Strands of Genius: Miami AdSchool Bootcamp, Anxiety of Influencers, How the World Ran Out of Everything, Where Pronouns Come From
Strands of Genius: Miami AdSchool Bootcamp, Anxiety of Influencers, How the World Ran Out of Everything, Where Pronouns Come From
plus our thoughts on: We're hiring a remote assistant!
WRITING FROM | Beersheba Springs, TN
WORKING ON | updating our talk on Crafting Compelling Case Studies for a new client
LOOKING AHEAD
June 4-9: Beersheba Springs, TN
June 9-15: Nashville, TN
June 15-30: Wingdale, NY (Rosie)
:: WHAT’S NEW & WEEKLY GRATITUDE ::
We spent the weekend celebrating our nibling Simon’s 9th birthday in the mountains with some other adults and children of various ages. We had a water balloon battle, baked cakes, played games like Marvel Splendor (Thanks Madi!), Sequence, and Exploding Kittens, among others (Wingspan! Hit Faris up on Twitter (@faris) if you play this he’s still trying to get a feel for it). We managed some yoga on the porch, and swam in some beautiful watering holes, and generally enjoyed the company of friends.
This week, we’re especially thankful for:
Simon&Porter&Vera&Lil&Jason, Adalyn&Avery&Oliver&Scott&Adria, Judy aka JuJu, Emi&Birdie, Laurie&Andy&Sophie&Gavin, Lindy&Bennet&Paisely, Marvel Splendor, Wingspan, Sequence, taco night, crazy cool horned beetles, a crawfish giving birth, taco night 2, grilled chicken mozzarella tomato basil sandwiches, weighted blankets, three years olds that can play video games, teaching kids pool, getting beaten by kids at pool ;-).
MIAMI AD SCHOOL - REGISTRATION OPEN
We’re looking forward to working alongside the amazing folk at Miami Ad School for their Strategist 2.0 Bootcamp in July.
Classes are taught using the learn, do, and share the method to help you grasp information.
Furthermore, you will present a Portfolio of Learnings to your Strategy department at the end of the Bootcamp.30 hours of virtual-live class time with classmates and instructors. A combination of lectures, workshops, and assignments with pitch and feedback sessions.
A digital Diploma is included for this Bootcamp.
Dates: July 18th to July 24th // Tuition: US$1,500
You can check out the speakers here and sign up here. Get 10% off if you register by June 15th. We hope to see you there.
:: THE LINKS ::
THE ANXIETY OF INFLUENCERS
This excellent piece of thoughtful long-form journalism about influencers sees an English college professor visit Clubhouses - the influencer livework mansions for collaborating on content, paid for by opportunistic investors - and consider in the broadest terms what it all might mean, and how we are all subject to some of the same pressures, whether we acknowledge it or not. Highly recommended, not just because it blends critical analysis and cultural exegesis with extremely online advertising, but that is very much in our sweet-spot. Some really lovely writing. (Harper’s)
HOW THE WORLD RAN OUT OF EVERYTHING
‘Just in Time’ lean manufacturing processes were a revolution in the business world, making supply chains more efficient, profitable and agile. However, the pandemic reminded us that efficiency and resilience are limiting factors on each other, and our extremely efficient global supply chain now has significant shortages. The piece does a good job of exploring large trends in business impact society, highlighting how the profit gains from efficiency were mostly funneled into share buybacks. (NY Times)
WHERE GENDER NEUTRAL PRONOUNS COME FROM
It turns out we’ve been trying to talk about gender beyond the binary ‘man’ or ‘woman’ for a lot longer than you may expect. It was 1911 when a young insurance broker, Fred S. Pond invented new pronouns, and a year later the superintendent of the Chicago public school system tried to make them more widespread. The American Dialect Society named the singular “they” as their word of the decade, while still some conservative pundits claim it’s “poor grammar” or even “sacrilege.” As The Atlantic points out , “Bundled into these arguments is the idea that gender-neutral pronouns are a new phenomenon, an outgrowth of the internet that is only now spreading into other spheres—suggesting that the gender fluidity they describe is also a fad.” But -- the idea that there were more than two genders, that the words that we had to describe gender were insufficient… this has lasted for more than three centuries. (The Atlantic)
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:: WHAT WE’RE THINKING ABOUT: WE’RE HIRING AN ADMIN EXTRAORDINAIRE ::
Our amazing Ashley has been an invaluable partner and so we promoted her to Director of Operations… And then the pandemic happened, and she took on more of a hybrid role. Now that we’re rocking and rolling, we need to find someone else brilliant to support us, and Ashley, as our new remote Admin Extraordinaire! Is that you or someone you know?
Full Details Here - tl:dr below.
Applications will be considered on a rolling basis, though we hope to have selected a final candidate by June 21st, with a start date as early as June 28th. We will not consider applicants who do not complete the sample assignment.
You might be the right fit if you are:
Self-Motivated & Proactive.
You take the initiative, and anticipate the solution before the problem has arisen. You don’t need someone to guide you step-by-step; You’re adept at creating your own plan of attack. You don’t treat stop signs as dead ends: You research and exhaust all options before asking for help. You follow-up before we’ve asked you to and likely take joy in crossing items off your to-do list.
Reliable & Detail-Oriented. You don’t need to be reminded of deadlines, and aren’t expecting someone else to check your work. You consistently deliver on-time, every time. You aren’t easily rattled when it comes to scheduling calls or flights in various time zones. You check, and double check, and catch the mistakes that even we might have missed.
Communicative. You have strong communication skills, and are comfortable communicating on the phone, via email, and text. You strive to be polite and positive in your professional interactions, no matter who you’re engaging with. You take information and synthesize it into something that is visually appealing and easily understood. You must be fluent in English.
Curious. You ask questions, and look for opportunities to learn and grow. You enjoy figuring out things that don’t have easy answers almost as much as you enjoy finding out there’s a better way to do something. When you’re given a topic to research, you spend time truly investigating rather than giving Google a cursory glance.
Better Briefs Project Survey
Briefs. Arguably the most important document marketers and creative agencies share. It's also the most popular presentation (Beyond Boring Briefs) in the School of Stolen Genius.
But how do the briefs you work on actually make you feel? Do they frustrate or excite you? Do they provide clear direction and inspire great thinking? Or do they confuse more than they clarify? Pieter-Paul and Matt in Australia have kicked off the The BetterBriefs Project, which aims to empower everyone - clients and agencies - with stats and understanding how to brief better.
They’re hoping you’ll take their survey to help marketers and agencies create more effective work. Link: https://www.betterbriefsproject.com
:: AND NOW… THE JOKER ::
The Joker was, let’s say, inspired by this silent movie, as is extremely obvious from the above image. #geniussteals
If we can ever be of help to you, even outside of a formal engagement, please don’t hesitate to let us know.
rockON,
faris & rosie & ashley | your friends over at geniussteals.co
@faris is always tweeting
@rosieyakob hangs out on instagram
@ashley also writes for deaf, tattooed & employed
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 :)