Christmas, 1944. The Battle Of The Bulge. Hitler’s last roll of the dice, his final offensive of the War. Hitler had this idea that if … The post What The Battle Of The Bulge Teaches Us appeared first on Gapingvoid. | Continue reading
This semiotic simply nails so much that is going on in the world these days. First off, we have COVID and all the brouhaha … The post Metaverse Shmetaverse appeared first on Gapingvoid. | Continue reading
Nearly two decades later, this 2004 image seems to have aged particularly well. It got us thinking again about “Digital Transformation”. DT, as you know, is … The post Why “Digital Transform” isn’t really digital appeared first on Gapingvoid. | Continue reading
In the right hands, fear is not a handicap, but an advantage. A tailwind, not a headwind. Evolution gave us fear millions of years ago … The post Fear is a sign you’re doing it right appeared first on Gapingvoid. | Continue reading
Every social subculture is held together by language. Subcultures repeat certain words that other subcultures hardly use at all. This is where buzzwords come from. This … The post The Map is Not The Terrain appeared first on Gapingvoid. | Continue reading
With all the disruption and chaos the last two COVID years have brought, this image rings even more true now than it did back in … The post How To Be Extraordinary appeared first on Gapingvoid. | Continue reading
There is an old principle in law, “Nullum crimen sine lege” (No crime without a law). In other words, for something to be a crime, first, there needs to | Continue reading
According to Inc. Magazine, the Great Resignation is officially a thing. People quitting their jobs in previously unheard numbers, etc. Which is | Continue reading
The entrepreneurial mindset is still misunderstood by many non-entrepreneurs. It is really a truth-seeking, growth-focused mental model that is fixated on | Continue reading
There are two ways to make a classical sculpture: call them “Addition” and “Subtraction”. “Addition” is like Rodin: You start with a lump of clay, and you | Continue reading
Ah, the good ol' days! We recently participated in a session for the UK National Health System (NHS), on a subject that isn't discussed | Continue reading
It was with great surprise and delight that we saw Tom Peters had quoted our Chief Creative, Hugh MacLeod in his new book, “Extreme Humanism”, so | Continue reading
The thing about major innovation is, it comes in waves. These waves historically have lasted about fifty years, thereabouts. Along came the railway | Continue reading
Out of Context, or Just Too Much Context to Ignore? Lately, we’ve been calling out some of the worst offenders in the corporate and academic | Continue reading
Complex and dynamic, that is the challenge of designing culture. There are no obvious levers to pull, what often looks like a good idea, backfires. | Continue reading
A few weeks ago, we wrote a post about the futility of trying to get human bodies to live in outer space, and “space tourism for millionaires” in general. | Continue reading
CAVEAT: Generally, we shy away from using Apple as a case study because 1. They are such outliers and 2. They are overused by everybody and their | Continue reading
That’s the weird thing about the time we live in. The more we try to get robots to do the work of humans, the more we seem to want to get humans to do the | Continue reading
It was 1947. The big war had ended, the UK was a mess. Soldiers and refugees were still limping home, there was still rationing, cities were bombed | Continue reading
Let’s talk about narratives. Big stories that were told and believed by many people. Religious stories like Islam or Christianity, or Political | Continue reading
There’s a famous line in The Blues Brothers movie when they ask the bartender at the Texas honky-tonk what kind of music they play: “Why we play | Continue reading
Who runs Microsoft, after Bill steps down? Who runs Apple, after Steve steps down? Who runs Tesla, after Elon steps down? Who runs Berkshire Hathaway, | Continue reading
University Of Pennsylvania anthropologist, Professor Greg Urban's new book The Culture Puzzle: Harnessing the Forces that Drive Your Organization’s | Continue reading
In this video, we have Jocko Willinks, former Special Forces leader and current motivation guru, giving a speech to the Pennsylvania National Guard about | Continue reading
Panic--so much panic that I almost did not even attempt the effort (and I was once a steely nerved military officer in charge of nuclear ICBM | Continue reading
Last week we wrote about Richard Branson and the folly of billionaire-funded space tourism. Then earlier today Jeff Bezos blasted off into space as | Continue reading
Last week we wrote about Richard Branson and the folly of billionaire-funded space tourism. Then earlier today Jeff Bezos blasted off into space as | Continue reading
If you hang out on Facebook, you’ll see a lot of ads like this one. It’s for a metal portable campfire. Lovely. Perfect for you and your hipster friends’ | Continue reading
About the Author Ash Fontana is Managing Director of Zetta, the first investment fund that focused on AI. The firm was the lead investor in | Continue reading
We, as humans, like to categorize. It makes the world easier to digest. We fit the people around us into labels: users, coworkers, competitors. | Continue reading
Ever since the 1950s, we’ve equated progress in space flight with progress in humankind in general. One small step for man etc. But how true has that been | Continue reading
Until Carol Dweck came along nearly fifteen years ago with “Mindset: The New Psychology of Success,” nobody gave much thought to the concept. We now | Continue reading
A fundamental belief we have is that 'nothing changes in the absence of tension'. Tension, that tinge of discomfort, even a pinch of panic, that moment | Continue reading
As we see it, there are three challenges every business has: 1. Differentiation. Why is our SUV different from their SUV? Why is our soda pop different | Continue reading
year or so ago, people were talking about COVID and the end of civilization as we know it. But that’s not what happened. According to Forbes, the | Continue reading
Have you ever been so tired that you stopped at a stop sign and waited for it to turn green? That doesn’t happen. Ever. Stop signs stay red, and you’re | Continue reading
In 1900, the consensus was, Europe was top dog, Europe would rule the world forever. In 1920, Europe had destroyed itself, and the consensus was, | Continue reading
The great truism for us culture nerds is, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast”. Often (though possibly incorrectly) attributed to the great Peter | Continue reading
It’s a nice idea. Success is fleeting, significance is more… significant. All well and good, though frankly, we think perhaps better advice would | Continue reading
A Manual for the Mediocre - Paul Catmur Part Three Get a job. Any job. ‘I know of no one more qualified to write about mediocrity.’ Sir John | Continue reading
Memorial Day is an American holiday. It is a day when we pause from our busy lives – and those oh so important furniture and appliance sales – to | Continue reading
It’s interesting and useful to look at and learn about what history’s great minds have said and written. But ultimately, what matters is who you | Continue reading
In 1959, Miles Davis released what one could argue was the greatest album of the Twentieth Century- certainly the greatest jazz album- “Kind of Blue”, on | Continue reading
The Hour of Reckoning Is Upon Us We are in the grip of COVID-19 and the most significant social and political unrest in the U.S. since the mid-1960s—what | Continue reading
In 1976 Richard Dawkins wrote the famous book, “The Selfish Gene”. The big idea was, evolution is driven by genes trying to replicate themselves. Our | Continue reading
All my life, I had been a classic A-plus, gold-star, good girl who lived to exceed expectations. Diligent and disciplined, I worked hard to earn | Continue reading
“Relentless socialization”. No, that doesn’t mean you need to throw parties, it means you take your most important ideas and figure out ways to get people | Continue reading
Our friends over at Basecamp are having a bit of bother. The trouble started when the founders, Jason and David, tried to rein in the political | Continue reading