The Artisanal Economies, Entry # 1: the Sofi interview
Yesterday, walking to see friends in Boston’s South End, I stumbled across Olives and Grace I am working on a project called The Artisanal Economies. So I had…
Author: Grant
Managing cultural complexity, 3 options courtesy of Tom Friedman, Chance the Rapper, and Maggie Siff
(Originally published Feb. 16 on Medium) Tom Friedman was interviewed by Al Hunt on Charlie Rose Tuesday night. He was pitching his new book: Thank you for being…
Culture churn, aka TV with a very short shelf life
Jason Lynch recently suggested that Fox is keen to make Tuesday night a little more robust in the ratings department. There is trouble, apparently, in paradise. The network’s…
iPhone combat: Bloggers: 1, Jean-Louis Gassee: 0
I’m a big fan of Jean-Louis Gassée. So I was pleased to see a new post from him today It’s called iPhone Nonsensus: Apple’s Debt To Bloggers. Gassee goes after…
How to save luxury brands (and American capitalism)
Elizabeth Segran has a nice essay in Fast Company: The Decline Of Premium American Fashion Brands. What Happened, Ralph And Tommy? As a teen, Segran admired ads by Ralph…
Spielberg: 1, Harvard: 0
Hollywood used to know what Americans wanted. Then came the new diversity of moving-going taste and preference. Hollywood was in trouble. In the words of Tom Hanks: “Nobody…
Charlie Rose vs. George Lucas
Charlie Rose recently interviewed George Lucas. And at the 16 minute mark, we see these two great men gently cross swords. It’s a really good talking point for those…
comics on culture on Charlie Rose
Yesterday, the Charlie Rose Show repeated interviews with comics Billy Eichner, Amy Pohler, Matt Besser, Ian Roberts, Matt Walsh, and Seth Meyers. A couple of comments jumped out.…
The Intrinsic Economy (why the Republicans must lose in the long term)
The shouting! The hyperbole! The balloons! Thank God the political conventions are finally over. Cleveland, Philadelphia, and television can finally get back to normal. But the ideological turbines…
Who will be our ethnographic hero?
There is now only one path to the White House for Donald Trump. There has to be a Brexit-type surprise in November. This is the hope of the…
Is music dead? (more evidence)
Here is Rich Cohen on Charlie Rose last night discussing his new book The Sun and the Moon and The Rolling Stones (with Jeff Glor sitting in for Mr. Rose.)…
Tinderbox: Building an ingenuity machine
Several weeks ago, Mark Bernstein announced the latest Tinderbox, the “tool for notes.” I almost always sign up for these updates. I almost always give the new edition…
Remaking the Museum for the 21st century
Several months ago, Robert Fogarty asked if I wanted to contribute something to a special issue of The Antioch Review called “The Future of Museums.” I did! It’s been…
Why Anthropologists Don’t Whisper Well
CEOs should hire anthropologists. After all, these CEOS speak to a complex set of stakeholders. How useful to have someone, an expert, whispering in their ear. But it turns out…
World Atlas: Story telling & world building made easier
“Everyone is talking about story telling, right? This is is what it looks like!” Sunday, we had the extended family over for Memorial Day festivities. I called the older…
Creator brands: Brands that make culture
At their most powerful, brands actually make culture. Creator brands, let’s call them. Nike changed the way we thought about exercise, fitness, bodies and diet in the 1970s…
This is what we do to dreamers
Let’s say you are starting a startup and today you are standing in front of a venture capitalist. With impatience in his voice, the VC says, “Tell me again…
Dark Value (repriced!)
I’ve changed the price of Dark Value from $7.77 to $2.99. (It took a long time and my sticker gun is smoking.) I do so on advice of…
Dark Value, a new book published today
I wrote this brief book in 2015 and promptly put it in a drawer and forgot about it. Then a couple of days ago (May 3, 2016), Virginia Postrel posted…
Make Ethnography Better
Ethnography has grown in the last couple of decades from a moody, friendless method in the social sciences to the bell of the business ball. But clearly it has…
how to make TV now (the “whole world” approach)
Natalie Chaidez is the show runner for Hunters (Mondays, 10:00 eastern, SyFy). Recently Sean Hutchinson asked her what she was aiming for. Our idea of aliens is cliched, she replied. She wanted to &#…
The ‘wicked grin’ test (as a new creative measure)
How do you know when something in our culture is really good? I think it’s when it makes us grin a wicked grin. This is one of those: Dave Chappelle does…
How to manage many stakeholders
A note on style: I wrote this in a hotel room somewhere. I used Scapple from Literature and Latte to do it. It was really just a note…
Flight 1095
Coming home from Phoenix on Friday, I found myself sharing the plane with Aidy Bryant, Vanessa Bayer, and Bret Stephens. Bryant and Bayer are SNL players. Stephens (below) is Foreign…