đď¸ LongForm
Want to reduce the noice and just focus on things with a little more meat - the this category is for you. Like so much on this site we have a ‘WIP’ as i take some out - and put some in - but safe for at least starting in 2026.
We have a steady stream of images that are being pushed into Instagram - like these.
One Word Art
Following Your Passion. Finding Your Purpose
'Real Stories | Real People' is a new occasional series that will start to appear on this blog in the not too distant future. But that's not the point of the newsletter. The point was first to share the story of Richard MontaĂąez
The Pain Of Boiling An Ocean
Sometimes the task in front of me seems to be so large and never
I wouldn't normally link to something like this - at least not on this blog - but this morning I also happened to catch Rob Long's Martini Shot Podcast ... a 'shot' in the arm over a few minutes. It's the one dated August 21st that I want you to listen to. Sage advice and not far off from what I was writing about in this week's newsletter and then seeing this ... well 'put up or shut up' as they say.
Employee Experience and Motivation
At Booming Toptal, No Stock for Employees or Investors
I mean none - 100% owned by Taso Du Val and I assume none by all the rest on this page.
As Toptalâs Chief Executive Officer, Taso manages Toptalâs core team of hundreds of team members distributed throughout the world, with a focus on innovation. Since Toptal was founded in 2010, Taso has led it to become the largest high-skilled, on-demand talent network in the world. Taso serves on the board of multiple organizations, advising on talent strategy and innovation for Fortune 100s and nonprofits. Taso has guest lectured at Harvard Business School, Wharton, and Oxford on talent management and entrepreneurship.
Toptal's Web Site
Anyway, what he does and how he runs his business is - well - his business. But it got me to wondering ... what he is advising those other companies to do when it comes to employee engagement? Employee motivation?
From where I sit, these words resonate;
Questionnaire
It a little more political than the usual People First fayre - but the fact is everything ... everything ... is becoming political in these times. So, why not.
'Fitting In' Might Be All Bullshit
Itâs easy enough to carry a Legal and General umbrella in a sea of âbankers black umbrellasâ, itâs a very different proposition to take a more meaningful stand against the status quo.
Shareholder First
Leading US bosses drop shareholder-first principle.
As the article opens ...
"The real test will be in deeds not words."
Have to say until action - and I mean real action - this jury is out!
Read the opinion by Larry Elliott in The Guardian
Watching. I donât think People First has won just yet!
People First - What Next
I have a schedule of material that I am working on, but what would you like to read about next? What drives you to read this weekly missive? What topics are you most interested in reading about. Learning about?
Content
)
Content is a horrible, generic, cheap, âanything will doâ kind of word. Which is why it has no value.
STOP using their words to describe OUR work. OUR soul. OUR beliefs. Our passion. OUR effort.
START using our words to describe OUR work. OUR soul. OUR beliefs. Our passion. OUR effort.
Play, Passion, Purpose
Needless to say those three words grabbed my attention immediately. And then when he said ...
The culture of schooling is radically at odds with the culture of learning that produces innovators.
Tony Wagner
I was hooked.
Very good Ted Talk - just one gripe ...
He just about opens the talk with
I came to understand, that there's a set of core competencies every young person must be well on their way to mastery before he or she finished high school.
- critical thinking and problem solving
- collaboration across networks and leading by influence
- agility and adaptability
- initiative and entropenorialism
- effective oral and written communication
- accessing and analyzing information
- curiosity and imagination
Tony Wagner
i.e. if you have left school, sorry - we taught you all wrong as to how to succeed in the life in front of you.
What he should have said was
I came to understand, that there's a set of core competencies every person must master.
I know he doesn't mean it and I guess it is about education - but the implication is that you have left school then 'we taught you all wrong'.
Keeping that in mind ... well worth a watch.
Double Digit Delivery
Though this Newsletter has been around intermittently for a few years now, I only harnessed it as a vehicle to share People First thinking in May of this year, Issue One going out on May 31st. Since the launch in May, readership has been steadily growing and judging by the emails received I have hit some nerves with some of the pieces. Definitely a good time to take stock and recap where we have got to.
Age And Your Chances Of Success
Albert-LĂĄszlĂł BarabĂĄsi
Alberto Laszlo Barabasi @ LinkedIN
Alberto is a pioneer in network science, Albert-LĂĄszlĂł BarabĂĄsi uncovers the hidden order behind complex systems.
My Thoughts
Excellent summary of how what we just assume to be the truth is bunkum. This applied to our assumptions about age. Bottom line - you are never too old
Rating
âď¸âď¸âď¸âď¸
Thinking Allowed
This is a People First post that was originally on the People First domain. It has been moved here as part of my domain consolidation program. Itâs a steady and slow WIP as I check each entry, so do please bear with me.- More about People First
- Other People First Posts
(not just from the âother domainâ ⌠all of them.)
đ§ Ditch The Binary - Redux
As I finished this short post, I headed out to the 'google-web-net' to see if I could find a suitable and representative image. I was failing unitl I focussed on 'Redux'. The images associated with Redux are highly Redux oriented, with a high degree of focus on their logo. What you might expect, given the name - but this is not about what they do. So I kept looking and discovered this.
It's as if Karin Edgett read my mind. The image was perfect and the words so in tune with my thoughts, that I couldn't resist.
My entry 'let go of everything or anything and breathe' is part of a series of paintings and haiku exploring infinity in it's transformative sense.
Karin Edgett
Back On Topic
Interesting to read this post from Doc Searls today - which also happens to be his birthday.
Friends Don't Let Friends Write Content
I have had versions of this article on a number of different blogs and publications for years. The time has come to formalize it, since content, its ownership and how we think about it, is central to the principles of People First.
