The Future Fits on One Page.
The Future Does Not Fit in the Containers of the Past.Edition 250.
This is the 250th edition of “The Future Does Not Fit in The Containers of the Past”
Published every single Sunday morning for 250 weeks at around 8 am Chicago time.
The first edition of this thought letter was published on August 16, 2020 began like this…
Welcome to my first issue of “The Future Does Not Fit in The Containers of the Past” newsletter. Thank you for subscribing.
What I hope you will get from this newsletter
The idea behind this newsletter is that of a gift.
Like a gift it is free (no subscription fee, no up-charges to access special content, no advertising, no affiliate links, your email will not be shared or sold, and no algorithm is running in the background mining your behavior)
Like a gift I hope it will be of some value in helping you see, feel and think differently about how to grow yourself, your team and/or your company in the future.
Like a gift, I hope it will generate goodwill for the giver. Your attention and time which is so valuable. Good karma. Stronger relationships.
This newsletter will be bohemian and eclectic in that it will mix art and science, it will have a certain wanderlust and will roam into different areas…
Today nearly five years later more than 350,000 words or nearly 7 books of content have been written and shared. Subscribers have grown from 500 to nearly 30,000. The thought letter has remained completely free of monetization. And the range of topics have wandered far and wide with the writing steering away only from politics and news.
In keeping with the gifting orientation that drives this thought letter I have curated the best 100 pieces of writing and organized them into 12 areas which are now all accessible from a single page here or at https://rishadtobaccowala.com/100
I provide an overview of the sections and the best pieces below. But first here are the five most popular pieces over the past five years listed in order which indicate the range of the writing.
Re-thinking Presentations.
As we re-imagine the future of work without an office as its center of gravity, we may also want to question why we spend so much time developing and presenting decks.
Small Things.
Every six months for over three decades I receive an updated insurance card from State Farm.
A Company of One.
It is projected that in 2027, 86.5 million people will be freelancing in the United States making 50.1 percent of the population.
Re-Invented Marketing: 5 Shifts.
As one grows more seasoned one dislikes complexity, confusion and constipation.
Avoiding Career Irrelevance.
The conflation of five major forces from 1)technology to 2) demographic change, to 3) the growing importance of marketplaces where one can access both resources or customers with minimal to no capital, to 4) the rewiring of work due to Covid and 5) the rise of an economy of free-lance workers and rise of the side hustle, will impact every job but partic…
The 12 Areas of Writing
1. The Future: Here are articles on The Four Shifts that are driving the future, a series of pieces on Why AI is Under-hyped, How to remain relevant in an AI age and How to Upgrade our AI quotient as well as Ten Forecasts for the Next Decade and how to avoid Strategic Myopia.
2. Managing Change: To manage change in ways that suck less we need to follow the 6 Keys to Change while curing ourselves of Inner Dinosaur Disease and learn to Think Like an Immigrant.
3. Upgrading our Mental Operating Systems: Our phones have upgraded their operating systems in the last 18 years how many time have we? This section shares how to be better at Learning to Learn, How to Think Better, and how it is key to think from Both Sides Now.
4. Enhancing Effectiveness: So much of our lives our spent attending meetings. What if everything we have been told about how to be effective in these areas are wrong? Rethinking Meetings shows how we do not attend meetings but stare-a-thons and most of given advice on how to run meetings are wrong! Understand the importance of Tattoo Moments and why Fewer is better.
5. Becoming A Leader: In an Age of De-bossification here are Four Keys to Leading Today and 8 Management Lessons from some great leaders.
6. Rethinking Media, Marketing and Creativity: In a single graphic the last four decades of change in marketing and where it is going are shared in Re-Invented Marketing: Five Shifts. A very popular piece was on why the Future of Marketing is People and how we are entering an Age of Creativity.
7. Selling Better: To close more sales it is key to understand the 8 Things Customers Want, why one must spend time Rethinking Presentations and how Small Things matter and every time one wants to sell one must frame and filter using S.A.V.E.
8. The Future of Work: A series of articles which foresaw the world we live in today including why we are living in Career Bending Times and how most companies could get Returning to the Office right.
9. Creating Great Cultures and Future Forward Organizations: What are the key components of Cultures. Why it is important to call out The Turd on the Table, to combine Roots and Wings and recognize that Generosity is a Strategy.
10. Managing Careers: How do we thrive in a world of Fifty Year Careers where we are going to see the Decline of Jobs. The Rise of Work. The key exercise for Career Turbocharging and all the lessons of a Career Revisited and why everyone must learn to work like a Company of One.
11. Personal Growth: We become who we are through Chances, Changes and Choices, learning the importance of Repairing Ourselves, finding times to go Vagabonding and learning the limits of things in On Stuff
12. Wisdom: We chase after it but what can we learn about Architecting Joy, find Grace, the importance of Appreciation and how life is about Loss, Love and Learning.
You can find all these pieces and much more available completely free to use and leverage as you like all accessible from a single page here or at https://rishadtobaccowala.com/100
Thank you for being a reader.
Your time is rare and therefore your attention is a gift.
If you ever wanted to introduce this writing to others this might be the ideal post to share.
Rishad Tobaccowala’s latest book is called Rethinking Work and is available globally from all these different resellers.
Thank you so much Sir for these wonderful knowledge gifts to us every week.
You are one of the best modern management thinkers of the world who are adding value to the knowledge and wisdom.
I am grateful to you for your contribution to our self and professional development.
I continue to love your thought letter, and this is fantastic. Thank you!