Categories: Articles

Six Links Worthy Of Your Attention #160

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 (BitCurrent, Year One Labs, GigaOM, Human 2.0, Solve For Interesting, the author of Complete Web Monitoring, Managing Bandwidth: Deploying QOS in Enterprise Networks and Lean Analytics), Hugh McGuire (PressBooks, LibriVox, iambik and co-author of Book: A Futurist’s Manifesto) 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:

Sid Meier: The Father of Civilization – Kotaku. "An amazing look at Sid Meier, the nicest, smartest guy in gaming, who has sailed relatively unscathed through the ups and downs of the gaming industry because, well, he’s just that good." (Alistair for Hugh).
Let Us Blaze New Trails – Letters of Note. "Last week I looked at Mad Men. Here’s a letter from a slightly mad ad-man, Bill Bernbach, which was forwarded to me by friends on two coasts. In it, Bernbach laments the death of creativity that often accompanies a growth in size. In a software-eats-everything world, companies that valued scale are quickly eclipsed by those who favor cycle time and disruption. This letter may explain why." (Alistair for Mitch).
The coming crisis for the oceans – The Science Show. "A sobering look at the state of our oceans, from Callum Roberts, author of The Ocean of Life, interviewed by Robyn Williams on Australia Radio National‘s The Science Show." (Hugh For Alistair).
The Pageview Race – Magellan Media. "My friend and colleague Brian O’Leary takes a critical look at Josh Sternberg‘s post at Digiday, about Who’s Winning at volume publishing. Sternberg awards the gold medal to Forbes.com, which produces the most volume of content per editorial staff (ratio 1:8). Brian asks a good question: if advertising rates continue to fall, is ‘winning’ at volume publishing winning anything? Or, is it better to start thinking of ‘content’ as ‘part of a value chain, but not all of it.’ The example given is AirBnB‘s content strategy, seen as a model of new ways of thinking about using content for marketing, rather than content as a vehicle for advertising". (Hugh for Mitch).
Zipcar For Office Space: A New Service Lets You Rent A Desk By The Hour – Co.DESIGN. "This past week, Alistair, Hugh and I spent a good chunk of time at International Startup Festival held in Montreal. Our mutual friend, Julien Smith was along for the ride. Julien has been making a lot of noise (and raising significant capital) for his startup, Breather. As the company begins to roll out these available spaces in urban centers that members can access, you can begin to feel how significant of an opportunity this might be. This Fast Company piece tickles at what could, ultimately, become a whole new way to look at spaces, how we live, work and more. At first, I couldn’t wrap my head around what, exactly, Julien was trying to do with this startup. Now, I can’t stop thinking about how interesting it truly is." (Mitch for Alistair).
23 Books You Didn’t Read In High School But Actually Should – BuzzFeed. "I was doing my best to not get sucked in by the seductively ridiculous headlines that BuzzFeed pumps through the tubes. When I saw someone post this link on Twitter, I could not resist. I spent a good chunk of my elementary and high school days daydreaming of wanting to be anywhere else. Thankfully, I never let school get in the way of my education. We’re given reading lists and the like all of the way through school. Some of us read the books, but most of us probably just skimmed the surface of the content. I was about to make the foray into reading some fiction this summer. I was considering the latest from Neil Gaiman, before this list came along. It’s somewhat depressing that I own, but haven’t read a lot of these books…and I should… and so should you (in case you haven’t). And, even if you read these in high school, I’m pretty sure they’re that much more magical now that we’re adults." (Mitch for Hugh).

Now it’s your turn: in the comment section below pick one thing that you saw this week that inspired you and share it.

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.