(via WIZKID – OJUELEGBA – YouTube)
My latest Naija obsession. This genre is going to blow up.
(via WIZKID – OJUELEGBA – YouTube)
My latest Naija obsession. This genre is going to blow up.
The newsstand is an experiment, but Brûlé said the company could create franchises and spin off the newsstand business if it succeeds. “It’s important for us to, I think, remind the market that — is it really a crisis of print, or is it a crisis of print distribution? And I would argue that part of it is the latter,” Brûlé told me.
TB is bringing back the newsstand.
This is my annual summary. It is my way of remembering the year that past and to close the books. This is the fifth year I’ve done this, and if you are curious you can find 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013 online too. 2014 was another eventful year and my third in the US. These are some of the things that I did over the year:
January
The local coffee place in the not-so-great area of our second office.
February
Perks of the job – going to Toy Fair.
March
The Toca Boca booth at SXSW 2014.
April
A humorous clay statue of yours truly.
May
Day-tripping outside of Vancouver.
June
The view from our window at Sea Ranch.
July
My green card.
August
My daughter Miranda.
September
LEGO advertising that we are coming to visit. A milestone!
October
Crossing the Bay Bridge after a trip to Sweden.
November
Miranda thinking.
December
Sago Mini Plush Toys!
That was it for 2014. Thanks to everyone that made it great.
A tribute to my favorite tv-show that just went off the air this week – The Colbert Report. The segments that really stood out for me were the ones about the Colbert Super PAC. It was their way of explaining the absurdities of the rules around Political Actions Committees. These segments also won them a Peabody Award.
Wabi-sabi nurtures all that is authentic by acknowledging three simple realities: nothing lasts, nothing is finished, and nothing is perfect.
I think you have to choose a management philosophy that fits your personality. Building businesses is harder than an HBR article might imply, and while it is interesting to read how executives do things that doesn’t mean that their experiences would work for you. In that sense, these articles can be quite deceitful. The grass is greener and all that.
I have tried to design around who I am as a person, and then complement with the skills and traits that I lack. Anything else would make daily life a struggle since I would constantly try to make myself act differently. Improvement is always good, but always thinking about what is the right thing to do according to a certain management style would be draining for me. Instead I have looked for people around me that can see and act on the things that I’ve missed, or that I’m not very good at.
I like playing the long game in business. This matches me as a person in general. I’m very interested in the future and less interested in the exact road to get there. This can sometimes be misunderstood as not caring about individual performances along the way, or not noticing them at all. This is incorrect. But calibrating a company on an individual decision basis is not where I excel. So while the direction is kept intact, the exact path to get there might sway from time to time.
This works for me. I’m sure it won’t for you, and that is sort of the point. Find what works for you, communicate it to your team, and get going.
Just discovered this track and it is stunningly beautiful.