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, 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: 

• Pablos on how Movies will be Made – November 23rd, 2010 – Deep Future – YouTube. “Another smart mind I’ve met recently is Pablos Holman, who helped Jeff Bezos launch Blue Origin and built the Intellectual Ventures Lab for former Microsoft Chief Scientist (and chef extraordinaire) Nathan Myhrvold. In this video — recorded thirteen years ago — he lays out what he sees as the future of filmmaking. If you’ve been watching the remarkable strides Generative AI has made in recent months, you’ll see that many of his predictons are coming true. And given that accuracy, the others just might too.” (Alistair for Hugh and video below).
• David Brin’s questionnaire regarding politics, ideology and human destiny. “Over the last couple of years I’ve had the great pleasure of getting to know David Brin a bit. In addition to being a brilliant science fiction writer and scientist, he’s also an irrepressible critic of weak-minded thinking, and a lover of clever phrases and obscurely eclectic references. He devised this questionnaire, ‘to illuminate why you feel as you do about modern issues… and why other smart humans weirdly disagree.’ An evening well spent with friends.” (Alistair for Mitch).
• Daniel Lanois and Pharrell Williams at Home in the Studio – ARTST TLK Ep. 7 – Reserve Channel – YouTube. “I love Daniel Lanois‘s music, his albums Acadie, For the Beauty of Wynonna, and especially Shine are among my favourites. And while Daniel Lanois makes wonderful music, he is best known as one of the most important record producers of the late eighties and early nineties, having produced mega-hits and Grammy award winning albums, for among others, Peter Gabriel (So), Bob Dylan (Oh Mercy and Time Out of Mind), and most famously, U2‘s albums, The Unforgettable Fire, The Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby. Along the way he’s also produced Neil Young, Willie Nelson, The Neville Brothers, Emmylou Harris, Hothouse Flowers, Robbie Robertson, Martha and the Muffins and more. Here is a really incredible conversation about the artistry and craft of making music, wth Pharrell Williams filling the interviewer chair with aplomb, and includes an insight into the specific dimensions of the ‘secret hallway’ to U2 guitarist The Edge‘s sound.” (Hugh for Alistair and video below).
• Nancy Wilson demonstrates the intro to ‘Crazy On You’ – YouTube. “Remember Heart’s hit song, ‘Crazy on You’? Well, even if you don’t, you should – especially for it’s amazing opening. Here’s guitarist Nancy Wilson demoing how she makes it happen.” (Hugh for Mitch and video below).
• Deserted office when you’re new to office life? Probably not ideal. – The Harvard Gazette. “I believe that one of the more unique aspects of my new business, ThinkersOne, is that in a world where companies are trying to solve for in-person, remote and hybrid working scenarios that each scenario seems to provide different answers to ‘what works’, while ThinkersOne works for all scenarios (this is interesting to me). It’s just a simple thought that I have in world where everyone is trying to figure out what works for work… and the answers are all over the place. This article shines another light on where and how we work. Even a more flexible work schedule has unintended consequences on your team members. What works great for you, because you’re no longer commuting or the work that you do doesn’t require your physical presence in an office, may have really negative consequences on everyone else… from young employees to women… ‘According to The Power of Proximity to Coworkers, a paper co-written by the Harvard economist Amanda Pallais, beneficial teamwork and important collaborations take a hit when employees work from home. Moreover, younger employees, particularly women, may be hurt most by remote work… Their paper notes that going remote made [software] engineers under 30 five times more likely to quit than when working in the same building as their co-workers pre-pandemic, and female engineers four times more likely to quit.’ There’s a lot in this to digest.” (Mitch for Alistair).
• A Podcast About the Airport Best Sellers We Can’t Escape – The Atlantic. “This won’t surprise you, but often the most popular books (the ones that sell the most) have little to do with their actual content (or the truth behind it) and much more to do with the marketing engine that is put in place to make it look like these books are everywhere. This is always the case when it comes to airport bookstores. Why? Because anybody who works in the publishing industry knows that retail placement (airport bookstores) is very much a ‘pay to play’ world. So, if you’re traveling from city to city and see the same book – front and center – in every airport bookstore, this might lead you to believe that, ‘gee, this book is everywhere… I should probably read it.’ And it never ends, because seeing that book for years and years (whether you bought it or read it) only reinforces its ‘popularity’. But, are these books any good? Are they even sound in judgement and reason? This article looks at a few episodes of the podcast, If Books Could Kill, hosted by Michael Hobbes and Peter Shamshiri. Their podcast explores best-selling books whose ‘airy truisms and occasionally questionable logic’ have shaped American culture over the past several decades. The hosts meticulously dissect these books, the authors, and the cultural ascent of their ideas, providing deep insights into the myths that these books fueled and the reasons why people were drawn to them​. So very good…” (Mitch for Hugh).

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