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Category: Culture

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Culture Growth Health and Wellness Human Resources Leadership

Ask Katherine: How do I get my kids to read?

 

  1. Pick a genre they’re interested in. Is your child into animals and insects? Try recommending “Charlotte’s Web” or “Babe.” Do they love a good adventure? “Chronicles of Narnia” might be right up their alley! Capture their attention with topics and genres they already enjoy.
  2. Create a cozy reading nook. Whether it’s a small tent in the living room or a pile of pillows in the bedroom, create a space dedicated to reading. Children love having their own space to enjoy. Make one rule, though: in order to use the reading nook, they actually have to read.
  3. Surround them with reading material. If a kid grows up surrounded by candy, chances are high that they’ll like candy. The same rhetoric applies to reading: when your children have easy access to books, they’ll be more likely to pick one up.

[eut_single_image image_type=”image-link” image_mode=”medium” image=”32023″ link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Fc-suitenetwork.com%2Fexecutive-membership|||”] 4.Make reading a family habit. Children model their parent’s behavior, so make reading a shared activity for the entire family (yes, that includes Mom and Dad). Schedule an hour or two on the weekends just for books. You can even join your kids in their reading nook!

5.Read aloud. Reading aloud can make a story more engaging. Take turns reading chapters or assign a specific character to each family member. You can also try audiobooks, many of which have fun voice narration to captivate even the most distractible audiences.

6.Make reading fun. Create fun activities centered around reading. For your outdoorsy boys, a bike ride to the library might do the trick! Older children may enjoy starting a book club with their friends or cousins. They can even host their “club meetings” out on the lawn or over Zoom!

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Categories
Culture Economics Entrepreneurship Human Resources Management Personal Development

How is the Great Resignation Driving Cultural Change in the Workplace?

Employees have been caught in limbo during the past couple of years. In thinking about the next career path, they should take, some employees are considering relying on accumulated savings over the years rather than continuing in seemingly lifeless employment.

Publicists have coined this event the Great Resignation—mostly credited to the effects of the pandemic, droves of employees have considered (and might have chosen) to leave their jobs.

To understand how the Great Resignation came to be, we should focus on two important factors: care and burnout.

What is Driving the Great Resignation? 

Even before the pandemic, employees are caught in a vicious cycle of outperforming each other. Employees are measured by nothing else but the amount of contribution they bring to the organization. If you have not hit your quota, you don’t have the “right” to take it easy and have a break. Employees are glorified for working 10-hour (or more!) workdays. This is not sustainable and has got to end at some point. When you’re working day in and day out with no end in sight, burnout is imminent.

This feeling of burnout was exacerbated by the lack of care some employers have shown their employees during the height of the pandemic. While some employers have been quick to deploy employee-friendly policies towards performance, attendance, and other factors, others maintained a rigid mindset. They dismissed the threat of the pandemic and continued to demand the same intensity from their employees without showing a little compassion and care.

These two factors came together and somewhat gave the employees the necessary jolt to finally proceed in leaving their posts.

Changes That We Can Expect in the Workplace Moving Forward

The Great Resignation may have been a wake-up call for employers to step up. Before the management and the employees may have existed on two separate planes but if there’s anything the Great Resignation and the pandemic have taught us is that our quality of life, safety, and health are far more important than our jobs, roles, and profits.

The pandemic has made us rethink how fleeting our lives are. Therefore, it will become normal for both employers and employees to find more fulfilling things to do.

You can expect that employers and employees will no longer face burnout and lack of care separately. With that, we can expect that these two groups will collaborate in making the working environment more conducive for growth and development for the employees and for the company to be recognized for having a “toxic-free” work culture.

Short-term fixes such as offering people more money or promotion will no longer make them stay. Even if they do, you’re just delaying the inevitable–short-term benefits have failed to turn demoralized employees into happy ones, time and time again.

Progressive cultural changes should start from the company. Take this opportunity to reset your organization’s purpose, find time to listen to your people, prioritize learning and development – give your employees a sense of purpose, and most importantly give a lot of importance to their well-being. [eut_single_image image_type=”image-link” image_mode=”medium” image=”32020″ link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Fc-suitenetwork.com%2Fexecutive-membership|||”]

What’s Next?

