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August vs The Bike
A Real-Life Fable About Rage and Getting Shit Done This story is from one of my Sunday Love Letters. If you’d like to get weekly missives like this in your inbox, I invite you to subscribe, here. The church on Young Street, one block from City Hall and kitty-corner to the Chinese restaurant that blew…
Be The Imposter
I want to challenge the negative stigma surrounding the Impostor Complex and suggest that maybe it can actually become a professional asset. (No maybe about it.) Being an outsider or feeling unqualified can lead to fresh, innovative perspectives that stand out in any field. I propose that we embrace our inner imposter for what it is, a path to originality (and Power)!
Is Baby Reindeer Fatphobic?
Is Baby Reindeer fatphobic? I’m unpacking the portrayal of fatness in Richard Gadd’s hit series ‘Baby Reindeer,’ addressing societal biases and the importance of nuanced storytelling that goes beyond stereotypes and tropes. I analyze whether or not fatness (and fatphobia) is used as a character device or an engine to propel the series; how camera angles do or do not contribute to fatphobia; and how these cinematic choices intersect with social norms and beliefs.
What Baby Reindeer Taught Me About Art, Excellence and Culture Making
Baby Reindeer is an incredible Netflix Series, by Richard Gadd — unflinching, complicated, compelling. Using this work of art and Gadd’s creative approach as a lens, I walk you through the lessons that thought leaders, creators, entrepreneurs and artists can extract and apply to their own culture-making bodies of work and intellectual property.
Meaningful Bodies of Work Require “Base Hits”
3 Surprising Key Activities for Thought Leaders that are NOT a Distraction From Your Work…including social media (SHOCKING, right?). In fact, social media & self promotion can be a lab for your thought work rather than a time-suck. Read more to find out how.
Solidarity and the Perils of Sisterhood
This is a transcript of a teaching from We Are The Culture Makers I think we need to be careful using words like “community” and “sisterhood.” That kind of language and those kinds of concepts evoke really positive feelings that can create false expectations of kinship, similarity and safety — and that’s how people end…
On Women and POWER
Let’s build more of it and use it wisely Nearly every woman I know who is focused on her creative work or career is in a mastermind. Nearly every person I know is actively trying to heal a cultural injury — diet culture, body image, asymmetrical relationships, self-doubt, perfectionism, scarcity, OPPRESSION — and that means…
Actually, I’m a Huge Fan of Gatekeeping
This is an excerpt from my weekly email newsletter, The Sunday Love Letter. To get missives like this direct to your inbox, I invite you to sign up here. Back in 2016, when I started writing about The Female Lifestyle Empowerment Brand (I’m against it), a friend of mine who is a well-known DEI consultant…
Just Because It’s Needed Doesn’t Mean You’re The One To Do It
Fun fact: when I was 21, I started a coffee shop in Cloverdale, BC, my home town. It was called Kellybeans. I started it because I’d grown disenchanted with university but was newly bewitched by fancy caffeine. Espresso, affogato, cappucino, oh my! I was obsessed. And home. And there was nowhere to go to get…
Why Online Groups Might Not Be That Great For Us
I meant to write this 6 weeks ago but I was busy doing quicksand things that masquerade as chemically rewarding but in fact are the frenemy of personal momentum. This morning, for example, I got up early to finish this email but since I was up so unbelievably early, I thought I’d also take some of…
Culture Making (aka Thought Leadership) Means Speaking *Their* Language
Culture Makers and Thought Leaders have a Language Dilemma and it is getting in the way of our work in the world.
Here`s the invisible barrier in our IP & thought leadership:
We are practitioners. We are in mastery. We are in love with our subject matter.
And so we speak Expert.
We speak Nerd.
We forget how to speak People.
And if there`s not a bridge between those two languages, our people won`t be able to hear us, find us or understand that we`ve got things that will help.
Because we`re speaking a different language.
And so we need to understand what the person --who we want to influence or who wants to learn from us-- wants, in their own words.
We need to understand what THEY think the problem is (especially if we`ve come to a different conclusion).
We need to understand what it is they`re trying to learn.
We need to know what`s going on in their life.
We need to know the words that fall out of their mouth and then start using them, ourselves.
We need to know intimately and forensically the person we`re trying to influence or who wants to be influenced by our systems of thought.
And when we`re over here in love with our subject matter, we don`t speak that language anymore.
We speak Expert.
We have to remember how to speak People.
#BridgeTheLanguageGap #ThoughtLeadership #ThoughtLeader #SpeakTheirLanguage #IP #IntellectualProperty #MeaningfulWork #BodyOfWork #WeAreTheCultureMakers
#CultureMakersLanguageDilemma #Externalize #GetYourIdeasOutOfYourHeadAndIntoTheWorld #PutTheThoughtsBackInThoughtLeadership
Jun 10
Most of the people doing the *real* thought leadership work -
the ones in the mix with us, developing new practices, processes, ideas, solutions and challenging industry norms --
would cringe at the idea of calling themselves a thought leader.
Because the dominant narrative around `thought leadership` is about positioning, posturing and clout-chasing.
But that, IMHO, is fake thought leadership. That`s about manufacturing authority rather than earning it with a robust, methodologized, coherent body of work.
(No wonder we cringe.)
True thought leadership -- culture making! -- is about so much more than just standing on a stage or topping Google searches.
True thought leadership is about externalizing your ideas into a meaningful, systematic body of work.
Let`s get our ideas out of heads and into the world --
And let`s put the thoughts back in thought leadership.
#ThoughtLeadership #Externalize #MeaningfulWork #BuildYourBodyOfWork #WeAreTheCultureMakers #FakeThoughtLeader
Jun 9
