May 16, 2022
Dear Friend,
Jane here! 👋 One way Pascal and I cultivate hope in a time when things seem so dire is our work at The Coaching Fellowship. Our small but mighty nonprofit gives us and everyone who gets involved an opportunity to make a positive difference in the world.
As TCFS’s co-founders, we get to see up close and personal the huge impact we have. With the support of over 220 volunteers and a staff of four, we provide leadership coaching and development to young women change-makers who are solving the myriad of social and environmental challenges we face. These women, from over 80 countries, are working around the globe to tackle big issues, including:
Supporting The Coaching Fellowship is one way to directly contribute to a future that is more just, sustainable and peaceful for all of us. If you are interested in exploring a Corporate Sponsorship Partnership with us, we would love to hop on the phone. Just hit reply or reach out directly to me at [email protected].
Jane
P.S. Starting this week, we add a new section to this newsletter. In the “Tidbits” part, you’ll find a collection of links to articles we have been reading this week (in addition to the “pick of the week” from each team member).
Practical Futurism // Decode. Disrupt. Transform.
Last week saw a staggering collapse of the cryptocurrency world — from Bitcoin and Ether halving in value, to the collapse of stable coins such as TerraUSD, all the way to El Salvador (the country which adopted Bitcoin as an official currency) being in the process of going bankrupt over Bitcoins value decline. It certainly has been a wild ride and a good reminder that this stuff is much more complex, uncertain and much less clear-cut than many of the crypto-enthusiasts made it sound just a few months ago. For us, it is a good reminder that when it comes to the future, nobody can actually predict the future, and those who do, always have an agenda. Buckle up, grab some popcorn and watch this unfold — this part of the future is continuing to be a wild ride! For some reading along the ride, here is a good article about TerraUSD, and here is a rather critical view on the crypto-market as a whole. (via Pascal)
What We Are Reading
🖐️ Every organization needs a provocateur. Focus on these 3 drivers for positive change To drive curiosity, collaboration, and community in your organization, a provocateur could be the answer. People who are not afraid to ask questions will encourage new perspectives, and evolve the way your teams work together. Better to intentionally invite a provocateur than find yourself with a troll! Jane ⇢ Read
🛍️ Fast, Cheap, and Out of Control: Inside Shein’s Sudden Rise Every day, Shein updates its website with around 6,000 new styles — an outrageous figure even in the context of fast fashion. Hyper growth for the online retailer comes at the cost of the environment, plagiarizing other people’s work and dangerous working circumstances for many. Mafe ⇢ Read
📊 The Forgotten Stage of Human Progress When confronting large problems, we tend to overrate the importance of invention and underrate the importance (and difficulty) of implementation, and this sets us up for failure even when a potentially successful solution appears to be at hand. Jeffrey ⇢ Read
💅 How virtual influencers could help create a more inclusive fashion industry in the metaverse With consumers’ trust increasing in influencers, this is an outlook on virtual influencers as a tool for representation and inclusivity. Julian ⇢ Read
🤴 Why innovation prizes fail Innovation prizes (à la XPRIZE) sound like an obvious and great idea — alas they rarely actually work (and when they do, they work differently than we think). Pascal ⇢ Read
Internet Finds
Do You Keep Getting Lost? People’s childhood surroundings influence not only their health and well-being, but also their ability to get around later in life. 🏙️
In Case You Missed It
🏴☠️ The Heretic: How to Combat “Squirrel Brain”
⚠️ Disrupt Disruption: We return with a whole set of new episodes — next week we will feature our conversation with David Siegel, CEO of Meetup.com. It’s a high-energy deep dive into David’s leadership style, how Meetup pivoted rapidly during the pandemic, and how to make failing not fail. Meanwhile, here are all episodes we published so far.
Tidbits
🏭 The Diminishing Returns of Productivity Culture
🤖 Robots Are Writing Poetry, and Many People Can’t Tell the Difference
📺 Why Half a Million People Watch Someone Study on TikTok
🎧 Creating a Culture of Innovation
🏘️ The Impact of Work From Home on Commercial Property Values and the Property Tax in U.S. Cities
📸 Science in the Age of Selfies
Radically yours, take good care, friend!
— Pascal, Mafe and the three Js (Jane, Jeffrey, and Julian)
