Hi,

I’ve long had a special place in my heart for Thursdays. When I was in elementary school, for several years in a row, gym was on Thursdays. I loved the chaos of physical activity in the middle of the school day and the randomness of the activities the gym teachers came up with: dodge ball one week, rope climbing the next. It didn’t matter if I was good at the activity or not, I just enjoyed the physicalness of it.

Do you have a special preference for a particular day of the work week, and do you know why? I know Friday is easy to love and Monday tends not to be a favorite, but let me know what you think.

Here are some of the things that got me thinking in new directions this week, I hope you enjoy them too:

• Expert witness? Most of us who have specialized strengths have considered being an expert witness for court cases. As this article by Ruth Stevens points out, it’s a pretty arduous process and not for everyone. Guess what emails I won’t be answering anymore–I’ve learned I’m not the expert-witness type.

• Had a conversation over lunch with a friend this weekend. She’d recently spent time with Elon Musk at a conference and he shared his vision, or one of them, for Twitter with her. We discussed the bigger picture aspects and then I found this article by Charlie Warzel in The Atlantic about what’s happening to Twitter. It intrigued me as I wondered what Elon Musk is really all about and what kind of brilliant he really is. This quote by Cathy O’Neil, in particular, struck me, “Elon is the perfect embodiment of what I mean when I say that algorithms are opinions embedded in code. This technology is never neutral—people in power help decide what they privilege. Algorithms are policy, and Twitter’s policy is to make Elon Musk the focus of everything.”

• Have you ever had to console a crying colleague? I’m not talking about the time the crying person was you, though true confessions, I cried despite my best efforts a few times in my career. And actually, that’s what drives tears for a lot of people: situational frustration. Often work crying is an outlet for frustrations you can’t figure out how to appropriately express. Next thing you know, the tears a flowing. So what do you do to help a colleague whose eyes are about to overflow? Jennifer Winter has some great tips in The Muse. Let me know if you agree with her.

• And on a related note (see previous issue re: witches and climate change), how is your company working to reverse the adverse effects of climate change? In this article for Chief, I learned that, “According to research by Deloitte, 57% of executives had implemented an ESG working group in 2022, with 42% planning to follow suit — a huge jump from the 21% who had implemented it by 2021.” There are several useful and informative links in this article on what companies are doing and how we can all do more. Heavy suggestion to read this and strategize with your team on how your company can do more.

Do Good Spotlight
🌟 Smile Farms 🌟

Smile Farms has become a nonprofit leader in creating meaningful jobs in agricultural settings for adults with developmental disabilities, almost none of whom have worked before. Their founding story is super sweet, too. Jim McCann, Founder/Chairman of 1-800-FLOWERS.COM, Inc., had a brother living in Independent Group Living Home (IGHL), a residence for people with developmental disabilities, so he teamed up with the home’s CEO, Walter Stockton, to create this program. Here’s where to learn more about what they’re doing: Smile Farms.

• Speaking of impressive, here’s a mesmerizing drumline. If you have 5 minutes and 53 seconds, prepare to be impressed. If you don’t have 5:53, make 5:35– you need this more than I did. 😊

And on that beat (see what I did there?) I am hoping you have a great gym day, a wonderful Friday, and a fabulous weekend, too. Enjoy and stay strong!

Niki