Lord Young | Drone Pilots | The Class Ceiling | Productivity rules of Elon Musk
🚁Job of the Future: Drone pilots
🌟 Lord Young: Rest in Peace
🧑💼 The Secret to a Happy Workforce: shorter weeks and full paychecks
📜 6 Rules to Musk-Up productivity
🏖️ Life's a Beach ... LA lifeguard earns $500k
📺 TV Recommendation: Amol Rajan ‘how to crack the class ceiling’
If you are new here, my name is Jimmy McLoughlin, a former Downing Street adviser turned podcaster. I write this notebook on the most interesting things I have seen on the future of work, jobs, technology and politics.
🕺From running university clubs to a drone show for the Queen above Buckingham Palace 👑
At the Queen’s Jubilee, when I saw the Corgi lit up by drones above Buckingham Palace, I thought instantly who is piloting all those drones? What jobs are involved in making that happen?
In this week's episode of Jimmy's Jobs, we interviewed Patrick O'Mahony, the Artistic Director and co-founder of New Substance, the Leeds based company behind the project.
We did it from their latest installation, the See Monster near Bristol. See Monster is an oil rig that has been transformed into an interactive environment that explores climate change. It is worth clicking on the YouTube video below to see the sheer scale of it and understand the industrial theatre behind it.
The creative sector is going to see a huge increase in jobs over the next decade, so it was great to chat to Patrick and talk about the different roles within his company (which employs 50 people) and where he sees the future of entertainment and events in the next decade.
🌟 Rest in Peace Lord Young
Sad news that Margaret Thatcher’s entrepreneurship adviser Lord Young has passed away. He was incredibly generous with his time and support to me as a freshly faced SpAd in 2016. The Times newspaper compared us on my appointment in 2016, that really cemented my imposter syndrome in the early days.
He had been my Dad’s boss when he was Secretary of State for Trade and Industry in the late 80s. How odd it must be to see the sons of people that have worked for you enter the workforce and (notionally) do your old job.
He was just simply a lovely man, he has done so much for the policy of entrepreneurship and enterprise across so many decades. I cannot think of anyone in the space who had such a sustained impact over such a long period.
Oli Barrett has written a lovely tribute about him on LinkedIn here.
RIP David Ivor Young, Baron Young of Graffham, CH, PC, DL (27 February 1932 – 8 December 2022)
📜6 Rules to Musk-Up Your Productivity
Elon Musk recently shared his six rules for productivity in a leaked email to Tesla employees, the rules are:
1) Focus on the signal, not the noise,
2) Prioritise like a pro,
3) Be relentless in your pursuit of progress,
4) Take ownership of your actions,
5) Work smart, not hard, and
6) Communicate openly and honestly.
Pretty solid rules to live by, it reminds me of his advice to anyone young entering the workforce is ‘just try to be useful’.
🧑💼The Secret to a Happy Workforce: Shorter Weeks and Full Paychecks
Looks like British companies are getting a taste of the weekend life!
The Guardian recently reported that 100 UK firms have signed up for a permanent four-day work week for all employees, and there's no loss of pay here.
It is an idea that continues to gain traction, I wrote in June about how it was probably my favourite Jeremy Corbyn policy here.
Would you like a four day week? Answer below:
🏖️Life's a Beach...LA lifeguard earns $500k, and 98 others earn $200k+
Some people may think lifeguarding is just a summer gig, but in LA, it's a lucrative business. In 2019, top-paid lifeguards were making up to $392k, and today, that number is even higher. Daniel Douglas, the lifeguard captain, earned $510k in 2021, up from $442k in 2020.
I first saw this story on the OpenTheBooks.com substack and they found 98 LA lifeguards earned at least $200k including benefits last year, and 20 made over $300k
And it's not just about the money. After 30 years of service, LA lifeguards can retire as young as 55 on 79% of their pay!
Maybe the future of work is a four day week on an LA Beach - although my red hair probably makes that an unlikely career choice :)
Original piece here.
📺 TV Recommendation
Superb documentary from Amol Rajan, highly recommend watching it on iplayer, great to see the Beeb doing this.
There’s also an interesting follow up piece from Tom Calver The Times looking at the data behind how Britain perceives class.
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