Fifty. / The Reflections & Learnings Edition.
Studies, ideas, and advice from the great contributors to Le Cinq.
Hey, everybody.
We did it! We made it to 50 editions! It’s been a joy to put together these editions and create a space to tell stories I’m reading, seeing, and watching from afar. What’s more important to me though is that Le Cinq has become a little platform for incredible humans to share their own stories, learnings, and guidance.
Thus, for the 50th edition, I’ve decided to step aside and give the floor to the past 39 contributors, in no particular order, and share some of their learnings that they wrote about in past editions. I’ll link to their stories as well in each passage.
I hope you take the time to read each one, tap into their full editions, and follow them on their respective platforms. To the wonderful people who penned these: thank you for sharing and I love you all deeply as friends and colleagues.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: we all have great stories to tell.
The Future of E-Commerce
E-commerce is going through a massive awakening right now amid COVID-19, and I’m excited to see how the industry continues to innovate. There’s a huge opportunity to reliably provide essentials to consumers when they need them in a trusted environment (ie reliable pricing and inventory).
I see this shift also affecting industries such as wellness and hygiene, remote work from home services, and new and creative ways to increase social stimulation virtually.
Nitasha Mehta, Contributor #15
CARLY CARLY CARLY
I keep thinking about a piece that I wrote back in December, about an emerging Gen Z consumer psychographic. Unlike a demographic, which describes a generation to which a person belongs, a psychographic describes how a person may think. An example of a psychographic that has been widely discussed is HENRY (high earner, not rich yet).
In response to this, we began to think about the antithesis of this consumer, one who has little disposable income but buys premium anyways. This psychographic is called CARLY (can’t afford real life yet). CARLY aligns with brands that are quirky, celebrate inclusivity and diversity, and express gender neutrality. They also prioritize a greater portion of spend on products and services that aim to fulfill self-actualization and community; primarily due to their other Maslowian needs being shared expenses with their roommates or taken care of by their parents.
She celebrates her flaws, shares her feelings openly, is incredibly entrepreneurial, and is socially native.
Phillip Jackson, Contributor #25
The Intersectionality of Sneakers in…Everything
The project that I’m most excited about is my newsletter, The Kicks You Wear. I think I’m on the cusp of creating the perfect medium to read about the intersectionality of sneakers in tech, politics, culture and whatever else you can think of. When we launched back in October, I wasn’t sure what the appetite for it would be but the audience has been great and engaging. They’ve probably taught me more, at this point, than I’ve taught them.
Social Impact Taking the Lead
It’s been really nice to see the world embracing sustainability amid the difficult times. There is a real changing of the guard happening. Leaders from my generation, and even younger, are reaching new heights where they can inflict real, positive change for the planet.
Brands like Akua, Candid, Moringa Connect, and Acari are putting sustainability and social impact at the forefront of what they do, and consumers are rewarding them for it. It’s a beautiful thing.
Taking Time to Be the Best Leader…
The most important project I’m working on at the moment is myself. I’m concentrated on becoming the best CEO that I possibly can for my team. I’m diving deep with my executive coach and have created a pretty strict ‘self-care’ regimen that keeps me grounded and happy. I knock out the gym early (6a), I (try to) stay away from social media until 9a and the first thing I do when I wake up is meditate for a short amount of time and think about the things I’m grateful for.
Other than that, just building cool products with some friends and trying to get this ‘96 Range Rover running again. Thanks, Uncle Tony.
Chris Echevarria, Contributor #6
…And Exploring the Adapability Quotient (AQ)
My friend Natalie Fratto gave an amazing TED Talk last year on how to measure and improve your Adaptability Quotient (AQ). If you haven’t already done so, please watch it HERE; it's only 7 minutes and I promise you won’t regret it!
In her talk, Natalie discusses how AQ is equally as important as one’s IQ and EQ and measures how well a person reacts to the inevitability of change.
