Mitch Joel's Blog: Six Pixels of Separation, page 108

SPOS #758 – Lisa McLeod On Selling With Noble Purpose

Welcome to episode #758 of Six Pixels of Separation.

Here it is: Six Pixels of Separation – Episode #758 – Host: Mitch Joel. She has an incredible work ethic. That was one (of the many) takeaway from this episode. Lisa McLeod is a strategy consultant, executive coach, and keynote speaker who has worked with some of the coolest companies on the planet. Lisa is the author of five books, including the global bestseller, Selling With Noble Purpose – How to Drive Revenue and Do Work That Makes You Proud, which she just updated and released recently. She wrote the book because her research revealed that salespeople with a purpose bigger than money, who truly want to make a difference to their customers, outsell salespeople focused on targets and quotas. Her other books include, Leading with Noble Purpose and The Triangle of Truth. If that were not enough she is one of LinkedIn Learning‘s most popular instructors, delivering over 25 courses, including Selling with Authenticity and Finding Your Purpose at Work. Prior to all of this excitement, Lisa was a sales leader at Procter & Gamble, and later at Vital Learning as VP of Sales, where their team doubled new business growth and increased recurring revenue by 50%. In addition to her business books, she also authored a collection of humor essays that was featured on Oprah.com, and her first book, Forget Perfect, was the subject of a segment on Good Morning America. Enjoy the conversation…

Running time: 49:28.Hello from beautiful Montreal.Subscribe over at iTunes.Please visit and leave comments on the blog – Six Pixels of Separation.Feel free to connect to me directly on Facebook here: Mitch Joel on Facebook.or you can connect on LinkedIn.…or on Twitter.Here is my conversation with Lisa McLeod.Selling With Noble Purpose – How to Drive Revenue and Do Work That Makes You Proud.Leading with Noble Purpose.The Triangle of Truth.Forget PerfectLinkedIn Learning.Follow Lisa on LinkedIn.Follow Lisa on Twitter.This week’s music: David Usher ‘St. Lawrence River’.

Download the Podcast here: Six Pixels of Separation – Episode #758 – Host: Mitch Joel.

Before you go… if you enjoyed this, please subscribe (all new content arrives in your inbox). It’s easy, it’s free and it’s right here.

Six Links Worthy of Your Attention #551

Is there one link, story, picture or thought that you saw online this week that you think somebody you know must see?

My friends: Alistair Croll (Solve for Interesting, Tilt the Windmill, Interesting Bits, HBS, chair of Strata, Startupfest, FWD50, and Scaletechconf; author of Lean Analytics and some other books), Hugh McGuire (Rebus Foundation, PressBooks, LibriVox) and I decided that every week the three of us are going to share one link for one another (for a total of six links) that each individual feels the other person “must see.”

Check out these six links that we’re recommending to one another: 

