🐔 FOBO, Pigbutchering, Influencing Skills, & The Roman Empire
And Some Chicken Soup for the Office
💡Tip of the Week
How To Speak Persuasively
1. Use "you" more than "I."
When you address someone using "you," you're personalising your message.
2. Use "you" when speaking to large groups.
Using "you" in group settings works because it comes across as more casual.
3. Include yourself in the picture with "we" and "us."
These are inclusive words that show you consider yourself as part of the team. This creates a sense of unity and mutual collaboration.
4. Refer to the person you're talking to by name.
People like hearing their own names. It makes them feel like you really see them, and that they're important to you.
5. Repeat yourself, but not in the same way.
Is this self-explanatory, or do I have to repeat myself?
6. Don't reel off statistics or abstract concepts. Make it personal.
Stories about people are more compelling than dry facts and figures.
7. User "power words" with intention.
Some examples include: "proven," "easy" and "new." Get a list of power words together.
8. Ask rhetorical questions.
Rhetorical questions get people thinking.
9. Explain your request or idea with a "because" clause.
It's human nature to react well to rational explanations. So when people hear "because," they think you're being reasonable and you're sharing legitimate justification for your request.
👩 Recruiting
Have You Heard This One?
About the interviewing boss who offered applicants a drink from the kitchen, but refused to hire anyone who didn’t offer to wash the cup?
What About This One?
Salesforce is planning on hiring 3,000 new employees to ramp up the AI craze.
💬 Quote
"The difference between successful people and really successful people is that really successful people say no to almost everything." — Warren Buffett
🗣️ Buzzwords
Pig Butchering - Online scamming that involves luring people into romantic relationships, then tricking them into investing in fraudulent crypto schemes.
FOBO - Fear of Becoming Obsolete - all this talk of AI is generating a lot of FOBO.
Blatherskite - not really a buzzword, but let’s make it one. It’s “a person who talks at great length without making much sense.”
Ever left a party without the host noticing? That’s known as ‘leaving French-style’ in half of Europe, while the other half calls it ‘leaving English-style’
Vishing (= voice phishing) - a type of cyber attack that uses voice and telephony technologies to trick targeted individuals into revealing sensitive data to unauthorised entities.
💭 Random Thoughts
You’re doing pretty well if you forget it’s payday.
We need a kinder version of a car honk.
Alcohol companies never show a drunk person in their ads.
📈 Trends
(Source: ‘Exploding Topics’ - trendspotter by mention)
Brightwheel - SaaS app for managing childcare centres. (40% growth over 3 months)
B2b Seo - Optimisation of web content in order to reach business decision-makers via search engines, e.g. through high-value, low-volume keywords. (156% growth over 3 months)
Apple Vision Pro - No trendlines just yet for this one, but the recent iPhone 15 and Apple Watch launches are just space fillers until Vision Pro is released next year.
The Roman Empire - why is everyone talking about it? (We don’t know either)
📖 Reads
Craving Dessert At Work? (Here’s how to make some, in the office)
🔣 Some Stats
China drinks the most beer: The world’s most populous country drank the most beer for the 19th year running. But on a per-capita basis the average Czech drinks 184 litres of beer a year
29% of workers quit within a month of their promotion — compared to just 18% who would’ve left had they not been promoted.
🔗 Links
Visualising the world’s tallest skylines
Try this on the Sydney Harbour Bridge
Ambient Sounds to soothe - A Soft Murmur
⌛ Time Wasters
Time for lunch? But in the sky?
🐔 Chicken Soup for the Office
You’ve heard of the Nobel Peace Prize, but have you heard the story about how it originated?
One day, as Alfred Nobel was reading the newspaper he was shocked to find his own obituary.
It was a mistake, of course, but it was a surreal experience.
So what did it say?!
The paper mainly talked about how Alfred Nobel’s brainchild, dynamite, was responsible for many deaths. Alfred was stunned.
The thought that people would remember him by a product that killed others caused him great sadness.
Overcome by remorse, he decided to make a more positive contribution to the world.
From that day forward, he would focus on peace.
The idea of the Nobel Peace Prize was born (in 1895).
This just goes to show that even if you've pursued selfish goals your whole life, you can always turn things around!
🤣 Prompts
FOBO, by Midjourney
Prompt: super realistic office worker, futuristic, fear of becoming obsolete, lots of workers, some males, bright colours --no ties, no suits --ar 16:9