Why the world is reorganizing for instability.
Monthly Issue Release: The Roots of Resilience
Hey Freethinkers,
In case you missed my last message, Freethink recently merged with its sister site, Big Think, turning two strong brands into one even stronger one. After five years at Freethink, I’m now Big Think’s Managing Editor.
One of my top priorities since joining Big Think has been launching monthly theme issues. Working on March’s issue — The Roots of Resilience — has been especially exciting for me because, in addition to releasing it digitally, we’ve also produced a print version.
This is only Big Think’s second-ever print issue — and my first! — but we plan to keep them coming: Every quarter, Big Think members will receive a new magazine delivered to their door, in addition to other membership benefits.
Read on for a taste of what you’ll find in The Roots of Resilience. To stay in the loop on all of Big Think’s future theme issues — and the rest of our articles, videos, and podcasts — click your preference below. And if you’d like your own physical copy of the magazine, which includes art and content not available online, becoming a Big Think member now gets you on the list for our last shipment.
Read on,
Kristin
THE BIG MISCONCEPTION
What 1,000-year-old companies know about resilience
By Eric Markowitz
The modern business world worships efficiency, but its drive to eliminate slack wherever possible can actually be the enemy of resilience, according to Eric Markowitz. When he looked at businesses that have withstood the test of time, like Kongō Gumi, a Japanese construction company founded in 578 A.D., he discovered a radically different set of values — ones that today’s founders should take note of if they want their companies to last.
THE BIG CLIMB
Kidnapped by terrorists. Lost a finger. Still became a rock-climbing legend.
By Namir Khaliq
In January, journalist Namir Khaliq braved a snowstorm to spend a day snowboarding in the Sierra Nevada with Tommy Caldwell, one of the world’s greatest living rock climbers. His goal: to understand how Caldwell maintains his strength and composure in the face of extreme danger. Was it something he was born with or a trait forged through experience? What he found suggests the line between innate ability and learned resilience may be harder to draw than we think.
THE BIG SHIFT
The quiet disappearance of the free-range childhood
By Stephen Johnson
When Mallerie Shirley was growing up in Chicago, her parents started letting her ride the train to school by herself at age 7 — and no one in the neighborhood thought twice about it. But that was the early 1990s, and expectations about what kids should be allowed to do — or not do — were very different from what they are today. Mallerie and her husband learned that lesson firsthand when they tried to give their own young son some freedom to roam — and the state came knocking at their door.
More Articles
The daffodil’s guide to outliving the winter by Jonny Thomson
We saved the world once — we can do it again by Frank Jacobs
Kristin Houser is the managing editor at Big Think.