1. New research detailed in the Harvard Business Review suggests that when it comes to goal-setting, we perceive modest improvement targets as being easier to achieve than maintaining our status quo. The researchers put it this way: "When we're judging the difficulty of a goal, the first thing our brains see is the size of the gap that separates the goal from the baseline. The bigger the gap, the more difficult the goal. But with a status quo goal, there's no gap to evaluate, so our negativity bias kicks in, and our brains start generating reasons we might fail." This held true across a range of different categories. The bottom line: If you're in the market for a new success strategy, try setting slightly loftier goals rather than smaller ones closer to your baseline.
2. McKinsey Global Institute released a new report today on applying AI for social good. The cases they detail aren't idyllic future ones, such as AI as a cure for cancer. Instead, the report includes a library of 160 cases and six fleshed-out current examples of AI applications that can have a large-scale social impact. That should make for interesting reading for entrepreneurs with big ideas.
3. Knickers, the 1.4-ton Australian cow that's taken the Internet by storm, has been saved from the slaughterhouse. His owner said he's too heavy for the machines. Might we say he's ... "too big to fail?"