Purpose, Paywalls, and People: A Week of Backstory & Strategy
This week, we launched a new decision-making framework, explored the history of local news, and questioned a common hiring practice. Here's your chance to catch up.
Happy Saturday!
The weekend is a perfect time to catch up on reading, reflect on new ideas, and share compelling pieces with friends and colleagues. It’s been a busy week here at Backstory & Strategy, with deep dives into the past and future of media, business culture, and strategic thinking.
Most excitingly, this week I published the very first tool from the newsletter:
A Practical Framework for Purpose-Driven Decisions: This is a hands-on guide designed to help you and your teams make choices that align with your core purpose. It's a resource I hope you'll bookmark and return to whenever you face a critical decision.
Here’s a look at the other pieces from this week, in case you missed them:
On the State of News & Media:
The Original Social Network: How Newspapers Built and Bound Communities: A look back at the foundational role newspapers played in creating a sense of shared community.
A Blueprint for Local News: What if a community had no local newspaper?: A thought experiment on the essential value of local news and a model for what could come next.
The Paywall Predicament: Why Americans Won't Pay for News: An exploration of the psychological and economic barriers that prevent people from paying for news, and what it means for the industry.
On Strategy & Culture:
Forget the Whale: A piece on strategic focus and the hidden dangers of chasing monumental, all-or-nothing goals.
Culture Fit: The Interview Secret Sauce or a Recipe for Bias?: A critical examination of a common hiring practice and its potential to either build a cohesive team or create a homogenous echo chamber.
Thank you for reading and being part of the Backstory & Strategy community. I hope you have a wonderful weekend with your family.
Best,
Yoni