Five things on Friday #375
This week: leadership, writing, and games - oh my!
Things of note for the week ending Sunday June 9th, 2024.
INTRO
Hello gang. It’s PRIDE month. Pride month is a) super gay and b) super celebratory. So celebrate and, if you so wish, be super super gay about it.
Happy Pride, friends x
I hope you’ve had a good week. The Mrs had to go to her mum’s unexpectedly earlier this week so I’ve been flying solo with the kids. You very nearly didn’t get a newsletter (to be fair, you still mightn’t - let’s see how we go).
As I write this intro to you now it’s 21:55 on Friday night (again, still mightn’t (is mightn’t a word?)). The kids are asleep, I’ve had… er.. ‘dinner’ (a large bag of crisps and a beer - sue me) and I’m waiting for my friends to drop into Destiny 2 so we can knock over the final boss of the campaign of THE FINAL SHAPE (more of this in Thing 3; you have been warned).
HOW HAVE YOU BEEEEEEEN?
I’ve been alright. In-between school runs, after-school clubs, playdates… It’s been a week of reading, mainly. Oh, AND! I put my first brief in this week. Hoooooraaaaaay. What kind of work that does (or does not) get produced at the end of it though.. well, that remains to be seen (WATCH THIS SPACE). Outside of the briefing, yeah, just a LOT of reading. I’m still feeling a bit peaky. Can’t seem to shake this thing off. Sinusitis maybe? Endless hayfever? No idea.
I’ve got some pals over from the states this week, we’re all going to see THE BASEBALL at the London Stadium tonight (it’s now Saturday btw, did I mention?) and I can’t wait.
This edition might get out today (before we leave), later, (when we get back), or tomorrow (after the fam have been ‘round for a BBQ) - or it mightn’t at all. There’s that word again. Hmm.
(EDIT: IT IS NOW SUNDAY AND THE BASEBALL WAS AMAZING)
One more thing to tell you - and for those of you playing along at home - whatleydude.com has been updated and moved to a brand new home. Nik Butler (AGAIN) fixing all of that - thank you mate.
More on whatleydude dot com to come but the long-term ambition is basically to figure out how integrate FToF/Buttondown’s newsletter archive publishing into wordpress (or setup a redirect or something). But that’s for another day - probably one with bad weather.
God, newsletter admin is boring isn’t it?
Shall we get on with more interesting THINGS?
Yes, let’s.
—
TO THE THINGS!
THING 1. CONTINUING EXPLORATIONS IN LEADERSHIP
I put this topic down for a short time (cmd+f ‘leader’ in any FToF from about February onwards) and while there are those among you could read between the lines on exactly what it was I was getting at, it was easier to reflect on the thinking shared and build towards what good leadership looks like (see Thing 1, FToF #362 for where that bottomed out).
All of that thinking got brought back up again this week when I read this fantastic piece from Neil Perkin, entitled ‘High-reaching informality’.
I am so so so impressed and enamoured by this thinking. I’ve worked with leaders who fit in almost every box above. The best are always upper right (you know who you are), the worst are always lower left (you literally wouldn’t know this was you even if we tattooed it on your arm).
Neil writes:
High-reaching: what I mean by this is that great leaders get the best out of their people by encouraging their teams to think bigger, think harder, aim higher, be more creative whilst also being accountable, and taking ownership. They’re ambitious not only for themselves and for the organisation but also for the team members themselves.
And then there’s the informality piece.
Informality: Some leaders seem to equate formality with gravitas or seriousness. But being formal doesn’t make you a serious person. As Ian Leslie says…‘being taken seriously is not quite the same as being serious’. Overly formal environments are more likely to be low in psychological safety, and less likely to encourage people to speak up, contribute their ideas, and challenge assumptions or norms.
Neil goes on to to talk about themes we’ve discussed in these pages before: psychological safety, trust, respect. And the construct, when combined, makes complete sense.
As a model for leadership goes, this is one of the best I’ve read in a while - and when thinking about it, reflective of the kind of leader I aspire to be.
THING 2. THE BEST THING IN THE NEWSLETTER THIS WEEK?
