Strands of Genius: Legacy is a Penis Word, Prison Town Podcast, The MTV Generation

Plus: Outsourcing Hospitality

May 16, 2023

WORKING ON | gig negotiations, logistical planning, baby time

LOOKING AHEAD

May 5- June 9 | Seattle, WA
TBC

:: WHAT’S NEW & WEEKLY GRATITUDE ::

Well now. Hello there, brothers and sisters (and non-binary folk and everyone, no exlcusions)! We are still in Seattle and, despite the locals reminding me it’s a secret, the weather is absolutely beautiful at the moment.

We surfed a heatwave over the weekend (made tolerable because we are staying a basement apartment than remains cold), that led people into the water with delightful views of Mount Rainier.

But the big news is that our newest niece arrived, mother and baby happy and healthy, on Saturday, leaving the hospital on the US Mother’s Day, Sunday. (Side note: Why is Mother’s Day a different day in the US and the UK?!) But anyway, babies are delightful. They are a balm to cynicism, a perfect thing, untainted by influence, full of joy, pure potential, so very alive.

This week, we’re especially thankful for:

the medical staff at the Virginia Mason birth center, mothers and their children, doulas and midwives, Ethiopian food, fried rice, meal trains, smiles, happy tears, HBO Max (sigh, Max), Tom Robbins and long walk.

:: THE LINKS ::

LEGACY IS A PENIS WORD

In Faris’ column for Mediacat he explores the idea of legacy and why it seems to be a male concern based on our current society, inspired by the novelist Isabel Allende: “I don’t believe in legacy — that’s a penis word. Men think in terms of legacy and transcendence, women are more realistic. No one is going to remember me except my grandchildren once in a while. Immortality doesn’t exist, you might have a statue somewhere, who cares? You’re dead.’” (Mediacat)

PRISON TOWN

Our friend Evey has a fantastic new podcast out called Prison Town which explores the carceral state in the USA through the case study of an incredible true crime narrative focused on Georgia State prisons. It’s both an insane true crime story and an excellent exploration of the context that allows, perhaps incentivizes, the terrible state of correction facilitates across the country. Your new favorite podcast. “An 88-year-old man is shot while he’s sleeping. Another man is murdered one county over. A woman is found dead in a mobile home park. And somehow they all link back to the same prison, illuminating many of the complex problems that plague our criminal justice system.” (Podcast)

THE END OF THE MTV GENERATION

It’s hard overstate the impact MTV had on youth culture. We referred to the MTV generation because it was all consuming, the only young adult news source available. Faris fell out with one of his tutors at Uni because they were discussing Romeo&Juliet and he threw out the line that the Baz version was R&J for the MTV generation - this was 1996 - my literature (and thus to some degree media) Tutor asked “what is mtv”MTV news. This expressed well the cultural gulf between our various understandings of ‘media literacy’ and how literature retained relevance in the modern world. MTV News has announced it is finally shutting down and the announcement probably has no consequence at all for any young people today. Regardless, there are lessons there. “A lot of people were getting their news from us, and we understood that and knew it,” Ms. Pak said. “For all of us it was, OK, what is the audience, what’s our way in here that feels true? You do that by sitting down with them versus standing over them.” (NYTimes, Gift Link - grab it while you can)

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:: PLUS, THOUGHTS ON OUTSOURCING HOSPITALITY ::

In the USA, since the pando, it’s been hard to hire people at minimum or below wage to do front line hospitality jobs because they are mostly terrible, as well as being poorly paid with almost no chance of career progression (hence McJobs) and got worse due to the front line interactions with angry, possibly contagious, definitely cantankerous customers, many of whom didn’t like being told to wear masks.

Lots of hospitality workers and beyond have started unionizing and striking and so on to increase their odds of getting a fair deal. This has inevitable consequences in a culture that only really considers the demands of capital and has no employee protections, like most of USA.

So what happens? When capital gets pushed into a position it doesn’t like, when labor seems to have a real chance at forcing change, it gets very crafty and litigious. Union busting of course >

then massive layoffs to re-stack the deck >

But if that’s not enough they look to change laws to increase the supply of labor, which enhances their negotiating position >

…which leads to obvious problems >

Ideally, of course, corporations would prefer to outsource all humans to automation because robots don’t complain, need cost of living raises, get sick and because capex has different taxation than opex -

And if that isn’t possible yet, they look for innovative ways to adjust the cost of labor by outsourcing it. But, you might ask, how can that work serving burgers?

Well, here’s a glimpse of the future >

How this all chimes with the apparent focus of corporations on customer centricity and CX is hard to parse - because if you outsource your customer service, doesn’t that say a lot about your priorities?

What do you think?

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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 in Tennessee where our company is registered, our admin extraordinaire is based in Playa del Carmen, 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 :)

Dan Kohler

Great question, Rosie. A perfect example of poor CX doing them in, is Bed Bath & Beyond. They first got rid of floating associates who were there to help you and answer questions. Then the cashiers - it become self service, automated. The CX went the way of the Dodo (and yes, I realize there were other important factors at play for BBB like their shifting to “private label”, not building a strong emotional brand and instead relying on 20% coupons, etc.) and so did the business.

The good news is that it makes more room for new players that will zag while big legacy corps are zigging. Doubling down on great CX will be a positive differentiator and a useful, positive foundation from which to grow.

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