Inside the secretive business of geopolitical advice | GM’s Mary Barra is charging ahead on EVs and navigating the UAW auto strike. It’s a valuable lesson in playing the long game | Travelling to and from America has become a waiting game | Lise Meitner, the ‘Atomic Pioneer’ Who Never Won a Nobel Prize

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Inside the secretive business of geopolitical advice - The Economist

These are anxious times for the bosses of Western multinational companies. After decades of being wooed by governments the world over, many now live with an ever-present fear of being caught in the crossfire of fraying geopolitical relations. An increasingly assertive China has now taken to slapping exit bans on the executives of foreign firms. The latest example came on September 29th, when a Hong Kong-based restructuring consultant at Kroll, an American advisory firm, was reported to have been barred from leaving the mainland.

Doing business in China is far from the only source of worry. American chief executives are contending with the regulatory zeal of Brussels just as their European counterparts are dealing with a more interventionist America. Both groups are trying to tap the cash gushers of the Gulf without appearing to cosy up to its authoritarian rulers. A diplomatic spat between Canada and India over the alleged assassination of a Sikh activist on Canadian soil will have sent shivers down the spines of many Western business grandees. Trouble, it seems, is everywhere.

Luckily, an industry of consiglieri is at hand to help multinational firms traverse these treacherous waters. Although geopolitical advisers have existed for decades, demand for their services is now soaring, thanks to the growing complexity of doing business abroad. Bankers, lawyers and management consultants are pouring into the field. What was once a niche and secretive business is entering the mainstream of professional services.

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GM’s Mary Barra is charging ahead on EVs and navigating the UAW auto strike. It’s a valuable lesson in playing the long game - Fortune

In 2019, more than two years into Donald Trump’s polarizing presidency and just ahead of the pandemic, the Business Roundtable declared a commitment among its CEOs to focus on stakeholder capitalism. For generations, business leaders had put their shareholders’ interests first, but under stakeholder capitalism, those interests are only one priority among many: Employees, customers, and communities are given equal consideration.

What came next was a kind of Era of Good Feeling: We saw a huge uptick in pledges from global companies to leap forward in diversity and equity, treat their employees better, and make a positive impact on the planet.

A few years later, many of those commitments have been whiffed on, walked back, or deprioritized. Efficiency and cost savings are in, diversity and inclusion jobs are out, and net-zero timelines are being pushed back, as some companies are realizing how expensive—and distracting—it can feel to try to serve more than one constituency.

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Travelling to and from America has become a waiting game - The Economist

Travellers on a flight to Spain last month found themselves in a stinky situation. An ailing passenger had trailed diarrhoea down the aisle, forcing the plane to return to Atlanta. For those flying into or out of America these days, poop is not the only hazard they may face.

International air travel has soared since the covid-19 pandemic. This has created a jam at airports, with long queues in immigration halls. According to Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the agency charged with patrolling America’s borders, at airports as well as land frontiers, some passengers have waited for over two hours this month to enter the country. Those who make it past immigration may then find overflowing security queues for connections. Twice this year your correspondent has had to sprint through Miami airport to make her domestic flights.

Technology (including increasing use of biometric data) can help speed things up. And for those willing to pay, signing up to Global Entry is an option. It allows pre-cleared passengers to sail smugly past the long lines. However, even that avenue is clogged up: those applying now should prepare to wait nearly a year for approval.

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Lise Meitner, the ‘Atomic Pioneer’ Who Never Won a Nobel Prize - The New York Times -

Lise Meitner developed the theory of nuclear fission, the process that enabled the atomic bomb. But her identity — Jewish and a woman — barred her from sharing credit for the discovery, newly translated letters show.

Lise Meitner, the Austrian-born physicist, was a longtime collaborator of Otto Hahn, who won the Nobel Prize in 1944. She did not share in the award with him.Credit...Bettmann, via Getty Images

Katrina Miller, a science reporter, recently earned a Ph.D. in particle physics from the University of Chicago. She is the third Black woman from her university to have done so.

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