What You Need to Know Today: March 7

Your Early to Rise Daily Briefing

Good afternoon, Early Risers!

Here’s what you need to know

TECH

To your friend who says: ‘Macs don’t get viruses.’ Thinking about torrenting the latest episode of Billions? Might want to check that your Transmission app is above or below version 2.90. A security research firm announced Sunday its discovery of what is believed to be the world’s first ransomware that specifically goes after OS X machines, says Ars Technica.

Can’t stand being alone for 5 minutes? There’s an app for that. Here’s an app that should be used with caution. Blinkist is a service that summarizes non-fiction books into short reads depending on how much free time you have. For example, the bus doesn’t arrive for another five minutes, instead of waiting with your own thoughts (God forbid), read a 5-minute summary of Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People. If you’re seriously strapped for time and don’t want to sacrifice knowledge, this app could be a timesaver.

CAREER

What you wish you knew in college about group projects. Here’s a must-read for CEOs and managers today. New York Times best selling author Charles Duhigg wrote a long piece about what Google learned from its quest to build the perfect team. In summary: After looking at over a hundred groups for more than a year, Project Aristotle researchers concluded that understanding and influencing group norms were the keys to improving Google’s teams.

How to write a mission statement your team cares about. To understand what makes a great mission statement, we’re going to look at what makes bad damaging admission copy. “If you’re the type of person who’s not willing to work hard, then this product is not for you.” Statements like this hold no weight because most people, on some basic level, understand that to make anything happen, requires at least some effort. This is why consensus-driven copy like this makes your eyes roll. It’s also the reason why some mission statements compel teams to take massive action, while others leave them stuck in the mud. Matthew Frederick and Michael Preis, authors of 101 Things I Learned in Business School, explain.

The magic of 30-minute meetings. “One of the side benefits of my focusing on one undistracted task at a time was a new and almost unbearable impatience for wasted time. Harvard Business Review’s Peter Bregman says this is the single most life-changing, business-transforming, revelation he’s had in the last five years. Read more.

LIFESTYLE

The anti-reading list. Don’t read this 😉

Why men love the Every Day Carry. First, what is an Every. Day. Carry (E.D.C)? These are things men carry on them every single day. Think: wallet, pen, watch, comb, knife, multitool, etc. “E.D.C. is as much post-9/11 as it is post-social-media and post-surveillance of social media, says The New York Times. “And it has particularly resonated among men for whom the observance offers totems of heroic masculinity in lives that might not otherwise incorporate it. Men for whom each day is met with the secret yearning that it might turn into a personal disaster film.”Interesting look inside the male psyche.

What does luxury mean to you? “As Michael Caine once said, ‘The greatest luxury is not driving.’ Give me a car that I never need to put gas in, a car that never wants you to park it, a car you never wash or fix or insure, a car you never de-ice or trade in or sell. I know men and women who glory in their cars, taking care of something that they feel takes care of them. There are parts of the world, particularly in America, where having a car appears less like a convenience than a necessity, and where being driven must appear like a form of infantilization. But those people are missing the point. Being driven is luxurious because it is a step back into the realm of personal freedom, which — when it comes to all areas of good service — is the freedom to enjoy an outcome without being responsible for it.” Important lessons on selling luxury services.