As I go through my RSS this morning, I inevitably see a bunch of short-term thinking and can't help but think: the goal is not necessarily just to know things (in this case, hot items of public discourse that quibble over the 2-3 year impact of things), it's to figure out what matters. The even more difficult - but appropriately valuable - task is to figure out why it matters.
I'm reminded that this has been the case ever since those story problems in 3rd grade that would try to add extraneous info just to trick you. It turns out this is a useful exercise. I remember everyone hated story problems back in elementary. It's probably very telling that a rare few kids saw the value in them anyway.
(Another related thought I had this morning: without fail, I run into at least one story a day that captures and explores some fascinating sociocultural development, that then devolves into the line "what are the implications for brands?" or "marketers will be able to take advantage of this by...." or some other such nonsense. At which point I just close my eyes, sigh, kind of laugh, and shake my head disappointingly. Probably more than I should, in all fairness, because there's clearly a level of value in those kind of conversations...)