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 4.5 million workers quit or changed their jobs in November of 2021. The percentage of “quit rate” – the percentage of those who voluntarily left their jobs – jumped back up to 3 percent. A March 2021 survey found that 54 percent of employees around the world would consider leaving their job if they were not provided some form of flexibility in where and when they work. The U.S. Census Bureau reported that 2021 saw a whopping 5.4 million new business applications, surpassing the 4.4 million in 2020. In 2019 there were 3.5 million applications reported. What do all these numbers represent?

Two things are blatantly clear…first, the tide has shifted from an EMPLOYER dominant workforce to an EMPLOYEE one. Secondly, the number of new inexperienced business owners has increased by more than 2 million applications. If given the opportunity and resources needed to survive the next 2-5 years, we could see a tremendous boost in our nation’s GDP as more money is pumped into our economy, not to mention our labor force. Or…we could see the downside of this economic surge as businesses follow the norm and fail within the next 3-5 years.

MarketAtomy LLC is committed to keeping this from happening by bringing the resources and education needed to prepare these new business owners for growing a successful small business. To find out more go to marketatomy.com or to our eLearning environment at marketatomy.academy.

Danna Olivo is a Growth Strategist, Author, and Public Speaker. As CEO of MarketAtomy LLC, her passion is working with first-stage business owners to ensure that they are prepared and equipped to launch and grow a successful small business. She understands the intricacies involved early on in business formation and as such the challenges that come with it. A graduate of the University of Central Florida’s College of Business, Danna brings more than 40 years of experience strategically working with small and medium businesses, helping them reach their growth goals. danna.olivo@marketatomy.com

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Categories
Culture Growth Health and Wellness Human Resources Leadership

The real reason your child doesn’t listen to you.

Control. Do you feel yourself longing for it lately? 

 

When life feels uncertain, we often respond by grasping for control in any way possible. You hyperfocus on cleaning up the house.   You micromanage a project at work.   You criticize your spouse for the way they do…just about anything.

 

And you try to get your kid to “behave.” 

 

The belief that we should control our children, that they need to act according to our wishes, usually comes from a deep-seated belief passed down from our own childhood. And when our kids don’t do what we think they should do, we take it personally:

 

They’re driving ME crazy. 

 

They’re making ME frustrated. 

 

They’re not listening to ME.

 

via GIPHY

 

We’re tuned into how our kids make us feel, but what about them? 

 

If they’re not listening to you, who are they listening to? 

 

The answer is that they’re listening to something inside themselves. It’s their inner voice, the one that tells them how they feel and what they want to do next. 

 

Granted, what they want to do next might be:

 

  • throw a temper tantrum
  • ride a scooter through the house, or 
  • sneak out after curfew. 

 

I’m not suggesting you let your child do whatever they want. The opposite of control isn’t chaos. It’s consideration. 

 

When you consider your kid, you acknowledge that their desires and needs are different than your own. I call that the “inner no.” When your child says “no” to you, they’re saying “yes” to something inside themselves.

 

“When your child says ‘no’ to you, they’re saying yes to something inside themselves.”

 

Developing a sense of self is important for your kid. You want to raise a confident adult who’s able to advocate for what they need. But without the right guidance, you’ll probably default to trying to control your child’s behavior, which undermines their self-confidence. 

 

Every parent I’ve worked with has made the mistake of trying to control their child in some way. But you can change your behavior and transform your relationship. (And incidentally, your child will probably start listening to you more often!)

 

If making this change is important to you, then I highly recommend you watch my free webinar, 3 Common Mistakes Parents Make and How to Reverse Them. Letting go of control isn’t easy, but I’m confident that the techniques you’ll learn can help you get there.

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Categories
Culture Growth Health and Wellness Human Resources Leadership

Is Your Teen Rebelling, Resisting, and Retaliating?

Is your teenager’s defiant behavior ruling your family life?

The teenage years are challenging, leaving many parents and caregivers at a loss. But in fact, there’s a perfectly legitimate explanation for their behavior. During adolescence, humans begin developing their prefrontal cortex—the part of the brain responsible for making judgments, weighing pros and cons, and managing emotional responses.