Natalie’s message has always resonated with me but over the last few months I’ve been thinking about the importance of adaptability more than ever. Change has always been a constant but I don’t think that any of us could have predicted what 2020 would have in store for us. Our society has had to battle severe illness and tragic loss. We’ve gone through layoffs, furloughs, and for the lucky ones, adjusted to working from home. We’ve had to adapt to social distancing from our loved ones, wearing masks, and combating anxiety. The pandemic has been the true test of our AQ-- how do we react and adapt when challenges and curveballs are thrown our way?
Even though we’re not completely out of the storm yet, it really is amazing to reflect and think about how much we’ve adapted as individuals, families, corporations, and cities over the past few months. I would argue that we’ve all been forced to develop very high AQ.
Allison Schneider, Contributor #32
Understanding the Pulse of a Nation Through Letters
I’ve been thinking a lot about the 2017 article, “To Obama With Love, and Hate, and Desperation.” I haven’t read an article that manages to capture America’s humanity better than this one. It’s not about politics at all. Rather, it’s a profile on the White House mailroom staff that sorts through the 10,000 letters that come in every day, and narrows it down to the 10 letters that are sent to the president to read each night. There are stories about depression, love, hope, and urgency. The letters act as the pulse of a nation. This is the type of article that will stay with you long after you’ve read it.
She looked for stories. Not pro-this or con-that, not screeds. The president needed to hear the stories — that’s what he couldn’t get.
Polina Marinova, Contributor #11
Music In the Hands of Everyone
Mike: This recent Rolling Stone article highlights some unexpectedly good news from 2020: the skyrocketing growth in the home music-making market. Online music retailers are seeing Black Friday-level sales as people pick up new instruments, build out home studios, and bring the music classroom into their living rooms. The music creation market has been rather stable for decades, basically selling the same old guitars and keyboards year after year, so it’s really extraordinary to see it more than double in such a short amount of time as people rethink the way music is made.
While the shift toward producer-style music production has been rather gradual for the past 20 years, it’s now nearly necessary for anyone who wants to make music to learn how to do it at home. Before, if you were a songwriter or session player you didn’t necessarily have to know anything about how to record or mix sound; you could just go to a studio and engineers would take care of it. But now, anyone who wants to record music has to be able to do it wherever they are, usually on rather limited budgets.
I think it’s also the case that people are generally just getting back in touch with their creative sides, so more people than ever are making music in their spare time.
Super inspiring.
Jacob: One that hit me recently was a story in The New York Times on how the shift to online schooling during the pandemic is causing disproportionate setbacks for low-income and minority students. It cites a study that found when taking classes from home “student progress in math decreased by about half in classrooms located in low-income ZIP codes, by a third in classrooms in middle-income ZIP codes and not at all in classrooms in high-income ZIP codes.”
This has us thinking a lot about how the hardware and software we make can help enable more equal access to music, technology, and creative learning. Not to mention all the great after school music programs that may never return to normal.
Mike Butera & Jacob Gordon, Contributors #27 & #28
Embracing the Home Cooking Movement
The home cooking movement! I’m calling it the Joy of Cooking in the Time of Corona. The Joy of Cooking, which was published in the 1930s, was how many Americans learned to cook. And here we are learning to cook again after decades of convenience.
I love that people are sharing recipes through social media. Instagram has been a brilliant resource for that during this time. I can’t wait to sit in a loud restaurant with my friends and order fancy cocktails and too much food, but I really hope people continue to cook.
It’s good for the soul.
Julia Blanter, Contributor #22
From the Evolution of Wellness…
At the moment, I think I’m most intrigued by how wellness is evolving into this unique blend of luxury, spirituality and technology. Simple things like meditation, journaling and post-workout recovery are all now enhanced by thoughtful apps and advanced gadgets that help streamline the process. I’m always game to try out new gear like the Theragun or down a few drops of Wooden Spoon Brain Tonic. And while I know some of it can go a bit far and feel a little too Goop-ish, but if this movement towards wellness gets more people to put self-care first, I’m all for that. We could all benefit from a relaxing steam bath or massage, right?
Cory Ohlendorf, Contributor #2
…to Diversity In Fitness…
I read a lot about the topic of diversity within the fitness and active brand industries. As a South Asian-American founder, I’ve noticed a lack of diversity at conferences or classes, so the topic of representation when it comes to ownership is super important right now.
