Mitch Joel's Blog: Six Pixels of Separation, page 119

Steve Dennis On The State of Retail And Shopping – This Week’s Six Pixels of Separation Podcast

Episode #731 of Six Pixels of Separation is now live and ready for you to listen to.

If you want a glimpse into what this pandemic can do to business, look no further than the state of retail. Some retailers are experiencing great growth, while many are filing for bankruptcy. The winners are digital-first (think Amazon, Shopify, etc…). How do we make sense of consumer’s today, how they shop, and what they will want from this day forward? Enter Steve Dennis. Steve has over three decades of experience as a strategic advisor, board member, general manager and C-level executive at two Fortune 500 retailers. He has worked with dozens of retail, luxury, technology and social impact brands to design more profitable growth strategies. Steve’s signature “tell is like it is” style and ‘8 Essentials of Remarkable Retail’ framework makes him one of the industry’s most in-demand thought leaders. He has delivered keynotes, led management workshops and consulted across six continents, sharing what it takes to win and keep customers in the age of Amazon, Alibaba, and digital disruption. Steve recently published his book, Remarkable Retail – How to win and keep customers in the age of digital disruption. Steve is also one of Seth Godin‘s oldest friends. 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 #731.

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 #731 – Steve Dennis On The State of Retail And Shopping

Welcome to episode #731 of Six Pixels of Separation.

Here it is: Six Pixels of Separation – Episode #731 – Host: Mitch Joel. If you want a glimpse into what this pandemic can do to business, look no further than the state of retail. Some retailers are experiencing great growth, while many are filing for bankruptcy. The winners are digital-first (think Amazon, Shopify, etc…). How do we make sense of consumer’s today, how they shop, and what they will want from this day forward? Enter Steve Dennis. Steve has over three decades of experience as a strategic advisor, board member, general manager and C-level executive at two Fortune 500 retailers. He has worked with dozens of retail, luxury, technology and social impact brands to design more profitable growth strategies. Steve’s signature “tell is like it is” style and ‘8 Essentials of Remarkable Retail’ framework makes him one of the industry’s most in-demand thought leaders. He has delivered keynotes, led management workshops and consulted across six continents, sharing what it takes to win and keep customers in the age of Amazon, Alibaba, and digital disruption. Steve recently published his book, Remarkable Retail – How to win and keep customers in the age of digital disruption. Steve is also one of Seth Godin‘s oldest friends. Enjoy the conversation…

Running time: 1:01:21.
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 Steve Dennis.
Remarkable Retail – How to win and keep customers in the age of digital disruption.
Follow Steve on Instagram.
Follow Steve on Twitter.
This week’s music: David Usher ‘St. Lawrence River’.

Download the Podcast here: Six Pixels of Separation – Episode #731 – 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 #524

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: 

What Are Doctors Actually Listening For? – Medlife Crisis – YouTube . “There is amazing content online for anyone who takes the time to learn. One of the best is this series by a UK doctor, and this episode borders on poetry. Why is music and rhythm universal? From music to heartbeats, it’s a fascinating look at what doctors listen for, and whether music is in our DNA.” (Alistair for Hugh).
Brainstorm: A Short Film Shot on the DJI Ronin – DJI – YouTube . “This is a great example of what modern digital film tools can do. Shot in one long take, taking advantage of a sprawling building. The blocking and choreography required to do this right must have taken a huge number of cuts!” (Alistair for Mitch).
The Blanket Octopus And It’s Amazing Blanket!! – NAD Lembeh Resort – YouTube . “Here’s a blanket octopus. It exists in the universe, along with us.” (Hugh for Alistair).
Octopuses of the Night – Dustin Adamson – Vimeo . “Hi, I’m an octopus. Every night a make a little house out of a bunch of shells.” (Hugh for Mitch).
Deepfakes Are Becoming the Hot New Corporate Training Tool – Wired . “The company that bought my last company is WPP. They are one of the world’s largest marketing and communications holding companies. They are in this article. Check this out: ‘A presenter will speak in the recipient’s language and address them by name, while explaining some basic concepts in artificial intelligence. The videos themselves will be powerful demonstrations of what AI can do: The face, and the words it speaks, will be synthesized by software.’ We’re now in a world where we are shooting corporate videos without a camera and talent. Crazy stuff.” (Mitch for Alistair).
A Lighthouse For Magazines – The New Yorker . “My love for magazines knowns no bounds. I used to read (and re-read) magazines (in the world before the Internet). I knew the publication schedules of my favorite magazines so well, that I could ‘feel’ when it had been four weeks, and a new issue would be hitting the newsstand. That love raged on. I worked in a magazine store (Multimags – which still has a few stores left in Montreal) in my late teens, and I went on to publish a few magazines (also, pre-Internet). I still love a good magazine and (when times were different), still can’t walk past a newsstand in an airport and not check out the racks. This article reminded me of why… and what has been lost… and who still cares about this very special print format. My reading habits have changed. I don’t buy (or collect) magazines much at all anymore. So, in weird way, I don’t miss it (because if I really wanted to, I could), but on the other hand, I miss it with every beat of my heart…” (Mitch for Hugh).

