STRAT_SCRAPS_v150
There doesn't have to be anything wrong for it to be incorrect.
A strategist is a stylist - and the ones that aren’t are the ones who gripe about nobody listening to their advice
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I dont know why but this feels like an important reminder:
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“colorless green ideas sleep furiously.”
… is an example of a sentence that is grammatically correct, but semantically nonsensical.
via How To Develop Good Taste, Pt. 1 on the blog “Die Workwear”
(which is equally about the history of fashion, liberalism, the bourgeoisie, morality and a primer on the stages of becoming a wearer of perfume)
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Work in sprints.
🏃♂️➡️🧎♂️➡️🏃♂️➡️🧎♂️➡️> 🏃♂️➡️🏃♂️🏃♂️➡️🏃♂️🏃♂️➡️🏃♂️
The longer a project goes on, the larger the calendar window is for introducing a new request into the pipeline… each new request is an exponential weight on the project’s final perception of being seen as a success by internal stakeholders.
via “When Everything is Important But Nothing is Getting Done” (which argues for organizations as a whole to only work on one project at a time).
(I shared this last vol., if you haven’t read it, you should.)
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From the same blog (Shared Physics, by Roman Kudryashov), is this excellent read “How Learning Works”
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Interesting read covering the data exposed by recent anti-trust case within the publishing industry:
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click here for a couple paragraphs I wrote about earthworms, resulting in a new way to describe my consulting business.
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If I could only give one resource to someone to conduct a research project for the first time, this would be in the running: El Cap Research Hub
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From an article titled “Wisely and Slow, they tumble that run fast” (by the fantastically named substack “avoid boring people”
they use the metaphor of a house to describe building a website
…
Jesus christ. I have spent so much of my career talking about the concept of culture and social behaviors, but somehow never landed this metaphor on my own?
We spend thousands on trend reports predicting what “stuff” will be in the space for a few months, while the Structure,Skin and Service layers are what matters (not to mention sturdy enough to be leveraged)..
I’d rename a few of the layers to translate this from web to comms/culture directly, but by and large, this metaphor is the most straightforward. (although maybe not the coolest)
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found on Are.na and couldnt agree more:
To overpraise is a subtle form of disrespect — and everybody knows it.
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A reminder as you scroll.
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I recently bought a kayak on the internet. Obviously I had some apprehensions around the shipping process.
As soon as I got the confirmation that my item had shipped from the distribution center to the local warehouse, I called them and checked to see if they had an estimate for when I could expect it.
yo.
they picked up on the first ring. No “press 1 for ___” automation.”
the woman who answered asked if I had a delivery day that would be most convenient. She looked at google maps to confirm my street was wide enough for the dleivery van.
It was the most positive experience with a company i’ve had in years. She even called me back the next day asking if I would prefer to pick it up from the warehouse so I could get out on the water sooner.
I was so taken aback that I had to know more about the company: Old Dominion Freight Line.
The first thing I stumbled across was that they have a podcast where various guests talk about shipping logistics and supply chain management. I love it when people are nerdy about what they do.
Ready for the best part? The podcast is called Cargo Shorts.
I’m cancelling prime because of this experience.
Embrace your smallness. Nerd out. Be nice to one another.
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WEEKLY MONSTER
I am making an effort to more consistently make things. Not as a hustle, but as an escape from it. Here’s something I made recently…
If I had to give my art as a whole a theme, it would be “Corporate Ennui”
Love the Old Dominion Freight Line examples! Always refreshing to see real-world brand actions that may never make it into the annals of Cannes or flashy industry award shows.