I am so glad that Black instructors like Tunde from Peloton used their voices to highlight Black Lives matter and the core message of the movement.
We need more representation and more minority voices in a lot of industries.
…And Diversity In Collaborations
When I was working on my recent book Collab: Sneakers x Culture, I wanted to know why we were suddenly interested in consuming collaborations; it seemed to represent a marked shift from a longstanding focus on individual designers and athletes. I was particularly interested in this because fashion is often prescient, showing us what we want before we fully understand it ourselves.
I am thinking about this now because of all of the current ways in which people are coming together to demand change.
Elizabeth Semmelhack, Contributor #30
A Better Supply Chain
I’m currently excited about sustainability technology & how that relates to improvement in supply chains. As retailers experience massive delays & a fragmented supply chain due to Covid-19, I feel optimistic that brands will be more open-minded about finding ways to make the supply chain less wasteful and more efficient. The impacts of Covid-19 on retailers & manufacturers have inspired all types of companies to rethink new ways to design, to test, to fit, and to improve timely production.
Before Covid-19, close to 72% of North American retailers expressed interest in reinventing their supply chain with real-time visibility enabled by IoT based automation, sensors, & analytics. We are going to see that number skyrocket post Covid-19. This crisis has opened up the fashion industry & potentially others to a realm of new possibilities. What’s next might include: increase in domestic manufacturing, increase in manufacturing jobs in the US, and ultimately more traceability in supply chains will inspire a new age of transparency.
I’m also really curious about what will come next in the “future of work.” Will we see a revolution of work improvement ideas? We’ve seen a good amount of software innovations already (think Zoom or collaborative platforms for creatives like Figma), but what hardware applications could help people work at home better? And how do we define better? How much would people spend to experience an increase in productivity or to work with greater ease? What does that look like?
The Future of Education, Work, and Art
Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about a recent post and old TED Talk by Seth Godin on education and its future. I get Seth Godin’s daily screeds and, to be honest, a lot of the time, I finish reading and think: ‘This guy should probably do posts once a week instead of once a day.’ But I keep reading, because he does make interesting points. This was one of those times. The TED Talk, which goes into the history of mass education in the U.S. after the Industrial Revolution, and asks great questions about its purpose and its future, is worth a watch.
In particular, I love his point about the difference between work and art: if something is thought of as work, people naturally try to figure out how to do less of it, but if it's thought of as art, people naturally try to figure out how to do more.
I’ve always thought education to be a nuanced and complex topic worth talking and thinking about. Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot more about the topic of education because of the forced rapid shift online due to the coronavirus - I taught my own law school class over Zoom this past semester and we are in limbo with my oldest son, wondering what college is going to look like for him next year. It feels to me like we are about to experience a massive paradigm shift in education.
Michael Kasdan, Contributor #24
Index Funds and Collective Ownership
Whether or not collective ownership via index funds has made it so there’s less competition these days between companies. Matt Levine at Bloomberg wrote about this recently here but I first read about it in Slate a few years back.
Basically, if the model has shifted to everyone putting their money into index funds and there are fewer and fewer individual shareholders (aka less people buying individual stocks directly), the result is that financial institutions like Blackrock and Vanguard would become the largest owners of almost every single company. So if things keep going in this direction, it’s possible that all of the largest publicly traded companies will be owned by the same three investment managers and we will have a whole new category of monopolies!!
For example, let’s say Vanguard becomes the largest shareholder in American, United and Delta–then there’s not really an incentive for airlines to compete because Vanguard would want to keep pricing high across every company. Then what? Despite thinking about that, I am still personally investing in index funds. #YOLO
Understanding Regional Culture
In our current polarized political environment, I can't help but point people to Colin Woodard's American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America whenever people on either side of the aisle are frustrated because they can't understand how someone else could think they way they do – particularly when that person lives in a completely different area of the country.