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

Octopuses of the Night from Dustin Adamson on Vimeo.

Fortnite, Racism, The Future of Gaming And More On CHOM 97.7 FM

Every Monday morning at 7:10 am, I am on air at CHOM 97.7 FM radio out of Montreal (home base). It’s not a long segment – about 10 minutes every week – to decode the future. We discuss everything that is happening in the world of technology, digital media and culture. The good folks at CHOM 97.7 FM are posting these segments weekly on i Heart Radio, if you’re interested in hearing more about what’s happening in the transformation of our digital world. I’m really excited about these weekly hits, because this is the radio station that I grew up listening to, and it really is a fun treat to be invited to the Mornings Rock with Terry DiMonte morning show. The segment is called, CTRL ALT Delete with Mitch Joel.

This week we discussed:

Is Fortnite the future of events? On Saturday night, my eldest told me that he couldn’t come to bed yet, because he was attending an event about racism in the video game Fortnite. The event was called, We the People and featured Van Jones (CNN) in conversation with Elaine Welteroth and The Atlantic writer Jemele Hill about racism in gaming. Hill then interviewed rapper Killer Mike (his speech at a recent press conference in Atlanta at the beginning of the George Floyd protests went viral). There’s much hate in the online gaming world, and doing events like this make sense. In the past, the gaming platform hosted concerts by Travis Scott and Marshmello. This is just the beginning. Would you attend an event in a video game?
Last week, we discussed how Facebook is dealing with many advertisers who are not advertising on the social network, until they fix the content (racism, sexism, fake news, etc…). I see this as (mostly) virtue signaling, but the pile-on this week seems to be individuals saying that they are quitting the platform, or using it a lot less. This has not been the case for me… how about you? 
App of the Week: Standard eBooks – “free and liberated ebooks, carefully produces for the true book lover.”

You can also listen in via I Heart Radio.

Mitch Joel · CTRL ALT Delete – CHOM FM – July 6th, 2020

Pim de Morree On Being A Corporate Rebel – This Week’s Six Pixels of Separation Podcast

Episode #730 of Six Pixels of Separation is now live and ready for you to listen to.

The work of Pim de Morree and his partner (Joost Minnaar) has been on my radar for a few years. It came up more recently, when I saw them on the famed Thinkers50 list and with the publication of their latest book, Corporate Rebels – Make Work More Fun. This may seem like an archaic concept as we all struggle to find our grounding during this pandemic, but it may be a more radical (and much-needed) way to think about our work than ever before. Pim wants workplaces to change for the better. That doesn’t change in a work from home world, it gets amplified and becomes more important. Corporate Rebels is really a global movement to make work more fun. Pim and Joost quit their frustrating, corporate jobs and set out to travel the world to visit the world’s most inspiring organizations. While checking off their renowned Bucket List they share everything they learn. Their cult blog is read in over 100 countries, and they have been listed among the ‘Top 30 Emergent Management Thinkers’ and won the 2019 Thinkers50 ‘Radar Award’. We’re all faced with re-thinking work. Here’s some additional perspective. 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 #730.

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 #730 – Pim de Morree On Being A Corporate Rebel

Welcome to episode #730 of Six Pixels of Separation.

Here it is: Six Pixels of Separation – Episode #730 – Host: Mitch Joel. The work of Pim de Morree and his partner (Joost Minnaar) has been on my radar for a few years. It came up more recently, when I saw them on the famed Thinkers50 list and with the publication of their latest book, Corporate Rebels – Make Work More Fun. This may seem like an archaic concept as we all struggle to find our grounding during this pandemic, but it may be a more radical (and much-needed) way to think about our work than ever before. Pim wants workplaces to change for the better. That doesn’t change in a work from home world, it gets amplified and becomes more important. Corporate Rebels is really a global movement to make work more fun. Pim and Joost quit their frustrating, corporate jobs and set out to travel the world to visit the world’s most inspiring organizations. While checking off their renowned Bucket List they share everything they learn. Their cult blog is read in over 100 countries, and they have been listed among the ‘Top 30 Emergent Management Thinkers’ and won the 2019 Thinkers50 ‘Radar Award’. We’re all faced with re-thinking work. Here’s some additional perspective. Enjoy the conversation…

Running time: 1:00:59.
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 Pim de Morree.
Corporate Rebels – Make Work More Fun.
Joost Minnaar.
Follow Pim on Instagram.
Follow Pim on Twitter.
This week’s music: David Usher ‘St. Lawrence River’.

