Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Mid-Week Reads: Success and the Internet

Work and Success
You know what to do, so do it. Yeah, that holds for me too. I've actually got 2,700 emails in my work reading folder (mostly newsletters from marketing or business experts or blog posts delivered as email) because I've tried to reduce the number of new ideas I come up with until I do all I already know I need to do. (Clearly, I'm not cutting down enough, because . . . look at the length of this blog post, which is the best of what I've read in the last few days. Not counting the fashion blogs and the comics.)

Here's some great advice from a recruitment-related blog I'm hooked to. First, how do you answer when someone asks what your weaknesses are in an interview? Also, what pieces of career advice have become outdated?

What would Don Draper do? In defense of Draper, however, "saying something insanely smart" is his job.

I loved Sheryl Sandberg's TED talk, which I've featured previously, and I loved this profile of her in the New Yorker. Do read about how this smart, spunky woman made it big in a male-dominated industry.

Another TED talk: the 8 secrets of success. Don't blame me if you've heard them all before. That doesn't mean they aren't true. Though I suspect they left out something really big--luck.

The Internet





Society and Culture


I loved Delhi Belly so much, and this analysis by Baradwaj Rangan nails it.


Read this beautiful, powerful story of a young girl who saved up for years so she could get away from home. She also grew up into one of the most influential (and admired, especially by me) people in the internet marketing world.

But let us not make the mistake of dismissing young anti-blame, anti-shame activists. There is nothing more putrescent than to allow half the human race to assault and humiliate the other half, and then blame the victims for bringing it on. Violence against women is a human problem, and it cuts across class and race. So perhaps the new feminist discourse will be rooted in this: This battle to undo the hundreds of big and small violent acts against the bodies of our sisters, this struggle to live without fear.
 The Besharmi Morcha might be a small reactionary wave. It might not lead to anything. But I see it as a point on a continuum.

We are all doing what we can. Let us not piss on the single spark just because it is not already a great consuming fire.

3 comments:

starry eyed said...

We love Pippi around here too...and so true....half the 'improvement' services offered by all the new fancy joints aren't needed at all. Most of us ain't suffering...in fact, like Sharon Emery said, "It's my accent" :-D

Unmana said...

This also reminds me of all the skin whitening (ew!) and anti-aging products that companies peddle by playing on people's insecurities!

Anita said...

Aha. I had put Sheryl Sandberg's Ted talks on my blog a while ago too. The article though was slightly whiny and slightly hyperbolic. I strongly believe that women need to be given more equal opportunities but I wonder at what point we should stop blaming the environment and start taking more responsibility ourselves.