A recent question from someone in one of my many groups ...
"Why is it so difficult to find a freelance writing gig?
My reply ...
Because the people who pay for writing have no clue of the value, which is why they call it âcontentâ which we know has no value and is homogenous âfillerâ that can be swapped out at a moments notice.
My Content Rule ...
'Don't Call It Content'
.... book, novel, short story, article, white paper, promotional piece, advert, painting, sculpture, song, opera, photograph, image, graphic art, poster, fine art ⌠anything ⌠anything but âcontentâ.
If you want a general catchall phrase, how about material? It's the words that creative used to use - it meant something. Stood for something. It had value.
Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash
Why?
Because as long as âwe the creatorsâ fall into the trap of using low cost, homogenous, non-descript words like 'content' to describe our work, our soul, our passion, our beliefs then our work will continue to be viewed as âfree - to - cheap - to - low - costâ, as âhomogenized, non differentiated, interchangeable fodderâ. Moreover, we then only have ourselves to blame and the resultant payment for your art, your thinking, your ideas, will continue to race to the bottom.
It is not in the interests of any creator to allow that, so why allow their interests to define how we think?
Content is a horrible, generic, cheap, 'anything will do' kind of word. Which is why 'content' has no value. It is also important to know that it is in the best interests of the buyers of our sweat, labour, thought and time to keep their price down. But our costs are not kept down. So our net earnings suffer. And they are suffering badly.
And it has to start with you - the creator, because it isnât in the interests of buyers to change their behaviour and vocabulary - 'they' want great work at no cost.
From a while back now - but well worth repeating ....
Â
It's the amateurs who make it tough for the professionals
đŹ Harlan Ellison
I wonder if that is how this kind of thinking comes about? As I wrote when I first saw this ...
For all those of us attempting to get paid for value by people who wouldnât get value if it smacked them between the eyes.
đŹ John Philpin
Content is a horrible, generic, cheap, âanything will doâ kind of word. Which is why âcontentâ has no value.
âI draw and paint on paper using pen, ink, and watercolor. I then scan and publish my work on this web site. People then visit and read this graphic novel, or if you prefer, webcomic. Occasionally, I write a blog post like this one. There is art and there is commentary, but there is no content and there are certainly no consumers.â
đŹ Don Macdonald - August 24th, 2011
All Creators Should
STOP using THEIR words to describe OUR work. OUR soul. OUR passion. OUR beliefs.
A N D
START using OUR words to describe OUR work. OUR soul. OUR passion. OUR beliefs.
On Blocking Ads
To be strictly accurate - we should be talking about Blocking Trackers
... I came across this article (note if you are using an 'ad blocker' ... then guess what - they tell you that you have an 'ad blocker' on .... actually I don't use an 'ad blocker' - I use a 'tracking blocker'.
That aside, I thought I would extract some pertinent quotes from the piece and add my comments. The piece appeared in Adage and was written by Jason Jercinovic - and so all the quotes below I attribute to him.
Havas is a pretty good agency that has produced some great campaigns for Air New Zealand, Global Mental Health and Canal+ - so I kind of feel that they (should at least) know what they are doing. I'll go further. They do - but it is clear that they remain bought into the narrative of 'poor us - we have to do this [efn_note]Use Ad Trackers[/efn_note] for it to work'. They don't.
So - let's get too it ...
and no one can blame the advertising industry for rapidly adopting them.
I can!
On Aging
Iâm very much a Darwinian. This means I must ask myself questions like âHow come all surviving cultures until modern time have been based on religion?â and I draw the conclusion that religion has somehow helped people and civilizations to survive.
In the same way I ask âhow come all sexually reproducing forms of life age (unlike e.g. amoebas, or yeast)?â and its the same conclusion - in different words now: âif there has ever been a sexually reproducing species that did not age, they have not survived to tell the storyâ. Have there existed such failed species, then? Iâm suggesting that its likely, because (unless Iâm misinformed) aging is a âfeatureâ.
Around the age of 45 the human body âswitches onâ aging, or rather, it switches off the function that keeps us young. Much of the research today is (unless Iâm misinformed) about how to keep the stay-young-function ON.Â
To be provocative - the ambition to stop aging can be seen as disrespectful of the wisdom of Darwinian nature and it has a slant toward man-made creationism.
Itâs not going to end well, in each case.Â
David Nordfors
It struck me as so very right - little to argue with, so recording for posterity!
RelBasil Hallward is what I think I am: Lord Henry is what the world thinks of me: Dorian is what I would like to be.
Oscar Wilde
Related Links
The Picture Of Dorian Gray - the book is on this list.
Why hasnât evolution dealt with the inefficiency of ageing?
Thinking Allowed
This is a People First post that was originally on the People First domain. It has been moved here as part of my domain consolidation program. Itâs a steady and slow WIP as I check each entry, so do please bear with me.- More about People First
- Other People First Posts
(not just from the âother domainâ ⌠all of them.)
A New Look At Data
Celebrating my 4 part series on data, it is designed to be;
âNon-technical, hopefully fun, definitely not definitive and absolutely a work in progress.â
John Philpin
Because if you donât understand what it is and how it is being used against you, then you are in for a shock âŚ
It's 5 0'Clock
[caption id=“attachment_5443” align=“aligncenter” width=“1280”]
Nobody told The Vogues to retire.[/caption]
Up every morning just to keep a job,
I gotta fight my way through the hustling mob,
Sounds of the city pounding in my brain,
While another day goes down the drain (Yeah, yeah, yeah).
but it’s a five o’clock world when the whistle blows,
No-one owns a piece of my time,
And there’s a five o’clock me inside my clothes,
Thinking that the world looks fine, yeah,