End of Week Roundup! [Issue #74]

Happy Friday from Beem!

Another week, another Roundup here for you: let’s see what’s been shaking the Tech, Comms and HR world this week! But before we dive in: don’t forget to send us an email to hey@wearebeem.com if you have a story you want to share! Whether it’s about leadership, HR, innovation, company culture or communications or even your own story, we’re keen to learn, so share it with us and we may feature your post in our upcoming issue.

Right, what’s been making waves this week? Check this out and join the discussion below!

Enjoy!

 

 

Supporting the business isn’t strategic HR – people centricity is

 

 

HR practitioners sometimes report being conflicted about whether to align with the business to be more strategic or to better support their people. However, it is actually much more useful to see these poles as a paradox rather than a dilemma.

That is, we need to do both – to focus on the business and support its people. And it is only when we do both that we act in a truly strategic way. The problem with solely focusing on the business is that the rest of the business already does this, and when HR takes this approach we offer no additional or unique value. Our unique focus should be on the people working for the business!

 

 

When algorithms mess up, the nearest human gets the blame

 

 

Earlier this month, Bloomberg published an article about an unfolding lawsuit over investments lost by an algorithm. A Hong Kong tycoon lost more than $20 million after entrusting part of his fortune to an automated platform. Without a legal framework to sue the technology, he placed the blame on the nearest human: the man who sold it to him.

It’s the first known case over automated investment losses, but not the first involving the liability of algorithms. Many cases tackle one of the central questions we face as automated systems trickle into every aspect of society: Who or what deserves the blame when an algorithm causes harm? Who or what actually gets the blame is a different yet equally important question.

 

 

The story of London’s tech scene, as told by those who built it

 

 

A decade ago, in the days before founders were the new rock stars, when co-working meant making a cappuccino last an entire morning in Starbucks and west London advertising execs found far-flung Shoreditch genuinely edgy, London’s digital entrepreneurs were less a community than a curiosity. Yes, a run of internet companies – from Skype to Betfair, from Lastminute to MoneySupermarket – had broken through. But these were outliers.

Since 2008, according to data compiled byDealroom.co, the UK has created 60 unicorns (tech companies valued at $1bn or more) – 35 percent of the 169 created across Europe and Israel. Check out the full story here!

 

 

Did we miss something? Let us know in the comments section below and we’ll feature your article in next week’s Roundup!

Also, let us know what type of content you guys want more or less of, we’re all ears!