# Never go full Spacey

[![You thought I forgot about
you?](../images/42ec43fd466d.jpg)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDi7cRFcnnY&utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=never-go-full-spacey)\
Remember when, during episode 1 of season 2 of *House of Cards*, Frank
Underwood goes the entire episode without his trademark breaking of the
fourth wall? And then at the end, just when you think he won't do it
anymore, [he
does](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDi7cRFcnnY&utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=never-go-full-spacey)?
Well, friends, I didn't forget about you. Perhaps you think I had?
Welcome back.\
\
Two weeks ago, we produced our seventh 99U Conference here in NYC [with
speakers like 3D Robotics founder Chris Anderson, Slack founder Stewart
Butterfield, MoMA Head Curator Paola
Antonelli](http://conference.99u.com/?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=never-go-full-spacey#speakers),
and many many more. You can read our recaps
[here](http://99u.com/campaign/2015-conference?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=never-go-full-spacey).
There, ThinkUp founder Anil Dash challenged the audience to share who
"opened the door" for them in their careers. Why? Because not only is it
nice to thank those that helped you, it shows others your path. So, I
took his advice. Here's my latest: [I Had
Help](https://medium.com/@SeanBlanda/i-had-help-7007a979b750?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=never-go-full-spacey).\
\
I also recently spoke about "rethinking the career" at the [See Change
Conference](http://www.seechangeconference.org?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=never-go-full-spacey)
in Minneapolis. You can check the reactions
[here](https://twitter.com/search?f=realtime&q=seechng%20seanblanda&src=typd&utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=never-go-full-spacey).
It's a talk I've been working on for more than a year now, with the
hopes of better arming us all to navigate the new career landscape. Big
thanks to the kind folks at the conference who told me their career
story afterward.\
\
To the links!\
\
**Is having a good work/life balance "unmanly"?** HBR
[investigates](https://hbr.org/2015/04/why-some-men-pretend-to-work-80-hour-weeks?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=never-go-full-spacey).
[The Metafilter
discussion](http://www.metafilter.com/149348/Why-some-men-pretend-to-work-80-hour-weeks?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=never-go-full-spacey)
of this piece is heartbreaking. One story: 

At one point my wife had to have emergency surgery resulting in me
missing a client visit a 5 hour flight away, the president of the
company actually asked me if it would be OK to to use the excuse "too
hung over from partying with clients" because it would be culturally
more acceptable. He did and it was.