Light Fields – Videos From The Future – Two Minute Papers – YouTube. “This week, I’m going to show you a couple of examples of the astonishing work that is being done in AI and human-machine interfaces. First up: Two Minute Papers is an amazing YouTube channel where enthusiastic AI expert Károly Zsolnai-Fehér explains emerging research in just a few minutes. This one’s remarkable: A machine learning algorithm recreates a 3D model of the world from a video. That means once you’ve got a video (even an old one—your kid’s graduation) you can move around within the world as if you were in VR. No, really. It’s pretty good—as long as the video ‘saw’ a part of the scene, the AI can extrapolate that. So, you can’t magically see behind things, but it definitely feels like you’re there. Like I said, we are absolutely not ready for the future.” (Alistair for Hugh).
DALL·E: Creating Images from Text – Open AI . “Next up: A play on Wall-E and Salvador Dali, this is another project from OpenAI, which created the GPT-3 language prediction tool. You can literally tell it to draw anything, and it will create an image of that. From ‘an illustration of a baby daikon radish in a tutu walking a dog’ to ‘a cube made of a porcupine,’ it’s remarkable. Consider, at the very minimum, a tool that lets children draw pictures by describing what they’re imagining. And this is the AI equivalent of the first personal computer.” (Alistair for Mitch). Mars in 8k – Curiosity and Beyond – YouTube . “Stunning footage of Mars from various rovers. Mars, take me away.” (Hugh for Alistair). Interview with Leonard Cohen and Anjani Thomas – SVT/NRK/Skavlan – YouTube . “Is there a more soothing voice than Leonard Cohen, singing, or (perhaps better) getting interviewed?” (Hugh for Mitch).   Pretend It’s A City – Netflix . “I know the name, Fran Lebowitz. I know her to be an author (mostly). I am not familiar with her work, but her persona (her style, and that she can be a mixture of hysterical and acerbic in the same sentence). I had zero intentions of watching her new Netflix show, which is really a presentation of her thinking in the form of clips from live speaking engagements, and in interview with famed movie mogul, Martin Scorsese. Welp, I am hooked… and you will be too. Was Larry David’s persona created on Fran? The only thing more interesting and funnier than Fran’s perspective, is seeing how much it makes Scorsese laugh. So much great insight, humor and depth in these episodes. Plus, if you can’t get behind someone who can complain about almost anything, I’m not sure that we can be friends Totally binge-worthy. Promise.” (Mitch for Alistair). The Wikipedia Story – An Oral History of Wikipedia, the Web’s Encyclopedia – OneZero – Medium . “Hugh and I have many quirky passions in common. One of them, I believe, is our deep interest in Wikipedia. To many, Wikipedia is just another resource on the Internet. Hugh and I were there when it was launched, and watched (and learned) much about the Internet, society, and culture through the development and challenges that this platform endured. Still it stands. Here it is. 20 years later. It’s hard to believe that it has been twenty years since Wikipedia launched. It’s hard to believe that we’ve both been ‘online’ and active in spaces like this for more than two decades. So much has changed. So much hasn’t changed at all. Here’s an amazing and long article about Wikipedia…” (Mitch for Hugh).

Feel free to share these links and add your picks on Twitter, Facebook, in the comments below or wherever you play.

Are you interested in what’s next? How to decode the future? I publish between 2-3 times per week and then the Six Pixels of Separation Podcast comes out every Sunday. Feel free to subscribe (and tell your friends ;): 

On Being Socially (And Media) Responsible

There are going to be big questions asked of social media in the coming days and months.

Social media is at the crossroads. 
Political insurrections along with what happened before and after festered on social media.
It’s hard to even know where to point our disappointment and anger.
Whatever side you are on, there were no winners in this past week’s upheaval.

Still, we must decide the kind of technology that we want.

We must decide the kind of media that we want.
We must decide the kind of connections that we want.
We must decide the kind of freedoms that we want.
We must decide the kind of protections that we want.

We must make some big decisions about our future… and the future of media…

This, and other current topics (driven by the questions above) were discussed along with one of my personal business heroes, Rishad Tobaccowala (Author/Advisor and former executive at Publicis), Julian Zilberbrand (EVP Advanced Media, ViacomCBS) and host Bob Knorpp (always a good human) on the very excellent BeanCast Podcast (which I’ve been fortunate to be a guest on in the past). I don’t know what it is about BeanCast, Bob Knorpp and these other panelists, but there is always “something in the water” when we record these conversations that brings out a lot of stimulating ideas and insights (and some friendly disagreements too!).

Are you ready for this deep dive into the world of media and marketing? Here is: BeanCast #619 – Being Socially Responsible.

For about an hour, we discussed and debated the following topics:

Social responsibility.Social Media and luxury brands.Changes to Facebook Pages.Pretending to like Digital Marketing.

Take a listen and jump into the fray…

Mitch Joel · The BeanCast #619 – Being Socially Responsible

Are you interested in what’s next? How to decode the future? I publish between 2-3 times per week and then the Six Pixels of Separation Podcast comes out every Sunday. Feel free to subscribe (and tell your friends

Big Tech And “Free Speech”

What is “free speech”?

I saw a tweet that stated:

“Don’t be fooled. Big Tech isn’t shutting down accounts due to ‘risk.’ They’re trying to control what you READ. What you THINK. What you BELIEVE. They’re after one thing: control. Because control means power. Don’t let them win.”

I’m not a politician.
I’m not a scholar of the law.
I’m not even American.
I’m someone that pays a lot of attention to technology, consumer behavior, and media.
I’m someone that used to publish print magazines, and was a music/culture journalist in the pre-historic ages (before the web).
A time and place where ALL content was controlled through a tight and small media filter (because creating and distributing content was hard and expensive).

