Gapingvoid Culture Design Group

The term “boycott” was actually a person before it became a verb. Learn the story: https://bit.ly/4vtmPP3

By definition, a meaningful experience is one that turns us into a wiser, or kinder, stronger, more enlightened, wealthier, happier, more complete version of ourselves. Or the exact opposite, but at least we learn something, even if it’s painful. Transformation. That’s all anyone is really selling. Because at the end of the day, that's all anyone is really buying. https://bit.ly/4uVFh1E

This spring, an Ashley Furniture associate in Memphis named Stef started filming freestyle raps inside the store, in uniform, telling people to come buy a couch. Nobody asked him to. The videos hit millions of views. For about a week, a furniture chain was the most interesting thing on the internet. Corporate told him to take them down. He refused. They fired him. The problem is corporate decisions like this lead to one place: bland land, the place companies go to die. The trouble is the market that asks you to file down your edges to “fit in” gets bored the second you obey. So look hard at the smooth ones, and don't let them round your edges. https://bit.ly/4w9EjjI

Last Sunday, The UFC built a cage on the White House Lawn. “From the first fight of the night until the main event,” UFC President Dana White said, “we will tell the story of America.” Except White didn’t tell the story of America, he borrowed it. He inserted the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) into it. Because a great story, reinforced by action over time, repeated over years (or decades or centuries), becomes more than a story. It becomes the shared social object we all occupy. The oxygen of a culture. And people in that culture can’t stop retelling that story because it has gravity. People don’t tell new stories, they get pulled into the gravity of the overstory, and try to insert their stories into THE STORY, for better or worse. https://bit.ly/43OzwrB

The art world is rightfully shedding a tear for the passing of David Hockney, the great British artist who died last week at the ripe age of 88. He wasn’t one of those fartsy, pretentious types. There was no high-faluting, ostentatious art terminology, no overintellectualized humbug, just no-nonsense hard work and being so very perceptive of the world around him. Whatever your medium is, before you put your metaphorical paintbrush on your metaphorical canvas, take a lesson out of Hockney’s book and open your eyes. Take a good, hard look at the world around you and the people moving through it. What do you notice? What do others overlook? What small thing deserves a second glance? What ordinary thing becomes extraordinary when someone finally pays attention to it? Most people think creativity starts with making something. David Hockney understood that it starts with seeing something. May he rest in peace. https://bit.ly/4w0t7Wt

“Best practices” often have very little to do with what’s actually best. They’re just what’s already been normalized. Pre-approved. Sanded down into something everyone deems as safe. You won’t get fired for following a best practice. But you won’t build something that matters with them either. Thanks Eric Ries for this insight. We tried to do it justice in our new blog: https://bit.ly/4vPdIbl

The New York Knicks, Inc. did more than win a basketball game yesterday. They reminded us what can happen when a group of people refuses to let the score determine the story. And in doing so, they reintroduced New York to itself. Good luck Spurs. You're gonna need it. https://bit.ly/4eieBSK

Setbacks are temporary, standards are eternal. Be willing to destroy anything in your life that isn’t excellent. What this looks like in practice: https://bit.ly/3QgT1pv

Over at STATION DC, our friend Eric Ries was interviewed by Ari Shapiro of NPR about his new book, “Incorruptable.” Without giving it all away, the book is about how to prevent your company’s vision from being “corrupted” by short term thinking, other people’s agendas, and the thousand tiny trade-offs that pull organizations off course. We sent our Communications Strategist Burke Arielle Roberts. She took some notes for us: ✍️ If you don't define your values early, circumstances will define them for you. ✍️ If Private Equity buys your favorite restaurant, you'll be able to taste it in the food. And it won’t stay your favorite restaurant for long. ✍️ Eric wants to change the definition of "for profit" to “for human flourishing,” creating more companies that "maximize human flourishing." By this logic, The Smithsonian is just as much a for-profit company as Phillip Morris.  ✍️ Ries described raising prices as "business heroin." It feels great in the short term. The challenge is resisting the second hit. Everyone loves Costco Wholesale because they never took the bait. But the company’s leader was only able to fight the urge because he built safeguards into his company ahead of time, before temptation arrived. Which is the driving message throughout the book. For the how, you’ll have to read it yourself 😘