Boardroom briefing: De-clutter your brain, new airport facilities and better internet capacity for Papua New Guinea

Welcome,

Life without ‘smartphone rubbish’, two  international airports boost their capacity, and Papua New Guinea set for ‘thousand-fold’ improvement of internet capacity. Readings from around the world on business, leadership and management.

Superdry is sold to 157 countries. Credit: Superdry via Instagram

Time to de-clutter your brain? The founder of Superdry fashion brand, Julian Dunkerton, has some interesting advice for anyone who wants to emulate his success.

The self-made UK tycoon tells in the latest edition of Tatler magazine that he prefers an old-school Nokia to an iPhone, and only reads emails if his staff print them out.

‘I watch people everywhere, all looking at their iPhones, and I think I’m lucky that I can take a step back and watch and think without this constant interference that everyone else has.

‘My brain is probably freer to comprehend what is actually happening around me and make better decisions because it’s not clogged with rubbish.’

New airport facilities in Brisbane and Singapore

More than 9,000 glass panels make up the Jewel Changi Airport façade. Credit: Changi Airport via Facebook

The Australian Business Traveller blog reports that Qantas has just increased the capacity of its lounge in the Brisbane International Terminal.

‘The opening of a ground floor annexe (will) boost capacity by some 25 per cent and ease the squeeze during the busiest travel periods.’

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The new space—previously occupied by Air New Zealand—has seating for 100 passengers and sports its own hot and cold buffet, bar and barista station.

Meanwhile Business Insider offers a look inside Singapore’s new ‘Jewel’, a huge retail development at Changi Airport that can also be accessed by non-travellers.

The ‘lifestyle hub’ features the world’s largest indoor waterfall, 280 carefully-curated retail outlets, a hotel and a four-storey indoor forest.

Coral Sea Cable to open myriad possibilities

The Coral Sea Cable System will connect Port Moresby. Credit: CS2

The Coral Sea Cable from Sydney to Port Moresby, which is due to be completed later this year, will create a thousand-fold improvement of internet capacity.

That will open up many new possibilities as PNG businesses are exposed to new digital technologies but also present new challenges for management.

Such technologies are already transforming management in developed economies, according to the consultancy Deloitte’s 2019 Global Human Capital Trends.

‘Faced with the relentless acceleration of artificial intelligence (AI), cognitive technologies, and automation, 86 per cent of respondents to this year’s Global Human Capital Trends survey believe they must reinvent their ability to learn,’ the report says.

‘Eighty-four per cent of respondents told us they need to rethink their workforce experience to improve productivity, and 80 per cent believe they need to develop leaders differently. There is no question that the Fourth Industrial Revolution is bringing disruption to the political, economic and social fabric—and this disruption is having an impact on work, workers, and employers as never before.’

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