Pop culture is spiralling.
I had no idea what “mad magazine autostereogram, cutecore” meant, but it was enough for Midjourney to create this:
Older generations have always been left out of the codewords and trends of the makers of pop culture, but the gatekeepers and lack of shelf space kept pop, popular. There are only 40 songs in the Top 40, only a few hit network TV shows.
Three things have changed:
The end result is that pop is not popular anymore. It may never be again. The center was a moment in time, but the edges are now everywhere.
We should plan accordingly.
Nothing important is for everyone.
When we encounter a thoughtful critic, we need to quickly understand who is speaking to us.
If the work we made was intended for someone just like this, and they don’t like it, we need to do a better job next time. The criticism will help us understand how to improve.
But if the work we made wasn’t for someone with the hopes, needs and expectations of the person we’re hearing from, we can forgive ourselves (and them) by acknowledging who it’s for and why.
This is the first rule of safe driving. Don’t hurtle your car into a jam where you have no options.
But the first rule of management and human interaction is to leave other people an out.
When you give people a chance to take action that helps them get to where they’re going, they’ll often seek to go there.
This is not the same as not working very hard. In fact, they’re very different.
We’ve been indoctrinated to avoid trying hard (too risky and emotionally fraught) and to resign ourselves to working hard (held up as a virtue).
People who work in productivity-focused jobs where they follow the manual work very hard. If you buy a Subway franchise, you’re buying years of hard work–the more hours you put in, the better your profits. If you work on an assembly line–making chocolate or writing code–the boss pushes you to work harder and harder.
On the other hand, there are projects where the outcomes are less certain and where the manual isn’t as complete. In these sorts of projects, we need to use our judgment and insight. We do things that might not work. There are few prizes for longer work, but plenty of upside for better work.
We’re surrounded by businesses staffed by hard-working people who have been trained to not try very hard. So they stick with the policy and avoid innovation, customer delight and connection.
Ironically, when it’s our turn to be the customer, we often seek out precisely the opposite. Humans are drawn to folks who care enough to try a bit harder.
In a world of automation, AI and outsourcing, what exactly do we do for a living?
Perhaps we make decisions.
And what’s in short supply?
A willingness to take responsibility.
If you choose to sign up to make and take, there have never been more tools or more leverage available to you.
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