2 min read

Warm Take: the work issue. Or, a work issue.

Bet on it: I'll be coming back to this
Blue sky, rolling terrain, maroon sign with grey graphic of 2 pickaxes, "Valle Dela Luna, Reserva Nacionale Los Flamencos"
Workplace, Paolo Fassina, CC BY-SA 2.0

“Have you seen this,” popped up in my Twitter DMs. Thankfully, it was from a friendly, a couple of months ago, flagging The Work Issue at Yes! No, I hadn’t seen it.

Once upon a time, I saw The Internet as a swampland of information about managing people and the workplace. Some of it’s good, some is terrible.

Kieran’s DM shifted my perspective. I was seeing something in my feeds and inbox that looked new, to me. Not just one issue of a magazine. It felt like an avalanche of newly-launched podcasts, newsletters, spots on the web. All about work and the workplace.

I added a "Work" folder to my inbox, and decided to watch. I sat with it for a couple of months.

What feels different? Business media has always been talking to your bosses, often about what to do about you. Today, I'm seeing organizations and people talking to you, as people who work. Rather than you, an aspiring or actual Captain of Industry, I mean Founder.

This is interesting. Is it also a bit perilous? I hope not. I mean, I’m still sitting with it. I guess that some of it will be good, some will be terrible.


An incomplete watchlist of what’s landing my inbox/feed

Not everything on this list new. It's a watchlist, rather than a set of endorsements. The exception: Ashley Milne-Tyte’s podcast The Broad Experience has been talking to us about “women, the workplace, and success” since 2012. #endorse

Currently on my watchlist:

What's on your watchlist? What do you endorse?


I ordered a hard copy of The Work Issue at Yes! and I'm in the middle of reading it. It is giving me some early Utne Reader feels, which for me is a good thing. ymmv


I always love hearing from you:  what are you seeing out there that seems to be written to you, and not to your bosses? What else are you reading?

Thank you so much for reading my newsletter, and to the good people who support the newsletter financially.

Today's Warm Take was written – making full use of the extra hour on one of my favorite days of the year – while drinking coffee and enjoying the daylight, more apparent because yesterday's storm took so many leaves off the trees. There may be typos, which I'll find later and fix, you know, on The Internet.

May you, your loved ones, and your communities be safe, healthy and free,

Anne Libby

P.S. Pretty sure I will actually quit Twitter this time. I have loved meeting, talking with, and even growing friendships with some of you there...and I will always love to hear from you.


ICYMI

Schuyler sisters from Hamilton, singing "Werk"
Could I resist