Mitch Joel's Blog: Six Pixels of Separation, page 73

Six Links Worthy of Your Attention #636

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: 

Unheard Voice: Evaluating five years of pro-Western covert influence operations – Stanford Digital  Repository. “There’s a lot of news about foreign governments influencing domestic politics in Canada and the US. But it’s easy to forget that most of the big Internet platforms are in the US, and that the West has plenty of interest in shaping foreign affairs. In July, Twitter and Meta took down a covert propaganda network that tried to promote US interests overseas. The two platforms then handed over the data to Graphika and the Stanford Internet Observatory, who dug in. Here’s what they found.” (Alistair for Hugh). air up . “A relative from England visited me last week. We talked about things that haven’t made it across the cultural gulf. Air up is one. As a species, we really are at peak unsustainable things, and this is as good an Exhibit A as any. In their own words, ‘Air Up is so much more than a water bottle — it’s a hydration revolution’ that ‘transports carefully-crafted flavors to olfactory receptors.’ Yeah, this is an air freshener you attach to your water bottle. But that copywriting is just… .” (Alistair for Mitch). The Incredible Story of the US Army’s Earth-Shaking, Off-Road Land Trains – The Drive . “As part of my engineering degree, I had to take mining course, mining and minerals, and I recall being astounded by the size of the trucks used to haul ore: in pictures the trucks look more or less like Tonka trucks, until you see one with a person standing beside them. They usually stand (with protective helmet on) about half the diameter of the wheel. In the 1950s the US and Canadian governments decided to build a series of 65 radar stations all along the Canadian arctic coastline, called the DEW Line. The problem of how to haul material to build them was solved, in part, by giant land trains.” (Hugh for Alistair). Rick Beato on the Theory of Popular Music – Sean Carroll’s Mindscape . “Physicist and podcaster Sean Carroll talks to ex-music-producer and current YouTuber, Rick Beato, about music.” (Hugh for Mitch).  The Office Is Dying. It’s Time To Rethink How We Work – The Ezra Klein Show . “Is the workplace of tomorrow a brand new and exciting opportunity, or is how we work so radically changed from life before the Covid pandemic? This is a question that fascinates me. And, as described in articles and shows that I have shared in previous weeks, I do not know where I stand on this… and I vacillate on how I feel about it… daily. In this podcast, Ezra Klein has a fascinating conversation with the husband and wife writing dynamos (Anne Helen Petersen and Charlie Warzel) behind the book, Out of Office – The Big Problem and Bigger Promise of Working From Home. It’s a great look into why things are so confusing when it comes to work and where we do it.” (Mitch for Alistair). The Rise of Workplace Surveillance – The Daily – The New York Times . “Here’s another podcast about work and office culture… but this is much more horrific than the link above. It paints a bleak picture of what some companies are doing in the name of productivity and efficiency. It also creates a counter-point for those that think working from home is a much better life-balancing way of living. I’m not sure I could work for an organization like the ones mentioned in this show, and I’m doubtful that any of the managers at these companies would want their work lives so dramatically surveilled. What a scary and fascinating look at work from home… with a 1984  Orwellian slant that will scare you right back into the office…” (Mitch for Hugh).

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

Eva Gardner On This Month’s Groove – The No Treble Podcast

Eva Gardner 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 #93 – Eva Gardner.

Who is Eva Gardner ?

Currently rocking out in arenas and stadiums all over the world as the bass player for Pink, Eva Gardner is also widely known as the original bassist for The Mars Volta. While she did not perform in the recording of De-Loused In the Comatorium, and left the band to deal with the passing of her father (famed bassist, Kim Gardner, from The Creation and a huge part of the British Invasion), Eva is a musician through and through. She is a graduate of the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts and holds a degree in ethnomusicology from UCLA, but Eva is a player at heart. Her resume includes Veruca Salt, Moby, Cher, Tegan and Sara and many more. In 2014, the Eva Gardner signature Precision Bass was released via Squier for Fender, making this the first female signature bass from Fender. While she continues to tour with Pink, she has also, officially, returned as the bassist for The Mars Volta while also releasing her own solo work, Darkmatter. 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 #93 – Eva Gardner.

