Ted Lasso is a delight
Friends have been recommending this for a while now, and I finally took the plunge. I admit it’s because my hair person actually paused mid-cut when I mentioned I might start Ted Lasso soon. She put her shears down, put both hands on my shoulders, and told me, “[gasp] You are in for a treat!” And then went back to cutting my bangs way too short.
Here is a nice little video about the show, which is like “a massive hug,” as one of the actors puts it. Hilariously, the interviewer, who is apparently a robot, responds, “a hug to what.” (Start around 10:39 below).
Presumably you’ve seen it already, but if you haven’t, you’re in for a treat.
Corporate wellness perks are a scam
Because none of them address the root of the burnout problem
Ed Zitron nails it:
burnout is caused by working with seemingly no end. It is a form of exhaustion. It is not, at its core, a mental health issue - it is an issue with being overloaded and having no respite from said overload, and trying to solve it by offering “mental health” and “wellness” and “meditation” stuff is disingenuous.
…
It should not be the worker’s job to volunteer that they’re burned out (if they even recognize they are), and it is equal parts disingenuous and insulting to suggest an internal solution to an external problem.
When there is too much work and/or you work with assholes and/or your workplace sucks, these are not things that can be solved by giving someone a meditation app or a therapist. These things may help deal with the symptoms of these problems, but they don’t fix the source, and I do not see articles that actively attack and deconstruct the ways in which businesses get away with not fixing actual problems.
A managerial culture that “has conversations around burnout” is utterly offensive to me, because there are no conversations to have about burnout. If you are having a conversation about burnout, it’s because you have failed as an organization, on a small or large scale. The solution isn’t to look at workers and say “okay, you’ve got burnout, time to relax,” but to look at the root causes and work out how to avoid that in the future, be it through not piling on so much work at once or giving them direct assistance to do the work.
…
Burnout is not a mental health issue, it is an organizational issue that causes mental and physical health issues. It is not something that should be dealt with by giving people apps, or having all-hands about the effects of burnouts, or write corporate handbooks about “dealing with burnout.” It is something where you need to look at your organization and find exactly what is burning people out. If it’s people, they need to be told to cut it out or fired. If it’s an overwhelming slate of work, you should be reducing that work (not “investigating ways to do so”) by either hiring people or taking on less work.
The entire piece is a great, quick read.
Everything is lies
Came across this tweet the other day, and it caught my eye because I’d read all about Grameen and various microlenders/social venture capital type stuff, prior to applying to business school. I had grand aspirations of working in this world post-MBA (I still do, some day maybe), but I chickened out at the time due to crippling student loans.
Grameen Bank is one of the OG microfinance organizations, founded by Nobel Peace prize winner Muhammad Yunnus. Grameen gives small loans to women to start businesses. Grameen America is the US version and has lent $2.3B to more than 145K low-income minority women. This Bloomberg article cites a series of successes from a study of the program in Union City, NJ (March 2014-2017). Women received loans ranging from $500 to $1,500. The money was used to “start or expand small enterprises such as selling cosmetics, clothes, food, herbal medicine and jewelry. For some, these micro-businesses supplemented salaried work in salons, as cleaners, childcare providers and other jobs.”
The article says that compared to the control group, women who took the loans reported:
an increase in non-retirement savings by an average of $839
17% more likely to have a credit score
Monthly net business earnings increased an average of $127.
Average monthly net income was $173 higher.
7% less likey to report “material hardship”
less likely to avoid a doctor or hospital due to cost
less likely to postpone or neglect filling a drug prescription
Greater overall well-being and financial empowerment
That sure feels nice. But let’s get into some deets. Bloomberg:
Another borrower cited in the study, Alejandra, became the sole breadwinner for her children after her husband was arrested; bail and legal fees for her husband after two years in detention left the household $10,000 in debt. After he returned to his construction job, Alejandra decided to start selling herbal products and got a Grameen loan to grow her business.
Bloomberg ends the story there. Loan needed, disbursed, herbal products, and Alejandra has it all solved. Herbal products, eh? Hmm…let’s click into the study and learn more about Alejandra:
Then, a neighbor invited her to sell Herbalife products. Alejandra invested $1,000 of her own money to get started. Her neighbor also told her about Grameen America, and Alejandra decided to join the program so she could get a loan and invest in her business. She partnered with her neighbor to open up a storefront. Mornings she sold Herbalife products there, and afternoons she spent taking care of her kids at home. The storefront venture didn’t last long, however. The two partners had to close because of problems with the landlord. Alejandra continued selling Herbalife on her own to a handful of clients. She also went back to work at the cleaning company. This time, however, she only worked part-time.
Because, you know, she’s in a pyramid scheme now.
Worse, a third of loan recipients had MLMs in mind when they signed up for the loans. Screenshot below from the same study.
On top of this, Grameen loans had interest rates of 15-18%. Imagine taking an 18% loan and then dumping it into a pyramid scheme and hustling your friends to pay off the loan.
Grameen says 99% of the loans were paid off in three months though, so I guess it worked?
Kelsey Piper, the tweeter, noted that, “Andrea Jung, the CEO of Grameen America, is the former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Avon Products, a MLM.”
Of course she is. Sigh.
The OG Grameen Bank still seems highly laudable. I wouldn’t do a read-through to their international business. This US stuff, though, is concerning to say the least.
Extra credit
Anyway, here’s a recommended media list if you want to know some more about MLMs (and cults).
Watch
Watch LuLaRich - Season 1 | Prime Video (amazon.com) (4 episodes, 45 min each)
Amazon’s LuLaRich documentary explores the empty dream that LuLaRoe sold - Vox (8 min)
Watch (Un)Well | Netflix Official Site (Episode 1 on Essential Oils) (55 min)
Read
How MLMs And Cults Use The Same Mind Control Techniques | HuffPost Life (14 min)
Multilevel Marketing and the Rise of 'Anti-MLM' YouTube - The Atlantic (9 min)
Listen
Ep. 153: Multi-Level Marketing: Buttery Soft (podbean.com) (2 hrs. First hr is "legit" MLMs like Avon/Pampered chef/Tupperware, around 1 hr in: Herbalife, last 40 or so is Lularoe)
Sounds Like A Cult: The Cult of Multi-Level Marketing on Apple Podcasts (30 min)
More Herbalife
Reliving the Carl Icahn and Bill Ackman Herbalife feud on CNBC (30 min)