So argues Wharton professor Adam Grant in a fascinating new interview. You wouldn't use a hammer to try to cut down a tree, and try to use an axe to drive nails and you're likely to lose a finger. Different physical jobs call for different tools. So too do different mental jobs. Optimism and big-picture thinking will help you sell your business idea. Keeping your books in order requires a more detail oriented approach. Motivating employees requires more empathy than analytical thinking. Different modes of thinking are best suited for different situations, and according to a new interview with star…

In Lagos, Nigeria’s megacity, a group of teenagers wade through a mass of plastic bottles, food containers and bags that have blocked a waterway. Wearing gloves and masks, they pick up the discarded plastic and drop them into refuse bags. Their aim is to enable water to flow around the waterway that was constructed to prevent flooding in the city’s Sangotedo district, while raising awareness of the problems caused by single-use plastic. “We need to start now because in a few years it’s going to be too late to do anything,” said Esohe Ozigbo, the 15-year-old climate change activist who…