Groove – Episode #93: Eva Gardner 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). 

Andrea Belk Olson On Secret Customer Needs – This Week’s Six Pixels of Separation Podcast

Episode #842 of Six Pixels of Separation is now live and ready for you to listen to.

Have you ever met a “differentiation expert”? That’s the role of Andrea Belk Olson (who is also a speaker and author). As the CEO at Pragmadik, where her team helps organizations of all sizes better understand customers (their wants, desires and secret needs). She is the author of The Customer Mission, No Disruptions, and more recently published her newest book, What to Ask – How to learn what customers need but don’t tell you. A sought-after keynote speaker at conferences and corporate events, Andrea is a visiting lecturer at the University of Iowa’s Tippie College of Business and head of their Startup Business Incubator (JPEC Founders Club). She is also a mentor at the University of Iowa Venture School. In What to Ask, Andrea delivers a fresh, cognitive approach for discovering hidden customer needs, converting them quickly into differentiators, and avoiding the pitfalls of traditional research, which ignores the two essential sources of insight: context and behavior. So, if you are faced with discovering what customers really want, this episode is just for you. Enjoy the conversation…

You can grab the latest episode of Six Pixels of Separation here (or feel free to subscribe via Apple Podcast or whatever platform you may choose):  #842 of Six Pixels of Separation.

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 #842 – Andrea Belk Olson On Secret Customer Needs

Welcome to episode #842 of Six Pixels of Separation.

Here it is: Six Pixels of Separation – Episode #842. Have you ever met a “differentiation expert”? That’s the role of Andrea Belk Olson (who is also a speaker and author). As the CEO at Pragmadik, where her team helps organizations of all sizes better understand customers (their wants, desires and secret needs). She is the author of The Customer Mission, No Disruptions, and more recently published her newest book, What to Ask – How to learn what customers need but don’t tell you. A sought-after keynote speaker at conferences and corporate events, Andrea is a visiting lecturer at the University of Iowa’s Tippie College of Business and head of their Startup Business Incubator (JPEC Founders Club). She is also a mentor at the University of Iowa Venture School. In What to Ask, Andrea delivers a fresh, cognitive approach for discovering hidden customer needs, converting them quickly into differentiators, and avoiding the pitfalls of traditional research, which ignores the two essential sources of insight: context and behavior. So, if you are faced with discovering what customers really want, this episode is just for you. Enjoy the conversation…

Running time: 53:33.Hello from beautiful Montreal.Subscribe over at Apple Podcasts.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 Andrea Belk Olson.What to Ask.The Customer Mission.No Disruptions.Pragmadik.The Customer Mission Podcast.Follow Andrea on LinkedIn.Follow Andrea on Twitter.

This week’s music: David Usher ‘St. Lawrence River’.

Download the Podcast here: Six Pixels of Separation – Episode #842.

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 #635

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: 

