💡Tip of the Week
Try this in your next one-on-one ……
Ask just two questions:
1. What’s the most important problem in your field?2. Why aren’t you working on it?
💡💡Second Tip of the Week
In the morning, open your laptop, set a 20-minute timer, and brain-dump 10 bullets on whatever ideas come to mind. You’ll be surprised how inspiring you are and how freeing the exercise is.
👩 Recruiting
Sharing information about mental health can impact your chances of getting hired. While there has been progress in reducing the stigma around mental health, a recent study highlights potential negative consequences for job seekers who openly discuss their personal mental health challenges online. In the study, 409 professionals were tasked with evaluating job candidates primarily based on their LinkedIn profiles. Some of these profiles mentioned experiences with anxiety and depression, while others did not. The findings revealed that participants who came across LinkedIn posts discussing mental health challenges tended to perceive the job candidates as less emotionally stable and less conscientious. One of the researchers commented on the results, stating, "Participants who encountered the LinkedIn posts about mental health challenges were more likely to view the job candidate as lacking emotional stability and conscientiousness."
(Source: The paper, "Is It #okaytosay I Have Anxiety and Depression? Evaluations of Job Applicants Who Disclose Mental Health Problems on LinkedIn," is published in the Journal of Business and Psychology.)
📖 What a Great Resource!
Swipe file of Business Docs and Decks
The recently launched Artifacts site is a platform where business leaders share things like:
onboarding docs
presentation decks
org charts
roadmaps
Why reinvent the wheel?
⌛ It’s That Time of the Year
KPI-time 😊
Just keep in mind Goodhart’s Law ……
Buzzwords
Spamouflage = Refers to tactics used by spammers where they replace certain letters with numbers in order to fool email spam filters. eg "Click here as you've w0n our jackp0t"
Eldertainment = see below (Adults love their toys)
#hotgirlwalk = Taking a walk without your headphones. (It’s a TikTok thing)
📈 On Trend
Unpolished ads are the new thing. Low cost, low production, high impact, apparently. This Gwyneth Paltrow ad shows how unpolished works.
Telemarketers is a new docuseries from HBO about the rise of an industry built on a scam and the eccentric whistleblower who tried to take it down. It’s on Binge.
❓Why Not?
Adults Love Their Toys
Adults, not kids, are the ones who want toys this Christmas. As kids gravitate to screens, adults want to reconnect with the tangible interests of their own childhoods. The surge in demand could be a lifesaver for the struggling toy industry… and may even pique the interest of kids who have grown up in an era when playing with action figures or dolls isn’t as cool as it used to be.
Teenagers and adults who like cartoons, action figures, board games, building sets, and puzzles (aka “kidults”) are driving toy sales. The Toy Association reported that 41% of parents have bought toys for themselves in the past year.
During the holiday season, 43% said they’ll buy toys for themselves, while 89% said they’ll buy them for another adult. Adult interest in toys has been sparked by a wave of nostalgia fueled by the popularity of collecting during COVID and new theatrical releases like Barbie and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem. And now, those adults want to share their favourite childhood toys with their kids… which just so happens to reignite their own love for them.
Toymakers have been pivoting to meet the moment — Lego’s “Icons” series has complex products meant to be displayed, Mattel is in full-on Barbie marketing mode as the movie breaks records, and even McDonald’s has rolled out Happy Meals aimed at parents. But it’s important to not leave grandma out of the fun — “eldertainment” is also taking toy stores by storm, with things like animatronic pets and updated versions of board games like Trivial Pursuit becoming favoured stocking stuffers.
(Source: The Future Party newsletter)
PS That’s all very well, but the global toy market has declined by 7% this year. However, Lego has been a bright spot — the Danish toymaker’s sales grew 3% through June. - Editor
📖 Reads by the Numbers
8 Ways Aspiring Leaders Can Establish Executive Presence At Work
5 ways your to-do list might be Hurting your Productivity
6 Game-Changing Mindset Shifts I Wish I'd Known About Sooner
📅 What’s ON this week
Apple will announce its new iPhone 15 on Sept. 12 during an event titled “Wonderlust.”
Burning Man 2023 started this week. Held at Black Rock Desert - 100 miles north of Reno, Nevada - and goes for 9 unwashed days. However, the recent flooding rains have destroyed whatever fun people thought they were having.
🔣 Some Stats
A Gallup survey shows a record-low 28% of remote workers feel connected to their company’s mission.
There’s been an 80% drop in daily active users on Meta’s text-based platform, Threads, since its launch.
🔗 Links
Google Meet’s new AI will be able to go to meetings for you
11 Cool Tricks You Can Do With the Google Search Box
⌛ Time Wasters
Mesmerising perspective drawing.
Whatever year you are nostalgic for, scratch the itch here with a compendium of TV clips that you can channel-hop through as if you were watching telly in, say, 1989. It is very US-centric, but it gives the time-travel feeling you may crave.
Marine Traffic: There are a mind-boggling number of ships in the world and on this site you can watch them going about their business. They are colour-coded by type (cargo vessels, tankers, fishing boats) and you can find out where they have come from and where they are going.
⁉️ So What?
Forty is the only number that’s in alphabetical order.