Good morning, Quartz readers!
In 1962, US president John F. Kennedy’s words in a Texas college football stadium set America on a course for the moon. “We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things,” he told an audience more accustomed to seeing Russians in space, “not because they are easy, but because they are hard.”
Neither JFK or anyone else knew how to get there. But over the next seven years, the most impressive master plan in modern history came together. It was improvisational. Nearly half a million people and $288 billion (in today’s dollars) were coordinated on the fly toward a single goal, and it succeeded.
JFK’s moon shot has something to teach the business world in the year ahead. From a crippling pandemic to stock market booms and busts, 2020 was unprecedented. And in the face of such volatility, it’s tempting to toss out well-laid plans—focus on the moment, not the horizon. Even before Covid-19, evidence suggests only a minority of executives engaged in meaningful long-term planning.
But the most effective response to volatility is focusing even more on the destination, says Nicolaj Siggelkow, an economist and professor at the University of Pennsylvania. A clear destination allows teams to improvise their strategies to the demands of the moment, without falling into reactivity. “That’s what a master plan is,” says Siggelkow. “The genius is in both.”
Perhaps the most famous master plan of recent years is Tesla’s “Secret Tesla Motors Master Plan,” just four short sentences published on its blog in 2006:
- Build sports car
- Use that money to build an affordable car
- Use that money to build an even more affordable car
- While doing above, also provide zero-emission electric power generation options
The following years saw the company skid near bankruptcy, battle the SEC, burn billions of dollars in doomed schemes, and suffer setback after setback. And yet, nothing changed about those four statements. Today, Tesla’s market capitalization has eclipsed Toyota, formerly the world’s most valuable car company. It’s now working on its “Master Plan, Part Deux.” —Michael J. Coren
Things on Quartz Katherine especially liked
Quartz editor in chief Katherine Bell started on the first Monday in 2020, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. Almost a year later, she remains bright-eyed, and we can’t see tails on videochat. To look back on a year of coverage (and complication), we asked Katherine to fill in a few blanks.
How would you sum up your year?
Quite a rollercoaster. For Quartz, it’s been heartbreaking at times, starting in January with the loss of our beloved executive editor, Xana Antunes; frightening, as we watched from four continents as the pandemic wreaked havoc around the world; and lonely, as we’ve been separated from colleagues, friends, and family.
But it’s also been thrilling, as journalists, to throw ourselves into making sense of the enormously complex and consequential events of 2020—not only Covid-19 and the economic crisis, but the government crackdown in Hong Kong, the protests after the death of George Floyd, the US election, Brexit, and plenty of intriguing news about companies large and small. It’s rewarding to hear from readers that our work has helped them make it through such a difficult time. And Quartz becoming an independent media company was an exciting way to end the year.
Quartz’s mission is to make business better. What’s a story that spoke to that in 2020?
Our field guide on how to build an antiracist company, as well as this fascinating story on an often-overlooked lesson from the history of Black management.
What coverage made you smarter?
At its best, our international coverage feels like reporting from the near future. Mary Hui and Jane Li’s work on Hong Kong’s evolution under a Beijing crackdown is a great example of that. Here’s some background to get you started, plus a moving story on censorship sweeping through Hong Kong’s offices and schools, a brief history of tear gas, and an analysis of 165,000 government statements that shows how authoritarian language is taking over.
Our reporters have also done a brilliant job of explaining Covid-19 vaccines, from glass vial shortages to how Moderna and BioNTech are rewriting the future of pharma and what Ebola can teach us about vaccine distribution in Africa.
What’s a series you can’t stop thinking about?
I loved our series on reparations for slavery. We wanted to talk about how reparations would really work, and I found its unusually practical and international approach refreshing.
What’s a format you’re now addicted to?
Our Thursday emails to Quartz members, which each week dive into a different company making waves in the global economy (or that will be soon). Recent highlights include Boeing, AstraZeneca, Palantir, and meditation app Calm.
Who’s a person you’re watching?
India’s richest man (Asia’s richest, even!) Mukesh Ambani, the chairman of Reliance Industries. He has Bezos-level grand plans for his many businesses, and is engaged in a retail war with the Amazon founder himself.
What’s a resource you never knew you needed?
Our Quartz at Work from Home virtual workshops. A year ago, I also could not have imagined buying a ring light.
What about a project that blew your mind?
Welcome to Leeside, the US’s first climate haven. When we launched a Quartz obsession called “Rethinking Cities,” I didn’t expect us to create one from scratch!
What’s an obsession you followed obsessively?
How how we spend changed during Covid. From the fundamental challenge facing the fashion industry to the bike boom to the evolution in Venmo emoji use. China taught me about “revenge shopping”—and the dubious nature thereof—and Italy gave us a fantastic debate over penne.
What about an idea that made you hopeful?
Gen Z may change the culture in ways that save us all. They’re making it cool to care about the environment, and corporations are listening.
Advice you forwarded to friends?
Anytime anyone I know has to make a big life decision I send them Sarah Todd’s reporting on how we regret not doing things more than doing them.
10 field guides you might have missed
- ⚕️ World vs. coronavirus
- 🤔 Decision making
- 💻 The virtual conference reboot
- 💪 Home fitness boom
- 📺 Netflix’s next stage
- 📊 Data deluge
- 🛋️ Home office handbook
- 💸 How to save the economy
- 🚲 The delivery dilemma
- 😎 What Gen Z wants
We’re obsessed with the New Year
A psychological clean slate. 2020 was, by and large, not a good year. Unfortunately, there’s no guarantee the next one will be better. Nevertheless, as the end of the Gregorian calendar year approaches, it’s only natural to want to kick 2020 to the curb and start fresh in 2021. This rather unfounded optimism for the future is an important part of tradition when it comes to the turning of the calendar year. Will we ever learn? The Quartz Weekly Obsession has a resolution.
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10 links from elsewhere that made us smarter
- The very real, totally bizarre bucatini shortage of 2020 (GrubStreet)
- Child labor in palm oil industry tied to Girl Scout cookies (Associated Press)
- How Brexit talks overcome suspicion, resentment, and fish (Bloomberg)
- Who did JK Rowling become? (Vulture)
- The 200-year search for botanical memory (Lapham’s Quarterly)
- SoulCycle’s exclusivity was its secret weapon—and its downfall (Vox)
- The Vatican’s chief Latinist died on Christmas Day. “He was LXXXI.” (New York Times)
- The puzzle inventor who makes math beautiful (New Yorker)
- Joe Biden’s stutter, and mine (The Atlantic)
- The next big thing in retail comes with Chinese characteristics (The Economist)
Our best wishes for a relaxing but thought-filled weekend. Please send any news, comments, master plans, and spare bucatini to hi@qz.com. Get the most out of Quartz by downloading our app and becoming a member. Today’s Weekend Brief was brought to you by Michael Coren, Katherine Bell, and Kira Bindrim.