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Six Links Worthy of Your Attention #508

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:

SoftBank Owned Patent Troll, Using Monkey Selfie Law Firm, Sues To Block Covid-19 Testing, Using Theranos Patents – TechDirt. “It’s a bad look to be profiteering off of a pandemic. And patent trolls, who sue for patent licenses without intending to build things from those patents, are basically idea parasites. So, when you put those two together—and then add Elizabeth Holmes‘ fraudulent biotech startup Theranos, well—you have a delicious cocktail of humans at their worst.” (Alistair for Hugh).
Zero Trust Information – Stratechery. “Stratechery is an amazing blog; I wish I could articulate things are clearly and carefully as Ben Thompson. In this post, he tackles the question of whether the Internet, full of disinformation, is a net gain or loss for human knowledge. He’s used news around the Coronavirus as a case study. He makes a good case that while there is definitely fakery, the net result is more, better knowledge for humans.” (Alistair for Mitch).
Surprised Kitty – rozzafly – YouTube. “Everyone needs a lot of surprised kitty in their lives right now.” (Hugh for Alistair).
Bernice bobs her hair – Nicholson Baker. “I have a motto, which is: ‘read any article by Nicholson Baker, especially during a pandemic.’” (Hugh for Mitch).
Coronavirus: The Hammer and the Dance – Tomas Pueyo – Medium. “Like you, I’ve big one big cascading panic attack over the past few weeks. I feel like I am living in a movie. As I reflect on the past week, what has bothered me the most? Smart people (that I know, like and respect) doing stupid things. Saying stupid things. Posting stupid things. Not following the recommendations of healthcare providers and our government. Take a read. Think about the words in this article. Social distancing and isolation are the only things that will get us out of this mess. It’s not time to be a rebel. It’s not a good look. Don’t be on the wrong side of history. Be the solution. Take a read. Share it. Special hat-tip to Hugh for pointing this one out.” (Mitch for Alistair).
Kids at home? Here are a few tips from a successful homeschooling family – Without Bullshit. “There’s a lot of crazy and ’new normal’ in our lives – very suddenly. One of the biggest challenges has been our kids. Most of us (including me) aren’t teachers (or any good at teaching). Some schools are using technology and trying (some aren’t – they’re just closed). What’s a family to do? My friend, Josh Bernoff, provides an amazing article – not just about how to do it, but how think about it (which is the most important part). If we add stress to the parent’s life, it will add stress to the kid’s life. That kind of added stress is not going to work for anyone these days. We don’t need more stress.” (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.