Woodard does a fantastic job explaining how the different areas of the United States developed cultures based on the types of immigrants settling those areas (e.g., The Left Coast, Yankeedom, New France, Deep South, or New Amsterdam, in Woodard’s terms). I think it's such an eye-opening read because I think it helps you understand how people and the way they think are the products of their regional culture, and how those (often conflicting) regional cultures also came to be.
Taking On the Internet Oligopoly
Having spent my career facilitating access to the open and free internet by optimizing the revenue publishers earn through targeted advertising, I am deeply concerned with the macro impact of policy changes at Apple and Google. Most recently, Google formally announced, “charting a course towards a more privacy-first web.” Authenticated traffic, identity, and the cookie drives the Internet’s unspoken economy. A lack of targeting capabilities has caused publishers to lose 64% of their ad revenue.
While Google (and Apple) have masked their strategic initiatives in the veil of privacy, it is the consumer who loses the most. The historical quid pro quo of the Internet - users see relevant ads in exchange for free content - is being re-written as users required to register and give up complete control over their personal and professional inboxes in exchange for free content.
The value exchange of the Internet was originally negotiated without consumers at the table. The death of the cookie presents an opportunity to redefine the Internet’s value exchange and incorporate consumer choice and consent. Now is the time to bring to the industry a consumer-facing tool to connect end users with the world of advertising in a trusted, transparent, and fully opt-in manner.
Embracing the Present and the Slow…
While I’m of course excited for when this quarantine is over (though I haven’t picked the perfect fit for that day yet), I’m also slowly turning the initial anxiety and depression around to really embrace this current lifestyle. As corny as it sounds, spending this time with my wife and kids at a slower pace has been incredible.
I notice the kinds of birds outside my home office. I research house plants. We read books together and struggle with online learning as a family. Every day sort of blends together in a hazy fog of puzzles, baking, work, rollerblading, skateboarding, basketball, Animal Crossing, and a lot more sleep.
And that excites me.
This is all underscored with a huge gigantic SIZE 72 caveat that we are privileged in countless ways and beyond lucky to have our jobs and our health right now. These things turn on a dime, and the best we can do is be grateful for the present.
…And the Art of Persistence…
I can’t remember the name of the book, but there was a quote from Calvin Coolidge called Persistence that I re-read numerous times a week. It’s so inspirational that I took a screenshot of the page and have it on my desktop. I think it resonates so strongly with me because it’s a big part of what I believe creates success, fulfillment and a happy life.
Whether I’m trying a new recipe and scrap the whole thing and start over because it’s not right or I’m forging through a really tough day I try my hardest to just persist. When thinking more about this concept I realized even the British recommend to Keep Calm and Carry On:
Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan “press on” has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.
Nancy Schnoll, Contributor #12
…And Building a Calm and Centered Periscope
There’s a concept that I listened to on a podcast recently. A periscope, rather. The concept is about channeling your energy into who you want to become at that very moment.
The host referenced a trick he picked up from a Mel Gibson interview. Mel said he will take a few deep breaths, and literally get into the mood of “the character.” The energy state of the character. The podcast host applied this to his real life. I tried it myself.
Would I like to be calm?
Could I be more “centered?”
I’m doing things that calm people might do: meditate, stretch, going on walks, yoga. I focus my attention on being calm. Being centered. Feeding my mind with the subject.
Not only do I feel more calm and centered - almost on command - but my energy has never felt better. I feel like my soul is on fire….In a good way, because “soul on fire” could be misinterpreted as someone who belongs in hell.
Peacetime vs. Wartime
Ben Horowitz’s Peacetime/Wartime CEO memo. We’re in the menswear business, one of the most non-essential products you could be selling. While other ecommerce verticals have seen growth—at the very least, stagnation—in sales, the entire fashion industry has taken a hit. We’re no different.
At this point, I’m very grateful to have survived a round of layoffs, but that throws even more fuel on the fire for me to perform. We’ll be in survival mode for the foreseeable future, so I’m just doing whatever I can to help us stay afloat.
