I'll Take "Things That Matter" for $1,000: A Jeopardy-Style Roundup
Back when I used to watch the game show Jeopardy! with my grandma, there was a category called “Potpourri.” Probably still is – haven’t watched it in decades and a quick Google search tells me it’s still a thing, which means I definitely know what my grandma is doing in heaven right now.
Sixty-one years running, so all hail Jeopardy!
Within the confines of Jeopardy!, the potpourri category captures a little bit of everything – which is simply my way of saying that’s what you’ll get in today’s post – a grab bag of this and that all tied together with a ribbon of social and environmental impact.
So, let’s go.
Oh, what the heck, I was headed in one direction, but as I write this I’m being pulled to a different path for this post: no, not “More cowbell,” but to roll out a quick game of Jeopardy! Who’s game to play a round?
Potpourri for $200
Clue: This unlikely class of investors is venturing into employee ownership in its portfolio companies.
Answer: What is Private Equity?
Context: On his Substack, Regenerative Insights, Christopher Marquis writes about a trend whereby private equity investors, long known for their rapacious approach – especially in dealings with employees – are experimenting with employee ownership to boost retention and to win deals.
Potpourri for $400
Clue: This messy moniker has been applied to a negative effect of AI on workplace productivity.
Answer: What is Workslop?
Context: I've been advising the team at Stanford Social Media Lab (SML) for a couple of years now. I'm routinely blown away by the talented people there who are working at the forefront of social media and AI to confront – and help solve – the many problems occasioned by these platforms and technologies. Jeff Hancock, founder of SML, coined the term “workslop” for this paper published in the Harvard Business Review on the downsides of AI and workplace productivity.
Potpourri for $600
Clue: This women’s sports league has signed a sponsorship deal that might turn out to be a headache.
Answer: What is the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL)?
Context: The NWSL recently signed a multi-year partnership with Tylenol, just as the drug – long known to be a safe pain reliever – came under fire from the Trump Administration, which claims it can cause of autism.
“As we were trying to figure out what we wanted to do to connect with our consumers and support women’s sports, it just was really clear for us [that] sports and pain relief go very well together,” Jen Gow, US head of pain at Tylenol’s parent company, Kenvue, told Marketing Brew. “Greatness hurts, and we want to support great athletes.”
Meanwhile, President Trump urged pregnant women to forego Tylenol usage and to “tough it out.”
Potpourri for $800
Clue: This inanimate form moves, makes sounds, and both lives and dies.
Answer: What is a glacier?
Context: Glaciers have become a symbol of climate change. The Crying Glacier, an amazing documentary in the New York Times, is a truly astonishing listen, if you have a few minutes – it's only 9+ minutes. It tells the sonic story of a project by sound artist Ludwig Berger to detail the dying words of a glacier in Switzerland.
Potpourri for $1,000
Clue: The Big Bad Wolf.
Answer: What is the first benefit corporation in the world?
Context: It’s no fairy tale, but rather a retail store merging green ethics and high-quality pet supplies in Maryland. When the State of Maryland became the first state in the country to adopt benefit corporation legislation in 2010, The Big Bad Wolf became the first company in the world to register as a public benefit corporation. Woof!
So, Jeopardy, pro – how’d you do?
Godspeed, friends.
Russ
💬 Think About It
"The more alive the glacier seems, the more the glacier is actually dying." Ludwig Berger
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