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Hi friends,

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I feel like it’s been years since we last had proper snow in the Netherlands. Now that it’s finally snowing (and freezing) again, we’ve realized that we don’t have anything in our wardrobes suitable for this kind of weather. Nevertheless, Maya absolutely loves the snow, so we’re taking full advantage. Nothing an extra sweater can’t solve!

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I’ve also been plugging away at the first strategy-focused essay, which I’m sharing with you today. It’s been a weird process. The topic is something that I’ve thought about a lot, and that I have a lot of experience with. It’s something I’ve discussed with a lot of people. And still… putting my thoughts on paper with the express goal of publishing them for the world to see is scary. What if it’s a bad essay? What if it’s not insightful enough, or not profound enough? What if no one likes it? Or my personal biggest fear: what if I’m just plain wrong?

I’ve been told that this is not a unique problem. Most writers face these fears. The trick is supposedly to allow yourself the possibility that some of your writing is bad, boring, or just plain wrong. So that’s what I’m doing. It’s certainly not a perfect piece, but it’s as good as I can make it right now. Hopefully, it will be a building block that will foster better writing, and better opinions, further down the line. So let me know what you think: likes, dislikes, disagrees - give me everything, and I’ll do my best to get better.

Here’s what I want to share with you this week:

​Why creative enterprises need strategy too: In my experience, far too many creative enterprises operate without a clear strategy. This essay is the first in a series of essays exploring strategy and strategic tools for creative enterprises. Before we get to the actual tools, I'm starting with the core question: why bother?

The Best Bits

​You are Jeff Bezos: I’m sure you’ve read that Jeff Bezos has stepped down as CEO of Amazon. What I’m not sure about is if you’ve played the excellent little browser game You Are Jeff Bezos. The goal is to get rid of all of Bezos’ money, which is much, much harder than it seems. More than anything, this game does a great job of putting into perspective just how absurdly rich Bezos is.

​How to reason with unreasonable people: Now this is an interesting one. If you’ve ever had a heated discussion with someone who held the exact opposite opinion, you probably know that logical arguments very rarely change someone’s mind. More often, they make people dig in even more. In this article, psychologist Adam Grant describes a technique called motivational interviewing, which fares much better as a tool for changing someones mind. Used properly and pervasively, this could be a game changer in a world of divisive social media bubbles.

​Bill Gates predicts the next big crisis: In 2015, Bill Gates predicted that an infectious disease could be one of the great threats to mankind. In this interview with Youtube channel Veritasium, Gates shares his views on the pandemic, and earmarks climate change and bioterrorism as the next big crises that we are woefully underprepared for.

​State of the cultural and creative economy: this report by EY looks at the current state of the cultural & creative industries, or CCIs. At a loss of 31% percent of its turnover, the study finds that CCIs are among the hardest hit by COVID-19. Of the 10 sectors examined, only video games managed to grow in 2020. Importantly, they also identify the industry’s main challenges for recovery, and suggest solutions. Highly recommended for anyone interested in the developments in this industry.