Do What Scares You the Most
That’s what a film director, Rachel, told me a few weeks ago when I met her for coffee and it’s a phrase that has been stuck in my mind ever since. I expected her to say “do what you love” or “do what makes you happy,” so her statement floored me. Behavioral economics tells us that we are for the most part loss averse, so Rachel’s advice is counter to our natural tendencies. It’s a reminder that fear is more than a good indicator of what we should avoid; fear is an indicator, perhaps, of what we should seek out.
Do what makes you most scared, an incredibly radical statement in a world driven by convenience, efficiency, and personal pleasure.
Isabelle Levent, Contributor #2
Evolving With the Paradigm Shift
Someone said “COVID transported us overnight into 2030 and we’re still using 2020 tools.” I find it fascinating as it highlights the opportunity for entrepreneurs to create products that reflect societies’ new paradigm.
The Future of ESports and Gaming
As a veteran of the traditional “stick & ball” sports industry, I’ve loved immersing myself in this new medium. Unlike the major 5 sports, the ground rules are still being established and there’s lots of room to innovate. ESports/Gaming has massive reach but the commercialization of that audience is still evolving.
As a performance apparel brand, we’ve gone back to our roots by studying avid gamers to figure out the right fit, fabric and functionality so they can be their best when playing. It’s how POINT3 got its start in the basketball space and is really what I love doing most professionally - innovating on behalf of the athlete.
Michael Luscher, Contributor #34
Embracing Ethical Consumption…
Because I am obsessed with eradicating extreme poverty, I am really excited about trends in ethical consumption. I love witnessing the shifts in how people talk about clothes, moving from “Oh I got this for $9.99” to “I bought this from an amazing brand that supports better working conditions in Kenya.” We still have a lot of room to grow, but I am encouraged by the rising level of awareness about sustainability and consumption habits.
I am also excited that more and more people are recognizing the educational benefit of travel. My travels changed the way I think about every aspect of life, so I love seeing articles that affirm that experience and I hope that other people can have some of the mind altering adventures I have had!
Sydney Sherman, Contributor #7
…And Spreading Gratitude Through Travel
What I love about travel is connecting, both with old friends and new ones in authentic environments. Life is richer when it’s shared. I lead content creation at work, and we are working towards achieving a billion acts of gratitude. I honestly can’t think of a cooler topic to create content for.
I can already visualize myself going around the world, initiating conversations and acts of kindness to spread gratitude, then capturing that in creative ways to share with my team and the world.
Taking On Plastic Waste…
Through the research we’ve done on sustainability and ocean plastic, we’ve discovered a ton about what happens with plastic once it enters the ocean, 90% of it sinks within 5 months. Therefore the focus should really be on stopping it before it gets into the ocean. 10 rivers put in 90% of the plastic that gets into the ocean, and 1 of those rivers puts in about half of that. Herein lies a crazy opportunity of low hanging fruit for making the world a better place - we can be a driving force to help stop half of the plastic from getting into the ocean by focusing our efforts on the Yangtze river.
Adrian Solgaard, Contributor #13
…And The Financial Opportunity of Decarbonization
We all know that climate change is a clear and present danger to humanity and frankly, it’s hard to ever really escape that reality when you’re in my line of work. That said, there’s a major element to that story that often goes overlooked - the financial opportunity. I just read a great article in the Financial Times that highlights how decarbonizing our environment is not only the most pressing challenge facing humanity, but that it will bear the biggest financial returns of our lifetime.
I’ve also been thinking a lot about an article that’s about to drop about Aether - our first piece of real press! (Editor’s Note: Here’s the piece from Fast Company!)
Ryan Shearman, Contributor #35
Stories Through Memories
In February, The New Yorker ran a short story by my favorite author, Haruki Murakami, called “With the Beatles,” along with an interview with Murakami on “How Memory Can Trigger a Story.”
I’ve been a Murakami fan since I read 1Q84 in 2013. He writes about music in most of his stories, and he began 1Q84 with Leoš Janáček’s Sinfonietta playing on the radio in a taxi. I read the book while listening to Sinfonietta on the subway to and from my investment banking job, and it was a total escape. I’ve read most of his books since.