Download the Podcast here: Six Pixels of Separation – Episode #730 – 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 #523

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: 

Monju Hunters of Sofugan Island . “A few years back, I read The Windup Girl. It stuck with me, a bleak bamboo-and-dystopia reckoning of a world split apart by plague, falling back on old, analog mechanisms. This beautiful animated film had a similar impression, making my mind fill in the backstory as all good narratives can. Steampunk, post-apocalyptic acceptance, and a slow, deliberate history from a team of German animators.” (Alistair for Hugh).
Michael Lewis: ‘Don’t bet against the US. It has an incredible capacity for self-reinvention’ – The Guardian . “Michael Lewis is an amazing writer. In December 2019, he gave an interview to The Guardian on The Fifth Risk, which he describes as, ‘a loss of faith in the mission of effective governance.’ Localized problems like forest fires, he points out, don’t prop up support for good governance because they’re localized—so one part of a country can watch dispassionately, losing the sense that we’re all in this together. And pre-Covid, he points out, ‘I think a pandemic might do it, something that could affect millions of people indiscriminately and from which you could not insulate yourself even if you were rich.’ Context is everything.” (Alistair for Mitch).
Facing The Wind – The Daily – The New York Times . “Audio version of an article by Carvell Wallace about raising (black) kids in a moment of pandemic, racial strife and protest.” (Hugh for Alistair).
Barcelona Opera House Open With Concert Exclusively For Plants – EuroNews . “The one question I have is: why aren’t those plants wearing facemaks?!? And they are all crowded in too close together.” (Hugh for Mitch).
How Substack has spawned a new class of newsletter entrepreneurs – Digiday . “It was Alistair who first introduced me to Substack. Think newsletters meets Medium meets a newer/more interesting way to publish content. Our mutual friend, Lenny Rachitsky, is already monetizing his newsletter (in a big way). Lenny has a great (and free) presentation on Substack called, The Secret To (Newsletter) Success – Deliver consistent value to your value, that I still share far and wide. Substack is on the move, and a company that everyone should pay much more attention to. More importantly, if you’re in the brand building business, and thinking of ways to be more present for your customers (or audience), it’s even more critical to check it out and understand it.” (Mitch for Alistair).
Milton Glaser (RIP) Explains Why We Must Overcome the Fear of Failure, Take Risks & Discover Our True Potential – Open Culture . “One of the great in graphic design passed away this week. Milton Glaser was 91 years old. A live well-lived. Creative. Artistic. Unwavering. Outspoken. Soft spoken. His life lives on in the legacy of his work. Here’s a great (and short) video on what makes work compelling. It’s about dealing with your fear… and dealing with failure. Such a great reminder for these times.” (Mitch for Hugh).

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

Milton Glaser – on the fear of failure. from Carl on Vimeo.

Facebook And Advertising’s Strange Path Forward

Will big brand’s boycott of Facebook advertising change Facebook and the state of social media?

With every passing day, more and more advertisers are boycotting Facebook advertising (and other social media platforms). They are worried about something called “brand safety” (tldr: We don’t want our ads running next to content that might be contentious, political, religious, racist, sexist, fake news, conspiracy theories, you name it…). For brands it is perceived that ads running next to content like that is a signal that they support the message. For many, this is seen as an “about time” moment, and they are hoping that Facebook (and others) change their policies, in terms of what content gets published. I’m a little more cynical, and think that the timing is questionable. Do you believe that this is about brand safety and integrity, or is this just an easy “out” for brands? Meaning, instead of looking bad about cutting staff and marketing budgets (which is happening because of the pandemic), they can use this moment as an excuse, and it lays blame on Facebook instead of how these brands are shrinking/killing budget/letting go of employees? This is only happening (for now) in the US (the rest of the world has similar issues), and I’m left wondering if brands are living their true purpose (hence, the boycott), or if they’re using a moment in time to deflect the bad that is happening within their own organization? It feels more like virtue signaling verses a true concern (if brands were concerned, what took them so long?). This, and other current topics (driven by the questions above) were discussed along with Wendi Cooper (C Spot Run Productions), Bob Hoffman (Ad Contrarian), Joseph Jaffe (Corona TV), 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 marketing? Here is: BeanCast #599 – Go Directly To Jail.

