Categories: Articles

Six Links Worthy Of Your Attention #172

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:

Survivorship Bias – You Are Not So Smart. "We humans are daft, making all kinds of mistakes from the data around us. David McRaney has made a career of reminding us of this, and his post on how easily we misread the information around us is fascinating and funny." (Alistair for Hugh).
Consulting on the Cusp of Disruption – Harvard Business Review. "A few decades ago, the legal profession underwent a big shift away from law firms and towards corporate counsel, with independent firms handling specialized tasks like discovery. Now, say Clay Christensen and his colleagues, consulting companies are in the middle of a similar shift, and should learn from their predecessors. Must-read for anyone offering advice to others for a living." (Alistair for Mitch).
In praise of Richard Stallman, GNU’s open sourcerer – The Guardian. "Thirty years ago, one of my heroes launched the most spectacular rearguard action against a prevailing view of ‘intellectual property’: the free software movement. Hardly a ‘hippies-only’ movement, free software underpins much of the tech infrastructure of the world, and forms the building blocks of modern (Web) technology development." (Hugh for Alistair).
Giant hornet attacks in China leave at least 41 dead, 1,600 injured – National Post. "Run for your lives." (Hugh for Mitch).
Why We Cry on Planes – The Atlantic. "Scooter Braun is the guy who discovered Justin Bieber. Now, he’s widely recognized as one of the hottest music managers, and he’s an active investor in startups. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting him and interviewing him live on stage. Prior to our first meeting, I decided to watch the Justin Bieber documentary, Never Say Never, on my flight over to see him. I cried like a baby (ok, a few tears here and there). I often find myself getting all teary-eyed while watching emotional movie moments on a plane. The thing is, I am not much of a crier at all. I figured it was from being away from my family that got me all emotional. It turns out that it could be something that much more. All of that to say: avoid sitting next to me on a flight if the sight of a grown man crying is too much for you." (Mitch for Alistair).
Cell Phone Libraries Offer Books To Every Ugandan Home And School – PSFK. "Here’s what we know about our world: education is one of the key answers to ending poverty. Getting people access to books is not easy. Especially in the more remote parts of the world. We also know that there are more people on earth with mobile subscriptions than those with access to safe drinking water. So, why not give everyone with a mobile device access to books? A simple and genius solution. Sure, not everyone has a mobile device, but we’re starting to see these devices show up in the most rural and poorest parts of the world. Let’s hope we can close the gap on the last mile, and then shorten the chasm between the haves and the have-nots." (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.