Blog

Dave’s Hot Chicken previously worked with Initiative but launched a review after organizational changes at the agency signaled the need for a better long-term partner.Read More

The network will be based in BirminghamRead More

It’s all too easy to be familiar with being underappreciated. Customers, clients, vendors, colleagues–we’d like them to notice and acknowledge our efforts on their behalf. When we pay attention to appreciation, it’s easy to come to the conclusion that there’s rarely enough.

Contrast this with the rare experience of being overappreciated. Getting more credit, support and benefit of the doubt than you deserve. The scarcity of this feeling highlights just how much we crave appreciation.

When rock stars and celebrities get hooked on overappreciation, it warps their expectations and becomes toxic. Getting credit where little is due, or reciprocation that isn’t deserved. This is the path to becoming a diva, and it afflicts more than just a few famous people. It’s easy to get spoiled.

If you end up hating your customers, begrudging your partners or insisting on more attention from customers, you may be getting dependent on appreciation.

How much do we deserve? How do we get more? You can see how the cycle gets us hooked.

There’s another way forward. Our search for appreciation, in whatever form, is a kind of attachment. Attachment is our focus on something we crave but can’t control. It robs us of our focus and worse, creates a cycle of never-enough. Appreciation can be more usefully seen as a byproduct of our practice, it’s not the point. We do the work because we can, because we have the opportunity to contribute. If appreciation results, that’s nice, but it’s out of our control.

With this freedom from external appreciation, we get to make a decision about where and how to offer our work to the world.

Each day, we get to make a new decision about how to invest our time, our attention and our effort. If a community that used to appreciate our work doesn’t respond in a way we are hoping for, we can use that information to reallocate our work. “Thank you” is an appropriate response to a lack of appreciation, because we learned something useful. The audience didn’t owe us anything, but if they don’t want to dance with us in the way we hope, we can choose to find a new partner.

The creator who feels trapped and in debt to their over-appreciating audience can make a new decision about their craft and the fans they choose to make it for. Screaming fans in arenas is an option, but so are discerning participants in a club.

The same goes for the vendors or partners or customers who aren’t showing up for us the way we feel we’ve earned. We can take umbrage and focus on the imbalance, or we can choose to make different work, better work, or work for a different group, one that might need what we have to offer. After all, there’s not a lot of use for surplus umbrage.

When we shift from a focus on what we are owed to one based on what we can contribute, we’re free to get back to work.

Read More

A giant cargo ship is trapping carbon from its exhaust and turning it into cement for use in onshore construction. The technology, developed by UK startup Seabound, is billed as the world’s first commercial carbon capture system for boats. It’s installed on the UBC Cork, a cement carrier owned by Germany’s Hartmann Group. “These are the systems we intend to scale across hundreds, and eventually thousands, of vessels,” Alisha Frediksson, Seabound’s CEO and co-founder, told TNW. “We’re therefore very excited to get them out into the world — to gather valuable data, optimise future iterations, and most importantly, to show…

This story continues at The Next WebRead More

Clinch’s pivot to flat-fee model marks a departure from how most adtechs traditionally monetize.Read More

The brand’s CMO explains how it partnered with Adam Sandler’s Happy Madison to weave itself into the film’s story.Read More

“There is no stop the clock. There is no grace period. There is no pause.” So said Thomas Regnier, a spokesman for the European Commission, in response to calls for a pause on the EU’s AI Act. These landmark rules on artificial intelligence will, then, be rolled out according to the timeline specified in the legislation. The EC will ignore calls from 46 CEOs across the continent to halt the legislation for two years — including me. This will surprise some people. My company, Kayrros, was the world’s first to track and attribute methane globally. We were cited when John…

This story continues at The Next WebRead More

Apple brings together global photographers and illustrators for its latest marketing campaign from TBWAMedia Arts Lab.Read More

The NWSL team is growing its queendom, with Alaska Airlines as the newest partner.Read More

Pacers and Hartbeat launch WNBA All-Star Fever Fest comedy and concert event, which begins Kevin Hart’s production company’s tenure as ‘cultural curator.’Read More