The Ontology of the Grocery Store – Gustavus Adolphus College. “My daughter went to the grocery store by herself a few weeks back. When she returned, she said she got everything she wanted except the cans of tuna. ‘I looked all over the fish section,’ she said, ‘but I couldn’t find any.’ How do we know what goes where in the grocery store? Is salsa with chips or international food? Are marshmallows a baking ingredient or a candy, or do they belong next to cookies for S’Mores? The more I thought about it, the more I realized that the emergent, collective consensus of how a grocery store is arranged makes no real sense. There’s no class for it, at least not one I remember. It’s a kind of cultural sensemaking. Surely, I thought, someone must have looked into this! And it turns out they have.” (Alistair for Hugh). The Metaverse Is Not a Place – O’Reilly . “Americans spend more than six hours a day online. It’s a place we already hang out, whether we have fancy VR goggles or not. But, is it a place at all? Breathless virtual real estate developers would say yes, hoping for a land rush in which they can monetize artificial scarcity. But in this piece, Tim O’Reilly suggests it’s a communications medium, one we’re already using as a species. He talks about concepts like stored time, and modulating the hierarchy of communication. As with most things he writes, it manages to be both prescient, and obvious in hindsight.” (Alistair for Mitch). MBS’s $500 Billion Desert Dream Just Keeps Getting Weirder – Businessweek . “The bananas project from the Saudi crown prince, to build a utopian and/or dystopian metropolis for millions in the middle of the desert. This story is really incredible.” (Hugh for Alistair). Explicit Content – History Today . “On the shifting rudeness of words over history, and how we choose what offends.” (Hugh for Mitch). Is humanity smart enough to survive itself? – Jeanette Winterson – TED 2022 . “I believe that I mentioned this TED Talk in passing. Well, it’s now live and I’m hopeful that everyone will take the 18 minutes to watch it. Embarrassingly, I had not head of Jeanette Winterson before (she’s a literary giant), so her biography at the conference and the set-up for this talk didn’t initially strike me as a ‘must-see’ while attending the TED conference this past year in Vancouver. To say that this talk is ‘delightful’ or ‘brilliant’ isn’t enough or fair. How can humans and machines truly work together or meld together? This philosophical take will hopefully change your brain… for the better.” (Mitch for Alistair). Neil Gaiman on the Secret History of ‘The Sandman’ & Killing a Bad Script by Leaking It Online – Rolling Stone . “When it comes to watching creators talk about their art, I could watch people like Brian Eno, Susan Cain and Neil Gaiman all night and day. When word broke that Gaiman’s famed series, The Sandman (a legendary comic book), was getting a Netflix deal, I was skeptical. With all of Gaiman’s success, I still believe that it has been very difficult to transpose his words to screen. Well, it looks like The Sandman, is a huge hit and this conversation about his art (and beyond) is a joy to watch… and inspiring too…” (Mitch for Hugh).

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

Nathan Furr On The Upside Of Uncertainty – This Week’s Six Pixels of Separation Podcast

Episode #841 of Six Pixels of Separation is now live and ready for you to listen to.

In his new book, The Upside of Uncertainty – A Guide To Finding Possibility In The Unknown, Nathan Furr (and his co-author/wife, Susannah Harmon Furr) provide a science-backed guide for navigating and thriving through uncertainty — based on interviews and insights from world-renowned leaders, innovators, entrepreneurs, artists, and creatives. It’s a book for this exact moment in time, and it’s a wonderful read. Nathan is an Associate Professor of Strategy at INSEAD, where he teaches innovation and technology strategy. His research focuses on innovation and technology strategy, particularly how new and established firms adapt to technology change and enter new markets. His research has been published in leading journals, such as Strategic Management Journal, Organization Science, and Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal. He has received various impressive awards and is a recognized expert in innovation, entrepreneurship, and value creation. He also co-authored Innovation Capital, Leading Transformation, The Innovator’s Method, and Nail It then Scale It: The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Creating and Managing Breakthrough Innovation. Professionally, Nathan has acted as the founder or advisor to corporations and startups in healthcare, clean technology, professional services, the internet, retail and financial services industries. Nathan also sits on the investment board of the Kickstart Seed Fund, an innovative early-stage venture fund, and was the founder of the International Business Model Competition, which attracts thousands of innovative teams from around the world in an international competition. If you’re thinking about how to better embrace uncertainty (and, who isn’t these days?), this episode is for you. Enjoy the conversation…

You can grab the latest episode of Six Pixels of Separation here (or feel free to subscribe via Apple Podcast or whatever platform you may choose): Six Pixels of Separation #841.

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 #841 – Nathan Furr On The Upside Of Uncertainty

Welcome to episode #841 of Six Pixels of Separation.