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

Will the boycott change Facebook?
Brand Commitment to Boycott.
Re-Opening Ads.
Influencer Apparel Brands.

Take a listen and jump into the fray…

Mitch Joel · BeanCast #599 – Go Directly To Jail

Jorge Roeder On This Month’s Groove – The No Treble Podcast

Jorge Roeder 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 #67 – Jorge Roeder.

Who is Jorge Roeder ?

Around this time of the year, I would be neck-deep into the International Jazz Festival of Montreal. This week alone, would have had me attending gigs by Christian McBride, Al Di Meola and Marcus Miller (plus others). The virus had other plans. One of the more delightful outcomes of this pandemic has been the many artists who have opened up their homes and started performing live and online. One of them has been Jorge Roeder. Originally from Lima, Peru, Jorge has become known as one of the most versatile and expressive bass players in jazz today. He melds classical with the styles of folk, and the aggression of rock with the rhythms of his Afro-Peruvian roots. In short: his playing is a pleasure for the senses. Jorge has had a long-standing partnership with guitarist Julian Lage, Argentinian vocalist Sofia Rei, as a key member of Israeli pianist Shai Maestro’s trio, and trombonist Ryan Keberle’s ensemble Catharsis. He studied cello, he played in rock bars, and spent time studying jazz at Boston’s esteemed New England Conservatory. Now living in Brooklyn, New York, Jorge is a Grammy-winning musician who most recently released a brilliant new solo album titled, El Suelo Mio. 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 #67 -Jorge Roeder.

Groove – Episode #67: Jorge Roeder by No Treble

Facebook vs. Advertising And More On CHOM 97.7 FM

Every Monday morning at 7:10 am, I am on air at CHOM 97.7 FM radio out of Montreal (home base). It’s not a long segment – about 10 minutes every week – to decode the future. We discuss everything that is happening in the world of technology, digital media and culture. The good folks at CHOM 97.7 FM are posting these segments weekly on i Heart Radio, if you’re interested in hearing more about what’s happening in the transformation of our digital world. I’m really excited about these weekly hits, because this is the radio station that I grew up listening to, and it really is a fun treat to be invited to the Mornings Rock with Terry DiMonte morning show. The segment is called, CTRL ALT Delete with Mitch Joel.

This week we discussed:

Some of the biggest advertisers in the world (Coca-Cola, North Face, Unilever, Honda, Verizon, etc…) are currently boycotting Facebook by not running ads (on other social channels as well, but Facebook is getting the brunt of the bad media). They are worried about something called “brand safety” (tldr: We don’t want our ads running next to content that might be contentious, political, religious, racist, sexist, fake news, conspiracy theories, you name it…). For brands it is perceived that ads running next to content like that is a signal that they support the message. For many, this is seen as an “about time” moment, and they are hoping that Facebook (and others) change their policies in terms of what content gets published. I’m a little more cynical, and think that the timing is questionable. Do you believe that this is about brand safety and integrity, or is this just an easy “out” for brands? Meaning, instead of looking bad about cutting staff and marketing budgets (which is happening because of the pandemic), they can use this moment as an excuse, and it lays blame on Facebook instead of how these brands are shrinking/killing budget/letting go of employees? This is only happening (for now) in the US (the rest of the world has similar issues), and I’m left wondering if brands are living their true purpose (hence, the boycott), or if they’re using a moment in time to deflect the bad that is happening within their own organization? 
I thought I was just flicking through my Facebook feed at night like I always do. It turns out that I am doomscrolling. According to Wired, doomscrolling is slowly eroding your mental health. “‘Falling into deep, morbid rabbit holes filled with coronavirus content, agitating myself to the point of physical discomfort, erasing any hope of a good night’s sleep.’ For those who prefer their despair be portable, the term is doomscrolling, and as protests over racial injustice and police brutality following the death of George Floyd have joined the Covid 19 crisis in the news cycle, it’s only gotten more intense. The constant stream of news and social media never ends.” Is social media making our mental health even worse than we thought? 
Apple held their developer’s conference (virtually, of course) last week. It looks like iOS 14 has some big changes for the home screen (and beyond), where the very idea of an “app” is changing with sizing, categories and widgets all coming together (think about it as layers). Smartphones may be getting a little smarter, when this comes out in the comings months.
App of the Week: Dictanote. An amazing dictation software for a much better voice-to-text experience.

You can also listen in via I Heart Radio.

Mitch Joel · CTRL ALT Delete – CHOM FM – June 29th, 2020