5 Things: Good Grief, Foursquare, and Finding My Voice
Here’s what grabbed my attention this week. Music, some honest words about the end of a company, a mother’s attempt to reach her son, and two things I’m excited to share from the recording booth. Friday at Five.
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Sara Bareilles: Good Grief. We went to see Sara Bareilles in concert at the Dolby Theatre. My first time at the Dolby, and it didn’t disappoint. We then watched her documentary, Good Grief, which follows her back into the studio to make an album with close friends. It’s a look at the creative process, loss, and the ways music can help us move through grief. So good.
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Some final words on Foursquare, by Dennis Crowley. This is a great read for any founder or CEO. Dennis writes candidly about Foursquare’s ending, his own responsibility, and the difficulty of letting go of a company you’ve poured yourself into. There’s a lot here about accountability and treating people with care, especially when the outcome is painful. And about giving yourself permission to move on from something you love.
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A Mother Searches for Her Son, One Graffiti Tag at a Time, The New York Times. SON is a short documentary about a mother using graffiti to try to make contact with her son, who is experiencing homelessness. How far would you go to stay in contact with your child? The film touches on parental guilt, fear for someone you love, and the hope that keeps you reaching out. Sharing the gift link here.
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Our audiobook is here! The Intentional Organization launched in audio this week, narrated by Mathias and me! We spent five days in a recording studio in Montreal bringing the book to life in our own voices. Reading aloud gave us a whole new appreciation for the words we’d spent years writing, and for the work of narrating a book. Here’s more about our experience recording it together.
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Finding My Voice. I also wrote about the more personal side of recording the audiobook. I’ve never particularly liked hearing my own voice, and sitting alone in that booth felt surprisingly vulnerable. It got me thinking about all the ways being a founder had pushed me to speak up, and how the voice I’d developed for a company eventually became my own.
If you live in the U.S. and are eligible to vote next week, please, please, please do.