Hey gang - A couple of issues ago, we featured a post about "increasing luck". The idea: when you put yourself out there -- online or off -- good things are bound to happen. The important thing is to go for it: put ego aside, show up consistently, make contact often.
But when it came to digital contact, Usman and I hadn't forced much. That changed last week, when we committed to posting on LinkedIn every day for the next month. It meant putting ourselves and our voices not "into the void" -- but onto a platform crawling with friends, colleagues; former colleagues, bosses, and CEO's! For long-time social media lurkers, it felt like going from 0 to 100 miles an hour, overnight. But you know what? Good things are happening.
To wit -- we want to say hello to the 70 new subscribers who've joined us in the past few days. Welcome!
Thanks, always, for reading. Have a great week!
Aki & Usman
P.S. If you didn't see them on LinkedIn, here are a couple of the posts -- one from Usman on re-framing expectations; one from me on interviewing. We'll include future weeks' highlights at the foot of this note.
CONVERSATION #1
Yes, we've curated our first item generated by a bot. 🤯
And yes, as far as bots go, it's an awesome one. 🤩
A young couple in the UK built the bot using payroll data on gender pay gaps. The UK mandates this data be published in an annual report, by any organization with over 250 employees.
On International Women's Day, the bot went from 2K to 210K followers, and to the extent a bot can, it received much online adulation.
It clearly struck an accountability nerve: we often feel like firms may only be paying lip service. That they may not be working to fix what is in this case a tremendous problem: women in the UK earn on average 85 cents of every man's dollar; in the US, 83 cents of it.
This bot publicly -- using self-reported data! -- called out the discrepancy between the what-they-say and the what-they-do.
CONVERSATION #2
I think we know this intuitively, and from experience, too: that healthy discomfort (not the toxic or unsafe kind) is actually good for us. Hard to feel in the moment, but leading to growth and impact.
Here, we love Susan's notion of "discomfort as the price of admission" to a life of meaning.
CONVERSATION #3
"Bleisure"?
Who comes up with this stuff? And by the by, if we travel for "business or pleasure" -- wouldn't that make it..."bleasure"? 🤣
Don't get us wrong, the phenomenon is interesting, especially in the context of a recent (and well-overdue) focus on wellness. We just don't know that "I'm taking a bleisure trip this weekend", will ever roll off the tongue. :)