Why supply chain complexity poses a problem, how to account for the human side of innovation and more in this week’s The Edit.

• Active listening is chronically underrated as a skill. Listening actively paves the way for a deeper way to connect with others – Aeon 
• You wouldn’t want to be the first cohort to colonise Mars. Musk’s plan to send a million people to colonise Mars is doomed – partly because a million people is not enough to start a modern economy – The New York Times
• Have supply chains become too complex? Supply chain disruptions are forcing a consideration of the true cost of low prices – Financial Times
• Worries about failure and criticism can get in the way of innovation. To truly embrace innovation, we have to take the human side into account – McKinsey 
• The pros and cons of the middleman economy. Columbia Law School professor Kathryn Judge discusses the power of intermediaries like Amazon or Walmart, and what the potential risks are – HBR IdeaCast
• Animals have ways of perceiving the world that we’re only just beginning to understand. What can we learn from the way that nonhuman creatures sense the world? – The New Yorker
• Doubt is a powerful marketing tool. How big companies deploy uncertainty to delay policy changes – Fast Company 
  Rebecca Henderson talks about the power of confronting things head on. We asked five of the world’s leading thinkers what one quality they thought was key to a kinder, greener and more equitable world – The Beautiful Truth