Jay Matthews
@jaymatthews
Aspiring corporate anthropologist, investment ecologist, & data psycho-analyst; Workaholic in remission
Jay Matthews
The upside is so powerful that it often masks the downside, which is why so many people find themselves in a state of automaton conformity:
- we gain a community that (superficially) makes us feel secure; we do not feel isolated or out of place or weird;
- we are provided with (and rewarded for taking) shortcuts for what to believe in, what to do, and
sundus • I Am Me Before I Am Anything Else
Core argument: This paper argues that the formal structures of many organizations in postindustrial society (Bell 1973) dramatically reflect the myths of their institutional environments instead of the demands of their work activities. Societal / institutional complexity has added to the core activities needed to perform a productive act of labour.... See more
American Journal of Sociology • Institutionalized Organizations: Formal Structure as Myth and Ceremony on JSTOR
I believe the best way to describe this shift is as a shift from legible ambition to illegible ambition. The reason so many people cling to default metrics of success is that other people understand them. Legible ambition is a story that your parents can tell their friends. We fear that not having such legible ambition means we will be cast out of... See more
Paul Millerd • The Great Creator Arbitrage Opportunity | #200 🥳
3 elements of flexibility in work contracts
- job security is being eroded
organisation wants talent, but freedom to decide when and where they have that talent and let it go (agile)
- more permeable boundaries: temp work and boundaries
- nonstandard jobs capture net employment growth
Gretchen Spreitzer • Necessary Conversation with Gretchen Spreitzer- Thriving at Work
" Historical geography depicts the river as a conduit for human interaction, a linear attractant for hunters and gatherers, for camping and for cooking hazelnuts, for erecting staked roundhouses and processional ways, for building civilisations and launching an Industrial Revolution."
Weidenfeld & Nicolson • You Are Here: A Brief Guide to the World
“You are not alone across time.”
onbeing.orgLove and
“All that is known. It proves nothing; its demonstrative value is destroyed by the habit of thinking in terms of advantages and disadvantages, the most evil of all ways of looking at life. “Everything has its advantages and disadvantages.” Once that is said, the unbearable becomes bearable—a mere disadvantage, and what after all is a disadvantage... See more