đĄThink
I gave an internal talk on âthe art of public speakingâ (not my title), and thought it might be worth sharing some key takeaways. I split it down into external, internal, and social media:
External speaking
Start light, ideally with a self deprecating but astute comment on your own content
Pacing! Slow down, you always talk faster than you think
Work backwards, analysing what the audience is expecting you to say
Whatâs in it for you, the hosts, the audience? If itâs more effort than itâs worth, politely decline or recommend someone else
Internal speaking
Add a hello to the beginning of your messages, colleagues are human
Respect timezones and donât expect availability. Schedule messages if possible
Avoid acronyms at all costs, they alienate
Social media
Set goals. Why are you using the platform?
Avoid hashtags unless you want people to think youâre a bot
Be yourself, and commit to it
đˇ Look
đ Read
âś Hustle culture and the big lies of success
Gary V, anyone? Tai Lopez adverts on YouTube? Iâm sure weâre all a bit sick of the #hustle, but itâs important we analyse where and why it fails. It mostly comes down to people only telling parts of their story, and omitting significant parts of their past which led them to success. It doesnât take a rocket scientist to appreciate that this is more often than not access to rich parents.
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⡠Silicon Valley versus journalism
CEOs, particularly those at âunicornâ businesses, already have enough power in the form of lobbying and driving industry trends, but this is stretching to journalism. Weâve seen a few instances in the past year (Coinbase being the biggest) where a CEO has outwardly rejected journalistic takedowns of their policies, and this extends to venture capital firms creating their own content and rejecting negative media as well. As you can imagine, this is awful for transparency and building an unbiased view of what goes on under the hood of the worldâs largest businesses.
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⸠The personal computer broke the human body
Alright, itâll be no surprise that everyone is in a world of pain from the staring, hunching, and sitting that our modern working lives demand, but it turns out this isnât a new issue. Tracking back to when being a "typistâ was a job, this (long) analysis takes us through how weâve been on this track for quite a while, and should probably do something about it.
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Bonus round
đ§ Listen
A conversation with poet Sarah Kay
This podcast inspired me more than anything Iâve listened to in a long while.
Why? I havenât done any creative writing in probably 6 months, but just listening to Sarah talk about her own poetry (and reading a bit) sparked a tonne of ideas. Iâm certain itâll give your creativity a kick up the butt as well.
I could listen to her talk all day.
Listen to this podcast (56 minutes, Spotify link)
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đ Thanks
Have a great week,
Luis Ouriach
@disco_lu