Leveraging our observations as creators

 

Ann Handley interviewed BJ Novack, and I learned this tip...

Just like BJ I used to take notes, but I never went back over them.... I could DO that!

Total Annarchy: 10 ways to be more creative: My interview with actor, writer BJ Novak, 2024-05-12 by Ann Handley

Prepare for inspiration; plan for execution.  BJ's creative process has two components: inspirations that he captures in a small notebook he carries everywhere (he pulled it out of his breast pocket onstage); and execution.

 

Every few weeks he blocks time to review the notebook, transferring the richest observations from his hand onto his computer—grouping and expanding ideas as he goes. That becomes the peat moss where insights and ideas take root.

A Better Way to Think about Technology and the Future

In working with other people, I find they often expect I know how to make something, prefer I knew how to make it, or wish I would make it so they don't have to do so themselves. That's the burden of living in a world full of technology. The following rant from Ursula LeGuin was about her status as a "science fiction" writer being questioned.  Who cares? I think science fiction writers help us envision a future. And technology often gets in the way.

UrsulaK.LeGuin.com: A Rant About “Technology”, 2005 by Ursula K. LeGuin

Anybody who ever lighted a fire without matches has probably gained some proper respect for “low” or “primitive” or “simple” technologies; anybody who ever lighted a fire with matches should have the wits to respect that notable hi-tech invention.

I don’t know how to build and power a refrigerator, or program a computer, but I don’t know how to make a fishhook or a pair of shoes, either. I could learn. We all can learn. That’s the neat thing about technologies. They’re what we can learn to do.

And all science fiction is, in one way or another, technological. Even when it’s written by people who don’t know what the word means.

How culture drives strategy

All my career, I've observed culture driving strategy, and now someone has EXPLAINED!

Harvard Business Review: Build a Corporate Culture that Works, 2024-July/August by Erin Meyer

Ever since Peter Drucker famously declared that “culture eats strategy for breakfast,” there has been a widespread understanding that managing corporate culture is key to business success. Yet few companies articulate their corporate culture in such a way that the words become an organizational reality that guides employee behavior. Which raises the question: If culture eats strategy for breakfast, how should you be cooking it?

I have been studying culture in organizations in my roles as a professor and as an adviser to businesses for the past 20 years. I have looked at companies that have struggled to build cultures that shape the behavior of their employees—and at a few that seem to have cracked the code. In this article I draw on that experience to offer six simple guidelines to help managers who are confronting the challenges of culture building.

How to do things if you're not that smart and don't have any talent

Adaobi has many great suggestions about how to make a difference on a team. Here's just one of the great ones.

Adaobi's Substack: How to do things if you're not that smart and don't have any talent, 2024-Jan-28 by Adaobi Adibe

Most people are super sensitive to being seen as annoying, and that’s the primary reason they don’t follow up and therefore watch opportunities go down the drain. Super simple solution, follow up! Most people just forget to respond, haven’t prioritized your request, or something else along those lines. But don’t just follow up, make it easy for the other participant to act on this too. For example, if you are following up on a due-to-be-scheduled meeting with someone, offer multiple specific times (including “now”), offer to meet them where they are (if possible), and send them light talking points so that they know the meeting won’t be a waste of their time. This will make it a lot easier for them to want to accept and actually turn up.

Working VS. Inbox Management

I pride myself on communicating well with people, and it's hard to realize the "inbox zero" is not an appropriate goal. But it's not.

The Browser: I Am No Longer Good At Email, 2024-Feb-8 by Caroline Crampton:

The task is the writing, the editing, the researching, the thinking. Using email to notify others of what I have produced or concluded is just what happens when I have finished. It is not a category of its own. There is no virtue in doing that promptly if the work itself is not good, nor in only looking at my inbox at certain proscribed times of day.

Made me laugh, and made me think, too!

I have to share this quote which struck me as SO funny and SO insightful. We "know" things based on our experience. And yet, our experience is not universal. The best way to make it more universal is to share it. Think about it! How many times have you swallowed your opinion when you ought to have shared it?

NY Times: The internet takes some time off, 2023-Sep-1, by Madison Malone Kircher

There is a pet theory I’ve long held about the internet. I will disclose upfront that it has absolutely zero scientific merit. The only peer review it has received is me telling my actual peers about it. You are now all my friends.

 

Better Storytelling with 3 Reveals, from Ann Handley

I'm still on the road to become a good storyteller, and Ann Handley recently offered a great tip. (A-ha: better way to connect with the reader.)

Total Annarchy newsletter: Yes, You Did See Me on MasterChef, 2023-Jun-4 by Ann Handley

Every story should reveal three truths. I call this the 3 Reveals (because I'm not great at titles).

THE 3 REVEALS

1. Reveal the writer to the reader: Help the reader understand the writer.
2. Reveal the reader to the reader: Help the reader see themselves.
3. Reveal an idea: Help deliver an a-ha moment.

Any story is a kind of partnership between the writer and the reader.

When one of the truths isn't present—a story falls flat. Feels inauthentic. Is boring.

 

A balance between all 3 Reveals is key. Over-indexing on one can easily throw the whole experience out of whack, like a wobbly wheel on a shopping cart that keeps listing too much to the right. You fight it—and the whole thing becomes annoying.

Building Trust in Marketing Messages

Michael Katz just published a great newsletter issue about building trust with your audience. It's fun to read, and I won't give away the message here!

Blue Penguin Development: Trust-Based Marketing, 2023-Mar-16 by Michael Katz

Trust is Not a Given

Since that day [first-time paragliding], I’ve given a lot of thought to trust (and life insurance). More specifically, what allowed me, with all my fears, to move ahead?

I think it came down to three things, all of which also relate to how prospective clients decide to commit (or not) and work with professional service providers like us…

#1. Professionalism....