The web brought forward one simple (but massive) change:

The ability for anyone to publish their thoughts in text, images, audio and video… instantly and for free for the world to see.
Content was no longer hard and expensive to create and distribute.
A scarcity to abundance model.
That doesn’t mean that all content gets the same distribution.
That doesn’t mean that all content gets the same attention.
It, simply, means that whether it’s a tweet, blog post, article, podcast, video on YouTube or even a newsletter – it has the capacity to reach a massive audience without any friction.

I’m going to re-write that tweet from above from my own perspective:

Don’t be fooled.
Big Tech doesn’t really care about your tweets.
They’re not trying to control what you READ.
The more people that you follow, and the more people that create content is how their business model and platform expands.
They want you to see much more content, but – unfortunately, most people will only follow those who create content that is aligned with their values and aspirations.
They don’t really care much about what you THINK, but they do care a lot about showing you more content that you tend to follow, like, share and comment on.
They are after control… but not control of what you read, think, or believe.
They’re after control of a marketplace.
To build, as Scott Galloway calls it: an “unregulated monopoly” (with a large and deep moat around it).
The power that they seek is not over what content flows through their platforms, but rather that ALL content flows through their platforms, and that you spend as much time as possible within their walls.

Big Tech doesn’t win by suspending, deleting or censoring any content.

Big Tech wins by having as many people as possible on the platform, creating, sharing, connecting and spending their time on it.
Your attention and content becomes the data that makes them powerful.
Follow the money.

In fact, blocking and moderation is the way that they lose.

It costs money, time, human capital, and energy to moderate and deal with content that offends, break laws, etc…
The more that people don’t connect, or when those connections get broken (users leave, people unfollow people), the worse the platform performs.
If people question the quality of the platform, they may leave the platform for other spaces.
And, ultimately, the most important thing to understand is this: they are the platform and not the content creators.
They don’t care about your content, they just want your data.

The content creators are us.

You and I.
No content creators… no platform.
No growth for “Big Tech.”
Should they regulate what content we create and put on their platform?
Clearly, they have to because we can’t do it for ourselves.
Should the government be a part of this regulation?
Absolutely.
I do not want a public or private business deciding what is/isn’t free speech (that’s the role of government and the law).

We know the rules.

We know what is right.
We know what is wrong.

Yet, here we are.

We’re slamming the platform that allows the content to flow, and not the content creators for publishing these thoughts in the first place.
Don’t be mistaken.
Don’t be confused.

The problem isn’t the platform.

The platform and their use of your personal data is their big issue.

The problem is you and I.

It’s our inability to accept a difference of belief.
It’s our inability to not be able to distinguish between what is right and wrong.
It’s our inability to see and hear those who feel like they have not been seen or heard.
It’s our inability to accept responsibility for what these platforms have become.
It’s our inability to know the difference between fake and true.
It’s our inability to see how locked into the cult or personality we’ve become.

That saddens me to no end.

I always thought that the Internet would enable a thousand flowers to blossom over the handful of old trees that truly controlled what media our society was offered and afforded.
That gift came true… and we seem to be blowing it.
Not all of us.
Just some of us.
Just enough of us.
But those “some of us” are awfully loud.

Don’t let them drown out what is truly there.

The platforms enable many voices, in many unique niches to have a voice, build a business and tell better/more interesting stories.
I’ve met some of the most fascinating people in the world because of these platform.
Some of my best friends and best business successes have happened because of these platforms.

Justice isn’t blaming Big Tech.

Justice is using these platforms to bring people together.
Justice is using these platforms to bring more voices out into the open.
Justice is using these platforms to make connections with people that you would never have had a chance to connect with.
Justice is using these platforms to learn, grow, share and improve.

Control may be power.

If it is, control who you follow.

Control what you read.
Control what you post.
Control what you comment on.
Control what you like.
Control what you share.
Control the messages from those seeking to do harm.
Control your knowledge of how media works.
Control your filters.
Control your experience.

Control your future.

