In business, there’s a speed difference: It’s the difference between how important a firm’s leaders say speed is to their competitive strategy and how fast the company actually moves. The difference is important regardless of industry and company size. Companies fearful of losing their competitive advantage spend much time and money looking for ways to pick up the speed.

In our study of 343 businesses, the companies that chose to go, go to try to gain an edge ended up with lower sales and operating incomes than those that paused at key moments to make sure they were on the right track. What’s more, the firms that “slowed down to speed up” improved their top and bottom lines, averaging 40% higher sales and 52% higher operating incomes over a three-year period.

How did they disobey the laws of business physics, taking more time than competitors yet performing better? They thought differently about what “slower” and “faster” mean. Firms sometimes fail to understand the difference between operational speed (moving quickly) and strategic speed (reducing the time it takes to deliver value). Simply increasing the speed of production, for example, may be one way to try to reduce the speed difference. But that often leads to reduced value over time, in the form of lower-quality products and services.

In our study, higher-companies with strategic speed always made changes when necessary. They became more open to ideas and discussion. They encouraged new ways of thinking. And they allowed time to look back and learn. By contrast, performance suffered at firms that moved fast all the time, paid too much attention to improving efficiently, stuck to tested methods, didn’t develop team spirit among their employees, and had little time thinking about changes.

Strategic speed serves as a kind of leadership. Teams that regularly take time to get things right, rather than plough ahead full bore, are more successful in meeting their business goals. That kind of strategy must come from the top.

The Australian Outback town of Quilpie is home to 800 people. The town hoped its offer of free land might draw five new families to the community. In less than two weeks, the town has received more than 250 requests for information about the offer from around Australia and other countries around the world. The town leaders came up with the idea to deal with a housing shortage. The lack of housing made it difficult to fill jobs in the remote area of western Queensland state. People who buy land, build a house on it for less than 560,000 dollars, and live in it for six months can receive a 9,400 dollars payment, known as a grant. A block of land in Quilpie, about 1,000-square meters, sells for around the same amount as the grant. It means the town is effectively giving the land away.

The idea for the grant offer came from Justin Hancock, head of the town council. The 30-year-old spent six months in a retirement (退休) home when he first arrived in Quilpie this year because of the area’s housing shortage. Quilpie has recently needed workers in healthcare and education. It also needs people who can fix cars and prepare meat and many other kinds of workers. Questions about the free land program came from as far away as Britain, India, and New Zealand. But home buyers need to be Australian citizens or permanent (永久) residents to be a candidate for the grant.

Hancock said recently that getting five new families to the area would be a big success. “To see the interest,” he added, “it was a little overwhelming (难以处理的事情).” Real estate prices have increased greatly across much of Australia throughout the coronavirus crisis. Lockdowns in the largest cities, Sydney and Melbourne, and low interest rates have sent people to search for larger homes in smaller towns. Most of the interest in coronavirus-free Quilpie has come from the state capital, Brisbane, a city of 2.4 million on the Pacific Ocean 1,000 kilometers to the east. But there is also interest from Melbourne, Newcastle, and Western Australia state. Both young families and retired people are considering the Quilpie move. They have different reasons. “People who are coming out of lockdown (锁定) are saying I want wide open spaces, and we have plenty of that,” Hancock said.

The area that Quilpie is in, known as a shire, covers 68,000 square kilometers. Two grants will be received by Quilpie locals, one by council employee Tom Hennessy, 23, and his 24-year-old school teacher fiancee (未婚妻), Tessa McDougall. The couple bought a block of land in August. “I love Quilpie. It’s a great place. Everyone’s friendly,” Hennessy said. Hennessy was born in Quilpie and his fiancee came a year ago from Brisbane.

Children born in the past four decades were the centre of their parents’ attention. 【小题1】. However, when the same resources are divided between two children, the amount belonging to each one is going to decrease.

According to the Hangzhou Daily, when there are two children in the family, parents tend to choose public schools instead of private schools, which are usually more expensive. 【小题2】.

But having a second child may cure some deep-rooted problems in China’s traditional family education. Having two children in the family can help to prevent one child being spoiled by too much attention. 【小题3】 Taking care of a brother or sister also enables children to gain a sense of responsibility, cooperation and caring.

【小题4】 Currently, there are not enough vacancies in public kindergarten and schools for the potential increase in children.

“It’s not only the enrollment capacity of educational institutions that will feel the pressure. 【小题5】” Peng Xizhe, director of the Population and Development Research Policy Centre at Fudan University, told China Education Daily.

He predicts the government may have to invest more to support the educational system as a result of the new family planning measure.