This being Valentine’s Day, I thought I’d share a little link love.
Here are five recent posts and stories that I really love, because they convey and contain ideas and approaches that I also love:
- A chancellor moves beyond digital hate. One cold and snowy Illinois day last month, students at the University of Illinois took to social media to criticize — and in some cases attack, in the ugliest of ways — U of I Chancellor Phyllis M. Wise for not closing the campus. Her honest yet measured response was just what was needed to defuse the situation and address the vocal minority of haters. “Racist, intimidating or culturally derogatory epithets have no place in any debate in any circumstance,” she wrote. “Of all places, a university should be home to diverse ideas and differing perspectives, where robust — and even intense — debate and disagreement are welcomed.”
- Ken Burns on the power of story. The legendary documentarian discusses why the story’s whole is greater than the sum of its parts. A great, 5-minute video that moves along swiftly and, well, conveys a good story.
- Simplifying science without dumbing it down. An account of a physics Ph.D.’s recent launch of usefulscience.org, which offers a colorful and minimalist newsfeed of “digestible, one-sentence summaries of articles from peer-reviewed scientific publications and journals.” The site is curated by 24 volunteers — a great example of crowdsourcing for good.
- What’s in a name? From the folks at Ogilvy & Mather, a great piece about how a good name is crucial to the process of branding.
- The next time you don’t want to go to a meeting, do this. Great advice (with video) on the joy of missing out (JOMO) and uncommitting from unnecessary commitments. (This post expands on an idea mentioned in item 3 of this recent post about branding game-changers.)
Enjoy your Valentine’s Day, and have a great weekend.
Andrew Careaga 