The Edit: The Best of 2023
As we approach the end of 2023, we’re taking stock of the year gone by. While the world continues to be plagued by war and uncertainty, there’s one thing we’re striving to hold onto: hope.
In Rebecca Solnit’s essay Difficult is not the same as impossible, she writes that “hope is not like a lottery ticket you can sit on the sofa and clutch, feeling lucky … hope is an axe you break down doors with in an emergency.”
More reading lists
We featured this essay in the most recent issue of our biannual print magazine The Beautiful Truth, which you can now buy in select UK shops and worldwide from our online shop. This year we also hosted some live events: our panel to celebrate the release of Issue 02 of the magazine, and a discussion with the CEO of Arcelik Hakan Bulgurlu to launch our film Peak: Lessons from Chomolungma, raising £1700 for the Turkey earthquake.
We’ll be taking the next few weeks to recharge for the year ahead and we hope that you can do the same. In the meantime, we want to leave you with some of our favourite content from across the internet from the last 12 months – a mixture of stories, podcasts and videos from creatives around the world.
From The Beautiful Truth Magazine, we wish you a happy and restful holiday period.
To read
The secret power of the 8-minute phone call
Jancee Dunn | January 2nd | The New York Times
The goal is to think of a person you love: someone you miss, someone you wish you connected with more often. Invest the time now for the people you care about.
Why leaders should be open about their flaws
Li Jiang et al. | January 11th | Harvard Business Review
Leaders often struggle to come across as authentic. New research finds that one reason is they frequently choose to present their strengths and intentionally avoid disclosing their weaknesses. This is a mistake.
Climate leaders on what brings them hope
Daisy Greenwell | August 7th | Positive News
If you’re working on the frontlines of the climate crisis, how do you stay positive? Positive News asked activists, scientists, lawyers, politicians and business leaders ‘what brings you hope today?’
The essential skills for being human
David Brooks | October 19th | The New York Times
It’s a moral act to truly see someone, says David Brooks. How can we better understand the people around us and create stronger and more fulfilling connections, especially for those who feel unseen?
Marcus Buckingham | October 12th | Harvard Business Review
When someone says they “love” doing a certain activity, this isn’t a careless exaggeration – it means that when doing the activity, the person is flourishing. Employees who love what they do feel at ease, in control, deeply absorbed in what they’re doing, and are more productive.
In the Middle East, despair is not an option
David Remnick | November 4th | The New Yorker
A source of inspiration is that era of history, not so distant, when leaders and movements, for all their flaws and failures, agree to agree.
TIME Photo Department | November 21st | TIME
As we draw close to the end of another year punctuated by grief and conflict, but also records broken and breathtaking moments of human achievement, photographers continue to astound us by offering new ways of seeing the world.
To listen
Ada Limón | February 16th | On Being with Krista Tippett
An electric conversation with Ada Limón’s wisdom and her poetry – a refreshing, full-body experience of how words, sound and silence can teach us about being human.
Why we all need daily doses of awe
Dacher Keltner | February 27th | At a Distance
UC Berkeley psychology professor Dacher Keltner talks about human emotion as a tool for making sense of the world, the extraordinary acts of kindness that take place around us all the time, and moral beauty as a way of life.
Alice Boyes | July 5th | HBR on Leadership
We all have preconceived notions about the personality types associated with good leadership – like confidence or emotional intelligence. But what about shyness? If you’re more reserved but truly competent, can you become a leader?
Natalie Kitroeff | July 12th | NY Times: The Daily
Over the past two years, tens of millions of Americans have quit their jobs – called ‘the Great Resignation’. Now, that seems to be ending.
The perils of maximising the good that you do
Toby Ord | September 8th | 80,000 Hours Podcast
Rather than “doing the most good that we can,” perhaps we should be happy with a more modest and manageable goal: “doing most of the good that we can”.
To watch
Peak: Lessons from Chomolungma
The Beautiful Truth | January 1st | The Beautiful Truth
Three years ago, Arçelik CEO Hakan Bulgurlu reached the summit of the highest peak in the world – and came down with a renewed perspective on tackling the climate crisis. Peak: Lessons from Chomolungma tells his story.
Brett Foxwell | January 2nd | bfophoto
Created by placing 2,400 different leaves in a stop-motion sequence, The Book of Leaves flickers through a collection of hues, shapes and species. The result draws out the rich diversity, shared traits and natural beauty of the leaves we so often step over or take for granted.
Miranda Chabot | February 21st | NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
As a cosmic photographer, NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has taken over a million snapshots documenting the universe. These images illustrate, explain, and inspire us with their grandeur.
But how are those images taken and processed?
Dream Hampton | July 25th | The New York Times
Dream Hampton explores water as a force of harmony and devastation as climate change affects her home city of Detroit.
Claudia Biçen | April 19th | The Beautiful Truth
Visual artist Claudia Biçen conveys a moving depiction of how we construct the self, through ink-and-pencil portraits and the voice of psychologist Dr Daniel Brown.
For all our other #Edits of the year, click here.
