reading, listening, watching

Reading, Listening, Watching — Brain Candy for the Hottest Part of Hot Vaccination Summer

As we enter the hottest part of the summer in the D.C. area, it might be a good idea to retreat to the air-conditioned comfort and catch up on some high-quality media (reading, listening, and watching). I know this will be my plan for the next couple of weeks.

Rather than slowing down (though I have made some time to travel and spend time with family), I’m spending this summer thinking through strategy and gearing up for the end of the year.

Here’s what has been on my reading, listening, and watching lists lately.

Reading

You won’t find any beach reads here. But so often real life supplies all the drama and details we need to keep us glued to a story. For me, the most interesting stories have been about the recent leadership changes at Teneo and IBM.

Teneo

Outsized executive egos, abhorrent leader behavior, and million-dollar monthly retainers (!) aside, this is an incredible story of hubris and fear. What most fascinates me is the way Declan Kelly built Teneo and the messaging that played into the fear — and possibly imposter syndrome — even in leaders at the top of the largest companies where Teneo was hired as a consultancy. 

Will Teneo survive CEO and co-founder Declan Kelly’s resignation? Will Teneo survive this PR crisis? Have we seen the end of the largest companies distancing themselves from Kelly and Teneo? This story is still playing out. I’ll be watching closely.

IBM

I’m the daughter of a retired IBMer (30+ years!) and have always been fascinated by the company, its turnarounds, its commitment to research, and its willingness to invest and bet big (i.e., the Red Hat acquisition). IBM’s recent leadership announcement — including the news that former Red Hat CEO, Jim Whitehurst, is stepping down less than two years after his appointment as president of IBM — may infer quite a bit about culture, leadership style, and acquisition integration.

I’m thinking a lot about the value (*cough* intangible assets and goodwill) that is wrapped up in culture, brand, reputation, and employee engagement as Audacia Strategies prepares to launch our non-financial due diligence offering (coming soon!). Every successful M&A process comes down to pre-acquisition due diligence and clear-eyed integration… whether we’re focusing on the financial or non-financial aspects. 

The IBM case offers us a cautionary tale about the challenges of integration:

“Red Hat’s agility stems from a modern, ready-to-adapt approach while IBM is rooted in its age-old bureaucracy-esque practices. For instance, decisions in Red Hat are taken by the teams themselves — a hallmark of the bottom-up approach — as opposed to IBM’s top-down approach for decision-making.”

IBM is always one to watch and I’m looking forward to seeing their strategy emerge.

New Rules for the Future of Work

I’m also here for all the discussions about the future of work. This pandemic reset has shifted our thinking and every time I read a piece offering innovative ideas for how to get work done, I feel a twinge of optimism. This is my contribution to the conversation.

I also endorse this — all of it! 

Here’s a little taste: “To get more leads, the B2B salesforce needs to meet their potential customers where they are: online, primarily on LinkedIn and Twitter. As part of this effort, your salesforce must become recognized thought leaders in their fields and contribute to digital conversations in new and provocative ways — a role previously reserved for those in the product, customer success, or professional service arms of the company. And they must use client specific and industry-focused solution selling, which is more relevant than ever in a digital environment.” 

Hat tip to Krystle, CEO of Revmade for the share.

And, as we return to offices and rethink our ways of work, Gen Z seems to be speaking for more than their generation. Khalil Greene, senior at Yale University, offers his future employers some sage advice in this open letter to CEOs:

  • If you’re still making the business case for diversity, your company isn’t the place for us. 
  • We want companies to take a stand.
  • We are works-in-progress.
  • We want to be ourselves.
  • We want to make an impact.

CEOs are you listening?  

SPACs

Special purpose acquisition companies — better known as SPACs — have been all over market news this summer. Are they cooling? Are they hot? Who knows but there is a LOT of money tied up right now that will have to be placed… a few pieces of my reading to stay on top of things:

Listening

Besides all the reading, I’ve also been listening to a couple of podcasts religiously:

  • Pivot is worth the listen every week. Scott Galloway and Kara Swisher are individually incredible minds on all things tech and innovation. Listening to them riff together on the latest issues of the day (and always calling out the Tesla Board to rein in Elon) is great brain candy.
  • The Bakari Sellers Podcast is another great listen. Bakari Sellers gets the most interesting people to open up and talk about important topics. I’m relistening to his interview with Ursula Burns in light of her appointment as Chairwoman of Teneo (see above).

Watching

So very little to share on this front — probably more Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood than is healthy for an adult. Sadly, my brain won’t let me focus enough to binge lately and most movies seem too much like the news. 

Yes, I know I need to climb back on the meditation train. In the meantime, I’m slowly working my way through Schitt’s Creek and tagging into Bravo reality shows (I’m looking at you Million Dollar Listing). Send help… and recommendations.

What’s on your lists? I’d love to know. The air-conditioning is calling.

Photo credit: https://thenounproject.com/flamingoimages/

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