āRock the Vote?ā More LikeĀ āMeh the Voteā
I wrote this article about Millennials and the presidential election with the challenge of not naming either candidate. It was more difficult than it sounds.
Five Women Shaping the Future of Work: Jessica DeGroot, ThirdPath Institute
I have the good fortune of serving on the board of ThirdPath Institute, an incredible Philly-based think tank that provides services and support for professionals looking to better integrate work and life. Jessica DeGroot, ThirdPathās executive director, is a brilliant, forward-thinking innovator, and Iām proud to call her a friend and a mentor. If youāre interested in work-life integration, you need to check out this great profile of Jessica and the important work that she does.
Do Millennials Care About Their Personal Corporate Reputations?
Unless youāve been hiding under a rock or youāve lost Internet access for the past week, youāve probably read or heard about the open letter that a 25-year-old, now-former Yelper addressed to the CEO of the company.Ā
Lotsa peeps were up in arms about what an entitled nincompoop she was for saying what she said. I say she was probably just hungry and stuff.
5 Things You Need to Know About Millennials and Travel
When it comes to business and leisure travel, Millennials have high expectations and greater demands (especially for tech-driven experiences) than their older counterparts. These demands could lead to better innovations in travel service industries that will benefit all travelers. Read more here.
For shizz and giggz, I write a monthly column about media and marketing aimed at Millennials. Hereās my last installment for 2015, whereby I give out a coupla awards and stuff.
TBQH, Iāve been reassessing what the heck Iāve been doing on social media and stuff. What used to be fun now feels a bit like a chore. Iām pretty sure lotsa peeps feel the same way. Apparently (some) Millennials are rethinking social media all together, so I wrote an article about it.
Itās been a little more than a month since I stopped being polite and started getting real about my job search, and one thing that has become abundantly clear to me is that most companies that espouse the virtues of diversity are liars.Ā
As Iāve read through countless job descriptions, many companies will claim toĀ ācelebrate diversity,āĀ but when I dig into the leadership section of a companyās website, I invariably find an organization that is either a) led entirely by white, middle-age men or b) led almost entirely by white, middle-age men with a few token white, middle-age woman in the mix.
Celebrating diversity, indeed.
Ordinarily, I would launch into an aside about how there aināt nothinā wrong with white, middle-age men (or white, middle-age women) being leaders of companies, but frankly, IāmĀ tired of making excuses on their already privileged behalf. If a company claims toĀ ācelebrate diversity,ā then I fully expect that company to follow through on its commitment and not just pay lip service to it.
Unfortunately, when it comes to diversity, it seems as if paying lip service is the most that some companies are capable of doing these days. The most common refrain I hear is that there arenāt enoughĀ āqualifiedā minorities to fill senior-level positions. I call bullshit on this. Obviously, if a company was genuinely committed to hiring diverse candidates among their management ranks, theyād find us, amirite?
Turns outĀ ādiversityā has pretty much lost all meaning these days.Ā Or it hasĀ become a kind of short hand to telegraph corporate intention, even if that intention is neverĀ realized.
Years ago when I worked at a magazine that promoted the business case for diversity, I spent a lot of time pondering the challenges and issues surrounding the diversity conversation, particularly in entertainment, media and marketing. Never mind that the entire publication was run by white, middle-age men and never mind that POCs were largely relegated to non-decision-making roles, the publicationās missionĀ was one that I fully supported.
I served as managing editor for an executive editor who was completely tone-deaf to diversity issues, yet she mandated what and how we covered diversity news. Once, the executive editorāa white, middle-age womanāāinnocentlyāĀ asked one of my black colleagues if her dreads wereĀ ārealā hair. The conversation pretty much went downhill from there.
I wrote a recurring column that assessed the presence of minority portrayals on primetime TV shows and commercials. I remember telling the executive editor that I thought the column was a waste of time, but she insisted that it wasĀ āimportant,ā mostly because it generated a lot of web traffic. In hindsight, Iāve reconsidered and realize now that despite the inanity of the conceit, counting the number of minority portrayals on primetime TV was actually quite illuminating.Ā
Back in 2002, it wasnāt unusual to count on two fingers the number of times a person of color or an LGBTQ person appeared on network prime time. While weāve come a long way in the past dozen years and there are increasingly more diverse faces and characters portrayed in media, the diversity reflected in todayāsĀ media is still sorely lacking in too many corporate offices.
Which brings me back to my job search.
As a communications guy, I understand the importance of authentic storytelling. If an essential component of a companyās narrative is based on diversity and inclusion and that essential component isnāt legitimately reflected in its communications, i.e., the allegedly diversity-championing companyās leadership section on its website is populated by only white, middle-age men, then chances are pretty good that the company is doing a terrible job at telling its diversity story or itās a company run by liars.