This critical part of the brain continues developing until the mid-20s, making it difficult for teenagers to think critically and manage their moods. Research even shows that teens often misread cues and facial expressions…and are more likely to interpret them as being shocked or angry.

Yikes! Combined with the flood of new hormones coursing through their bodies, it’s no wonder your teen walks around constantly sighing, rolling their eyes, and slamming doors!

17

Understanding the Three Rs

According to child psychologist Dr. Louise Porter, who I co-authored the Guidance Approach to Parenting with, 75% of family disruptions result from what Dr. Thomas Gordon called the Three Rs: Resistance, Rebellion, and Retaliation.

When your child refuses to walk beside you at the mall, they’re resisting. When they go to a party instead of doing their homework, they’re rebelling. When they’re aggressive with their siblings because they feel misunderstood, they’re retaliating.

Teens’ defiant behavior is a reaction to power and control being imposed over them and is the classic activation of those 3Rs mentioned above. The lack of control over their emotions and bodies, combined with their legitimate need for self-direction and autonomy that is thwarted by many parents, causes them to “act out.”

As parents, we owe it to our teenagers to practice empathy and do our best to understand where they’re coming from. To combat normal but challenging behaviors, we have to give them the autonomy they crave while still ensuring their safety and well-being

18

7 Practical Tips for Managing Your Teen’s Behavior

The 3Rs can be eliminated by using the Guidance Approach to Parenting.  The reason the 3Rs surface is that controlling discipline activates them. The way to prevent them from surfacing is to never activate them in the first place. My TEDx talk, “The Rebellion is Here: We Created It and We Can Solve It,” has more detail about how the process works.

These practical tips can make a world of difference: 

1. When tempers rise, disengage. If your teen is defensive or upset, postpone heavy conversations for a later time. Give them space to calm down and think things over. You’ll benefit from this space, too.

2. Set age-appropriate guidelines. Give your teenagers the independence they crave, setting age-appropriate guidelines. What’s reasonable for a 13-year-old is probably too restrictive for a 16-year-old, so use your judgment and be open to feedback. Create solutions together, seeking clarity so everyone’s on the same page: “So are you saying you would feel better if I let you do your own thing from 2-5 pm on Saturdays, as long as you tell me where you’re going and with whom?”

3. Find common ground. Connect with your child by finding activities you both enjoy. Watch a movie together, go get ice cream, or play a favorite sport. Engaging in shared interests fosters a positive environment for meaningful connection. If your teen starts opening up about their life, listen and invite them to tell you more! Be careful not to use the 12 roadblocks to communication or will go awry!

Is Your Teen Rebelling, Resisting, and Retaliating

4. Respond, don’t react. When your teenager confides in you for the first time about, say, a boy they’re interested in, resist the urge to freak out! Drop the “my baby” perspective and be as objective as you can. Give advice like you would to a friend, assuring your teen that they can talk to you about anything—even the uncomfortable stuff.

5. Avoid phrases like “You never” and “You always.” Nothing sparks defensiveness more than the words “never” and “always.” Reframe your language to be non-accusatory. Instead of, “You’re always late for school!” say “I’ve received some reports about lateness from your school; is everything okay?”

6. Respect their privacy. With so much happening in their minds and bodies, teens can be extremely self-conscious about, well, everything. Respect their budding sense of self. That means no snooping in bedrooms, phones, laptops, or social media. Build trust with your teen, and they’ll feel empowered to tell you what’s going on.

7. Help them understand the changes in their body. Teens are better equipped at handling physiological changes when they’re fully aware of what’s happening. If they don’t want to talk to you about these changes, enlist the help of a trusted family member, friend, or counselor.

As your teenager navigates this complex period in their lives, it’s critical for parents to provide the support they desperately need.

Still feeling daunted? Parents need support, too! Our private FB community can help you chart these churning waters. Join us inside the Facebook Group for Tuesday Tips for Parents, Tuesdays at 6:10 pm PST. Our team of coaches streams in live every week to answer all your parenting questions.

Categories
Best Practices Culture Growth Leadership Personal Development

Inspirational Leadership in Trying Times of Crisis – How To Elevate Your Company Culture

What are your strengths and weaknesses when it comes to leadership in trying times of crisis?