\
**In other troubling gender-related news,** a small number of male
congressmen have [banned one-on-one
meetings](http://www.nationaljournal.com/congress/why-some-male-members-of-congress-won-t-be-alone-with-female-staffers-20150514?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=never-go-full-spacey)
with their female employees.\
\
One of the main arguments in my "rethinking the career" talk is that
jobs are created and destroyed in a matter of years, so how can any of
us plan *years* into the future? Imagine this college student's surprise
when she discovered the job she studied in school [doesn't exist
anymore](http://qz.com/394426/i-am-editor-of-my-college-newspaper-and-the-job-i-trained-for-no-longer-exists/?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=never-go-full-spacey) (sorta).\
\
Sharing your salary is the last great taboo.
But [why](http://www.wired.com/2015/05/im-terrified-tell-people-much-make/?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=never-go-full-spacey)?
Also, I wrote about the company [that has complete salary transparency
for
99U](http://99u.com/articles/15527/the-age-of-salary-transparency?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=never-go-full-spacey).
And what if minimum wage at your company [was
\$70,000](http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/04/14/business/owner-of-gravity-payments-a-credit-card-processor-is-setting-a-new-minimum-wage-70000-a-year.html?_r=1&utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=never-go-full-spacey)?
Alternative take: If we think minimum wage should be higher, shouldn't
we [just do it
ourselves](https://twitter.com/iowahawkblog/status/557727120953446404?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=never-go-full-spacey)?\
\
**Despite all the technology in the world, there are still a select
group of "[Uncontacted
Peoples](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncontacted_peoples?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=never-go-full-spacey)"
who have yet to join modern society**. The scariest?
The [Sentinelese](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sentinelese_people?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=never-go-full-spacey),
who inhabit a small island off the coast of India. They once murdered
two fisherman who drunkenly wandered into their waters. When a
helicopter went to the island to identify the bodies, the Sentinelese
scared the copter off. [With bow and
arrows](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/india/1509987/Stone-Age-tribe-kills-fishermen-who-strayed-on-to-island.html?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=never-go-full-spacey). \
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**The life of a professional social media manager for a sports
team:** "You can 'win the internet' for an evening or [lose your
job](https://sports.vice.com/en_us/article/win-the-internet-or-lose-your-job-the-life-of-a-pro-sports-twitter-manager/?utm_vicesportstwitter&utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=never-go-full-spacey)."
Remember: [people used to be
blacksmiths](https://twitter.com/brandssayingbae/status/549238388046327810?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=never-go-full-spacey). \
\
This month, Chipotle announced it removed GMOs from its food. But we
realists know a marketing ploy when we see one: [no
one](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/25/opinion/sunday/how-i-got-converted-to-gmo-food.html?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=never-go-full-spacey) [has
been
able](http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/burrito-bunkum/2015/04/29/a4cd8382-ed18-11e4-8666-a1d756d0218e_story.html?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=never-go-full-spacey) [to
prove](http://gawker.com/the-bullshit-hypocrisy-of-all-natural-foods-1702686054?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=never-go-full-spacey) that
GMOs adversely affect your health. An EU report
\[[PDF](http://ec.europa.eu/food/plant/docs/plant_gmo_report_studies_lt_effects_report_en.pdf?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=never-go-full-spacey)\]
to study the long term effects of GMOs on humans found "it can be
concluded that the foods and feeds derived from these GM crops are 'as
safe as those derived from traditional crops.'" \
\
(also: America needs to get over its [weird and misplaced fascination
with
Scandinavia](http://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2015/04/10/enough-with-the-scandinavians-already/?tid=sm_fb&utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=never-go-full-spacey).) \
\
**When living under Prussian rule**, the Danes were forbidden from
flying their flag. So they selectively bread a "[protest
pig](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danish_Protest_Pig?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=never-go-full-spacey)."
Two of my favorite things: vexillology and subtle protesting!\
\
**Geography/History corner: Oceania edition.** The Polynesians must have
been the grittiest, bravest, and most curious people ever. Check out
[their migration
pattern](https://twitter.com/SeanBlanda/status/564129278359797760?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=never-go-full-spacey). Can
you imagine sailing into the abyss of the Pacific and hoping to find
another really tiny island with limited resources? [With a freaking
canoe](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outrigger_canoe?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=never-go-full-spacey)? A
reminder: you can position a globe's perspective over the Pacific and it
looks like
[this](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CFA_oUfWYAAYGuy.png?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=never-go-full-spacey)—and
that's where these people lived and thrived. One method that helped:
they learned how to create maps of water [using nothing but
sticks](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshall_Islands_stick_chart?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=never-go-full-spacey). \
\
**A good general life policy**: Do things with your friends. But if they
aren't having it, [do it by yourself
anyway](http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2015/05/02/why-you-should-really-start-doing-more-things-alone/?postshare=8221430662259213&utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=never-go-full-spacey).
Related: [how to be
alone](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7X7sZzSXYs&utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=never-go-full-spacey).
Related related: I challenge you to go see a movie alone. It's actually
wonderful (and no one judges you for getting cookie dough bites).\
\
**We've scanned over 100,000 galaxies** and [have found no evidence of
advanced alien
life](http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/alien-supercivilizations-absent-from-100-000-nearby-galaxies/?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=never-go-full-spacey).
Though, the researchers based this on the lack of "Dyson Spheres"
(structures that surround stars to harvest their energy), which is oddly
specific and assumes that aliens would for some reason do the EXACT same
thing that we imagine they would in science fiction. But I'm no
scientist.\
\
**What's the deal with Millennials?** They can't commit to anything!
Well, actually... Millennials [have sex with fewer
partners](http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2015/05/06/why-millennials-have-sex-with-fewer-partners-than-their-parents-did/?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=never-go-full-spacey).
And [job-hop less than previous
generations](http://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/enough-already-about-the-job-hopping-millennials/?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=never-go-full-spacey).
Sooooo ¯\\(ツ)\_/¯ \
\
**Kickstarter might revolutionize the world**. But sometimes, when you
give money to complete strangers to make a product they haven't started
on yet... exactly what you think will happen, [actually
happens](http://observer.com/2015/04/did-the-creators-of-a-1m-kickstarter-botch-production-or-blow-the-cash-on-mojitos/?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=never-go-full-spacey).\
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**If you're not moving up in your career**, it could be because [you're
too scared to ask for
things](http://www.wsj.com/articles/one-way-to-get-unstuck-and-move-up-all-you-have-to-do-is-ask-1429037179?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=never-go-full-spacey).
It's worth digging up this classic: are you [an asker or a
guesser](http://ask.metafilter.com/55153/Whats-the-middle-ground-between-FU-and-Welcome?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=never-go-full-spacey#830421)?\
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You're the best, I don't need to guess.\
- Sean