🏷️ “So many SKUs. Look at all these SKUs.”

Table of Contents

• 🔦 Spotlight

• 🧠 Thinking

• 💼 Bidness

🔦 Spotlight

🇵🇸 The International Court of Justice is currently hearing South Africa’s argument that Israel is guilty of violating the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in its war in Gaza. I genuinely believe everyone should read South Africa’s legal brief, it’s a historical document of enormous magnitude. An African country that experienced genoice is now holding the world to account to ensure it doesn’t happen again on their watch.

I know its long (84 pages to be exact) but despite it’s length I believe we should all read it. Why? It is our duty and sacred responsibility to bear witness and be informed enough to work in principled ways toward justice and peace. That’s my genuine belief and I’m trying to be better at living up to that.

The full brief can be read HERE but @ziembavision on Instagram has created a helpful cheat sheet that you can read HERE (part 1) and HERE (part 2).

The Palestinian Festival of Literature has also published the first two videos of what will become a series featuring more than two dozen prominent actors reading key portions of South Africa’s brief.

Part 1: Introduction & Part 1 of Genocidal Acts Committed Against the Palestinian People

Part 2: Causing Serious Bodily & Mental Harm to Palestinians in Gaza

🧠 Thinking

Speaking of systems…

🏷️ Wooooooo! So Many Products. So Many SKUs!!!

A quick aside before the main point…
Please know and understand that “so many SKUs” has now been added to my personal vocabulary. It has the staying power of “great gowns, beautiful gowns.” Recho Omondi’s comedic timing is a masterclass in interviewing (more on her in a future newsletter, I have the biggest girl crush). I literally hollered out loud when I first heard this. Let me refocus though…

As usual, the popular discourse on this viral video shows the plot line was lost. For once I kinda get it because I had to rewind that SKUs moment at least 5x. But when I got beyond it, it was clear the surface-level topic of Drake’s music is almost beside the point. Their witty remarks, snickers, and meme-worthy facial expressions offered a pointed critique of the culture of consumerism and how it’s starting to implode on itself. Drake is just a symptom of a rapidly (d)evolving system. Perhaps he’s even a driver of its decline but that’s just me adding sauce to Mos’ take.

Early in his career we applauded Drake for being a chameleon of sorts. He would expertly weave through genres with ease, ushering in a wave of more melodic rap. At some point we stopped describing his musical explorations as “expert weaving” and started calling them “experimental.” Dangerous sign. But all was not lost. I know we missed the old Drake and a lot of y’all hated the Passionfruit era but I will defend Blem until my last breath. That’s some of his best work!

However, to meeeeeeeee, All the Dogs sealed the argument of who Drake is making music for. Drake isn’t just experimenting with genres and sounds for the sake of art and expression anymore. He will infuse the SKU of whatever is flying off the shelves at that time which is a mindf#$k when you consider how wealthy he already is. So many different, disjointed Drake sounds over the years. “Sooooo many products." That’s saying the quiet part out loud.

Nina Simone asked how you can be an artist and not reflect the times. I’ll never go as far to say Drake isn’t an artist. I personally believe him to be a damn good one. But look at the times he’s reflecting through his “formulaic” creation of music. THAT is Mos’ point. What the artists are reflecting in these times is a sign of collapse. It begs the question of how long the center can hold? And to have made such an expansive point in such few words, delicious tea.

“Are we seeing the collapse of the empire.”

Alsooo it’s a damn shame that Mos Def went viral for this take and not the heartfelt prayers he offered up for Palestine.

Alllssooooo I heard some folks asking whether Mos has the right to question Drake as a rapper. NOT TOO MUCH!!!!

💼 Bidness

What’s with all of the tech layoffs, AGAIN? Systems. Systems are changing.

@nate.b.jones

OpenAI is eating even other AI models… #productmanagement #productmanager #productmanagers #engineering #engineer #ai #chatgpt #mentor #me... See more

“Most people dream. A lot of people set goals. Everyone has habits but almost no has the systems. And it’s one thing to set goals but it’s another thing to keep the focus throughout the whole year.”

First off, I LOVE this creator. Her name is Alex Kingsley and her channel is a gold mine. You can tell she’s an educator by how wonderfully she breaks down ideas. This video helped me tremendously as I started thinking through my 2024 goals.

If you know me, you know I love Notion. I love the product, I love teaching people about Notion, and I love making Notion pages for folks. (Notion, lets work together!)

That said, I’m a Notion enthusiast but Anna Lenkovska is a Notion master. She is badass young woman that creates content on self growth and is one of organized and methodical people I’ve ever seen! She absolutely demonstrates the importance of taking a systems approach to reaching goals.

I own every single Notion template she sells and use them avidly. Her Travel Dashboard and Language Learning Hub completely changed the game for me. So has her Goal Setting Dashboard which I used to plan out my 2024 goals. She breaks down how to use each of her Notion templates on her Youtube page. When I say these are the most incredible, sophisticated, integrated, and yet visually beautiful Notion templates out I really mean that. The hubs are high ROI purchases and she’s a high value follow.

Finally, I’ve declared this the year I use systems to get my financial life a much needed tune up because 2023 tried to take me out! I’ll share more resources soon but for now, I did some research to help you get started on taking control of your money in 2024. HERE is my Investment Info Sheet.

Whatever your dream or your goal is, keep at it. Keep putting one foot in front of the other. You’ll thank yourself later.