That question is not necessarily an easy question. And oftentimes the leadership assessments don’t give a truly satisfying result. That’s why the following story could be of service for your leadership growth in these trying times of crisis.

“There once was a king and queen couple. They were revered by the people they reigned. But the land got invaded. And the time to step up their game had come.

Before this day though, things seemed to be easy. It was all about letting the people do their thing within the confines of a safe and well-ruled land. Everyone felt at home and on purpose. Life was good. And even the sky didn’t look like a limit to any of them.

Through securing the ways of freedom, trade and development, they had thus accomplished a great many things. Everyone received profits in different shapes and forms. And happiness and prosperity were as normal as the clean air they could breathe and the clear water they could drink, every day.

Until that moment came…

The invasion of dark forces and destructive patterns took a hold on their world. Freedom began to become a far off illusion. Trade got stalled and stuff got stolen. Developments were reversed and all outlooks for growth got destroyed.

Indeed it were trying times of crisis.

The couple got together with their most trusted advisors. Those advisors had intelligence and information from the peoples in the field. And the meeting was orchestrated so an invisible but infinitely powerful Benefactor could supply the timely wisdom they needed so much right now.

What came out of that meeting was a new balance of clarity on strengths and weaknesses. The strengths were all aligned with a grander vision previously unseen. The weaknesses were all confined to a balancing polarity, now productive again for a shared way forward as all being equal to the king and queen.

And so the darkness got destroyed by its own destructive forces. And the light shone upon the lands once again galore! Indeed the crisis was overcome. And everyone was led into a form of benevolence that was never seen before.”

What is the moral of this story?

  • You can clearly see that it refers to some actual events. In that respect, it hopefully gives you some hope.
  • You can also see that it refers to powers within each and every one of us. In that respect, it hopefully gives you some deeper understanding for creating and building a better company culture.
  • And you can see that it beholds a promise, something that can be made real through conscious choice. So…

Is it your strength to choose for new inspirational leadership now in these trying times of crisis? Can you indeed balance the weaknesses so they become a productive polarity for something better?

If you also believe in genuine inspiration for doing more good in the world then you’re invited to >>read this letter now<<

What are your strengths and weaknesses when it comes to leadership in trying times of crisis?

Because it is possible. It is doable. And it is time to embody it now.

I hope this story already helps a bit.

Thank you for reading.

Sincerely,

Maurits van Sambeek, MA

Author of >>Omnibenevolence<<

+++++

PS: If you want to talk deeper about the topics and themes of this story then you can >>contact me here on LinkedIn<<

PPS: If you want to receive genuine new inspiration for doing more good in the world then you’re invited to >>read this letter now<<

And you can go even deeper to reach higher forms of inspiration again and again by getting your copy of >>Omnibenevolence<<

 

Categories
Best Practices Culture Growth Leadership Personal Development

Inspirational Leadership in Trying Times of Crisis – How To Elevate Your Company Culture

What are your strengths and weaknesses when it comes to leadership in trying times of crisis?

That question is not necessarily an easy question. And oftentimes the leadership assessments don’t give a truly satisfying result. That’s why the following story could be of service for your leadership growth in these trying times of crisis.

“There once was a king and queen couple. They were revered by the people they reigned. But the land got invaded. And the time to step up their game had come.

Before this day though, things seemed to be easy. It was all about letting the people do their thing within the confines of a safe and well-ruled land. Everyone felt at home and on purpose. Life was good. And even the sky didn’t look like a limit to any of them.

Through securing the ways of freedom, trade and development, they had thus accomplished a great many things. Everyone received profits in different shapes and forms. And happiness and prosperity were as normal as the clean air they could breathe and the clear water they could drink, every day.

Until that moment came…

The invasion of dark forces and destructive patterns took a hold on their world. Freedom began to become a far off illusion. Trade got stalled and stuff got stolen. Developments were reversed and all outlooks for growth got destroyed.

Indeed it were trying times of crisis.

The couple got together with their most trusted advisors. Those advisors had intelligence and information from the peoples in the field. And the meeting was orchestrated so an invisible but infinitely powerful Benefactor could supply the timely wisdom they needed so much right now.

What came out of that meeting was a new balance of clarity on strengths and weaknesses. The strengths were all aligned with a grander vision previously unseen. The weaknesses were all confined to a balancing polarity, now productive again for a shared way forward as all being equal to the king and queen.

