☕️ Do you even Ape?

Lessons from the most powerful woman in business…
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March 27, 2022 | View Online | Sign Up | Shop
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Blane Asrat

IN THIS ISSUE

Indra Nooyi shares career tips

Inside the ApeCoin airdrop

Looking for Alaska

 
 

Editor's Note

 
 

Good morning. During his acceptance speech for best foreign language film at the 2020 Golden Globes, Parasite director Bong Joon Ho said, "Once you overcome the one-inch tall barrier of subtitles, you will be introduced to so many more amazing films."

That's certainly been the case for me. Whether it's Bollywood's 3 Idiots or Iran's A Separation, many—well, actually most—of the memorable movies I've watched in recent years have not been in English. TV shows, too. Israel's Shtisel and the Turkish drama Ethos are two excellent foreign-language series that come to mind.

People broadly seem to be coming around to Bong's thesis. Just look at the Netflix data: Three of the streaming service's 10 most-watched shows of all time are not in English. South Korea's Squid Game, of course, is No. 1.

Subtitles will take center stage at tonight's Academy Awards. Drive My Car is the first Japanese film nominated for best picture, while another best picture nominee, CODA, contains many scenes in American Sign Language.

I think many of us are finding that a one-inch tall barrier is not a particularly challenging one to hurdle. And once you take the leap, an entire world opens up.

Neal Freyman

 

CULTURE

 
 

Q&A

 

Icebreakers with…business legend Indra Nooyi

Indra Nooyi Amy Sussman/Getty Images

Indra Nooyi, the former chair and CEO of PepsiCo, is widely considered one of the most powerful women in corporate America—for her business prowess, certainly, but also for showing how to balance a demanding job with a fulfilling family life. Her recent memoir, My Life in Full, urges companies to prioritize flexibility for workers and paid leave.

Nooyi shared business lessons from her remarkable career with Nora Ali, the host of Business Casual.

In your book, you express concern that young people are choosing not to have children. Why does that worry you?

For two reasons. One, I think that when I had my children, I felt love from the deepest part of me. I knew it was a tether, I knew children were a tether, but it was a beautiful tether. And even now I look at my kids and I have an outpouring of love that I can't explain. And to the extent that other people feel this way, I want them to feel that experience of love from the deepest part of them. So that's my emotional reaction.

The other: I think we need young people so that we can keep growing. If we don't have young people, how are we going to support the aged, how are we going to build future consumers?

Do you feel driven by the high expectations placed on you by the Indian and Indian American communities, or have you been able to focus on what is actually best for Indra?

I've focused on what's best for Indra and PepsiCo. Because if I keep focusing on the outside pressures, then I'm busy figuring out how to make myself be seen by those people, how to build an image of myself for those people.

The job can go tomorrow if you don't perform. That's what people forget—when you get into a CEO job, you are in a precarious position because you have to perform all the time. And it's very easy to fall off that perch. So I computed that the best way to impress everybody was to do a good job. I focused maniacally on doing a good job at PepsiCo and I figured if I did that, then everything else will come with it, and even if people don't compliment me, I'm still in the job.

What is your general advice about being an effective communicator at work while also staying true to yourself?

One of the lessons I've learned is to watch the communication style of people two levels above me, because that told me how people got to where they are. I watch how they convey messages, how they react to bad news, how they calm the troops down. I watched them in my own company, I watched them in other companies, I watched them in any industry meeting I went to. And when you see certain styles that people adopt, make a note of it. Write in your diary and say, "Give eye contact; make sure you let people finish; when they give you bad news, don't immediately dismiss them."

This is just a short excerpt of the much longer, insightful interview. Watch it on YouTube or listen to it as a podcast.

     
 
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WORK LIFE

 

My employer asked for my LinkedIn contacts

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Each week, our workplace whisperer Shane Loughnane answers a reader-submitted question about problems at work. Anything nagging at you? Ask Shane here.

My workplace gave a deadline for everyone to provide a copy of their LinkedIn contacts. The reason given was so they can "better understand work and personal networks, find specific areas of growth, and build a visual relationship map." This feels like an unnecessary invasion of privacy. How would you deal with this? —L. in DC

Any time I get notified that my LinkedIn profile has been viewed, there's always that momentary touch of intrigue. Is it a recruiter eyeballing my credentials? Perhaps an old colleague is in search of a reference. Of course the obvious explanation had eluded me until just now: I'm probably just being added to someone's visual relationship map.

Depending on the growth stage of the company, there might be some value in wanting to leverage this type of information—which is about the extent of the case I can make for your employer. The request still seems odd, and the clumsy manner in which it was communicated (i.e., the deadline and the rationale) doesn't help matters. And while I'm not sure the ask itself constitutes an invasion of privacy, it doesn't exactly appear to be in lockstep with LinkedIn's user agreement (re: section 2.2), either.

The bottom line is that as the owner of your LinkedIn profile, you are not obligated to turn over any of the information therein. I would bring your concerns to your boss. Explain your perspective and get their feedback. Feel free to borrow my amateur legal interpretation (though beware I'm only licensed to practice law in the metaverse so far). Your boss may direct you to HR, or you might opt to do so on your own if you don't feel like your concerns are going to be appropriately escalated or resolved.

