Is there one link, story, picture or thought that you saw online this week that you think somebody you know must see?
My friends: Alistair Croll (Just Evil Enough, Solve for Interesting, Tilt the Windmill, Interesting Bits, HBS, chair of Strata, Startupfest, FWD50, and Scaletechconf; author of Lean Analytics and some other books), Hugh McGuire (Rebus Foundation, PressBooks, LibriVox) and I decided that every week the three of us are going to share one link for one another (for a total of six links) that each individual feels the other person “must see.”
Check out these six links that we’re recommending to one another:
- The Authoritarian Stack – Francesca Bria. “Germany made me think a lot, and one of the thoughts I can’t shake is how resistance hides in the inefficiency of bureaucracy. What if the stack that controls society is so efficient that there’s nowhere to hide? ‘Silicon Valley isn’t building apps anymore. It’s building empires.’ A French diplomat once told me ‘society functions in the grey areas of the law.’ What happens when everything is binary? This interactive site, a project of Prof. Francesca Bria, maps some of those connections.” (Alistair for Hugh).
- The Monks In The Casino – Derek Thompson. “Derek Thompson argues that with the Internet providing easy access to what motivates men, we are creating a generation of ‘modern ascetics’ who are ‘monks in a casino. Risk-aversion in the social sphere has combined with their risk-chasing in the market, and it’s created a genuinely berserk modern life script.’ I’ve been thinking lately that if technological advancement improves quality of life, do we inevitably become a species that short-circuits our reward systems, simply stimulating pleasure centres through more and more direct means? As he concludes, the alternative is actually living life. ‘It comes with tears and boredom and disappointments and deep, deep joy. It is meant to be played in the sun and in the shadows cast by other people.'” (Alistair for Mitch).
- Why Canada’s Trust System Rewards Belonging Over Building – David Crow – Danger. “For a couple of years now I have been quietly banging on a little drum: the greatest risk to Canada as a nation is not Russia, or China or Trump, but our dismal productivity problems. If we don’t solve that problem we get poorer and poorer, and can’t afford any of the nice things we like about our country. The fact that few people seem to agree with me proves my point. David Crow postulates on why we’re in this pickle.” (Hugh for Alistair).
- Smooth Operator By Sade Performed By The Graystones – YouTube. “I half-wonder if these kids are AI, but in any case, I just love this tight, awesome and tweeny/teenie awkwardness.” (Hugh for Mitch).
- Floor 796. “When I was a kid, I would marvel at these larger hardcover books that were usually imported from Europe that were first-generation versions of what most people know as the Where’s Waldo? collection. Very intricate cartoon/comic pictures of big scenes that had multiple characters doing multiple activities. I could follow the cartoons for hours, then create my own narrative in my brain, or play with a sibling or friend the game of finding something unique in the image and then asking someone else to find it. I love the fact that somebody has taken this project to a whole new level… including every part of pop culture and nostalgia that you can think of, in very fun scenes. And the fact that it’s animated only helps the imagination roam wild on this experiment. What’t this all about? According to the wesbite: ‘Floor 796 is an animated scene showing the lives of characters from various works on the 796th floor of a huge space station. The animation is regularly expanded with new blocks (rooms) and characters from movies, TV series, games, anime, memes, etc. The project is being created by one author as a hobby starting in 2018′. I just love this. Let me know when you find the rock band KISS serving up shawarma…” (Mitch For Alistair).
- How To Rewrite Your Negative Thoughts – Alain de Botton – Modern Wisom And The School Of Life – YouTube. “I’m a huge fan of Alain de Botton. He has appeared on this podcast with Chris Williamson before, and this is another brilliant conversation about philosophy, the humanities, psychology and many of the things we all probably think about with our internal voice and ruminate on inside our own brains. This conversation just shines as a beacon of positivity in a world where so much of the content out there is very polarized and negative. And don’t be fooled by the title, they rip through some very deep topics that go well beyond how to reframe your negative thoughts, although that’s also something most of us should pay attention to…” (Mitch for Hugh).
Feel free to share these links and add your picks on X, Facebook, in the comments below or wherever you play.
Before you go… ThinkersOne is a new way for organizations to buy bite-sized and personalized thought leadership video content (live and recorded) from the best Thinkers in the world. If you’re looking to add excitement and big smarts to your meetings, corporate events, company off-sites, “lunch & learns” and beyond, check it out.
Mitch JoelMitch Joel lives at the intersection of technology, business transformation and consumer culture. He is the Executive Director of Next Era Institute, a strategic intelligence platform helping leaders understand the forces reshaping business, technology, culture and society. The Institute identifies which shifts matter, explores their wider significance and translates them into strategic direction and momentum. Mitch is also a globally recognized keynote speaker. He has delivered thousands of presentations across both B2B and B2C industries to organizations including Google, Walmart, LEGO, Shopify, Microsoft, Procter & Gamble and Unilever. Strategy Magazine has called him “one of North America’s leading visionaries.” Mitch built his career by working directly inside the waves of change that reshaped modern business. He founded and built a digital marketing agency that worked with some of the world’s largest brands and was later acquired by WPP, where he served as President of a firm operating in 25 countries with almost 3,000 employees. Mitch is the bestselling author of Six Pixels of Separation and CTRL ALT Delete, and the host of Thinking With Mitch Joel, one of the longest-running business podcasts in the world. His writing and commentary appear in outlets including Harvard Business Review, Fast Company and Inc. Magazine. He is a member of Dr. Marshall Goldsmith’s 100 Coaches and was named to the Thinkers50 Radar. Mitch also hosts Groove – The No Treble Podcast, documenting the oral history of electric bass players. Mitch is also Co-Founder of ThinkersOne, a platform that enables companies to bring personalized thought leadership from world-class experts into meetings, events and off-sites in focused 15-minute bursts.