The New York Times is trying to decrease the number of editors at the paper, including cutting the copy editing desk by about half. With the world awash in fake and dubious news, this is no time to cut back on the last line of defense on quality and factual accuracy. But more to the…
Whole Foods has loyal, upscale customers who might be nervous about its acquisition by Amazon, so the company sent people a reassuring letter by email. It’s one of the most vacuous communications I’ve ever read. Now that Amazon is buying Whole Foods, will the retailer focus on online buyers? Will it expand its selection, including…
Health care is complex. But Atul Gawande applies his intellect to make it clearer. His email about a research paper on the health effects of insurance is a tutorial on how to summarize effectively. In the New England Journal of Medicine, Atul Gawande and two colleagues published a 6-page survey paper with 54 footnotes on…
Several female startup founders accused Justin Caldbeck, cofounder and partner of the VC firm Binary Capital, of harassing them with text messages, suggesting inappropriate relationships, and groping. His self-centered apology seems sincere only if you’re a VC, not a victim. Caldbeck initially denied the allegations, published in The Information, saying “I strongly deny The Information’s attacks…
The Chicago design and communications firm Segura created my all-time favorite agency contract. Here it is: This is even better than my “consulting contract without bullshit.” It sets expectations, which is the key to a good relationship. Heard through David Stengle and BoingBoing.
Uber has repeatedly screwed up. Its CEO, President, CMO, and CFO are gone. Now Uber cofounder and chairman Garrett Camp says things are going to get better. Sorry, Garrett, but hoping is not a viable plan. Peter Drucker said “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” At Uber, both are broken. The win-at-all-costs culture has generated a…
Brianna Wu is running for Congress. She’s using Twitter like a real person. The result is an authenticity and humanity that’s unique in the political sphere. Yesterday I explained to a Twitter idealist from a decade ago how political Twitter had succeeded, but not in the way any of us expected. Now every politician has…
Josh from 2007: I can’t believe it. I can’t believe I’m talking to you ten years in the future. Josh 2017: Yup. I’m here to tell you that you were right about social media blowing up. Even politicians are using it. But it turns out that connecting a politician’s brain directly to millions of voters…
A 48-year old man drove a van into a crowd of people in the Muslim neighborhood of Finsbury Park in London, but he’s mostly missing from the news headlines about the attack. Why? Is it journalists’ passive writing habit, bias in a case where Muslims were victims rather than attackers, or just a need for…