So this is kind of amazing. Activist and author of the best-selling book, Invisible Women, Caroline Criado-Perez, wrote last week that FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER, it will soon be mandatory for car manufacturers in the US to use female crash test dummies AND (and this feels stupid even to write this out), those crash test dummies need to be based on the female body…!
Criado-Perez:
“New legislation has been introduced in the US that not only mandates for the first time that female crash test dummies should be included in the same number of tests as the default male dummy (Invisible Women readers may remember that the so-called female dummy doesn’t get tested in the drivers’ seat because we still live in the 1920s apparently). And on the subject of that so-called female car crash test dummy, (again, readers of IW will remember that this is actually just a scaled-down male dummy and for about the millionth time, women are not scaled-down men) this new legislation ALSO requires, again for the first time, that the female dummy be based on, you know, an actual female body.”
If you’ve not read Invisible Women (obviously do that) then you might not know the details above. At the time of publishing, Criado-Perez’ discovered that women involved in car accidents were 47% more likely to be seriously injured than a man - and 17% more like to die. To think that LEGISLATION IS NEEDED TO CHANGE THIS is insane. But to know that the legislation is now on its way is at least something.
Writing is important.
It can literally save lives.
Like I said, the best thing in the newsletter this week.
THING 3. THIS WEEK IN… GAMING
Three GAMING things to tell you this week.
ONE: SUMMER GAME FEST HAPPENED
Every year, since the [arrival of covid and subsequent] death of E3 at least, publishers and developers have used the natural whole in the gaming calendar left by the latter as a way to speak to directly to their future player base by releasing a series of ‘directs’ - which act as a controlled broadcast(ish) way of sharing the latest trailers and developer updates about upcoming games, DLCs, and updates.
You know this period has kicked off each year by the arrival of SUMMER GAME FEST.
I could go on about how it’s interesting that so many of the major houses are spinning their own versions up of this (arguably to control message and of course, save spend) but instead I’m just gonna say this: here’s everything announced at Summer Game Fest - and look at all the lovely trailers!
Shout out to LEGO HORIZON ADVENTURES btw (trailer at the above link).
I saw the trailer for this only a week or so ago so to see it finally announced and also: coming to Nintendo Switch! was pretty darn ace.
Can’t wait to play it :)
-
TWO: DESTINY 2 THE FINAL SHAPE
Look, the real ones will know how much of my life has been sunk into this game (we measure hours play by their thousands).
From the first Alpha to today, I don’t know where to begin.
I have medals (hitting Dredgen was a higlight), two plushes (a war beast and a hive worm), a raid jacket (Garden of Salvation), statues, cross-platform characters… but above all else: I have some amazing memories AND a whole community of brilliant friends who I meet up with IRL at least once a year.
All thanks to a game called Destiny.
It’s a big deal.
So when Bungie announce THE FINAL SHAPE, the final part of a ten-year saga, you bet it needs to deliver.
Well, it has.
To almost universal critical acclaim.
I finished the campaign mode last night (on Legendary; we’re not amateurs) and as a closing chapter to a decade long story, it absolutely delivers. That final mission is everything you want it to be and to say that the team at Bungie absolutely smashed it out of the park would be an understatement (moreso given how badly LIGHTFALL landed).
So yeah, I’m putting this in here to say to you this: if you’ve ever played Destiny, then it’s worth coming back for THE FINAL SHAPE.
And if you read this and you work for Bungie:
I just want to say Thank You.
THANK YOU. Thank you. Thank you.
That is all. Thank you.
-
THREE: A BREAKFAST BRIEFING IN BRIGHTON
Are you headed to DEVELOP: BRIGHTON in July?
Are you a games dev/publisher/PR person trying to figure out the best way to get a game covered?
Are you free on the morning of July 10th 2024?
If the answer to these questions is all YES! then you need to get to the VGIM (vee-jim) Business Breakfast.
Tickets are FREE but very limited.
So if you wanna go, you better snap one up right now.
