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Six Links Worthy of Your Attention #512

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:

Lessig v. NYT: Very. Good. News. – Medium. “In normal times, this would be a big deal. Lawrence Lessig was interviewed about the Epstein MIT donation scandal. The New York Times misrepresented what he said. He was railroaded (for defending accepting donations from Epstein—which he didn’t do, instead defending a colleague, Joi Ito, for following policies enacted by the university). Details matter. But what makes this fascinating is that the NYT had two headlines for the same story: ‘What are the ethics of taking tainted funds,’ for the print edition and ‘A Harvard professor doubles down: If you take Epstein’s money, do it in secret,’ for the online one. This may be the first anti-clickbait case, and it’s a compelling one that will set important precedents before the courts.” (Alistair for Hugh).
YTMND.com. “Before most of the sites from which modern memes emerge, there was You’re The Man Now Dog. Dozens of messages and images that have become part of our cultural vernacular came from here. It relied on old technologies—Flash, etc.—and didn’t keep up with browsers. It went the way of Myspace and Geocities. But it’s back, using modern design and up-to-date code. Just in time for our collective isolation—watch this space. It’s absurd nonsense, but so is much of TikTok these days. And there are a bunch of us who grew up with this nonsense, and are feeling nostalgic these days.” (Alistair for Mitch).
What Ecstasy Does to Octopuses – The Atlantic. “Octopuses. Ecstasy. I’m not sure the ethics of this, but I guess it beats grilling them and eating them in a salad.” (Hugh for Alistair).
Push Play – Guernica. “In times like these, we need a little more Dolly Parton and a little less of everything else.” (Hugh for Mitch).
‘Q2 will be a blood bath’: Sir Martin Sorrell on Cannes, M&A and the Covid-19 bounceback – The Drum. “Full disclosure: Sir Martin Sorrell acquired my marketing agency many years back. He’s no longer at WPP (he started a competitive holding company called, S4 Capital) and I have been out of the agency business for a few years. I’m still interested in the marketing, communications and advertising space, and I do think that Sorrell is one of the most intelligent leaders out there (and, no, I’m not just saying that because he acquired my company… I was a fan long before that). Please do not read the article. Just watch the video. Listen to his words and his perspective on business today, the economy and how work will change. Fascinating.” (Mitch for Alistair).
Being Broken In Half (But Wanting To Be Whole) – Chuck Wendig – Terribleminds. “Along with David Sedaris and Elizabeth Gilbert, nobody writes better about the art of writing, creativity and feelings than Chuck Wendig. I have shared his content here before. This is his latest piece and it will tear at you (unless you are dead inside). It’s about how we show up when it’s hard to show up. Without faking it. Just love this. A lot.” (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.