Are you interested in what’s next? How to decode the future? I publish between 2-3 times per week and then the Six Pixels of Separation Podcast comes out every Sunday. Feel free to subscribe (and tell your friends

Erich Joachimsthaler on New Ways To Create Real Value In Business Today – This Week’s Six Pixels of Separation Podcast

Episode #757 of Six Pixels of Separation is now live and ready for you to listen to.

Erich Joachimsthaler, is a rare combination of consultant, author, entrepreneur, academic, and researcher who sheds light on massive branding, marketing, and digital transformations. A man after my own heart. He has authored several books and hundreds of articles. He is both the founder & CEO of Vivaldi and a visiting professor and lecturer at several universities around the world. His latest book, The Interaction Field, decodes the emergence of a new business model of the same name. Erich predicts that successful companies will shift from transactional business models to an interactional model. This new model goes further than solely extracting value for the benefit of investors or shareholders, it creates value for all participants engaged in the Interaction Field, as well as society at large. Prior to writing The Interaction Field, Erich also authored Brand Leadership and Hidden In Plain Sight. Enjoy the conversation…

You can grab the latest episode of Six Pixels of Separation here (or feel free to subscribe via iTunes): Six Pixels of Separation #757.

Before you go… if you enjoyed this, please subscribe (all new content arrives in your inbox). It’s easy, it’s free and it’s right here.

SPOS #757 – Erich Joachimsthaler on New Ways To Create Real Value In Business Today

Welcome to episode #757 of Six Pixels of Separation.

Here it is: Six Pixels of Separation – Episode #757 – Host: Mitch Joel. Erich Joachimsthaler, is a rare combination of consultant, author, entrepreneur, academic, and researcher who sheds light on massive branding, marketing, and digital transformations. A man after my own heart. He has authored several books and hundreds of articles. He is both the founder & CEO of Vivaldi and a visiting professor and lecturer at several universities around the world. His latest book, The Interaction Field, decodes the emergence of a new business model of the same name. Erich predicts that successful companies will shift from transactional business models to an interactional model. This new model goes further than solely extracting value for the benefit of investors or shareholders, it creates value for all participants engaged in the Interaction Field, as well as society at large. Prior to writing The Interaction Field, Erich also authored Brand Leadership and Hidden In Plain Sight. Enjoy the conversation…

Enjoy the conversation…

Running time: 55:33.
Hello from beautiful Montreal.
Subscribe over at iTunes.
Please visit and leave comments on the blog – Six Pixels of Separation.
Feel free to connect to me directly on Facebook here: Mitch Joel on Facebook.
or you can connect on LinkedIn.
…or on Twitter.
Here is my conversation with Erich Joachimsthaler.
The Interaction Field.
Brand Leadership.
Hidden In Plain Sight.
Vivaldi.
Follow Erich on LinkedIn.
Follow Erich on Twitter.
This week’s music: David Usher ‘St. Lawrence River’.

Download the Podcast here: Six Pixels of Separation – Episode #757 – Host: Mitch Joel.

Before you go… if you enjoyed this, please subscribe (all new content arrives in your inbox). It’s easy, it’s free and it’s right here.

Six Links Worthy of Your Attention #550

Is there one link, story, picture or thought that you saw online this week that you think somebody you know must see?

My friends: Alistair Croll (Solve for Interesting, Tilt the Windmill, Interesting Bits, HBS, chair of Strata, Startupfest, FWD50, and Scaletechconf; author of Lean Analytics and some other books), Hugh McGuire (Rebus Foundation, PressBooks, LibriVox) and I decided that every week the three of us are going to share one link for one another (for a total of six links) that each individual feels the other person “must see.”

Check out these six links that we’re recommending to one another: 

