A jam-packed Linkness this week.
If you only read one thing.
- You think it’s hard to get a campaign up? It’s a minor miracle for any film to get made. A brief history of this year’s Best Picture nominees, from paper to screen. | Buzzfeed
Management.
- What your culture really says: “The word “culture” has become a signifier of superficial company assets rather than an ongoing practice of examination and self-reflection.” | Pretty Little State Machine
- Every morning, I spend 10 minutes ‘being grateful’ for all the great things I have in my life. | Wrestling Possums
- Good work isn’t enough | Cognition
- Advertising’s human crisis | William Manfredi
- The charisma of leaders. “…any number of startup CEOs take adolescent pride in aping [Steve] Jobs, driving their employees to long hours, performing a sham mercuriality, pushing themselves far past psychological health in order to show just how dedicated they are. Rare is the CEO for whom this produces better results, however, than he or she would have attained with ordinary management methods.” | Mills Baker
Data and technology.
- How to make things: “Rather than continue to add new features, the team took a step back. They asked themselves how to make the existing experience more elegant, while also allowing room for growth.” | Matt Daniels
- Quitters never win: the costs of leaving social media. “Forget Lolcats. If we quit using sites like Facebook, we’ll miss opportunities for self-expression, personal growth, learning, support, and civic exchange.” | The Atlantic
Insights.
- Why fast, cheap, and easy design is killing your nonprofit’s brand | Co.Exist
- The emotional price of making video games | GameSpot.com
- The essay, an exercise in doubt. “Strangely enough, doubt need not impede action. If you really become friends with your doubt, you can go ahead and take risks, knowing you will be questioning yourself at every turn, no matter what.” | NYTimes.com
- Australia: Where the good life comes at a price | BBC News
Creativity.
- “Where do I start? What do I need to know about my story and my characters before I begin? What should I just figure out as I go? Suddenly, the idea of writing that first draft of a novel seems impossible, and I am terrified.” | The Millions
- Say goodbye to creativity awards? | Harvard Business Review
- How I wrote the most upvoted answer on Quora | Quorabot
- The content con: “It may be “content” in the digital world. In the real world it’s mostly garbage. 99% of it will go unnoticed and will live and die anonymously.” | The Ad Contrarian
- Net wisdom: on online writing. “Businessmen and politicians make the worst bloggers because they do not like to tell what they know, and telling what you know is the essence of blogging well.” | FT.com
On Nextness this week.
- “When in doubt, change the routine:” TV innovator Andrew Denton on challenging yourself creatively.
STW Group news.
- McPherson’s and Bullseye are making life easier.
- STW Group buys stake in digital agency Fusion | mUmBRELLA
- Sportscraft hits up Amblique to relaunch website | AdNews
- Bohemia and Workshop bag $5m Healthdirect Australia account | AdNews
- Switched On Media to set up shop in NZ | B&T
- White Agency boosts leadership ranks after founder’s exit | B&T