Regardless of how the situation unfolds, I wouldn't blame you for filing this away as a red flag. Even in the best light, it's a bizarre move for your company and not one that inspires confidence as an employee. Hopefully this proves to be a blip on the radar of your overall experience and we can count on receiving a copy of all of your work anniversary notifications going forward.

     
 

ANALYSIS

 

These apes are bored and rich

ApeCoin rotating. ApeCoin

Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) is a bustling virtual community that's attracted a varied crew, from early NFT adopters to status-seeking celebs like Eminem and Madonna. Now, the community has a cryptocurrency associated with it: ApeCoin.

The discussion around ApeCoin and those who will chart its future is about as hairy as you'd expect.

How ApeCoin entered circulation

ApeCoin launched on March 16 and was picked up by major crypto exchanges such as Coinbase. As of Friday, one APE was worth $13.30 and the crypto had a total market cap of $3.7 billion.

So who launched it? ApeCoin DAO. A DAO (decentralized autonomous organization) is a new type of governance structure that's run on a blockchain and theoretically disposes of hierarchy—a real "for the people" organization, if you will. If you own any ApeCoin, then you get to become a member of ApeCoin DAO, and you can vote on any decisions this organization would want to make.

But things get interesting when you examine who received an airdrop of APE tokens, and thus who wields influence over ApeCoin DAO:

  • The DAO's treasury received 47% of the tokens.
  • Owners of BAYC NFTs and the NFTs of two spin-off collections were able to claim 15% for free (worth almost $2 billion as of Friday).
  • 1% of ApeCoins went to the Jane Goodall Legacy Foundation (to save the monkeys obvi).
  • The rest of the airdrop went to launch partners such as VCs, the company behind BAYC, Yuga Labs, and Yuga Labs's founders.

So, with VC funds and companies accounting for 37% of what was intended to be a decentralized vehicle for "community-led initiatives," you could make the case that the coin is about as grassroots as a Jason Aldean chorus.

That's a sore spot for crypto: The growing role of venture capital in crypto has raised questions around how "disruptive" crypto technologies can truly be if they're being funded and controlled by investors who are part of the traditional financial system.

VCs dumped $32.5 billion into crypto startups last year, but the release of tokens like ApeCoin could add a new dimension to fundraising. Why? At Friday's price, the ApeCoins belonging to VCs were worth nearly $2 billion, far more than the funds have invested in the project to date. What's more, they can sell the tokens at any point rather than waiting the traditional 7–10 years for their investment to turn into something.

Bottom line: With backing from VCs, Bored Ape Yacht Club creator Yuga Labs is on its way to becoming an NFT monopoly. Last week, it raised $450 million at a $4 billion valuation. And after acquiring the IP to CryptoPunks and Meebits, it now owns the three biggest NFT brands on the market.—NF, MM

     
 
Future
 

REAL ESTATE

 

Open house

Welcome to Open House, the only newsletter section that wants to remind you that Juneau is in fact spelled like that. We'll give you a few facts about a listing and you try to guess the price.

Off-the-grid cabin in Alaska with mountain view.Zillow

Today's off-the-grid home is located in Gustavus, Alaska, a short 12-minute helicopter ride from the capital, Juneau. Its peaceful exterior is disrupted only by its shockingly wooden insides. The quirky remote cabin comes with five acres of untouched wilderness that is bound to house some very wild animals. Amenities include:

  • 8 beds, 4 baths
  • Equipment building for all your little projects
  • Hot tub on a patio
  • A view that'll make you feel insignificant

How much to prove John Green wrong and actually find Alaska?

     
 

RECS

 

Just click it

  1. Zwift's push into competitive cycling could change esports. (Morning Brew)
  2. The hunt for the horse-killer gang that never was. (Input)
  3. Diabetics are losing their limbs at an alarming rate in this SC ZIP code. Here's why. (The State)
  4. The latecomer's guide to crypto. (New York Times)
  5. A deep dive into Amazon's acquisition of MGM. (BIG)
  6. The death spiral of an American family. (Washington Post)
  7. How an algorithm guides a medical decision. (The Verge)
  8. On heavy metal's fascination with Roman emperors. (Lapham's Quarterly)
  9. Cartoons today vs. cartoons when we were kids. (Alasdair Beckett-King)
  10. Why we use "lol" so much. (Motherboard)

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*This is sponsored advertising content.

 

CONTEST

 

Meme competition

Welcome back to Morning Brew's Meme Competition, where we crown a single memelord every Sunday.

Today's winner: Andrew from Haughton, LA

A meme about platypuses

This week's challenge: You can find the new template here for next Sunday. Once you're done making your meme, submit it at this link for consideration.

 

FROM THE CREW

 

Last chance to enter our YouTube contest

Subscribe to our YouTube channel and comment on this video with the business topic you want us to break down next. Once you do, you'll be in the running to win $500. We will pick three lucky winners on March 28th.

*Terms and conditions apply. US entries only.

 

ANSWER

 

$1.75 million

         

Written by Neal Freyman, Shane Loughnane, Matty Merritt, Max Knoblauch, and Jamie Wilde

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