ideas from the smartest people

David Brooks points to research indicating that charismatic, forceful leaders with excessive self-confidence tend to produce volatile company performances. “These leaders swing for the home run and sometimes end up striking out.” Instead, Brooks imagines another model of corporate leadership based on humility: the “humble hound leader,” who is more thoughtful, deliberate and careful — and spends a lot of time on metacognition. “If this leadership style were more widely admired, the country could have spared itself a ton of grief,” writes Brooks.

A weekly newsletter featuring the biggest ideas from the smartest people

A detailed, colorful brain visualization with intricate patterns of green, blue, and yellow on a dark background.

Neuropsych

The most detailed brain map ever

Scientists have created a magnificent portrait of every connection among neurons in a fruit fly’s brain.

Animated characters observe a family walking in a snowy scene through a viewing screen, inside a control room.

Thinking

Everyday Philosophy: Is there such a thing as a “negative emotion”?

There’s little more infuriating in the world than being told to “calm down” when you’re in the midst of a simmering grump.

Starts With A Bang

Ask Ethan: Is antigravity even possible?

Humans, when we consider space travel, recognize the need for gravity. Without our planet, is artificial or antigravity even possible?

World map highlighting the Brandt Line, dividing the Global North and Global South across continents.

Strange Maps

The Brandt Line gave us the Global North and South. It needs an update.

In 1980, Willy Brandt drew a line across the map that still influences how we think about the world.

Collage with a rocket launch, raised hand, SpaceX text, blueberries, and circuitry against a gray background with "THE NIGHT CRAWLER" text—echoing the intense atmosphere of chip wars.

Business

Inside the world’s most important company

Welcome to The Nightcrawler — a weekly newsletter from Eric Markowitz covering tech, innovation, and long-term thinking.

Up Next

Culture & Religion

Missing Link

Scientists have found a couple of 1.9-million-year-old skeletons in a South African cave that may be “a Rosetta Stone for defining for the first time what the genus Homo is.”