Dystopian Future Securities Fraud – Bloomberg. “Matt Levine writes a fascinating newsletter on finance. He’s been on hiatus for a while, and his return installment looks at insider trading. As it points out, we don’t really have ‘insiders’ any more in a digital world. We have indexes, and knowing what’ll be on those indexes is lucrative. Often, it’s an outsider making money from shared knowledge—and new opportunities for fraud abound.” (Alistair for Hugh).
Welcome to Restaurantland – The Strong Paw of Reason . “I had no idea the staggering level of restaurant use in the US compared to the rest of the world. The stats are astonishing, but as this piece points out, restaurants serve a social function in the States: ‘eating in restaurants constitutes the common core of American culture.’ That’s an interesting lens through which to see everything from capitalism, to consumer culture, to the decline of public spaces, to even resentment of COVID restrictions.” (Alistair for Mitch).
An Oral History of ‘Steamed Hams,’ The Funniest Simpsons Scene Ever Recorded – Mel Magazine . “My university years revolved, partially, around the Thursday evening showing of The Simpsons, 8pm I believe. The Steamed Ham segment was a favourite at the time, and surprisingly (or unsurprisingly?) there is a whole article dedicated to it, in which the writer claims this is ‘one of the most famous comedy shorts of all time.'” (Hugh for Alistair).
Scientists Propose Permanent Human Habitat Built Orbiting Ceres – Futurism . “Ceres, take me away.” (Hugh for Mitch).
50 Years Ago: 1971 in Rock Music – Best Classic Bands . “I don’t often discuss my age or my Birthday, but this year’s will be a tough one to ignore. I’ll be fifty years old. It feels strange writing that out. Even thinking about it seems strange. I still feel (and act) like a child (in my mind). This article came across my feed… it’s my birth year. And, it stopped me in my tracks. Just go through this list/article and allow it to boggle your mind as it boggled mine. How is it even possible that so many classic albums all came out in the same year? Wow. The diversity. The majesty. The glory. The beauty. It’s no wonder why music plays such a huge role in what makes me who I am. I, seriously, had no idea that all of these albums came out in the year that I was born. It’s simply astounding…” (Mitch for Alistair).
The Spirit of Neil Peart – Rolling Stone . “It has been a year. So much sickness and death. The global pandemic? Sure. Still, we’ve lost so many great artists beyond what this pandemic caused. Just this past week, it was the first anniversary of losing Rush’s Neil Peart. His musicianship, lyrics, poetry, writing, and live performances just can’t be ignored. You don’t have to be a fan of progressive rock, the drums, or Rush to be able to appreciate not only his contributions to our culture, but what a huge loss his death was. When Eddie Van Halen died… when David Bowie died… when Prince died… that level of royalty. This is a powerful prose about Peart’s life and his legacy. Again, you don’t have to be a Rush to appreciate this piece… and like my good friend (and famed radio DJ), Terry DiMonte, wrote when he posted about this same article on social media, it will bring you to tears.” (Mitch for Hugh).

Feel free to share these links and add your picks on Twitter, Facebook, in the comments below or wherever you play.

Are you interested in what’s next? How to decode the future? I publish between 2-3 times per week and then the Six Pixels of Separation Podcast comes out every Sunday. Feel free to subscribe (and tell your friends ;): 

Trevor Done From Mr. Bungle On This Month’s Groove – The No Treble Podcast

Trevor Dunn is this month’s conversation on Groove – The No Treble Podcast.

You can listen the new episode right here: Groove – The No Treble Podcast – Episode #73 – Trevor Dunn.

Who is Trevor Dunn ?

I’m a sucker for weird music. The weirder..the better. This works for me whether the genre is heavy or jazzy. Trevor Dunn fits the mold for this personal fascination to perfection. Most may know him as a founding member of Mr. Bungle (the band that featured singer Mike Patton of Faith No More). And, while he rose to prominence during the 90s, his passion for experimental music and the evolution of bass playing has never let up. He has worked with saxophonist/composer, John Zorn, Secret Chiefs 3 and his own avant-garde jazz rock alternative ensemble, Trevor Dunn’s Trio-Convulsant. With that, he also played with Patton in Tomahawk. Other bass work includes Sean Lennon, Brian “Head” Welch (from Korn) and many more. Most recently, Mr. Bungle released, The Raging Wrath of the Easter Bunny Demo, last October (along with a streaming live event last Halloween). The album is a re-recording of their earliest material (that fans were begging for). Trevor described re-recording their earliest material with the addition of former Slayer Drummer, Dave Lombardo, and founding Anthrax member/guitarist, Scott Ian, like “we were finally utilizing our Ph.Ds in Thrash Metal. All we had to do was go back to our original professors for some additional guidance and talk them into joining us. Turns out we were A+ students… We were haunted for 35 years by the fact that this music wasn’t given it’s due respect. Now we can die.” But, Trevor is not dead, and he’s not even close to being done with music and playing the bass. Enjoy the conversation…

What is Groove – The No Treble Podcast?