And so the darkness got destroyed by its own destructive forces. And the light shone upon the lands once again galore! Indeed the crisis was overcome. And everyone was led into a form of benevolence that was never seen before.”

What is the moral of this story?

  • You can clearly see that it refers to some actual events. In that respect, it hopefully gives you some hope.
  • You can also see that it refers to powers within each and every one of us. In that respect, it hopefully gives you some deeper understanding for creating and building a better company culture.
  • And you can see that it beholds a promise, something that can be made real through conscious choice. So…

Is it your strength to choose for new inspirational leadership now in these trying times of crisis? Can you indeed balance the weaknesses so they become a productive polarity for something better?

If you also believe in genuine inspiration for doing more good in the world then you’re invited to >>read this letter now<<

What are your strengths and weaknesses when it comes to leadership in trying times of crisis?

Because it is possible. It is doable. And it is time to embody it now.

I hope this story already helps a bit.

Thank you for reading.

Sincerely,

Maurits van Sambeek, MA

Author of >>Omnibenevolence<<

+++++

PS: If you want to talk deeper about the topics and themes of this story then you can >>contact me here on LinkedIn<<

PPS: If you want to receive genuine new inspiration for doing more good in the world then you’re invited to >>read this letter now<<

And you can go even deeper to reach higher forms of inspiration again and again by getting your copy of >>Omnibenevolence<<

 

Categories
Culture Entrepreneurship Marketing Personal Development

Navigating Web3, the metaverse and Music

As a career-long visionary and innovator, I’ve been at the forefront of several major iterations of content-related waves and platforms over the past several decades. Each of these waves has enabled greater empowerment for content creators and deeper fan engagement. So in that context, how will Web 3 and the metaverse will affect today’s artistic community? My research has uncovered some clues. But before I talk about those, let’s see how we got here in the first place.

First, we had Web 1.0 (dawn of the Internet — early days, then high-speed Internet, web sites, mobile explosion, and in my case helping to launch the earliest initiatives around artist direct-to-fan (DTF) models in the mid-90s when Todd Rundgren and I launched Patronet — pre-cursor to Patreon — in the mid-90s). Other artist DTF models of the day included efforts by Prince with the NPG Music Club and David Bowie with BowieNet (pioneers all). And of course, this phase included the disruption of Napster, Bit Torrent, the launch of iTunes, et al. That lasted about a decade.

Then Web 2.0 came along about 10 years ago, which focused on things like the rise of social media platforms where like-minded communities gathered, user-generated content was born, SmartPhones and the rise of the app world, and we had experiences like second screen (consumer engagement across and between multiple devices), et al. Over this decade, we’ve witnessed an exponential increase in social media/UGC platforms, especially with the use of graphics and video (visuals). In this era, we experienced something referred to as “The 2nd Renaissance” — a term coined by Jack Conte, CEO of Patreon — to describe a feedback loop between tech and content creators that drives the expansion of creator-type jobs and changes how society interacts with media and ‘influence’.

This creator economy is being embraced in a big way by venture capitalists (VCs) with increasing levels of investment in tools and platforms across industries that foster the interaction between creators and fans. And crypto is enabling a whole new set of opportunities for digital creation, placing the creator at the center of its own economy — no longer held back in distribution or monetization by monolithic media companies.

This past year in 2021, we’ve entered Web 3.0 — which has really started to pick up speed over the last six months in particular as I write this. Web3 includes the metaverse — immersive content and virtual in-world community experiences, the blockchain as a system for recording transactions and asset ownership as a digital ledger in the crypto world, and NFTs (non-fungible tokens which themselves are collectibles in the form of “one of one” cryptographic assets housed on a blockchain that are unique and can’t be replicated).

One of the leaders in the metaverse space (for music) is Roblox (worth about $28B and has about 50M users as I write this). Long-time colleague, Jon Vlassopulos is VP & Global Head of Music, and he’s leading the charge with all sorts of creative things in music on the platform including facilitating unique virtual concert & festival experiences, listening parties for artists and fans, and other innovative music experiences. These opportunities provide for richer artist-to-fan interactions, fan-to-fan interactions, and new revenue streams.

