Intro / Preface / Extra Words
Generation X Manages
We begin Issue 61 with a delightful look into the mind of your Gen-X boss. Enjoy! - C
Brian here... apropos of nothing I've been discussing with several other Gen-X'ers how amazing Gen-X bosses are. We've tried to distill this wisdom into a handy-dandy guide to how to manage like a Gen-X'er aka the Efficiently Indifferent Management System. I don't claim to follow this 100% of the time but consider this the platonic ideal of a manager born between 1960 and 1980.
H/T Wes B. & Joe D. & Scott B.
- Don't tell me your feelings.
- If your kid has a thing go take care of it. Why are you telling me about it?
- If you're not here I'm assuming you're taking care of something with your kid.
- If we have a meeting that's important don't surprise me with your absence at said meeting. Otherwise don't call me.
- Figure out how to get along with other people (like an adult does) and don't bring petty interpersonal slights to me to complain. Figure that stuff out and don't let it get in the way of doing your job.
- Get your job done.
- Make sure I'm not surprised. Otherwise don't call me.
- Here are your goals. Figure out how to meet them. Let me know if you want to brainstorm on that but I'm not telling you how to do it. That's what you're here for. Otherwise don't call me.
- Help me look good upstairs.
- I'm happy to teach and share best practices anytime you want. Call me for this purpose anytime. Otherwise don't call me.
- Act like an adult.
- I'll get you all the money you deserve (and not more) plus push you to your optimal level of responsibility and authority in the organization.
The Optimal Gen-X management system employee is Fire & Forget. I give you a task and we both walk away knowing it will be done without further involvement from me. All my best bosses have been Gen-X'ers (~1960-1980ish). If you like to be treated as an adult with a brain who can make decisions without a babysitter Gen-X bosses are for you. -B
Heavy Rotation
FOX IN SOX | Dr. Seuss Raps over Dr. Dre Beats
It's a video, but a mUsIc ViDeO sooo it's ok to put it in the music category of this newsletter. - C
I think this is technically a repeat but it is so good I don't even care. Tell me about those tweetle beetles again baby.... -B
Food
LITTLE SHEEP MONGOLIAN HOTPOT GOES AMERICA
Hotpot is a staple eatery style in China and other parts of Asia. It is one of my favorite styles of restaurant in China; I've probably eaten hotpot 30 times over my various excursions and would go right now if you asked me to...
Imagine slurping down extremely spice-and-temperature-hot balls and slices of various meats and vegetables while frantically gulping down ice cold Tsingtao beer until everyone is raucously giggling past booze-thickened tongues made of gooey molten lava in a spinning booth of camaraderie and alcoholic bonhomie. If you don't feel your hair sweat AND come out bonded with friends for life you missed a turn somewhere. It really is a magical experience. -B
*JaNee: Where Is She Now?*
A few of my coworkers played (invented?) a game on a business trip. They were the only patrons at a hotel bar and asked the bored bartender if he wanted to play a game: they would make up the name of a cocktail, and then he would make them a concoction worthy of the name. I don't remember what they said was in his rendition of "A Sweaty Truckdriver", but it was probably more palatable than anything in the video series this unfortunate bartender was directed to make. - C
The Best Keurig Machine (But We Really Don’t Recommend It)
JD shared this to our company's Slack channel for examples of funny copy writing (it's a wonderful channel). A scathing review of Keurig in general that made me giggle; I've been a proud Keurig hater since day one. - C
With so many options available, we recommend you buy literally any other setup before you buy a Keurig.
Truvia Crime
A Yacht, a Monet, a See-Through Piano: The U.S. Collects on a Fugitive’s Shopping Spree
You've probably heard of the 1MDB scandal but like me had no idea what it was. Basically Goldman Sachs (surprise) helped some Malaysian government and government-adjacent people raise over a billion dollars ostensibly to be invested in economic development and infrastructure projects. Which sounds good. But what sounds even better if you're those folks is just taking the money and buying yachts and jets and clear grand pianos and giant diamonds and apartments in NYC. -B
Follytics
Trump & Coronavirus: Commentators Invoke Concept of Karma
In this column, Kevin D. Williamson highlights the "willful moral illiteracy" of several writers when the news came out about Trump's coronavirus infection. This quote sums it up well. -C
There is an alternative approach, that we might extend the grace and love we would have for ourselves and our families not only to the stranger and the rival but to the enemy, that we would bless them that curse us and pray for them that despitefully use us, even those who persecute us, from whom no reciprocity can reasonably be expected. That we would not reserve grace and charity for those who deserve it and return it but instead extend it without hesitation to those who don’t. This requires something more than what Colston dismisses as “sentimentality.” It requires a radically different way of thinking about how to be a human being, one that cannot be learned from the New York Times.
My Carona
A Range Of Options
This link was collected by Brian but contains many of the thoughts that have been stomping around in my head lately.
The people who prefer higher caution from their governments are not cowardly totalitarians and the people who prefer to open things up are not sentencing people to death.
Side note: I also use a Calvin & Hobbes drawing as my profile picture on some social media sites. - C
But is it Spaceman Spiff??? -B
I love technology (and science)
Super Soaker Inventor Lonnie Johnson: The Water Gun Oral History
Placing a link about the Super Soaker in our tech and science category may be a stretch but it's about a water gun technology, OK? It's also a great story about product development. - C
_______ is not real life
Why Your Social Media Groups are Making You Dumber
I suggest the following exercise. Examine one of your social media circles and ask yourself: “What would happen if I expressed an opinion that disagreed with the group?” If the answer is: “A spirited and well-reasoned discussion of the topic would ensue... Then you might be in a good place. If the answer is: “Immediate and virulent ad hominem and censure. Possible exclusion from the group or targeted harassment” LEAVE THAT GROUP. That is a bad place for your brain.
- B