A tough week for heels, IG and the Barcelona project, Seth's Song of Significance and mystical cats
May 25th 2023
In the news this morning, I couldn’t escape the sad fact that the world has lost a giant, the one and only Tina Turner. Tributes are pouring in from around the world, from rockstars to presidents to, even more important, Oprah. In reading about her life in the New York Times last night, I was first shocked to realise that Ms Turner was born in 1939 (she seemed forever young to me) before it dawned on me that her career exploded when she was in her mid-forties.
This feels relevant in more ways than one. First, I’m just finishing the book From Strength to Strength by Harvard Prof Arthur Brooks, also a columnist for The Atlantic, in which he explores how to create a fulfilling life past career peak (understood to happen between 25 to 40) and find meaning and relevance in the second half of life.
Then I reflected that many women (an assumption, but let me know if you think I’m wrong) felt empowered at the sight of the powerful sexy-dynamo that was Turner, a woman who emerged from a violent marriage stronger, sharper and brighter, her energy impossible to forget. Quite the heroine. I didn’t realise just how much she had touched me until I stopped to consider it. May she rest in peace.
In other news, do you know what I love? When a brand emails me to ask if I want to opt out of Mother’s Day and Father’s Day emails. Yes please!!!! As a childless woman who has lost both her parents, I must say, the flurry of marketing ploys leading up to both commercial events leaves me cold. In the age of personalisation, brands and marketers really can do better than to click ‘send all’ without regard to personal preferences. Also, to the companies that do reach out, congrats, you just earned credit from me (bravo Anya Hindmarch).
Meanwhile, feminism made some barefoot steps forward earlier this week, with both Cate Blanchett and Jennifer Lawrence breaking a sacred (if silly and patriarchal) dress code rule.
As Vogue reported: “Footwear has been a bone of contention at Cannes for years, with festival organizers endorsing a de facto rule that women must wear heels at all public events.”
Despite this, Lawrence showed up looking extraordinary in a red Dior Couture dress which she paired with black flip flops (outrage!), and Blanchett took off her stilettos to stand barefoot at a press event while she was presenting French-Iranian star Zahra Amir Ebrahimi with a breakthrough artist award. A stab at anyone who stands against women’s rights. 🎉 Bravo to both women (and their few predecessors who dared stand flat-footed against the festival’s organisers). I’d personally like to see a reverse dress code rule in another festival somewhere in the world, mandating all men to wear heels. That ought to be fun. What do you think?
As always, thank you for reading me; I never take it for granted. Wishing you a good rest of the week,
Until next time.
Much love,
LOOKING AROUND
Quote
“Humans aren’t a resource. They are the point.” - Seth Godin
MEANINGFUL PURSUITS
Seth Godin is back with a new book called The Song of Significance, which I first found out about because he came onto the Tim Ferriss Show to talk about it last week. And then he emailed me about it (not personally, but you get the gist). The book is going to take the ‘next up’ position on my reading list, despite the growing pile of titles next to my desk (with a few more arriving today, yikes). Godin believes that work no longer… works. And he’d like to help make things better for everyone. Given my interest in the future of work, conscious communication etc, it feels like a fit.
Listen to their conversation about collaboration, meaning and leadership here. The clever marketer has even created a bundle, which includes five copies of the book with 25 booklets, to help us spread the ideas within our own organisations. Given that I personally enjoy spreading the love and shipping books to friends all around the place, it sounds like a genius idea. More on this soon. Discover the book here.
THE BARCELONA PROJECT
Or how Instagram is jumping onto the text-based Twitter replacement bandwagon. And it could actually work.
If you’re like me, you left Facebook a long time ago, and you still keep an eye on Twitter because some people are good at it and you like to follow the news (it’s still where I would go look in case of emergency, for example). But we’ve all noticed that Twitter sucks, and not in the way it used to. Personally, I’m ready to delete my account. But it will leave a hole, and none of the decentralised options like Mastodon have felt remotely exciting to me. I’m lazy. Don’t ask me to do anything too complicated, like choose a server, choose what app to use, etc.
Now what if Instagram introduced a text-based de-centralised messaging tool to its roster, mimicking Twitter but that could connect to Mastodon-like servers? Would you use it? It seems that it’s on the cards, according to this leaked source. Personally (and I’m surprising myself), I really like the idea. While IG has felt like a giant ad scroll at times, it’s still nice not to start from scratch somewhere else again. Watch this space; the new project code-name Barcelona could be out as early as the end of June. Read about it here.
THE PRICE OF GOLD
Last week, I achieved a personal milestone, and I really, really wanted to buy myself something pretty. You know, something that sparkles, to mark the occasion. And I couldn’t quite get myself to make the purchase. Oh, I have found a lovely rose gold and diamond bracelet, but I cannot reconcile myself to buying ‘regular’ gold again. Why?
I’ve talked about sustainable and ethically sourced jewellery in this column before after my client Pippa Small shared not just her own quest for clean gold but the source of her mission. I can’t ‘unknow’ what I now know. But where do we go to find something sourced consciously? In her Substack newsletter, It‘s not Sustainable, Tiffanie Darke doesn’t shy away from reminding us what the cost of mining gold looks like, but on the heels of that, she suggests a new platform where we can shop guilt-free (or freer), called La Maison Couture. The Positive Luxury website isn’t great at first glance, but this platform excels at curating the right selection of brands, ones that are changing the face of the industry. I’ll be spending some time browsing the 91 pages of fine jewellery this weekend. Read about it here, and check out the website here.
MARTHA STEWART AND THE AGE DEFIANCE ERA
If you haven’t yet seen eighty-year-old Martha Stewart on the cover of Sports Illustrated, you must be living under a rock. But I’d love to hear from you (and yes, that means get in touch, please) as to whether you are shocked or happy, to see a carefully retouched (allegedly not, but I have my doubts) elder on the cover of a magazine that is known to objectify young women.
Some want to wage war on ageing; others don’t understand why this is even a thing (we don’t see eighty-year-old men in speedos on any covers unless I’ve missed it?). Feel free to drop in your comment, and let’s debate. Read about it here.
DESIGNING THE FUTURE OF WORK
Excellent podcast between HBR’s The Anxious Achiever, with Morra Aarons-Mel, and the host of Brave New Work, and founder of The Ready, Aaron Dignan.
Expect to hear an engaged discussion about adaptivity and control, leadership and collaboration, transformation and the power of coaching. Listen here.
LOOKING IN
ON THE MYSTICAL POWER OF CATS
T Magazine editor-in-chief Hanya Yanagihara penned a wonderful travel piece on how she went on a journey to the ‘cattiest’ of places in Japan, the island of Aoshima (one of 11 cat islands to be found in the country!). She explores the history of the beloved felines and writes about their place in folklore, Shintoism and how apparently, cats domesticated themselves. A beautiful read.
GRACE NOTES: CONSIDERING EULOGIES FOR THE LIVING
Not long ago, I had the pleasure of meeting Andrea Driessen, an author and marketer who specialises in helping entrepreneurs name, trademark and craft their messaging. Andrea is also one of the organisers of TEDxSeattle where she recently presented a beautiful talk. To her surprise, it went rather viral, garnering nearly two million views on TED’s platform to date. Her topic was delicate, however: she makes a case for grace notes, or the art of writing living eulogies to those we love, offering gratitude in the now instead of offering words of love and appreciation after we are gone. Inspiring. Watch here.
