Relaxed Weekend Reading
My second dream job, beside the one of entertainment director in a Las Vegas hotel is actually the one of a trend watcher. Since the chances that I will ever start my career in Las Vegas are slim and I might be successful in watching and predicting trends, I will start this 2017 by listing 3 trends that I see happening and that I will heavily support in the following year.
Trend no. 1
The Death of Workaholics
For many years, it was promoted in many different cultures that being a workaholic is a good thing. You know when you meet acquaintances, not too close friends or business partners and your conversation goes like this:
You: How are you?
Friend: Oh, don’t ask… I’m working 20 hours per day. The office is crazy at the moment.
You: Yeah, I know. Same here. We are working on some important projects. Last night we left the office at 2AM.
Friend: Lucky you! I left in the morning just to take a shower and came back to give a presentation!
Both of you are complaining, but you are also kinda proud because you feel important and special because you have to work so hard and so long.
Crap!
I was both of those persons I admit. But this only goes to show the fact that something is deeply wrong with your workplace and the culture you are promoting. So if you meet me in 2017 or later and I tell you that I’m staying in the office until midnight feel free to slap me in the face.
I’m slowly turning into a heavy supporter of higher productivity instead of a higher number of working hours. And I will consider all self-claimed workaholics to be so last century. Get real, it’s not cool anymore. Look at Scandinavia. They always know the right thing to do.
Trend no. 2
Supporting Talent and Entrepreneurship
This is not new, of course. But I see more and more people starting their own small ventures based either on their skills and talents or market demands they recognize. This can be something in the digital world but also something very “old fashioned”. I have written about this in my post about niches.
I think that talent and entrepreneurship are the only two things that can save the world from another huge economic crisis.
That’s why I will support every honest small business and each talented person in any way I can – either by buying their products, promoting them, giving them some money or just telling them I like what they do. This is a trend that must grow! For the benefit of our children.
Trend no. 3
Building Amazing Teams
More than ever, during the last couple of years, I have realized that instead of picking the industry, salary, boss, company or market – it’s important to be able to pick your team. The power of good team is so amazing. What 3 or 5 people who fit good together can achieve is beyond any organizational engineering or project management.
I was often comparing this with movie castings. Most professionals in the film industry will tell you that good casting is the key of making a good movie. If we know this, why are all team-making systems in big companies so bad? Why is it that internal politics, procedures and small interests are more important than setting the foundation for amazing results?
I will dedicate the following year to crack this and to offer some solutions and ideas. Not an easy one, but I would say a key one for successful business ventures in coming years.
The most exciting thing regarding the 3rd one is the fact that good casting is not the most obvious one. So, take some time to watch those two movies where unexpected casting actually made them some of the most interesting movies in the last decade of the last century. First one is L.A. Confidential (1997) by Curtis Hanson and the second one is Boogie Nights (1997) by Paul Thomas Anderson.
Enjoy the weekend and cheers to all the trends that we want to support!
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