Strands of Genius: Home Skiing, Narrative Collapse, WARC Webinar, Office Hours
plus: our thoughts on unsolicited advice, staying humble & kind
WRITING FROM | Beersheba Springs, TN
WORKING ON | yoga & postcards
LOOKING AHEAD
March 21-April 16: Beersheba Springs, TN
April 16-May 22: Greenville, SC
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April 15th: WARC Webinar | (Register here)
TOPIC: Push, Pull, Pause or Pivot: Strategy in the Time of COVID
April 17th: The Fearless (Remote) Conference | (Register For Information Here)
TOPIC: Uncertainty is the Problem, Fearless Strategy is the Solution
(for: entrepreneurs & freelance marketers)
:: WHAT’S NEW & WEEKLY GRATITUDE ::
On March 27, 2020, we celebrated our nomadiversary… But this one was different -- it lacked a certain, uh, Je ne sais qoui… ;) We didn’t say anything because we weren’t sure what to say. (Can we even be nomads anymore?!)
But all this Zooming has been giving us life. And it gave us an idea, as well. We just celebrated being #OutOfOffice for 7 years, and now everyone else is OOTO with us! So we’re hosting (our first!) Out of Office Hours, via ZOOM. If you're interested in joining, please fill out this brief form to let us know what times you’re available and weigh in on the topic(s) you’re most interested in.
This week, we’re especially thankful for:
Zoom raves, Clue, 3%, Instant Pots, Spider Man, Dead to Me, Dave, Tiny House Nation, postcard making, walks around the block, some sunshine (finally), Steve - our neighbor who we have never met and who brought us homemade bread and elk soup from his farm (an elk farm, apparently)(yes, really!!), organizing kitchens, Once More With Feeling, and of course, YOU!
:: THE LINKS ::
HOME SKIING
Creativity thrives under constraints because in some ways that’s what creativity is - finding novel solutions with what is available. For many people the current context isn’t conducive to thinking or working or creating but others are finding ways to mitigate their cabin fever by going stop frame skiing in a single room. (Twitter)
PLOT ECONOMICS
Some events radically change the direction of the story, reshuffling the deck of protagonists and antagonists. The essay considers narrative collapse in terms of “plot economics,” as in who has lost the plot, and who has found the plot? Who takes control of the story from here? How will the narrative balance Serendipity and Zemblanity? (Ribbon Farm)
WARC WEBINAR: PUSH, PULL, PAUSE, or PIVOT?
On Wednesday, April 15th, we’ll be hosting a Warc Webinar called Push, Pull, Pause or Pivot: Strategy in the Time of COVID. Humans are wired to have difficulty with uncertainty - and strategy is our coping tool. Because at its core, strategy is about allocating finite resources for competitive advantage in conditions of uncertainty. With COVID conversations abound, uncertainty has increased, leading marketers to wonder if they should pull, pause, or pivot?We’ll return to your screens to give you tools and frameworks you can use to help navigate your next move. (The Guardian)
GENIUS STEALS: OUT-OF-OFFICE HOURS
If you’re interested, don’t forget to let us know what time you’re free! (Google Form)
:: WHAT WE’RE THINKING ABOUT: UNSOLICITED ADVICE ::
You know what’s exhausting? Advice. Even when the people who are giving you feedback are great, gracefully receiving a suggestion on how to change takes energy. We’ve gotten heaps of unsolicited advice recently. Like so many others, our work world has been turned upside down. And so many people have jumped in to give us advice. Unsolicited advice, that is. I’ve been keeping my cool, but the interactions I’ve been having recently have led me to think that maybe we need to all agree on when it’s appropriate to offer advice.
Faris and I have been thinking about this, and we’re pretty sure this is a completely exhaustive list of when you SHOULD give someone advice:
1) When the person struggling directly asks you for your advice.
2) When your advice can make an *immediate* difference in that person living or dying.
3) When a person pays you specifically for your advice. Which should really fall under #1.
That’s it.
If you're wondering if someone is looking for advice, you can always ask. "Are you looking for advice or suggestions on how to tackle? Or are you just looking for some empathy right now?"
(And yes - you're allowed to ask your partner the same thing. Doesn't matter how long you've been together, ESP is not a thing.)
Thankfully, people have been trying to give me bad advice for years -- Things like "You really should be having kids during this time of your life" or "You should just pick a place to live instead of trying to work and travel - It just won't work."
I've been slowly breaking down my people-pleasing practice and working on building up my zero-fucks-given practice. It's hard. It takes practice. I imagine even more practice is required if you are a woman, because society has told us for so long that we should be taking advice from men, both overtly and in the patriarchal standards that run our world. I'll think I'm doing a pretty good job, and then find myself feeling the need to do something or be something because that's what I think I'm supposed to be doing. As Faris so often reminds me (because I need to hear this reminder a lot!), "There should be no shoulds."
For others out there on the receiving end of unsolicited advice, here’s what helps me keep my cool:
1) Other people are giving you advice often because they want to help. They likely have little to no idea about your context, your business, or your customers. They likely have no idea what you've done before, your business strategy, or your specific and unique goals. When they give you horrible advice, and it's infuriating, just remember that they are most likely doing it because they want to help. They are not trying to make you feel even more frustrated.
2) You don't ever have to take someone's else's advice. Seriously. This is a skill to cultivate sooner rather than later: Not feeling guilty about not taking advice. You can start practicing now, and build up your confidence so that when you're back in the workplace, you're practiced at using your critical thinking skills when it comes to which advice you're going to take and what you're going to disregard.
You are allowed to set boundaries. You can tell people that you appreciate the sentiment, but you're not looking for advice right now. If you have someone who frequently gives unsolicited advice, you can even setup the conversation with "I'm looking for a little empathy rather than a solution."
What do you think? What do you do when you get unsolicited advice? How do you handle it?
:: AND NOW… SOME WORDS OF WISDOM FROM TIM MCGRAW ::
a good reminder, today - and always :)
We’re still here, on the other end of this email, but forgive us if it takes a little longer than usual for us to respond. We appreciate you, and hope you are staying safe and as sane as possible. We’re sending you big hugs from the Cumberland Mountains of Tennessee.
rockON,
faris & rosie & ashley | your friends over at geniussteals.co
@faris is always tweeting
@rosieyakob & @ashley hang out on instagram
Know someone who could use some inspiration in their inbox? Send ‘em our way!
It's called Genius Steals because we believe ideas are new combinations and that nothing can come from nothing. But copying is lazy. We believe the best way to innovate is to look at the best of that which came before and combine those elements into new solutions.
Co-Founders Faris & Rosie are award-winning strategists and creative directors, writers, consultants and public speakers who have been living on the road/runway since March 2013, working with companies all over the world. Our Director of Operations is nomadic like us, our accounting team is based out of Washington, our company is registered in Tennessee, and our collaborators are all over the world. Being nomadic allows us to go wherever clients need us to be, and to be inspired by the world in between.
Hit reply and let’s talk about how we might be able to work together :)