Hi Quartz members,
We’re wrapping up this week’s field guide on recessions with our usual special treat: a members-only conference call with field guide author and Quartz global economics reporter Gwynn Guilford. Gwynn has been studying the wealth of nations (and The Wealth of Nations) for years, training her near-omniscient eye toward China, the US, and other parts of the world. Join us at 11 a.m. ET/4 p.m. GMT at this undisclosed, online location, and we’ll happily answer any questions you post in the videoconference chat window. If you can’t join us online, please call in at +1 888 240 2560 and enter meeting code 722 994 440.
Intentionally and entirely unrelated, we asked Quartz reporter Rosie Spinks to share her strategies for getting access to a fancy airport lounge, even when she’s flying rock-bottom coach. In this week’s Consummate Consumer feature, Rosie explains how, with the right credit car, or the clever application of negotiable currency, you too can be sipping mid-market champagne in a leather club chair, far away from the madding crowd gathering at Gate 127.
We also have an exclusive video interview with the chief executive of pharmaceutical giant Novartis. Quartz’s deputy finance editor Oliver Staley sat down with Vasant Narasimhan, who’s been in the CEO chair for about year now and has embarked on an effort to change the corporate culture for the company’s more than 125,000 employees. That means less top-down decision making, more autonomy, and a general “un-bossing” of many workers.
Let’s keep learning. Send questions, comments, and a glass of Malbec to members@qz.com.
Here’s to a rewarding day,
Sam Grobart
membership editor