Recommended Substack Newsletters Relating To The Future of Work
#WF31 It Takes A Village To Grow A Newsletter
It takes a village to raise a child. Igbo and Yoruba proverb.
This is the 31st regular update from Workforce Futurist Newsletter which I started last year using Substack as a platform.
There have been more than 40,000 views 👀 of articles. But metrics mean less to me than the conversations 🙏 and the impact that they have.
Substack is a newsletter subscription platform that allows writers to make a living without reliance on classic intermediaries such as publishers and newspapers. Subscription platforms are part of the wider ‘future of work’ dynamic that allows millions to develop new income streams and described in my essay Unleashing The Decentralised Workforce. The Substack village has grown quickly, with over 1 million paid subscriptions and its top ten publishers making $7 million in annualised revenue.
The future of work is not well defined, it’s multi-disciplinary and broad.
The fascination for me, is that any view of the future swirls at the intersection of economics, sociology and technology. It is impacted by culture, politics and history.
The motivation for me, is that the world of work is broken in so many places and needs to be fixed. A new architecture for work is being built that if designed smartly can make life better for hundreds of millions.
My inspiration comes from the arts, the sciences, historians, work designers, futurists, critical thinkers, dreamers, teachers, engineers, builders, investors, and of course the workers.
Nobody works in isolation, we all work in the village of ideas and feed off the riffs.
This week, I wanted to showcase some writers in the Substack village that are worth reading for Workforce Futurists.
There are other platforms, and writers, and this list reflects my preferences.
My inclusion criteria :- insightful, mostly free, publish regularly on Substack, relevant to the future of work.
So in no particular order :-
Digital Native
Rex Woodbury is a partner at Index Ventures by day, and by night writes about tech and start-ups. Digital Native grasps how society is changing with technology. From creators to commerce and culture via digital identities.
Recommended reading for Workforce Futurists would include :-
Social Tokens and Creator-Centric Economies and Most People Won't Know Web3 Exists
Li’s Newsletter
Li Jin has written foundational and influential articles on how work is changing, and more recently explored the impact of Web3. Li is a partner in an early stage VC fund and invests in creator economy platforms.
Recommended reading for Workforce Futurists would include :-
Unbundling Work From Employment and Building the Middle Class of the Creator Economy.
Not Boring
Packy McCormick attacks his topics with gusto and has a knack for explaining what’s going on. He writes from an investment perspective, working out future trends and what it might mean for companies. Not many have explained the implications of Web3 on society as well as Packy.
Recommended reading for Workforce Futurists would include :-
We’re Never Going Back and Power to the Person.
Laetitia@Work
Laëtitia Vitaud writes eloquently about the future of work, with a feminist perspective. Her own career journey started with teaching American politics, to HR and publishing books.
Recommended reading for Workforce Futurists would include :-
Future of Work:7 Trends for 2021 and Is remote work good for women?
Noahpinion
Noah Smith writes about economics and tweets about rabbits. The study of economics might not grip everyone, but it is a topic where everyone has an opinion. The work we do, the industries we work in, the companies we work for are shaped by macro and micro economics.
Recommended reading for Workforce Futurists would include :-
Why I love the new labor movement and Fixing Japan's broken corporate culture
A-Mail
Anna Codrea-Rado is a journalist, author and podcaster. The newsletter asks, How does your career make you feel? It takes you on an emotional rollercoaster of money and power dipping into envy, disappointment and fear. The future of work just got messy…
Recommended reading for Workforce Futurists would include :-
The money issue and The medical vernacular of work problems
The Shift
Nika Talbot is a content designer, and strategist who has written 12 books relating to health and wellness. The aim of The Shift is to work smarter and live better. There is fun to be had on the journey with the digital nomads, multi-player team-workers and designing the future office.
Recommended reading for Workforce Futurists would include :-
Heartificial Empathy Sneak Peek: The Empathic Bot Experiment and Polywork: for multiplayers🕹
FullStack HR
Johannes Sundlo is a HR leader based in Sweden who has worked for Spotify amongst others. His newsletter describes the wonderful world of Work Technology with some fun and humour. All the tools we need to hire, manage our work, our teams and our learning.
Recommended reading for Workforce Futurists would include :-
Will NFTs replace the gold watch? and Are we all going to be Sims?
FemStreet
Sarah Nöckel is responsible for Northzone’s Seed investments and is based in London. Femstreet has articles from female business professionals on entrepreneurship, web3, pitch advice, how to raise financing, how to hire and fire, managing a board etc.
Recommended reading for Workforce Futurists would include :-
What’s New Under the Sun
Matt Clancy is a writer, researcher, and educator on the economics of innovation. The newsletter is a living literature review on social science research on innovation.
Recommended reading for Workforce Futurists would include :-
Remote Work and the Future of Innovation and What Has Covid-19 Taught Us About Remote Work?
Fintech Blueprint
Lex Sokolin has been building and selling companies in Fintech for many years, and is working on the next generation of financial services. Why is this important to Workforce Futurists? It’s where your cash is, the Financial Services industry is a massive global employer, and financial security is an essential ingredient in the future of work mix.
Recommended reading for Workforce Futurists would include :-
Dirt Roads
Luca Prosperi studies financial institutions and advises DeFi projects. Dirt Roads analyses complex systems in our economy, from capital structures to vampires. As Capital grapples with Labour, workers are demanding more equity and DeFi’s role is more than just the financial plumbing.
Recommended reading for Workforce Futurists would include :-
The Macroeconomics (and Politics) of Axie Infinity and On the Long-Term Sustainability of Economic Systems
Culture Study
Anne Helen Petersen writes her newsletter for people who want to think more about the culture that surrounds them. This quite often involves our work culture, attitudes, practices and choices.
Recommended reading for Workforce Futurists would include :-
The Expanding Job and The Best of Both Work Worlds
Simon Owens’s Media Newsletter
Simon is a journalist, marketer, and PR professional and writes an industry newsletter that covers everything from the Creator Economy to traditional media. From Mr. Beast to Patreon and Podcasters, how millions are making a living in the decentralised workforce.
Recommended reading for Workforce Futurists would include :-
How a former Cosmo editor built Australia's largest women-focused media company and How a podcast for entrepreneurial parents generates $200,000 a year
Scribes Twitter List
For those of you still on Twitter, here is my Scribes Twitter List of 228 various newsletter scribes you can follow.
I hope you find some inspiring reading.
Tell me who I have missed!