Welcome to 2020. Welcome to the first issue. Welcome to a small portal into my reflections.
Thanks for joining…
Have you seen this face?
Janus is the Roman god of beginnings and ends. Often associated with war, but for me, he’s more often been (wrongly) associated with January. Specifically, looking to the past to keep yourself honest in the future.
In 2016, I declared war on networking, and decided to pursue a life full of Bigger Experiences in Smaller Groups // inspired by
2017; comfort, and decided to prioritize // Courage over Comfort
2018; career enmeshment,
2019; reactiveness // Discipline is Freedom
2020; timidity // Vulnerability (inspired by Brené Brown’s legendary TED Talk)
Five years in, and while prior years are not forgotten, the goal is continue molding and shaping into a more perfect, imperfect form. By reading this you’re helping me achieve my goal, and for that, I sincerely thank you!
Now, let’s get into it…
Dec ‘19 - Jan ‘20
12/3 | Published my thoughts on Big Tech offering financial services. Since then, the WSJ published something similar, but more importantly the trend continues with a partnership between Grab (ride sharing and food delivery in Southeast Asia) & Singtel (largest mobile network in Singapore) announced on 12/30. Where does tech’s next trillion come from? Disrupting banking.
1/1 | Vulnerability via transparency. Here are my 2020 goals via a cute tracker you’re welcome to make your own. One day I’ll have the courage to share more, but it’s a start.
1/7 | Shared my thoughts on The Power of Networking to a room of 572 Binghamton University students. As promised here’s a link to that presentation.
Perspective
Scott Galloway’s first newsletter of the year contained a single data point that I can’t seem to move past, and can’t help but share.
The top .1% capture more wealth than the bottom 80%
As Peter Drucker would say, “you can't manage what you can't measure.” The hard part has been done for us. Now, as we tend to say in advertising, it’s an awareness problem.
With Democratic Party debates wrapping and the Iowa caucus on 2/3, I imagine stats like that will continue to make waves into the collective conscious.
Thanks for taking the time, and cheers to a meaningful few weeks ahead.
Armand
Still reading? You’re a champion and you’re destined for greatness :-)
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