Categories: Articles

Six Links Worthy Of Your Attention #357

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, Pandemonio, and ResolveTO; Author of Lean Analytics and some other books), 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:

I built a robot to apply to thousands of jobs at once – here’s what I learned – Fast Company. “It’s not just blue-collar jobs that have to worry about automation. In fact, much recent research suggests white-collar ones are more vulnerable, because code can be upgraded faster than machines, and simply put, code makes fewer mistakes. Or does it? In this piece, the author sends out hundreds of job applications automatically — and comes to some disheartening conclusions about how badly hirers have automated their side of the job-search bargain.” (Alistair for Hugh).
Leningrad – Kolshik – Vimeo. “Just amazing. It’s like a music video and detective story. Fantastic and you have to watch it a few times to figure out what the hell is going on. Talk about massive outcomes from tiny starting conditions.” (Alistair for Mitch).
Tire ski jump – YouTube. “They really put the most extraordinary things on TV in Japan.” (Hugh for Alistair).
You can write hit songs like the Chainsmokers if you follow this snarky video’s instructions – Mashable. “Hilarious instructional video on how to make a hit song. Easy peasy!” (Hugh for Mitch).
What Makes a Genius? – National Geographic. “I love deep pieces like this. Is it nature? Is it nurture? A combination? Can you really ‘make’ a genius? How do we define it? This is a long and thoughtful and powerful read about certain individuals who really do make a dent in the universe. With that, is there a science behind how they pull it off? Is there something new that we need to know about how a genius comes to be?” (Mitch for Alistair).
How eBooks lost their shine: ‘Kindles now look clunky and unhip’ – The Guardian. “I thought that more and more people were just using the Kindle app (or other reading apps) on their smartphones, instead of carrying around another device. It seems like mobile screens are getting bigger and bigger while costing less and less. Is it just the device? Now we’re seeing the sales of eBooks take a little dive (so it’s not the device?). Is it phones or – gasp – is it that people are reacting to the idea of reading extra longform content on their smartphones? People love and want paper books now more than ever? Things are starting to get confusing… and interesting in the world of book publishing. Read on, and don’t think that this article is about the end of books. That is hardly the case.” (Mitch for Hugh).

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

Leningrad – Kolshik from FancyShot on Vimeo.

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.