Friends of Dave #50: The Party Is Over
"OMG, you guys...like, 2017? Worst. Year. Ever!" -- Men.
To the fellas getting this: as Don Meredith once sang to Howard Cosell on Monday Night Football, "Turn out the lights, the party's over." Accept in the 2017 version of the Willie Nelson song, something tells me that next year the whole thing will not start again.
Some of you may recall that I wrote about gender equality in the workplace in my newsletter intro earlier this year. And just two months ago, I talked about the importance of accountability as one of the most critical foundations of leadership. With each passing day and each bit of breaking news we get, we are seeing an unprecedented cultural change regarding intolerance for serial, abusive, disrespectful, harassing behavior by people in power, notably men. This progress is long overdue in my opinion.
But like most news stories nowadays, these things tend to have a finite shelf life. And soon, the media will move on from exposing inappropriate workplace behavior to the next hashtag that will get them the most clicks, followers and viewers. What will we do then?
I think we can now see that the "boys will be boys" bullshit that once reigned supreme is kind of like asbestos in schools -- we know it's toxic and ultimately bad for all of us. And just like asbestos in schools, the clean up will be costly and messy, but we will all be in a much healthier place when it is said and done. It just requires us to agree we are no longer okay with it and commit to doing the remediation.
Along those lines, strongly suggest you check out the comprehensively reported story in the "Last Word" section regarding Orbimed founder Sam Isaly -- likely the first of many we will hearing from within the financial industry. Lots of other good stuff in Issue #50 -- including a bunch submissions from the Friends of Dave community. Keep those coming!
Enjoy your weekend.
XOXO
Dave
3 To Get You Thinking...
How mind-wandering spurs creativity — aeon.co
Research in developmental psychology has shown that people who engage in certain kinds of mind-wandering actually display more cognitive flexibility, and perform better when called upon to exercise ‘executive’ functions such as problem-solving, planning and managing their own thoughts and feelings.
The Path Ahead: The Future of Life Outdoors — www.rei.com
We are becoming the world's first indoor species. Are we too late to change course? Explore the brutal truths and beautiful possibilities and also check out their in-depth report.
Where Entrepreneurs Go to Get in Touch With Their Souls — www.nytimes.com
“I realized I was addicting people to their phones,” Mr. Tauber said. “It’s a crisis that everyone’s in the culture of killing it, and inside they’re dying.”
It ain't easy doing whatever it takes to build that unicorn company. Check out where startup founders and VCs are going re-gain much needed perspective. Nice find by Friend of Dave Jamil Sheppard.
3 For Your Day Job...
How charging for our product originally hurt — but ultimately saved — our startup — medium.com
Good points here on why startups with freemium or business models relying on free trials will end up with headache customers that ultimately lose them money.
Your Geolocation Data Is Already For Sale — www.ibtimes.com
Along the lines of every business being a data business, every person can now be viewed as a data creating machine. And where there is data, someone is going to try to use it to gain insights.
The Future of Online Retail is Offline — www.theatlantic.com
“Five years from now, we won’t be debating whether ‘e-tailers’ are taking share from brick-and-mortar retailers, because they are all the same.”
Interesting look at the converging factors that make up the 4 reasons why we are witnessing the tipping point of retail.
2 More for Fun...
Christmas tree prices are out of control — thehustle.co
Watch out you cryptocurrency fanatics: the average Christmas tree price has spiked 125% over the past 3 years.
Waffle House customer makes own meal while employee sleeps — www.nydailynews.com
“That’s when I got hot on the grill with a Texas bacon cheesesteak melt.”
Who said nothing good ever happens after 2am? Respectfully submitted by longtime FoD, Michael J. Coyne.
And An Important Last Word....
This is What A Harassment Friendly Culture Looks Like
Sam Isaly, the founder of the largest and most powerful biotech hedge fund, Orbimed Advisors, has for years perpetuated a toxic culture of sexual harassment. Very well written article by a non-traditional source. Take the time to read it in it's entirety guys and gals -- all of the ugly details.