Here it is: Six Pixels of Separation – Episode #841. In his new book, The Upside of Uncertainty – A Guide To Finding Possibility In The Unknown, Nathan Furr (and his co-author/wife, Susannah Harmon Furr) provide a science-backed guide for navigating and thriving through uncertainty — based on interviews and insights from world-renowned leaders, innovators, entrepreneurs, artists, and creatives. It’s a book for this exact moment in time, and it’s a wonderful read. Nathan is an Associate Professor of Strategy at INSEAD, where he teaches innovation and technology strategy. His research focuses on innovation and technology strategy, particularly how new and established firms adapt to technology change and enter new markets. His research has been published in leading journals, such as Strategic Management Journal, Organization Science, and Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal. He has received various impressive awards and is a recognized expert in innovation, entrepreneurship, and value creation. He also co-authored Innovation Capital, Leading Transformation, The Innovator’s Method, and Nail It then Scale It: The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Creating and Managing Breakthrough Innovation. Professionally, Nathan has acted as the founder or advisor to corporations and startups in healthcare, clean technology, professional services, the internet, retail and financial services industries. Nathan also sits on the investment board of the Kickstart Seed Fund, an innovative early-stage venture fund, and was the founder of the International Business Model Competition, which attracts thousands of innovative teams from around the world in an international competition. If you’re thinking about how to better embrace uncertainty (and, who isn’t these days?), this episode is for you. Enjoy the conversation…

Running time: 52:47.Hello from beautiful Montreal.Subscribe over at Apple Podcasts.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 Nathan Furr.The Upside of Uncertainty – A Guide To Finding Possibility In The Unknown.Innovation Capital.Leading Transformation.The Innovator’s Method.Nail It then Scale It: The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Creating and Managing Breakthrough Innovation.Susannah Harmon Furr.Follow Nathan on LinkedIn.Follow Nathan on Twitter.

This week’s music: David Usher ‘St. Lawrence River’.

Download the Podcast here: Six Pixels of Separation – Episode #841.

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 #634

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: 

Rick Steves’ The Story of Fascism – Rick Steves’ Europe – YouTube. “This shouldn’t need much explanation. Events of recent weeks have been fomenting for years; even up here in Canada, a bunch of anti-vax protesters, having lost their main reason to protest, decided to try and arrest the Peterborough police force, backed by the self-declared Queen of Canada who pulled up in her (presumably royal) RV. It’s easy to dismiss fringe nonsense, but as this hour-long documentary shows, that’s how Fascism starts. History may not repeat itself, but it rhymes, and this sound sounds awfully familiar.” (Alistair for Hugh). Most of Scottish Wikipedia Written By American in Mangled English – Motherboard – Vice . “File under you-can’t-believe-the-Internet. I didn’t know Wikipedia even had a Scottish version, but it does. And it’s not actually Scottish. Turns out a ‘self-professed Christian INTP furry living somewhere in North Carolina’ has written over 23,000 articles, and made more than 200,000 edits, on the site. Using a mashed-up accent—peer-to-peer is ‘peer-tae-peer’—the impact is so widespread there may be no option but to start from scratch.” (Alistair for Mitch). This be the curse: Philip Larkin’s big problem – The Spectator . “I have, I admit, read about various celebrities and their member size (Milton Berle and Frank Sinatra are two famous wielders of large wieners), but it’s never really occurred to me to consider the literary implications of a well-endowed poet. Philip Larkin, apparently, had a big one; apparently this did the opposite of what a porn habit might lead you to suspect: he was shy and hesitant in his lovelife (and poetry), and Nicola Shulman argues that this fact should be central to our understanding of his work.” (Hugh for Alistair). ‘That’s it? It’s over? I was 30. What a brutal business’: pop stars on life after the spotlight moves on – The Guardian . “Whatever happened to Terence Trent D’Ardby? And many more.” (Hugh for Mitch). Has emotional transparency gone too far or is oversharing at work a good thing? – WorkLife . “I’ve always believed that this was a fascinating topics to better understand. Hopefully, we are becoming more open (and honest) and can bring our full-selves to work – each and every day. With that comes many conflicts (personal and corporate). For the personal: How much of my true self do I really want my work colleagues to know (I mean, it’s not like they’re all family and friends, and I should be entitled to some level of personal privacy while bringing my whole self to work)? For the corporate: Yes, we want you to bring your whole self to work, but we also need to keep the drama and politics and everything else at bay because… well… it’s work and there’s work to do… and there’s that old saying: ‘It’s not personal… it’s business…’ (which is a saying that I have always hated). So… are we all being too transparent in our world or work and commerce?” (Mitch for Alistair). What we gain from a good bookstore – The New Yorker . “Much like the myriad of pieces I have shared here about libraries, we need to careful if we believe that bookstores are simply a place to buy books (or that Amazon is an easy replacement of the bookstore). These are falsehoods. Bookstores are cultural hubs and an integral part of our communities. We need to look beyond the spine of dead trees and see these outposts as a place of retail refuge in a world where fast fashion and tchotchkes reign supreme. Can you find culture in retail? I believe the bookstore has more to offer than Nike when it comes to actual culture.” (Mitch for Hugh).

