Six Ideas That Made Us Think

1. The Gold Rush Redux

Matthew A. Winkler has put together list of everyone who said that California was finished – and the data to show they’re wrong. Since the start of lockdown, “the Golden State has no peers among developed economies for expanding GDP, creating jobs, raising household income, manufacturing growth, investment in innovation, producing clean energy and unprecedented wealth through its stocks and bonds.” He continues:

The state’s gross domestic product increased 21% during the past five years, dwarfing No. 2 New York (14%) and No. 3 Texas (12%), according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The gains added $530 billion to the Golden State, 30% more than the increase for New York and Texas combined and equivalent to the entire economy of Sweden. Among the five largest economies, California outperforms the U.S., Japan and Germany with a growth rate exceeded only by China.

2. Ford vs. Jeep: The Early Days

In his tongue-hanging-out review of the new Ford Bronco, D.W. Burnett of Road and Track recalls how the 1960s Bronco stacked up against the early Jeep CJ. His analogy hits the right note:

If the Bronco lived Elvis's life, the CJ was Chuck Berry, who'd already invented most of rock n' roll long before Elvis appointed himself the King of it. Berry's life wasn't easy, and neither was he. Keith Richards tells a story of his first time meeting the American rock hero. He made the mistake of moving a little too quickly towards Berry's open guitar case and found himself looking down the barrel of a gun. That was the Jeep CJ. It didn't promise you volleyball on the beach. It told you stories about parachuting out of a plane in WWII. It barely even had doors.

3. Can Large Companies Compete with Start-Ups?

Marc Andreesen, venture capital’s most loquacious ambassador, once believed that large companies would follow start-ups and become creative forces in software innovation. No more. In this interview, Andreesen shares his new way of thinking:

I am increasingly skeptical that most incumbents can adapt. The culture shift is just too hard. Great software people tend to not want to work at an incumbent where the culture is not optimized to them, where they are not in charge. It is proving easier in many cases to just start a new company than try to retrofit an incumbent. I used to think time would ameliorate this, as the world adapts to software, but the pattern seems to be intensifying.

4. America the Beautiful

In 2020, amid a pandemic and a recession, Americans gave more to charity than ever before. By contrast, charitable giving declined in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the U.K. The Conversation findsthat American goodwill went even further:

When physical distancing became essential, Americans went out of their way to buy meals-to-go to support local restaurants, paid their hairdressers when their salons were closed, and volunteered either formally or by simply helping their neighbors out. In addition, many Americans gave directly to others through crowdfunding platforms and other apps, which are particularly popular for younger people and people of color.

Also noteworthy: financial gifts to the arts, culture, religion, and health (!) all fell in 2020; gifts for “public society benefit” soared by 20%.

5. Deadline Approaching

In The New Yorker, Rachel Syme looks at the psychological effect of meeting deadlines. She learns that many businesses use the “fake deadline” of a soft opening to dupe employees to get stuff done on time:

The soft opening is a tried-and-true tactic. Stores and restaurants often start with a “friends and family” run before welcoming the public. This approach can also help “pathologically tardy writers” and other solo actors struggling to hit personal targets. Soft deadlines can become “a way of gaining the virtues of the deadline effect (focus, urgency, cooperation) with none of the vices (rashness, desperation, incompleteness).”

6. Oily

It was probably inevitable. Big Oil has turned to Instagram influencers to revive the industry’s dirty reputation:

Shell seems to recognize the power of celebrity more than any other fossil company. In 2019, the company tapped “Criminal Minds” actor Brent Bailey as a spokesperson. Bailey then ran a social media campaign encouraging people to take a “#Shellfie,” which, ouch.

Websites Worth Reading

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