Iām at a crossroad in my professional career and itās simultaneously terrifying and energizing. While I spent the past coupla years working at a company that genuinely seemed to value creativity and work-life integration, Iāve spent most of my life working at companies that didnāt.Ā
As a rule, peeps who work in advertising and communications seem to value over-work for over-work sake, wearing the signs of punishing hours and poor self-care as badges of honor. I once had a colleague at an agency who told me that he didnāt respect anyone who left the office before 10 PM. Meanwhile, he often would take four-hour liquid lunches and dick around during regular office hours while the rest of us were tryna get shizz done. At age 40, he looked at least a decade older. When I left the company, he said he hoped that we would work together again one day, and I told him I hoped that we didnāt.
Iām at the age and place in my life and career where I know what I want and donāt want from work. I am looking forward to working with people who value creativity and work-life integration. Itās probably the single most important factor in choosing my next gig. I definitely donāt want to work with people who believe that destroying oneās personal life is critical to success. What I guess Iām saying is that I donāt really want to work at another advertising agency anymore, TBH.
This morning I was scrolling through my feed on the Book of Faces, minding my own beeswax, when I spied a link to an article written by Linds Redding, an ad guy who was diagnosed with inoperable esophageal cancer. Linds goes on a rant about how f-ed up ad biz culture is. He wrote:
āIāve come to the conclusion that the whole thing was a bit of a con. A scam. An elaborate hoax.ā
Linds died last month at age 52. A lesson on perspective, indeed.
I dunno about you, but I invariably donāt take all (or even enough) of my vacation time. Like lotsa Americans, I tend to prioritize work over rest and relaxation. Turns out working non-stop and not taking time to recharge is bad for you, obvs.
My friend Jessica DeGroot, executive director of ThirdPath Institute,Ā offers smart insights about the importance of unplugging from work and provides some helpful tips on how to become better at taking vacation in this excellent Q&A by Brigid Schulte from The Washington Post. Good stuff!
Not gonna lie, but one of the best perks of my super-glamorous globetrotting job is being able to travel to nice places and stuff. One of the nice places that I enjoy the most is the San Francisco Bay Area because of reasons, obvs.
A few months ago, I had the chance to get a tour of the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design, a.k.a. the d.school, at Stanford University, and profile one of the program lecturers, who also happens to be a colleague from my company's San Francisco office.
I know I'm gonna sound like a cult member who has drunk the Kool-aid, but I'm a staunch believer in design thinking principles, so this article was a pleasure to write. You should check it out!
I write a lot about work-life balance issues cuz (selfishly) it's a topic that's close to my heart. Like lots of parents who work full-time, it's a constant juggling act to make sure that work gets done and kids get cared for without sacrificing one for the other. Occasionally I contribute to a column about about Millennials for Mediapost, and my latest article proposes some useful management techniques inspired by Millennial workers than could (and maybe should) be applied to all workers. It's awight.
ICYMI:Ā Brigid SchulteĀ from The Washington Post publishedĀ an interesting articleĀ last Friday about working dads and paid parental leave (or, in many cases, lack thereof). It's worth a read, despite the fact that I'm quoted in the article. Whomp whomp.
I'm pretty sure that most peeps aren't paying much attention to the discussion that's occuring around the topic of net neutrality, but it's an important one, and has huge implications to content publishers of all sizes, particularly the little guy. Like, if you're a startup or a humble little blogger, for example, a tiered system whereby the big guys pay for faster access would effectively kill those who don't (or can't pay) for the privilege.
PBS Idea Channel'sĀ Mike Rugnetta provides a cogent argument for why the Internet maybe kinda shoulda be considered a public utility.
The Internet of Things is one of the fastest-growing categories in digital technologies. According to a report fromĀ Gartner Research, the number of connected objects will reach 26 billion units by 2020. Meanwhile, an estimate fromĀ Cisco SystemsĀ projects that by 2020, there will be more than 50 billion connected objects worldwide, with only 7 billion of those objects being PCs, smartphones or tablets. All of the other connected āthingsā in the not-so-distant future could include connected cars, home appliances, cameras, turbine engines, and more.
While some critics may dismiss IoT as a trend or fad, thereās no denying that we are rapidly approaching an age when Internet connectivity of ordinary objects in a post-PC world will change the way that consumers interact with products and servicesāand will transform the ways that businesses operate.
Last week, I had the opportunity to speak to Anna North at the New York Times to discuss the challenges of balancing work and fatherhood. Read the full article here.
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