Essays & Articles About Business, Leadership, and Culture
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I Quit! How The Ethos Of The Great Resignation Is Fueling The Great Pivot
"This did not feel like real life, exactly, but nowadays what did?" Patricia Lockwood I first saw the Fisher-Price My Home Office playset cross my...
Thinking Systems? Here’s What Every Small Business Owner Needs To Know
“I need to create some systems for my business.” It’s one of the key needs we hear from small business owners. Recognizing that they have something...
The Tourist, The Artist, and The Archeologist: How Changing The Way You Think About Business Changes What You See
The way we think about business shapes what we can do and build with our businesses. Two different perspectives will...
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Main Character Energy: 3 Ideas for Rethinking Stories
I seem to be plagued by ads for incontinence products. My guess is that Depend and their ilk figure that if you advertise to women over the age of 40 long enough, they’re going to have bladder control issues. They’re probably right—like shooting fish...
3 Ideas for Rethinking Care Work
When rethinking work or business, many instinctively seek a path that is less ego-driven, less competitive, and less hierarchical. And rightly so. Yet, I wonder how often these alternative paths end up leading to a familiar place—a priority for the...
Corporate Scapegoats: Beyond the “Greedy Corporation” Critique
Panasonic is currently running a commercial about climate change starring Michael Phelps. Phelps delivers a stilted and, in my humble opinion, wholly uninspiring pep talk. He warns us that the time for action is now when it comes to averting the climate crisis....
“All Parasites Have Value:” Why Valuing Those Who Don’t Work is Key to More Sustainable Work Practices for Those Who Do
"I haven't worked my whole life to pay for somebody else," said the woman in line at the antique store ahead of my husband. At the mention of the sales tax she owed, she began to complain about "moochers." The next day, we walked past a car with a bumper sticker that...
How the Push for Efficiency Changes Us
Layoffs are in the news. 21,000 at Facebook. 27,000 at Amazon. 12,000 at Google. 600 at Spotify. LinkedIn maintains a running list of layoff announcements in its News feature area. Every person laid off is a life disrupted in some way. And the potential ramifications...
Managing Mental Health in the Achievement Society
“I thought for a long time: is it capitalism, or is it my ambition? And I am a very ambitious person,” Mara Glatzel told me a couple of years ago. That distinction between the narratives of capitalism, individualism, and meritocracy on one side and the drive to create...
The Economics of Meeting Your Needs
We all have deep human needs—for belonging, for autonomy, for creative expression, for safety and security. But modern life can make it a real challenge to get those needs met in meaningful ways. Instead, we’re offered products with flashy marketing messages. Kitchen...
How Does An Idea Turn Into An Asset?
What makes an idea valuable? What turns it into a product that can be bought, sold, or rented? Ideas turn into capital assets thanks to our system of intellectual property rights. But understanding IP isn’t simply a matter of learning what a trademark or patent is,...
The Strange Logic of Value in the Attention Economy
Did you know that 54% of 18-38-year-olds want to be influencers? Or that kids these days would rather be “influencers” or “YouTubers” than firefighters, astronauts, or teachers? Okay, Boomer. Calm down. The “troubling trend” of all our kids putting themselves on...