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:
- The administrative state of The Empire – Don Moynihan. “Honey Dacanay, one of the most amazing public servants I’ve had the chance to meet, pointed me at this; Katy Lalonde (another standout government innovator) told her once that the Star Wars franchise is a series of movies about government technology procurement. Which is ridiculous. And accurate. This spoiler-laden piece by Don Moynihan makes me want to go watch Andor now (though I rail against the Disney+ model with all my will.) ‘The Empire conveys total control, but it is beset with problems,’ says this piece. Apparently, ‘the designer of the Death Star is revealed to be a promotion-hungry senior manager.’ I never realized Star Wars could be a syllabus for government modernization, but here we are.” (Alistair for Hugh).
- Introducing Permission Slip, the app to take back control of your data – Consumer Reports. “You know it’s mainstream when Consumer Reports gets involved. ‘Permission Slip is a mobile app that… shows you what kinds of data companies collect, and lets you decide what to do. With a tap, you can tell a company to stop selling your data or to delete your data entirely.’ With the collapse of many social media platforms, Apple‘s do-not-track enforcement, GDPR and CCPA, and a more widespread understanding of surveillance capitalism, brands need to stop stalking their customers and start actually engaging with them. US-only for now, but hopefully it’s a trend we’ll see in Canada too.” (Alistair for Mitch).
- Lucky Chops NYC – YouTube. “Who wants to hear an all brass, all action busking sextet from the subways of NYC powering through a medley of funky classics? I do!” (Hugh for Alistair).
- Smells Like Teen Spirit – 2CELLOS – Live at Sydney Opera House – YouTube. “Who wants to hear a rendition of the Nirvana classic performed by two cellists with a full-backing orchestra (and a show off drummer)? I do!” (Hugh for Mitch).
- Keurig Dr. Pepper Demands 360-Day Payment Terms in PR Agency RFP – Adweek. “Let me start by saying that building and running a marketing agency was one of the biggest highlights of my professional career. I will, forever, be grateful for that experience, and will always hold a soft spot in my heart for my business partners, our employees and the clients who entrusted us with their brands. That being said… clients are never easy and the relationship can be… challenging? One of the worst parts of the marketing agency business is the function of pitching (and, more importantly, the free spec work that usually comes along with that). In short, the system is broken. Now, if you add in procurement (which is where the client dictates to the agency how much agency employees should be charging for their work) and the tough negotiations around payment and terms (again, clients dictating how much margin an agency can make, etc…), the relationship can often start off on the wrong foot. This piece of news really highlights why I think the system is broken. Can you imagine payment terms like this? The agency does the work, and the client does not pay for an entire year? And, let’s be honest, how many corporate clients have you had that pay on time – even with payment terms? I know that our accounting department spent most of their days chasing receivables. What’s the idea here? The agency should fund the client’s actual operations and if they can’t, they must seek out financing from a third-party? It’s one thing to make invoices payable within 30-60 days… but a full year? Ridiculous.” (Mitch for Alistair).
- The 2022 Non-Obvious Book Awards Announcement – Rohit Bhargava. “I urge you to spend an hour with Rohit Bhargava, as he presents some of the best business/non-fiction books that happened in 2022. This is an amazing journey filled with many titles that I have yet to check out. This is not a boring presentation, but a fun ride into some of the best book titles, book cover designs, and much more. Rohit had a very unique and creative way of looking at major themes in our world today, and he presents these books in a way that makes me want to run out and buy them. So, if you’re looking for what’s what in the world of books, this is it.” (Mitch for Hugh).
Feel free to share these links and add your picks on Twitter, Facebook, in the comments below or wherever you play.