So I have been giving this one a lot of thought. The move that Yahoo made to eliminate “working from home” to improve their culture is flat out dumb. It has been discussed and analyzed from quite a few angles. What I am most interested in is the fact that this probably won’t help solve the real issue, poor products.
I haven’t used Yahoo for anything in about 7 years. That is a staggering statement if you think about it.
Hey Yahoo, blame yourself, not all your employees
I worked in corporate america for a decade and I most likely will never do it again. It is probably the most uninspiring environment in American culture. Plenty of places I’ve worked have used the phrase “magic happens in the hallways”. Ummm. It’s a cop-out. Yep I said it.
The world has changed. The days of middle management gave birth to stupid phrases like that. Not to be outdone by ‘on the bus’ and ‘team players’. While I agree that there exists employees that are cancers. That only means that they are just not great co-workers. I will stop there. The real cancer is the executives who have very few ‘crucial’ skills. Syphoning time and energy for a quick chat, or a mind-numbingly dumb meeting. Yahoo should face the fact that the real problem is at the top.
It just got real. And I’m just warming up.
Organizing meetings to direct people isn’t really a skillset as it is an activity. Oh, but, you used to be the SVP of who gives a crap at Facebook? That’s great, you really got that company off the ground….wait a minute, it’s Facebook!
There-in lies the problem for Yahoo. Bad products and a bad plan to solve that problem. Their competitors don’t enact out-date philosophies to solve their present problems.
They simply hire magicians. A lot of them.
That’s who is going to save your company. Magicians. They are going to create the next great product for you, or find the hidden gems in existing ones. Odds are they will hate your meetings and despise your catch phrases. But guess what? You aren’t hiring them to be culture disciples. You are hiring them to envision and execute.
It takes real skills to pull off that magic act.
Recently, Facebook has bought great new companies to acquire the tech+talent. Smart move. While Yahoo is following suit, I believe they need to recoil that knee jerk reaction to punish all of their workers, and direct the real blame to the morons in upper management that, well, failed to manage.
It will be interesting to see what happens next with Yahoo!
Is the ‘option’ to work from home a big deal to you in your career?
One of the best parts about my journey into disrupting education is that you began to unravel where it all went wrong. It becomes even more clear as I drive to work everyday and observe people around me.
People don’t like each other. They don’t like themselves. They don’t like their mates. They have a distaste for waiting and an even bigger distaste for waiting on someone else. They hate that they don’t make more money. They hate their job. They hate the fact that their neighbor has more money. They hate their kids. And they really hate their neighbors kids.
I could go on and on but I’m sure you would agree with me that we have a problem. Most people focus on themselves which leaves little time to even care about someone else.
“You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him.”
Which is the root of the problem. Without practicing caring about other people, we slowly lose our greatest superpower, empathy.
Without empathy, the simplest things start to become impossible. Giving directions, assisting people learn something new, or simply holding a short conversation are a strain when you lack empathy. And it is almost impossible to teach children if you can’t relate or place your self in their shoes.
“I don’t have time for people who don’t work hard.”
Yet, that is what the education system in America has become, a self-centered exercise in self-preservation.
Take this test. When was the last time you helped someone with no thought to your own gain? The great part about being able to place yourself in someone else’s position is that you realize that we all need help at one point or another. It helps you feel the amazing reward of lifting someone else up.
At some point in your life, someone took the time to help you. Stop being selfish. The next time you are in a position to help someone else with a task, a project or learning a new skill, do it with a smile and a little grace.
You will see that the ability to make someone feel like you care about them is the greatest superpower on earth.
And very few possess it.
What the smartest people do on the weekend is what everyone else will do during the week in ten years.
– Chris Dixon
Something interesting has happened. Design has become a game of likes, loves, critiques, and trolls, instead of a problem solving community.
I get compliments on my work all the time. I am honored that I have inspired a lot of younger designers to try new things and break out of trends and habits. However, I recently received an email that was kind of puzzling.
“More Dribbble Likes” was the title of the email. At first I thought it was an announcement from the crew at Dribbble talking about a new addition to the platform.
It wasn’t.
“Hey Ced, I have noticed that you aren’t getting a lot of likes on your recent shots. If I may offer a suggestion…have you thought about…”
Wow.
Why take that shot?
I am never hunting for likes when I post to Dribbble. I have used the platform mostly to create a visual story for some of the bigger projects I am working on. Not for fame. I’m motivated by my desire to create, earn a living, as well as download the .aco file my shots produce. What’s an .aco file? Exactly.
Pixel Perfec…shut the @&#* up.
If you are critiquing Dribbble shots on 1px increments, what does that say about you?
Now I am not saying we shouldn’t take pride in our work, but it’s starting to get ridiculous. The designers I identify with and respect rarely talk about sweating a pixel here or there. They are beyond that.
Beyond likes. Beyond fame. Beyond seeking approval.
So that only leaves one question…
What’s your motivation?
With all of his lies coming to light, Lance is kinda, sorta, apologetic. Don’t believe a word he says, because not a word he says can be believed.
Would LIVESTRONG have raised that much without the presence of a champion celebrity endorser? Absolutely not. It is a complex game of money and affluence to raise money for your cause.
So, if you are misleading people by claiming that you are a clean hero who is legit when you are not, you are gaming a complex system. This isn’t just people around the country donating 5 bucks to a cause.
It is multi-million dollar pitches to huge corporate sponsors, advertising partnerships and big donations from other celebs. Who…..based on what you tell them and how they view you, give all that money to your cause, and tell the other great charities that they have already committed their money for the year.
Are you starting to see why this could be a little bit of a problem?
Also, it would be a different case if he hadn’t sued the living daylights out of anyone who claimed he used PED’s.
The fact that he is now admitting any wrongdoing to free up a chance to compete in the future is even more disgusting.
Gamification is currently being driven by novelty and hype. 80% of current gamified applications will fail to meet business objectives primarily because of poor design.
This may offend quite a few people but it’s the truth. Gamification is kind of a waste of time. If you look at entertaining the idea of gaming your content, then you have to look at what kind of content you have in the first place.
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Great look at the making of Tangled
I have been interested to see how Nolan would handle the Superman universe. This looks amazing.
Cant wait.
LeadsVille Forum Development Roadmap
If you are building the next Super App, there are a few things to keep in mind. Being on top of the Dashboard eco-system is and should be standard practice in your development.
I usually place a lot of thought into the organization of the products we are developing. With the admin dashboards of our consumer products, they must accomplish a multitude of objectives. I think of the end-user who will have to log-in and out of it. Will they enjoy logging in, working in, and utilizing the environment?
Here are a few things to keep in mind:
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Took about 20 minutes to do a sketch of one of my favorite childhood characters.
When I was in grade school, most of the time I would sit in my room and draw. Anything and everything was a subject. Transformers to flowers and occasionally various people I would see.
The inspiration was never missing to sketch when I was younger. What happened to that. I find that we sometimes get away from the very things that make us who we are. If you were to ask many of my friends what they remember most about me, I’m sure “Man he was always drawing something” would be in there.
I haven’t worked seriously on a piece of art in about 9 years. Time, or lack thereof, has stopped me. Not anymore. I will be making time to find that 3rd grader who would sit in his room and draw everyday.
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