Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic ‘Defy: The Power of No in a World that Demands Yes’, by Sunita SahIn Defy, Sunita Sah dissects why we are all so conditioned to be obedient and how it can be a corrosive force. While we like to believe we will stand firm in the face of wrongdoing, more often than not we hesitate, freeze or fail to act in line with our values. Defiance is not our default — it is the exception, she says. Sah, a professor and organisational psychologist, uses case studies, such as corporate whistleblowers, and examples from her own life, to highlight how and why rebellion is discouraged and the consequences of compliance at all costs. Her research finds that pressure from others, failing to understand exactly what compliance and defiance are, and not knowing how to act once we decide to defy are reasons why individuals hit roadblocks. She also recognises the risks and disproportionate consequences marginalised groups face when taking action. Sah challenges the assumption that defiance must be dramatic or “superhuman”. Instead, quieter acts of resistance — saying no when we mean it, and speaking up when it matters — can have a profound impact. “It isn’t only for the brave, or the extraordinary: it’s available, and necessary, for all of us,” she says. Anjli Raval‘Ping: The Secrets of Successful Virtual Communication,’ by Andrew BrodskyAndrew Brodsky’s life-long immune deficiency as a result of the treatment he received for leukaemia as a teenager means he is a natural expert in virtual communication, having had to frequently keep himself at a distance. This gives him a nuanced understanding, rather than a binary bad or good, that dominates so much debate over remote versus in-person interactions. Early in this book, he illustrates a scenario. A doctor breaks bad news to a child. Our natural instincts are that such life-shattering information should be in person. But what if the family don’t receive dire news in a sterile and unfriendly hospital setting, Brodsky asks. “They don’t have to leave the comfort of their house, which is especially convenient since the child is so nauseous and dizzy he can’t even walk to the car.” After the difficult call ends there’s no need to converse with front office staff about health insurance details. The family come to terms with a life-altering diagnosis without having to interact with strangers or deal with logistical hassles, in the privacy of their own home.This thoughtful take highlights the trade-offs involved in communication, meaning in some cases, texts or emails are preferable. In the book, Brodsky tackles such thorny issues as whether to switch your camera on, professional use of emojis, tackling communication overwhelm and that perennial question: “Could this meeting have been an email?”This is not a retread of the increasingly heated debate over the benefits of remote versus office working. Rather, it is a recognition that wherever you work — from builders on a construction site, to doctors in a hospital — there is likely to be some form of communication via phone, or computer. His framework Ping, which stands for the far less snappy perspective taking, initiative, non-verbal and goals, is a thought-provoking guide to these tools. It will only become more important as artificial intelligence accelerates its grip on the workplace. Emma Jacobs‘Fewer Rules, Better People: The Case for Discretion’, by Barry LamThe arc of human history bends towards injustice. Or, Barry Lam argues, towards rules so inflexible they end up being unjust.The suggestion that more rules makes life less fair is a little perverse, but in this punchy treatise, Lam makes the case elegantly. Tracing the evolution of legalistic thinking from ancient China through modern-day bureaucracy, he argues that as organisations have become more complex, they have relied on more and more byzantine rules. That leaves less room for individual discretion. Although that may make rules more consistent, it doesn’t make them fair.Lam illustrates this point with several lively anecdotes that pose difficult questions. Should a champion stock-car driver obey the same speed limits as the average citizen? Should a domestic abuser be arrested if it makes his girlfriend’s life worse? In each scenario Lam shows the letter of the law may guide less well than its spirit.Unfortunately, he believes legalism will get worse with the injection of AI: algorithms are the ultimate rule-based decision makers. The book ends with proposals to avoid this hyper-pedantic future, including more evidence-based decision making, or flexibility for rule enforcers. Many are sensible, but would probably be a nightmare to implement — an irony the author would doubtless recognise. Mischa Frankl-Duval‘The Insider’s Guide to Innovation at Microsoft’, by Dean Carignan and JoAnn Garbin All the innovators the authors interviewed for this guide demonstrated what they call “serious joy” in the challenge. That is good news, because reading about how they innovated is pretty hard work. To be fair, “Microsofties” Carignan and Garbin do not expect all readers to plough from start to finish through this guide, which shares “for the first time” a Rubik’s Cube-like key to innovation called the Pasteur-Pisano Innovation Configuration. Readers should take the authors’ advice and dip into the seven case studies the book provides, or explore the four patterns that they discerned there.Some insights are worthwhile and shed some light on Microsoft culture. For instance, while it is accepted wisdom that breakthroughs can emerge from unauthorised or unorthodox side-hustles, the book emphasises the need to secure and sustain executive support for projects.The story of the Xbox, probably the book’s most compelling case study, recounts how the team managed to rebuild gamers’ trust after the failure of the Xbox One launch. The most frustrating examples relate to AI and Microsoft’s evolving use of OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which — if it lives up to its promise — seems quite likely to upend the whole innovative process, Pasteur-Pisano Configuration included. Andrew Hill‘Who Needs College Anymore? Imagining a Future Where Degrees Won’t Matter’, by Kathleen deLaskiAre the boom years of higher education coming to an end? Kathleen deLaski thinks so — at least so far as traditional college is concerned. This provocative book imagines a future where the four-year degree is no longer the primary gateway for a career. A “new age is dawning”, deLaski argues: in the next decade or so, we will be entering a “skills first” period. College could be replaced by a more varied menu: apprenticeships, work experience, short courses and boot camps, perhaps collated on Amazon-style platforms and presented in ever-evolving “skills wallets”. Traditional universities will have to adapt.DeLaski is a well-versed guide to this new world: she founded the Education Design Lab, which supports work-focused innovation at colleges. The book is dense with case studies — including her own varied career — and interviews with educators, employers and learners. It is, however, focused on college as a route to getting a job. Those who see higher education as having a more nuanced primary role — personal and social development, learning for its own sake, and research, for example — might be frustrated with the limited mention these are given in the book.Still, serious thinking of how to reform college is badly needed. It too often burdens people with debt, while failing to equip them with skills they need and excluding non-traditional — or “new majority” — students. Enrolment is dropping in the US and AI is upending learning. This is thought-provoking reading for anyone with an interest in what might come next. Bethan Staton