And in tandem with the metaverse, we’ve seen nothing short of an explosion of NFT sales in 2021. There’s quite a bit of uncertainty and skepticism with NFTs given the massive growth in a relatively short period of time, but many believe they are here to stay having gained traction particularly among younger demographics as a way to engage more deeply with their favorite artists (and with each other in fandoms).

One of the things NFTs enable is the opportunity for artists to get upfront funding from their fans without giving up the rights to their ownership and taking big revenue cuts — which was **exactly** the vision Todd and I had when we launched Patronet over 25 years ago (!). And in tandem, fans as “investors’, can participate in a share of the success of their favorite artists financially as well as with intrinsic satisfaction.

Several artists are experimenting with NFTs, such as creative music producer 3lau (pronounced “Blau” aka Justin Blau), who sold 33 NFTs on the third anniversary of his album Ultraviolet for over $11.7M, making it one of the largest music NFT deals to date. He has also launched his own venture, Royal, which enables fractional ownership through its own version of NFTs, and last Fall secured $55M in a Series A round raise.

And more recently, Julian Lennon (son of the late Beatle) auctioned off a set of Beatles memorabilia from his personal collection as NFTs in support of his philanthropic venture, The White Feather Foundation.

Navigating Web3, the metaverse and Music

The truth is there is so much happening in this space on a daily basis, and I’m paddling as fast as I can to come up to speed on the broad range of opportunities that the Web3 era enables in music and other realms. (As a career-long visionary and innovator, I’ve been at the forefront of several major iterations of content-related waves and platforms over the past several decades. Each of these waves has enabled greater empowerment for content creators and deeper fan engagement.) Others who are a little further along than I have done podcasts and written some highly informative pieces which I encourage you to dive into if you’re keen to learn more. Here’s a collection of just some of the resources I’ve found to be among the most insightful — but truly there’s a plethora of information out there (let alone a steady stream of events showing up on the landscape consistently):

*Peter Csathy’s CreatTV.Media — a long-time trusted colleague in the digital media space (especially in music), Peter hosts a podcast called “Fearless Media”, and offers a wealth of insights on Web3 here. He features guests on the cutting edge of Web3 activities aimed at music and other media (films, games, etc).

*Variety’s Intelligence Platform also offers a broad range of well-researched reports and insights that cover every facet of music and entertainment’s next frontier in Web 3. Here’s just one example.

*How NFTs Could Re-define the Future of the Music Industry by Jake Fraser for Venture Beat

*The Creator Economy & 2nd Renaissance — a terrific PDF I recommend highly; by Bitkraft Ventures

*Web3 is the Future, or a Scam, or Both — by long-time journalist colleague Peter Kafka

*Unpacking Music Royalty Investment NFTs — by Tatiana Cirisano

*Real Vision — an on-demand financial TV channel focused on fintech and Web3 initiatives, including an emphasis on the music, media and entertainment worlds. They also host highly curated dynamic events.

*NFT LA — taking place in Los Angeles, March 28–31, 2022

*Web3 Summit — taking place in San Diego, May 18–20, 2022 (full disclosure, I’m programming music track panels for this event).

So as you can see, Web3 is emerging as one of the most dynamic of all the waves we’ve experienced thus far related to multimedia platforms and new forms of content creation, engagement and monetization. Watch this space as we’re only on the cutting edge of this new era which promises to be a game-changer.

Categories
Culture Entrepreneurship Marketing Personal Development

Navigating Web3, the metaverse and Music

As a career-long visionary and innovator, I’ve been at the forefront of several major iterations of content-related waves and platforms over the past several decades. Each of these waves has enabled greater empowerment for content creators and deeper fan engagement. So in that context, how will Web 3 and the metaverse will affect today’s artistic community? My research has uncovered some clues. But before I talk about those, let’s see how we got here in the first place.

First, we had Web 1.0 (dawn of the Internet — early days, then high-speed Internet, web sites, mobile explosion, and in my case helping to launch the earliest initiatives around artist direct-to-fan (DTF) models in the mid-90s when Todd Rundgren and I launched Patronet — pre-cursor to Patreon — in the mid-90s). Other artist DTF models of the day included efforts by Prince with the NPG Music Club and David Bowie with BowieNet (pioneers all). And of course, this phase included the disruption of Napster, Bit Torrent, the launch of iTunes, et al. That lasted about a decade.

