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Six Links Worthy of Your Attention #458

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 (Solve for Interesting, Tilt the Windmill, 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:

Sans Forgetica – RMIT University. “I love me a good font. But this one is bad. It’s intentionally hard to read—and according to researchers, this makes it great for studying. Finding something challenging to process helps with learning and recall. So go ahead, and stop studying in Comic Sans; you can download it now (and there’s even a Chrome plugin!).” (Alistair for Hugh).
Manipulating the YouTube Algorithm – Smarter Every Day. “Over the years, I’ve gotten to know Renee Diresta. She’s remarkable and courageous; she took on fake news and bad science, and has worked on ethical technology, fixing the world’s logistics, and much more. And here, in a three-part Smarter Every Day series, she contributes to an understanding of how algorithms can be tricked and what we can do about it. Required viewing for Internet literacy.” (Alistair for Mitch).
The Trouble With Facebook – A Conversation With Roger McNamee – Making Sense. “The VC dude who told Mark Zuckerberg not to sell to Microsoft for a billion bucks in 2006 has some seriously scary things to say about Facebook, Google, and the scale of the digital toxic dumps we all get for free in exchange for… giving up control of ourselves, essentially.” (Hugh for Alistair).
Warren Buffett’s “2 List” Strategy: How to Maximize Your Focus and Master Your Priorities – James Clear. “I try to work and live by a version of this method, and I don’t know if I’m great at it, or if it’s working, but I like it.” (Hugh for Mitch).
The Structure of Stand-Up Comedy – Pudding. “I believe that if you want to get better at creating any kind of content, you should study standup comedy. Want to be a better writer? Find out how comedians write jokes. Want to get better at public speaking? Discover the dynamics of standup comedy. Want to be ‘better on your feet’? Yup… standup comedy. Well, here’s a great little piece on how to deconstruct the silly jokes that too many people take for granted. Hint: don’t take it for granted. Better hint: they’re not silly jokes!” (Mitch for Alistair).
A music nerd’s last stand: You’ll pry my CDs out of my cold dead hands – cnet. “I have four boxes filled with CDs. I’m convinced that some of them are worth a small fortune. I’m convinced that I will miss them when they are gone. I’m convinced that there is a lot of good music in those boxes that you can’t find on the streaming services. As I go through them, I am torn. Do I just give them away to a good home, or do I hold on to them? I should note, that I don’t even have a CD player for them (nor do I really want them). This article resonated with me. It’s not just about the CDs. I miss the entire culture of what used to be buying music. From going to the record stores, to speaking with the staff and meeting fellow lovers of the obscure. It’s not that an entire generation will miss this great cultural experience… it’s that I miss it… and I miss it dearly.” (Mitch for Hugh).

Feel free to share these links and add your picks on Twitter, Facebook, in the comments below or wherever you play.

Mitch Joel

Mitch 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.