reboot
I’m back!
Post-pandemic and post-graduation from my MBA program the world has changed pretty dramatically in a short amount of time. I started my program back in January 2020 and it’s amazing to see how in only three years’ time things have changed in several industries, technology disruptions have happened, political situations and wars, as well as humanity shifting in thoughts and attitudes.
I can’t tell you how overwhelming it was to take in these new developments, and try to apply what I learned to how the world is now. No single Harvard Business Review article could have ever prepared me for this, haha! It’s been a wild ride, for sure!
In this first blog post, I just wanted to reflect on some of these changes. Sketch out what exactly has happened and just try to make sense of it. I don’t know exact answers to these new challenges, but I want to start to explore some ideas, ponder them, and think about how to solve them, as well as come up with potential outcomes, or possible solutions.
Finally, I’ll go into a brief summary of my work projects. I’m on a new team after our merger, and working with a new set of people has brought challenges, but also new opportunities.
Remote work
I never expected that a majority of us would be working remote or have hybrid work. As an employee it’s been a wonderful benefit for getting deep work done, removing distractions, having more time with my family (minus the commute) as well as the ability to take a break in nature (as opposed to the city) on my lunch break.
From an employer’s perspective though I can see this could present a new set of cost challenges. There’s a lot of unused workspace that they are heating in the winter and cooling in the summer. How do they measure productivity? Is collaboration as effective when we’re working remotely?
I haven’t been fully remote since the pandemic, but I personally need and enjoy some level of social interaction. The hybrid approach works best for me for now; however, if I were writing, researching, or I needed full focus I would much prefer being remote for those kinds of things.
“Monster magic” - a human sketch by me.
Generative AI
The news media really plays into the fears of artificial intelligence, but the more I use generative AI, read about it, and research it it turns out it’s not very good (yet). We shouldn’t fear this technology, yet we shouldn’t fully embrace it either. We should go slow, think about its applications, test different prompts, and just learn. If we can use it to automate certain mundane tasks, great. But thinking we should totally rely on it for everything and the fear that it’s gonna take our jobs is a little extreme.
Personally, I think it’s a great tool for brainstorming, enhancing your creativity, exploring more about subject matters, or coming up with ideas to solve a problem, but I absolutely hate it when people are trying to replace it with writing, art, music — all the beautiful, flawed pieces that humans create that makes those things great in the first place.
Supply chain issues
There’s limited raw materials and ways to extract them and too many goods sitting in warehouses unfinished waiting for these materials. This is increasing the cost of the goods, as well as delays for customers. The supply chain was an absolute mess during the pandemic which lead to inflation, and we’re still dealing with that. Natural rubber is incredibly hard to get right now, and it really can’t be fabricated. Rare earth metals are used in so many things, yet they are scarce. However, Sweden just announced it found 1.3 million metric tons, so that could change where some of the raw materials come from.
Web3 and Web3 Marketing
I feel like Web3 is a bit halted right now, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a revolution behind the scenes happening or that we shouldn’t pay attention to it. The leaders of Silicon Valley understood the technology behind it, but the investors really didn't see the value of an animated Mark Zuckerberg in a metaverse room. Honestly, I didn’t either. I’m reading Amanda Cassatt’s book on Web3 Marketing (see below) to catch up on exactly what I missed and where this is all going.
Cryptocurrency and NFTs
Cryptocurrency and NFTs were trending heavily during the pandemic, and then shortly after cryptocurrency pretty much crashed. It’s been in “crypto-winter” ever since. I read an article the other day that said the value of almost 99% of NFTs is worth 0 ether. I don’t know where this industry is headed, but I’m keeping a pulse on it as much as possible. It’s gonna tie into all of this generative AI, metaverse, Web3 marketing stuff I’m sure, but it’s still too early to tell how people are going to adopt it and use it in their everyday lives.
Work Projects
I’m thankful to finally get some interesting projects at work that relate more to content strategy, UX, content design, and marketing! I’ll speak more to these later, but I’ll list out what I’m working on currently:
Content Template Guide for partners around the University
Design Companion Guide for our CMS
Internal Documentation
Blog posts on content strategy topics
☕ What I’m Drinking: Bones Coffee - What the Fluff?! (cotton candy flavored coffee)
🎧 What I’m Listening to: Töölön Ketterä - Mylly
📖 What I’m Reading: “Web3 Marketing: A Handbook for the Next Internet Revolution” by Amanda Cassatt