Strands of Genius: JPMorgan Chase & Co. Letter to Shareholders, Consuming Culture, How to Close the Gender Gap

Guest curated by Melanie McShane

May 06, 2021

:: A BIT MORE ABOUT GUEST CURATOR, MEL MCSHANE ::

LOCATION: NYC
PLACE OF EMPLOYMENT: Siegel + Gale

It’s great to be here.

Thanks for having me! I work at the intersections of biz, brand and tech, mostly within the global brand consultancies. Being Executive Strategy Director at Siegel + Gale and Co-chair of our global DE&I efforts keeps me pretty occupied. Prior to that I headed up Strategy at Wolff Olins. My start was in digital (it was charmingly called new media back then). I figured Brand was a good way to shape what massive companies stood for, and what they should do for people. And I had enough knowledge of philosophy and economics to be dangerous, so I got stuck in. Our community often focuses on scale - fortune 500, big tech, the big four, unicorns. I love working with those clients, but for me the driver is the type of impact we can help them have; by reconciling profit and purpose, creating experiences that provide joy as well as utility, and innovating for good. Full disclosure I met Faris in our first week at Oxford University. Life got even better with the love of his everyday Rosie. It’s a friendship that I hope will last a lifetime. Officiating their wedding was hands down one of the Proudest moments of my life ™. I am forever grateful for shenanigans on islands, adventuring at Burning Man, and weekends of whiskey and boardgames. Above all their habit of sharing awesome people - who become your own friends - has been the greatest gift. As a member of the GS community you know that already! Thank you Rosie and Faris.

Editor’s Note (Rosie): Mel is not just a superb strategist, but she was also the officiant for our wedding! (Yes, really!) She's great for conversations about anything and everything, whether you're talking work or simply looking for some witty banter. She's also responsible for introducing me to my favorite COVID friend, Kim (the founder of Ladies Who Strategize), so all around a whole lot to love about Mel. We love when we get to bring our friends into the fold on our newsletter shenanigans, so thank you, Mel, for indulging us! We adore you!

:: THE LINKS ::

CHAIRMAN & CEO LETTER TO SHAREHOLDERS, JPMORGAN CHASE & CO.

It’s possible lockdown gave Jamie Dimon more time to reflect. Coming in at a hefty 66 pages, this year’s letter is as much a product of 2020 as it is a report on it. Consider it Corporate Collaging, as ideas, predictions and reminiscences of letters past get layered in. We meander through the purpose of companies and ponderings on leadership. A detour into the dangers of sloppy thinking invokes Albert Einstein “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.” and H.L. Mencken “For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple and wrong.” Working at the Simplicity company (Siegel+Gale) I felt kinda seen here. There’s the usual newsflash that “Tech is DiSruptiNg FIn”. More interesting are the jabs at racism, healthcare costs, poverty wages and reduced life expectancy. “Many of our citizens are unsettled and the fault line for all this discord is a fraying American Dream — the enormous wealth of our country is accruing to the very few.” For decent macro analysis and boardroom ready conversation, it’s well worth the wander. (JPMorgan Chase & Co.)

CONSUMING CULTURE

The creative Process. Neither the ideation agony that humorous memes focus on, nor neat descriptions of activities in contracts capture it. Shaping and defining brands means being in a constant state of creative development. Like many of us, I find inspiration for my practice comes from outside of the sector. Particularly when it comes to reframing problems and forming answers. Consuming culture is a series of podcasts exploring how and why culture unfolds, with original often queer voices from across the arts and culture spectrum. The interviewer Cat McShane is a much awarded writer and filmmaker, generally focused on documentaries for the BBC and the like. So this is also a creative experiment for her - a new form to navigate. And for me listening (as her sister) it was a way to be closer to Cat while travel between London and NY is off the menu. I particularly liked the one with artist Bruce Ingram. Bruce works with found objects, destroying and creating works of collage and sculpture. “The process of making can be brutal with works constantly being re-assessed and physically deconstructed, merging and concealing, shifting and re-modeling. This process of re-evaluation becomes the motivation in seeking the next step, the possibility within a work is the desire to keep exploring.” In a recombinant culture...how do we know when something is done? (Apple Podcasts)

HOW TO CLOSE THE GENDER GAP

We know we have a women problem. Women have a worse experience of work because of their gender, and they are underrepresented as leaders as a result. The thing is, there are also problems with how we’ve tried to fix it; we’ve put even more on women to shatter their glass ceiling one-by-one. Harvard’s Gender Initiative puts some serious effort into an approach that addresses barriers systemically. Let’s face it - Hope is important, but it’s not a strategy. This has a bunch of practical actions to take right now, that put the work on the company - not the individual.
I’m a gay female leader who is very fortunate to have the allyship of her c-suite, and we’re putting the work in and making progress. But we still see all male (white, cis) teams from some agencies who damn well know better. It’s embarrassing for our industry. When the C-suite executives of the Fortune 500 are increasingly more like the world than you, that’s a seriously bad look. Let’s change it. (Harvard Business Review)

Looking for more from Mel McShane? Those enrolled in The School of Stolen Genius will receive a deep dive from her in their inbox shortly! You can access all our expert interviews for SOSG here.

:: AND NOW… SOME FAST FAVORITES ::

:: Game :: Splendor for around the table fun with Faris, Rosie and friends. Always enjoy a Mario, and loving Mario Odyssey on Switch.

:: City :: HOME: London/NYC ...AWAY: Barcelona/Buenos Aires

:: Book :: Just Kids - Patti Smith, The Hours - Michael Cunningham

:: Podcast :: Here to Slay Roxane Gay /Dr Tressie McMilan Cottom

:: Album :: Fleetwood Mac Rumours

:: SYLVESTER: TRUE ICON AND CREATIVE GENIUS ::

Mel McShane

melanie.emcshane@gmail.com

Strands of Genius is currently read by 12,000 subscribers. Support us by sponsoring an issue, becoming a member of The School of Stolen Genius or encouraging friends or colleagues to subscribe.

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 :)

Strands of Genius