This is how to give better feedback in just 19 words. 🗣️✨
Plus . . . Why teams (often) beat individuals and why you should get a lunchbox.
1. WHY NOT? Dear Kamala: Forget one running mate. Pick a team. 🏛️🇺🇸🌴
I don’t write about politics much. But given the madness of this summer, I couldn’t resist.
In the latest installment of our Washington Post Why Not? series, I offer some (unsolicited) advice for Vice President Kamala Harris.
You can read the column here or by clicking the image below.
“[I]ndividuals often outperform teams in solving simple problems. But teams are better at tackling complex challenges. Groups bring diverse experiences and clashing perspectives, which generate more options and yield smarter solutions for complicated problems.”
Discover more about Why Not?":
Read some previous columns.
Contribute your own Why Not?. Readers have already submitted more than 4,400 ideas. Share yours by using this Washington Post link or emailing me directly at whynot@danielpink.com.
2. PINK RECOMMENDS. A literary lunchbox . . . 60+ useful videos . . . and a Harvard focus test. 🍱 📺 👀
READ: McSweeney’s Internet Tendency is one of my favorite publications — always inventive, often hilarious. For their 25th anniversary, the wizards of Valencia Street have created their best issue yet. Issue 74 arrives in a tin lunchbox designed by Art Spiegelman. It contains three packages of author baseball cards, complete with disturbingly authentic wrappers. And it includes a 300-page anthology of McSweeney’s best writing.
WATCH: This news isn’t as exciting as a bespoke Spiegelman lunchbox, but the team here at Pink, Inc., has just curated the very best Pinkcasts, speeches, interviews, and animations from the last decade and assembled them in one place. It’s a new YouTube channel we’re calling Daniel Pink TV. We’ll be using DPTV as a platform for some future projects, too. So check it out. And consider subscribing to stay up to date.
LISTEN: Podcasts and audiobooks are cool. But I’m also a fan of slipping in my earbuds and listening to a play. In previous editions of this newsletter, I’ve recommended Playing on Air, which produces short audio plays. Now I’m recommending Audible’s excellent collection of full-length plays. One I especially liked recently is Mike Lew’s Tiny Father, about a guy with a lot of hangups and a daughter in the ICU.
TRY: In a world designed to distract, focus has become an essential — yet often elusive — skill. This New York Times interactive piece, based on an even more challenging Harvard art history exercise, gives you a chance to practice.
3. FINAL THOUGHTS. The 19-word secret to giving better feedback. 🧩 📣 🔄
Delivering feedback is tough. Delivering critical feedback is tougher still.
But there’s a simple way to make the job easier on the giver — and more useful for the recipient.
It’s all in this 77-second Pinkcast video. You can watch it on Daniel Pink TV or by clicking the image below.
That’s it for this edition. Thanks for reading The Pink Report.