This is an ambitious effort. This will be a fascinating conversation. Our goal at Groove is to build the largest oral history of bass players. Why Groove? Most of the content about the bass revolves around gear, playing techniques, and more technical chatter. For us, bassists are creative artists with stories to tell. They are a force to be reckon with. These are the stories and conversation that we will capture. To create this oral history of why these artists chose the bass, what their creative lives are like, and where inspiration can be found.

Listen in:  Groove – The No Treble Podcast – Episode #73 – Trevor Dunn.

Groove – Episode #73: Trevor Dunn by No Treble

Are you interested in what’s next? How to decode the future? I publish between 2-3 times per week and then the Six Pixels of Separation Podcast comes out every Sunday. Feel free to subscribe (and tell your friends ;). 

Reeves Wiedeman on The Rise (And Fall) of WeWork – This Week’s Six Pixels of Separation Podcast

Episode #756 of Six Pixels of Separation is now live and ready for you to listen to.

The past is something that we easily forget. Before the pandemic, many looked at the disastrous rise and fall of WeWork. So much so, that journalist, Reeves Wiedeman, decided to use the WeWork story as the topic for his debut book, Billion Dollar Loser – The Epic Rise and Spectacular Fall of Adam Neumann and We Work. It’s a pulsating and page-turning book (much like the incredible book written about Theranos – Bad Blood by John Carreyrou). Now, many are left wondering if WeWork will have a very unique (and critical) roll in what the future of work might look like? Can WeWork erase its past? Will it always be remembered as a disaster? Or, has the pandemic given them a runway that could turn this story around? Either way, the story of WeWork is simply jaw-dropping. The amount of money invested in the business, the players behind the scenes, the desire for power, and so much more. Reeves is a Contributing Editor at New York magazine. He has written for The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, Rolling Stone, Harper’s, and other publications. Billion Dollar Loser is his first book. Enjoy the conversation…

You can grab the latest episode of Six Pixels of Separation here (or feel free to subscribe via iTunes): Six Pixels of Separation #756.

Before you go… if you enjoyed this, please subscribe (all new content arrives in your inbox). It’s easy, it’s free and it’s right here.

SPOS #756 – Reeves Wiedeman on The Rise (And Fall) of WeWork

Welcome to episode #756 of Six Pixels of Separation.

Here it is: Six Pixels of Separation – Episode #756 – Host: Mitch Joel. The past is something that we easily forget. Before the pandemic, many looked at the disastrous rise and fall of WeWork. So much so, that journalist, Reeves Wiedeman, decided to use the WeWork story as the topic for his debut book, Billion Dollar Loser – The Epic Rise and Spectacular Fall of Adam Neumann and We Work. It’s a pulsating and page-turning book (much like the incredible book written about Theranos – Bad Blood by John Carreyrou). Now, many are left wondering if WeWork will have a very unique (and critical) roll in what the future of work might look like? Can WeWork erase its past? Will it always be remembered as a disaster? Or, has the pandemic given them a runway that could turn this story around? Either way, the story of WeWork is simply jaw-dropping. The amount of money invested in the business, the players behind the scenes, the desire for power, and so much more. Reeves is a Contributing Editor at New York magazine. He has written for The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, Rolling Stone, Harper’s, and other publications. Billion Dollar Loser is his first book. Enjoy the conversation…

Enjoy the conversation…

Running time: 53:59.
Hello from beautiful Montreal.
Subscribe over at iTunes.
Please visit and leave comments on the blog – Six Pixels of Separation.
Feel free to connect to me directly on Facebook here: Mitch Joel on Facebook.
or you can connect on LinkedIn.
…or on Twitter.
Here is my conversation with Reeves Wiedeman.
Billion Dollar Loser – The Epic Rise and Spectacular Fall of Adam Neumann and We Work.
Follow Reeves on Twitter.
This week’s music: David Usher ‘St. Lawrence River’.

Download the Podcast here: Six Pixels of Separation – Episode #756 – Host: Mitch Joel.

Before you go… if you enjoyed this, please subscribe (all new content arrives in your inbox). It’s easy, it’s free and it’s right here.