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

Kathryn Judge On The Rise Of The Middleman Economy – This Week’s Six Pixels of Separation Podcast

Episode #840 of Six Pixels of Separation is now live and ready for you to listen to.

The power of middlemen has, fundamentally, changed the shape of business and our economy. Kathryn Judge is the author of Direct – The Rise of the Middleman Economy and the Power of Going to the Source. In this book, she explores how powerful middlemen and complex supply chains have transformed our lives and how to reclaim the community, connection, and meaning lost along the way. Kathryn is a law professor, author, financial regulation expert, and mother of two. Kate (as she prefers to be called) joined the faculty at Columbia Law School in 2010 and currently serves as the Harvey J. Goldschmid Professor of Law. Her research shows how we can promote a more resilient and accountable financial system, and how regulatory design can enhance the legitimacy and efficacy of financial regulation. Her articles have been published in top journals, including Harvard Law Review, Stanford Law Review, etc. and have received accolades from academic peers and industry. She is an editor of the Journal of Financial Regulation and a research member of the European Corporate Governance Institute. Enjoy the conversation…

You can grab the latest episode of Six Pixels of Separation here (or feel free to subscribe via Apple Podcast or whatever platform you may choose): Six Pixels of Separation #840.

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 #840 – Kathryn Judge On The Rise Of The Middleman Economy

Welcome to episode #840 of Six Pixels of Separation.

Here it is: Six Pixels of Separation – Episode #840. The power of middlemen has, fundamentally, changed the shape of business and our economy. Kathryn Judge is the author of Direct – The Rise of the Middleman Economy and the Power of Going to the Source. In this book, she explores how powerful middlemen and complex supply chains have transformed our lives and how to reclaim the community, connection, and meaning lost along the way. Kathryn is a law professor, author, financial regulation expert, and mother of two. Kate (as she prefers to be called) joined the faculty at Columbia Law School in 2010 and currently serves as the Harvey J. Goldschmid Professor of Law. Her research shows how we can promote a more resilient and accountable financial system, and how regulatory design can enhance the legitimacy and efficacy of financial regulation. Her articles have been published in top journals, including Harvard Law Review, Stanford Law Review, etc. and have received accolades from academic peers and industry. She is an editor of the Journal of Financial Regulation and a research member of the European Corporate Governance Institute. Enjoy the conversation…

Running time: 57:33.Hello from beautiful Montreal.Subscribe over at Apple Podcasts.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 Kathryn Judge.Direct – The Rise of the Middleman Economy and the Power of Going to the Source.Follow Kathryn on LinkedIn.Follow Kathryn on Twitter.

This week’s music: David Usher ‘St. Lawrence River’.

Download the Podcast here: Six Pixels of Separation – Episode #840.

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.