MB Digital is an online, nominative subscription that gives time-starved individuals regular access to incisive and prescient analysis of what’s out there. All MB Digital content is based on a rigorous methodology and synthesized feedback from an exceptional international network. The Monthly Barometer is relevant to all and read by the influential.

Our one-page “inch-deep, mile-wide” predictive and analytical monthly newsletter that distils how the major macro issues (economics, geopolitics, society, environment and technology) intersect and impact today’s world. For more than a decade it has been a go-to, independent source of analysis for many time-starved key decision-makers. It reduces complexity and achieves clarity by conveying a simple (yet not simplistic) message. To paraphrase John Maeda, we take away the obvious and add the meaningful.

Every week we provide 5 insightful op-eds or articles to help you make sense of today’s world. These are often, though not exclusively, sourced from thinkers and experts from the Monthly Barometer’s network.

OUR METHODOLOGY

The rigorous methodology that underpins the Monthly Barometer draws on a variety of theories to achieve the most insightful and pertinent analysis possible.

The Wisdom of Crowds, by James Surowiecki, defends the idea that diversity makes a group more intelligent. Our network is both quantitative and qualitative and characterized by diversity. Diversity of opinion, diversity of information, and diversity of attitude.
Thanks to this, we provide meaningful, independent, “conflict-of-interest-free” advice to members. The “analysis of competing hypothesis”, a method developed and recommended by Senior Intelligence officer Richard Heuer, is the conceptual framework we’ve chosen for the Monthly Barometer. The reason is this: as human beings, our judgment is plagued by our biases. We tend to form opinions by falling back on intuitions and then seek out evidence to confirm and comfort us in our position, shutting down any dissonant information. The “analysis of competing hypotheses” is a response to this problem. It works by formulating two opposing arguments about any given issue and examining fresh information to see which one is gaining ground – we do this by talking to our network and forcing ourselves to consider all sides of an argument.  Each bullet point of the Monthly Barometer is subjected to this scrutiny.  Thus armed, we form our opinion and express our conviction. LEARN MORE