Murakami opens “With the Beatles” with this paragraph:
What I find strange about growing old isn’t that I’ve got older. Not that the youthful me from the past has, without my realizing it, aged. What catches me off guard is, rather, how people from the same generation as me have become elderly, how all the pretty, vivacious girls I used to know are now old enough to have a couple of grandkids. It’s a little disconcerting—sad, even. Though I never feel sad at the fact that I have similarly aged.
It captures something that I love about his writing: he starts off with writing about these things that I have definitely felt and maybe forgotten about into words that make the feeling resonate all over. And he does it through these unexceptional male protagonists. Then, as the story builds, exceptional things start happening to these unexceptional people in calm, unexceptional ways. Before you know it, you’re in the middle of this cleanly written magical realism that just snuck up on you.
“With the Beatles” is transparently about youth and memory, but there’s something just the tiniest bit supernatural in the way the brother’s memory disappears and comes back. Then you read the interview with Murakami and he suggests that the brother and sister were connected, that “perhaps the more he rose up, the more she sank down.”
I could go on for days, but long story short: read Haruki Murakami. This story is a good place to start, but read 1Q84, Dance, Dance, Dance, or The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle for the full effect.
Packy McCormick, Contributor #21
The Overarching Future…
One article that has stuck with me for the past weeks is Matt Klein’s The Meta Trending Trends: 2021. It’s a meta-analysis of more than 30 trend reports and it aims to answer the question: what are the overarching themes of our time? I am a little obsessed with the future (if you haven’t been able to tell by now) and this article gives me inspiration. Maybe it’s nothing more than a science-based horoscope but I keep going back to it. Is it confirmation bias?
17. Engineered Farming 🌱
Innovation is bred with dirt and livestock to feed all more sustainably
Keywords: urban and vertical farming, -ponics, agri-tech, food security
Drivers: sustainability efforts, mega-cities, STEM dev, hungry populations
Jonas Guenther, Contributor #39
…And Forecasting It Through Momentum
The idea of momentum is something that I haven’t been able to shake for the past year or so. Reading Silk Roads by Peter Frankopan opened my eyes to how much history can teach us about human psychology in organizations. In particular, it taught me how a sense of momentum is critical to the psychological well-being of humans in groups.
Momentum (p) is calculated as p = mv. Mass times Velocity. And that velocity and the feeling of acceleration is critical in keeping people not just excited but at a more basic level, content.
For example, a startup that’s growing quickly has a lot of momentum and, by virtue, people that work there feel excited and feel that they have made the right decision to work there. As there are layoffs, as things stagnate and as things slow down, people begin to get nervous, look for new jobs and question their decision. This loss in momentum can quickly lead to a startup’s demise. This is why it’s so imperative for companies to keep raising rounds of funding. Fresh funding can help build that momentum. For big companies, their downfall will be slower because they have so much mass already. But once that velocity starts to decrease, it’s extremely hard to accelerate and pick up momentum again.
The interesting thing here isn’t just the concept of momentum but that looking at lines of momentum can help us to predict the future. And it doesn’t just apply to businesses. If you examine which nations have momentum and which are stagnating, you begin to understand why certain events have taken place. Take a look at the United States today. We had huge momentum back in the 20th century after WW2 with the technology boom. Now other countries are starting to see greater growth and momentum and it causes unrest in our population.
The coolest part is that you can trace those lines of momentum to see what lies in the future.
Yuni Sameshima, Contributor #10
Learning From Debbie Harry…
I finished the biography of Debbie Harry (front-woman of Blondie) last week (Face It: A Memoir), and I can’t stop thinking about what an interesting life she lived. I loved the inside look at the music scene of the 70s and 80s and her whole theory behind the image she created with the Blondie character. The band broke a lot of ground with the experiments they did musically that totally went against the trends at the time. I applaud anyone who runs in the opposite direction of what’s currently cool and popular.
…And Learning From Scott Galloway
Honestly all things Scott Galloway. Before he made his call that WeWork was overvalued (which got him a lot of well-earned praise) I was turned on to the NYU professor’s workings after a breakfast meeting with Todd Benson (a venture capitalist) where he suggested for me to dive into Scott’s work. So I picked up Scott’s book The Algebra of Happiness which I HIGHLY recommend and it truly changed my perspective on life.