PS. It’s highly unlikely I’ll be coming along so if you’re thinking about headed just to sip coffee and chat about my recent career in games, then I won’t be around (you can just hit reply to this email and arrange that separately) 😅
THING 4. SO, YOU WANNA BE A WRITER
I can’t remember where I found this particular thing this week (so if it came from you please yell and let me know so I can say thanks in the next edition) but it’s been hovering around in my tabs a fair bit over the past fortnight and I thought it was worth sharing onwards.
This TV writing website features FREE-TO-READ scripts for TV pilots and collections from the US and the UK covering everything from Fleabag to Sherlock and every Mad Men episode in-between.
So if you’re a budding writer, this is a great insight into how the pros do it / have done it.
THING 5. JON STEEL AND THE EMPTY BRIEFCASE
Years ago, WPP used to have a fellows programme which took the best of the best university leavers - usually from a business school of some description - and put them through their paces across every aspect of the business. I met a couple in my time there - they were bloody impressive.
As part of their onboarding and introduction to the programme, advertising luminary Jon Steel would give a talk.
A talk I’d never heard before.
A talk I’ve heard described as captivating, clarifying, and inspiring.
A talk he wrote up on Linkedin last week.
Read it. Keep it. Read it again.
Share it onwards.
BONUS SECTION
THIS IS THE BONUS SECTION. BONUS LINKS THAT BUMP US OVER FIVE THINGS BUT DUE TO TIMING AND SELF-IMPOSED WRITING RESTRICTIONS ARE LIMITED TO PITHY COMMENTARY ONLY.
ENJOY.
The diabolical reality of being one of the few working-class people in TV - I worked in TV for a bit (YEARS AGO - a story for another day). This rang true then. It rings true now. How do you change it?
London folk, fancy a drink while wearing shades? Pints in the Sun still works (even without https).
Last week I told you I missed The Listserve. Robbie and Holly wrote back to ask me if I had signed up to the 'spiritual successor' (and terribly named) Kleroteria. The answer was no but now it's yes.
ALIEN ROMULUS: This looks disgustingly good.
- World's most expensive paperweight is now dangerous to use - and still up for sale! (hErE’s hOw tHeY DiD iT)
“The important thing about Furiosa is that it exists, mad and uncompromising. So what if it flopped? So did Fight Club, and Speed Racer, and The Adventures of Baron Munchhausen, and It’s a Wonderful Life — movies that didn’t make anybody any real money at first but that made the world of cinema a richer place.” - a great read.
Godzilla Minus One is now on Netflix and you MUST watch it. I saw it at the cinema with Keano at Christmas and it blew our tiny little minds.
I really liked this piece on friendship.
Azydeco has launched an image storage explorer for devs (this is beyond me but if you’re a dev you might find it useful).
This is an excellent deconstruction of British Airways' brand vs product issue. Back in my social media days, we used to say that 'Customer care on social is equal to the distance between marketing promises and operations delivery' - this feels true here.
YOU ARE REACHING THE END OF THE NEWSLETTER. MIND THE GAP.
I had to block someone on Linkedin this week. While the weekly profile-gazing was initially amusing (yes I pay for premium, no you can’t tell), the constant drip drip drip of psychological warfare that is ‘forever being watched’ was having a much larger and more sinister impact.
As a dear pal said to me earlier in the week, it’s like ‘cutting off an infected limb to let it rot’ - so that’s why I did it. And god it felt good.
I will write to them eventually, and formally tell them to leave me alone (they don’t subscribe to this newsletter - I’ve checked), but for now I have to prioritise my own mental health.
One hopes ignoring their emails and blocking them on all social channels will mean they get the hint. But I doubt it. We’ll see.
Sorry.
That’s quite the over-share.
It’s not fun knowing someone is regularly being unkind about you behind your back - and then watching that same person perv at your Linkedin every week. It just gives me the ick.
Shame enjoys self-judgement, secrecy, and isolation (remember I told you I went back to therapy the other week - yeah, hi).
So this week I am choosing to shine light on it. To choose what I need for my good health -and to both cut off the infected toxic limb AND tell people that I’m choosing to do so.
Shame dies in the light.
Until next time,
Whatley out x
PS. Unrelated:
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