Then Web 2.0 came along about 10 years ago, which focused on things like the rise of social media platforms where like-minded communities gathered, user-generated content was born, SmartPhones and the rise of the app world, and we had experiences like second screen (consumer engagement across and between multiple devices), et al. Over this decade, we’ve witnessed an exponential increase in social media/UGC platforms, especially with the use of graphics and video (visuals). In this era, we experienced something referred to as “The 2nd Renaissance” — a term coined by Jack Conte, CEO of Patreon — to describe a feedback loop between tech and content creators that drives the expansion of creator-type jobs and changes how society interacts with media and ‘influence’.

This creator economy is being embraced in a big way by venture capitalists (VCs) with increasing levels of investment in tools and platforms across industries that foster the interaction between creators and fans. And crypto is enabling a whole new set of opportunities for digital creation, placing the creator at the center of its own economy — no longer held back in distribution or monetization by monolithic media companies.

This past year in 2021, we’ve entered Web 3.0 — which has really started to pick up speed over the last six months in particular as I write this. Web3 includes the metaverse — immersive content and virtual in-world community experiences, the blockchain as a system for recording transactions and asset ownership as a digital ledger in the crypto world, and NFTs (non-fungible tokens which themselves are collectibles in the form of “one of one” cryptographic assets housed on a blockchain that are unique and can’t be replicated).

One of the leaders in the metaverse space (for music) is Roblox (worth about $28B and has about 50M users as I write this). Long-time colleague, Jon Vlassopulos is VP & Global Head of Music, and he’s leading the charge with all sorts of creative things in music on the platform including facilitating unique virtual concert & festival experiences, listening parties for artists and fans, and other innovative music experiences. These opportunities provide for richer artist-to-fan interactions, fan-to-fan interactions, and new revenue streams.

And in tandem with the metaverse, we’ve seen nothing short of an explosion of NFT sales in 2021. There’s quite a bit of uncertainty and skepticism with NFTs given the massive growth in a relatively short period of time, but many believe they are here to stay having gained traction particularly among younger demographics as a way to engage more deeply with their favorite artists (and with each other in fandoms).

One of the things NFTs enable is the opportunity for artists to get upfront funding from their fans without giving up the rights to their ownership and taking big revenue cuts — which was **exactly** the vision Todd and I had when we launched Patronet over 25 years ago (!). And in tandem, fans as “investors’, can participate in a share of the success of their favorite artists financially as well as with intrinsic satisfaction.

Several artists are experimenting with NFTs, such as creative music producer 3lau (pronounced “Blau” aka Justin Blau), who sold 33 NFTs on the third anniversary of his album Ultraviolet for over $11.7M, making it one of the largest music NFT deals to date. He has also launched his own venture, Royal, which enables fractional ownership through its own version of NFTs, and last Fall secured $55M in a Series A round raise.

And more recently, Julian Lennon (son of the late Beatle) auctioned off a set of Beatles memorabilia from his personal collection as NFTs in support of his philanthropic venture, The White Feather Foundation.

Navigating Web3, the metaverse and Music

The truth is there is so much happening in this space on a daily basis, and I’m paddling as fast as I can to come up to speed on the broad range of opportunities that the Web3 era enables in music and other realms. (As a career-long visionary and innovator, I’ve been at the forefront of several major iterations of content-related waves and platforms over the past several decades. Each of these waves has enabled greater empowerment for content creators and deeper fan engagement.) Others who are a little further along than I have done podcasts and written some highly informative pieces which I encourage you to dive into if you’re keen to learn more. Here’s a collection of just some of the resources I’ve found to be among the most insightful — but truly there’s a plethora of information out there (let alone a steady stream of events showing up on the landscape consistently):

*Peter Csathy’s CreatTV.Media — a long-time trusted colleague in the digital media space (especially in music), Peter hosts a podcast called “Fearless Media”, and offers a wealth of insights on Web3 here. He features guests on the cutting edge of Web3 activities aimed at music and other media (films, games, etc).

*Variety’s Intelligence Platform also offers a broad range of well-researched reports and insights that cover every facet of music and entertainment’s next frontier in Web 3. Here’s just one example.