The book is a thoughtful look at life lessons and theories on the happiness of self all of which have changed the way that I think about going about my day. I now listen to his podcast Pivot religiously and even signed up for his class (something I couldn’t imagine doing for anyone else).
Where Social Drinking is Going
The evolution of social drinking is exciting to me. I’m not a big drinker, but something about having a drink with friends and family is irreplaceable. I have a super clean diet, and I’m fascinated with the healthier options emerging here. I’ve tried everything from low-sugar aperitifs, to hard kombucha and THC-infused seltzers. Each has their own use occasion for me, and I’m eagerly optimistic about seeing some of these brands pop up on the menu at my favorite restaurants, social clubs and bars (whenever it is that they might open in New York).
The Intertwining of Writing and Running
In a feature in the Paris Review, Don DeLillo illuminates an interesting connection between his writing and running habits. He notes how running breaks up his writing blocks and helps his mind “shake off one world and enter another.” I’ve been thinking through the power of incentives, in this case with regards to my writing habits, and how I can reframe running from a break to a mental space in which ideas are waiting to be found.
Though DeLillo draws a useful analogy here around the linkage between repetitive movements and activating room for creative thought, it lacks direct incentives (running = good ideas). The way I currently frame the activity (running = break from work) just doesn’t spark my interest. Definitely a work in progress for me.
Adrian Alfieri, Contributor #1
TikTok’s Embrace of the Quirky
There is really only one answer here and it’s the way that Sea Shanties have taken over the internet. This was like two weeks ago at this point, so in internet time that’s ages, but it’s still amazing. Just google “Sea Shanty” and you’ll see about eleventy-hundred think pieces from every publisher you know.
The whole thing was started by a Scottish postman named Nathan Evans who blew up big time and is now signed to a major record label. The sea shanties are amazing, don’t get me wrong, but what is really intriguing to me is how TikTok allows for super niche things that were maybe seen as uncool or lame previously to gain broad appeal and mass traction.
The platform, more so than the likes of Twitter and Instagram, thanks to its functionality serves as a springboard for people to fully embrace and collaborate with others who have their same “quirky” interests that maybe would have been too shy or embarrassed to share on other mediums.
And furthermore it allows outsiders to realize that “oh wait, this thing actually is really fucking cool” and engage with and learn about something that in the past they may have just scoffed at or made fun of.
The Evolution of Identity
I am currently excited about the evolution of identity. I believe that how we define ourselves and where we spread this message will look very different 5 years from now. Three key threads are currently top of mind...
First, I think we will continue to see a blending of personal and professional identities. Once you’ve seen someone’s French Bulldog in a Zoom meeting, can you ever really go back? On a more serious note, as the nature and structure of work continues to evolve I do think we’ll see greater adoption of best practices across spheres and the unification of personal brands, be this on an Instagram business account, within a vocation specific community like Bravado, or on a new platform entirely. Could this transition lead to a convergence in category leaders across consumer and enterprise?
Second, I think we will see a shift in priority from quantity to quality. People will place greater value on high quality relationships, high quality engagement, and high quality experiences. It’s taken a few decades for us to appreciate the shortcomings of a super sized mentality but I believe this reality is finally sinking in. With this in mind, how will we ascribe value moving forward? And who (humans or machines) will be the ones making such value judgements?
Finally, I think we will see new platforms emerge as means of connection and discourse moving forward. From the desktop to the iPhone. From Myspace to Instagram. Over the past few decades, technology and platform transitions have become an accepted reality of the consumer landscape. So where do we head from here? And what technologies will be fundamental to the ways that we express ourselves and engage with others moving forward?
We are in the early innings of the 2020s and I believe that this social shift is as well. So beyond these three, what am I most excited about? Greatly expanding upon these buds from hearing the perspectives of others like you!
"Reputation is what people think of you. Character is what you are."
- Oxford, The King’s Man
~ C O L O P H O N ~
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