Think: Shell Ordered by Dutch Court to Cut Carbon Emissions. This news is a BIG deal and every business leader needs to be thinking about how they cut their CO2 emissions NOW. (If you don’t, in the near future, you could find yourself legally liable because of your inaction.)

Think Different: World’s First Concept for a Rechargeable Cement-Based Battery. Advances in material science are often overlooked but they can be game-changers because the advances can allow scientists and innovators to think differently about how and what they might manufacture. In this case, researchers in Sweden have designed a prototype of a battery made out of cement using carbon fibers. Not only could this make buildings radically more energy efficient, it could facilitate the wide-spread use of solar technology because the batteries will allow the excess energy produced on sunny days to be stored for later use on cloudy days.

Think Hard: The Future of Work Will Be Five Hour Days, Four Day Weeks, and  Flexible Staggered Schedules. The headline of this article is a little misleading because the author doesn’t actually suggest that a 20-hour work week will be the future, merely that it could be. I, myself, am not sure this future will come to fruition, but I am open to the idea that it could and the article definitely got me thinking about what the future of work may look like.

Think Faster: If you’re in the trucking or the supply chain business, you’ll want to read this article, A Self-Driving Truck Got A Shipment Cross-Country 10 Hours Faster Than A Human Driver.  Autonomous trucks could not only arrive sooner than many people expect, they could make the delivery of your goods faster. In this case, the self-driving truck delivered its products 42 percent faster!

Think Like a Child: Want to be happier? (Really, who doesn’t?) As this article–The Brain-Changing Magic of New Experiences–suggests, increasing your happiness could be as simple as seeking a new or novel experience. If you’re planning a team-building exercise sometime in the near future this is something you might want to think about.

Thought of the week: “To live is so startling it leaves little time for anything else.” Emily Dickinson.

Until next week: Don’t stop thinking about the future! But also never forget “It is easier to act your way into a new way of thinking than think your way into a new way of acting!”