*How NFTs Could Re-define the Future of the Music Industry by Jake Fraser for Venture Beat

*The Creator Economy & 2nd Renaissance — a terrific PDF I recommend highly; by Bitkraft Ventures

*Web3 is the Future, or a Scam, or Both — by long-time journalist colleague Peter Kafka

*Unpacking Music Royalty Investment NFTs — by Tatiana Cirisano

*Real Vision — an on-demand financial TV channel focused on fintech and Web3 initiatives, including an emphasis on the music, media and entertainment worlds. They also host highly curated dynamic events.

*NFT LA — taking place in Los Angeles, March 28–31, 2022

*Web3 Summit — taking place in San Diego, May 18–20, 2022 (full disclosure, I’m programming music track panels for this event).

So as you can see, Web3 is emerging as one of the most dynamic of all the waves we’ve experienced thus far related to multimedia platforms and new forms of content creation, engagement and monetization. Watch this space as we’re only on the cutting edge of this new era which promises to be a game-changer.

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Culture Growth Health and Wellness Human Resources Leadership

Ask Katherine: My kids won’t stand up for themselves

Dear Katherine,

My children are the targets of bullying on social media. These bullies make up rumors and spread lies about my kids, and I can see the effects of this cruelty weighing on them.

I have ideas for confronting the bullies, but my kids don’t want to talk about the situation at all.
I want to get through to them and offer guidance, but I’ve hit a real roadblock.
What can I do?

Sincerely,
On Their Side

Hey there, On Their Side.

My heart goes out to you–dealing with bullying is hard for kids and parents alike. I’m reading two primary concerns in your message: that you want your children to open up to you more and that they’re not standing up for themselves.

Let’s address each one:

  1. Getting your children to open up to you

First and foremost, you need to find a way to get through to your kids and address the bullying. The best way is to employ your active listening skills. If they’re still resisting your attempts to communicate, show them that you empathize with what they’re going through.

Acknowledge how hard these conversations are for them and that they’re in a crummy situation. Assure your kids that you understand their side — including their hesitancy to stand up for themselves.

After you’ve demonstrated that you’re an understanding parent, move on to a protective use of force. Your kids’ well-being and reputation are at stake, and they shouldn’t allow this problem to go on without trying to handle it. You can assert yourself without coming off as angry or demanding. Try saying something like. . .

“I can tell this situation is really hard for you because you don’t even want to talk to me about it. But I can’t just leave it alone because your reputation and well-being are on the line. I love you too much to allow you to forsake those things because you want to avoid a difficult conversation.”

  1. Encouraging your children to be more assertive

Now we can move on to your next concern: How can you help your kids be more assertive? The answer is simple: Model the behavior you wish to see.

Young children can’t practice what they don’t observe. If your kids witness you standing up for yourself, they’ll be able to replicate that behavior.

Ask Katherine: My kids won’t stand up for themselves

Parent-child communication helps here, too. Talk to your children about the difference between assertiveness and aggressiveness. Explain that being assertive means using I-statements, like “I feel” and “I need.” In contrast, aggressive behavior is associated with you-statements, like “You’re mean.”

I wish you the best as you navigate this challenging time in your kids’ lives. You sound like a genuinely supportive parent. With your help, your children will be able to confront this issue and eventually overcome it.

Love and Blessings,

Katherine

 

 

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Culture Growth Health and Wellness Human Resources Leadership

Practical Advice for Any Parenting Challenge

Parenting is a constant learning curve. Just when you’ve finally resolved one issue, your kids grow up! And another challenge arises.

No matter where you are in your parenting journey, we’re here to support you. To make things easy, we curated some of our most popular blog posts to help you through any difficult situation. 

Sit back, relax, and choose a topic that speaks to you to start creating a happier and healthier relationship with your kids.

 

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If you need additional support, you’ve come to the right place. Join the Conscious Parenting Revolution private Facebook group for even more community!  And you can join Tuesday Tips for Parents every week on Tuesday at 6:10 pm Pacific time when Katherine, Lauren, and Nam stream into the private Facebook group live and offer Tuesday Tips for Parents.  Come and join us!  Ask your questions in the comments box and we will address them.