Three years later...
The Future Does Not Fit in the Containers of the Past. Edition 156.
This is the 156th issue of this thought letter.
It has been published each and every Sunday morning (Central US Time) for three years.
The thought letter was conceived to be both a gift to the reader in that it would be totally free, 100 percent opt-in, easy to opt out, would carry no advertising, nor use the mailing list in any way besides to email the weekly post.
If done right it also be a way to build goodwill for the author.
Three years and a quarter of a million words later ( 5 full length books! ) the thought letter has nearly 22,000 subscribers each of whom have chosen to enter their email address into the subscription box, enjoys high engagement (weekly open rate of 48%), a very low opt out rate ( about .1% or 25 readers of 22,000 a week or a 5% annual churn) and adds about 150 new readers a week.
Subscribers include hundreds of CEO’s, thousands of C-Level executives with a concentration in the fields of marketing, technology, strategy, innovation, HR and education.
The readership far exceeds the 22,000 subscribers with a much larger group of readers engaging with the content in other ways including LinkedIn ( last week’s post on A Company of One was seen by 30,000), or in other publications where it is re-published including Media Village and The Continuum among others in the US and around the world, and most importantly it is forwarded weekly across organizations and to friends and often to the readers children!
Readership spans 135 countries with most of the readers living in eight markets ( United States and Canada in North America, India and Singapore in Asia, the United Kingdom, France and Spain in Europe and Australia).
The five most popular posts have been:
Re-Thinking Presentations which suggests that if one cannot make a case in 9 slides or less one does not have a case to make.
12 Career Lessons which takes ten minutes to read is far more useful than most career books for any stage of one’s career.
The Future of Marketing is People reminds us that most marketing speak including consumer fixation is possibly wrong and most firms are severely marketing challenged particularly in the Board Room.
De-Bossification! is a real thing and if you are or want to be a “boss” watch out! It is one of the reasons companies are struggling with hybrid-remote work.
Ruptures in the Mediascape written two years ago anticipated all the big shifts that have happened since.
Also strongly recommend these five:
The Four Shifts which explain the four shifts that are driving the future which every individual and company needs to align with.
The Six Keys To Change explains why change is difficult and having a strategy, M&A plan and a re-org alone almost never work.
Six Ways to Be and Feel Better will likely leave you changed as a person and is the one most shared by parents with their grown kids.
Architecting Joy begins by defining success as the ability to spend time in the ways that give you joy and then builds from that…
Time Passages reminds us that time is all we have and looks at it through different prisms.
Now 3 years of writing distilled and organized on one page!
The 156 pieces written over the past three years span 12 different subject areas including The Future, Managing Change, Becoming More Effective, Leading with Soul, Creating Great Cultures, The Future of Work, Managing Careers, Personal Growth and even Wisdom but have kept away from news and politics and therefore have remained evergreen.
You can access the best of these pieces organized, curated and kept up to date here: https://rishadtobaccowala.com/100
This one page is accessible on any device anywhere in the world totally free and all the materials can be used with or without attribution.
Many professionals book mark it and use it as a thought starter (like a GPT-4 but written by a human) when they are grappling with a topic like managing teams and creating cultures, learning to learn or on remaining relevant in an AI age. Some share articles as part of their monthly or weekly all hands. Others use the many frameworks shared to help brainstorm ideas.
Do click here and take a look at it. It could save a lot of time and help one become more productive.
Thank you for being a reader and please share this post with others who may benefit from this writing by forwarding it or clicking below:
Innovation and the absurdity of life: how staying curious is the key to great
marketing: On the latest What Next? Allen Adamson who was the long timer Chairman of Landor the brand consultancy co-founder of Metaforce, and author on how to innovate experiences beyond the consumer perspective and the importance of curiosity in the age of the marketeers. As someone who comes with a rich background in both agency and business, he explains why observation of the absurdities of life are the key to communicating great ideas, and why Jerry Seinfeld if hadn’t made his name in comedy, would have been a great marketing man.
Rishad Tobaccowala helps grow companies, teams and leaders by helping them see, think and feel differently. Forty years of experience delivered through writing, speaking and advising in ways that are actionable and inspirational. For more about Rishad Tobaccowala click here.
Wow Rishad, Just going along reading the entries every week I lost tack of the big picture. What an amazing accomplishment. Looking forward to your next book.
Congratulations Sir. Your each post is unique and insightful. I consider your blogs as online learning course for me. Few positive changes have taken place in me due to your these blogs. Thank you so much sir.