Why Don't We All Have Agents?
Maybe We Will?
Judging by the download data, I am pretty sure that you didn’t miss the last podcast episode where I talked with Ramsey Avery about his significant contribution to the new Amazon series, Lord of the Rings - Rings of Power. You might recall that at the end I mentioned that our conversation ‘went long’ and that there would be a part two. Maybe even a part three,
it was while I was editing part two of that series that my latest podcast ‘Why Don’t We All Have Agents’ emerged.
The podcast is ‘monologue’ meets ‘fictional narrative’, coming in at under 7 minutes. The topic seemed to resonate …
A Flavour
Bear with me. Part two of Ramsey’s podcast is underway but I have some related thoughts that I want to ‘get off my chest’ first.
The Future of Income
As you know, The Future of Work is a topic I regularly visit (although I prefer to think about the challenge more as ‘The Future of Income’). In the course of some recent ‘exploration’ of the subject, I rediscovered this Wired piece from November 2020.
At WIRED’s behest, I asked six of my favorite writers for short stories on these subjects. Some focused on individual industries, like medicine and advertising; others explored themes of memory and consciousness. All of them, in the tradition of Čapek, extrapolate our future of work in ways that appeal to our lighter and darker sensibilities.
It reminded of a short story I had written in the Summer of 2020 that was published over on BizCatalyst. At the time I turned it into an experimental sound file before I launched the People First podcast. I have decided to release it as a future episode on the People First Podcast. If you want to make sure that you don’t miss it - or any other episodes ….
Unions
In the podcast I also touched on ‘Unions’, as I did in my conversation with Ramsey. Interested to read in Stowe Boyd’s latest
newsletter 'Unions' emerging (is that really the right word?) as a talking point.Medical residents are the most overworked and powerless of doctors. Karim Sariahmed, a general internist who just ended a three-year residency at Montefiore Medican Center in the Bronx, relates the situation there, as ‘doctors-in-training’ are planning to unionize, supported by the New York State Nurses Association, who have long been dedicated to safe staffing issues.
If doctors are unionizing - what should you be doing in your industry?
Frĕndshôrĭng
Stowe also introduced a new term (to me at least) … ‘frĕndshôrĭng’. A term that resonated, though IMHO ‘frĕndshôrĭng’ is only part of the story because it isn’t just about the ‘supply chain’.
/frĕndshôrĭng/
The term, a cousin of “reshoring” and “onshoring” and a sibling to “nearshoring,” is shorthand for the practice of relocating supply chains to countries where the risk of disruption from political chaos is low.
For Example
In New Zealand campaigns are running promoting the idea of ‘buying local’, ‘keep it in the community’, ‘New Zealand made’ … all highlighting the importance of supporting local businesses.
And that’s great, but it doesn’t talk about the local service economy. Take this article about rideshare availability in different towns around the country. Uber and Ola are highlighted, but so too is Zoomy. But I wonder how many residents in New Zealand know about Zoomy (let alone the visitors), much less use the service compared to the two international giants. But Zoomy is …
New Zealand’s first locally owned transport-sharing service company ….. affordable and easy to use.
BUT - as the article reports
unfortunately, it’s limited in accessibility compared to Uber.
Which is true. But why is that?
The importance to New Zealand? Putting aside how driver’s are compensated and treated for the moment - it is also important to note that every dollar spent on an Ola or Uber ride means that 25 to 35 cents is sent off shore. That presumably doesn’t happen if you use Zoomy?
If we are really serious about ‘local’ why aren’t we putting more into building a local Ola and Uber alternative?
Maybe this is something that
could write about in his excellent newsletter 'The Kaka'. I will ask!That’s all for now - please do share far and wide - and as always, if you want to show your support for People First in anyway … we now have a variety of choices.
Meanwhile ….
