Brandon DonnellyCanada must become a global superpower
The silver lining to the US starting a trade war with Canada and regularly threatening annexation is that it has forced this country out of complacency. Indeed, I'm hard pressed to remember a time, at least in my lifetime, when patriotism and nationalism has united so much of Canada. According to a recent survey by Angus Reid, the percentage of Canadians expressing a "deep emotional attachment" to the country jumped from 49% in December 2024 to 59% in February 2025. And as further evidence of...
Brandon DonnellyThe bank robbery capital of the world
Between 1985 and 1995, Los Angeles' retail bank branches were robbed some 17,106 times. In 1992, which was the the city's worst year for robberies, the number was 2,641. This roughly translated into about one bank robbery every 45 minutes of each banking day. All of this, according to this CrimeReads piece by Peter Houlahan, gave Los Angeles the dubious title of "The Bank Robbery Capital of the World" during this time period. So what caused this? Well according to Peter it was facil...
Brandon DonnellyThe story behind those pixelated video game mosaics in Paris
If you've ever been to Paris, you've probably noticed the small pixelated art pieces that are scattered all around the city on buildings and various other hard surfaces. Or maybe you haven't seen or noticed them in Paris, but you've seen similarly pixelated mosaics in one of the other 79 cities around the world where they can be found. Or maybe you have no idea what I'm talking about right now. Huh? Here's an example from Bolivia (click here if you can't see...
"Very little remarkable comes out of bureaucracies for a simple reason. The members of the bureaucracy seek to be beyond reproach. Reproach is their nightmare, their enemy, the thing to avoid at all costs. And the remarkable feels like a risk." --Seth Godin
I went into the office yesterday to sign some documents (they had to be originals) that I have been working on finalizing for the last 6-7 months. I'm not going to share what the documents were or who was involved, but I will say that it took the entire 6-7 months to get two lines added to the agreement. No other changes. Just the addition of two lines -- okay, it was more like a line and a half. On the one hand, I am horrified that such simple things can take so long in the hands of bureaucracy. On the other hand, this is not an outlying situation.
I say this not to bitch, but to instead make a case for the remarkable. As I was signing the documents yesterday, I couldn't help but think of the writing of Seth Godin and quotes like the one at the top of this post (which is from a post called "Bureaucracy = death"). Because one of the professional goals that I have set for myself is to always strive to create things that are remarkable. I want people to look at whatever the thing might be and think to themselves, "yeah, this is extraordinary."
But here's the thing about remarkability. It lives on the edges. It's by definition not ordinary. It is extra-ordinary. And so there's risk. Maybe it won't work. But you know, that's okay. It also thrives on novelty. You have to be the first and you have to be the best. Because when it does work, it'll very quickly become the ordinary. But this too is okay because it's how the world moves forward. Remarkability is not a one time event, it is something that is continuous.
That we have organizations with cultures and processes that systematically eschew the remarkable makes me sad.
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Brandon DonnellyTrying to be remarkable
"Very little remarkable comes out of bureaucracies for a simple reason. The members of the bureaucracy seek to be beyond reproach. Reproach is their nightmare, their enemy, the thing to avoid at all costs. And the remarkable feels like a risk." --Seth Godin
I went into the office yesterday to sign some documents (they had to be originals) that I have been working on finalizing for the last 6-7 months. I'm not going to share what the documents were or who was involved, but I will say that it took the entire 6-7 months to get two lines added to the agreement. No other changes. Just the addition of two lines -- okay, it was more like a line and a half. On the one hand, I am horrified that such simple things can take so long in the hands of bureaucracy. On the other hand, this is not an outlying situation.
I say this not to bitch, but to instead make a case for the remarkable. As I was signing the documents yesterday, I couldn't help but think of the writing of Seth Godin and quotes like the one at the top of this post (which is from a post called "Bureaucracy = death"). Because one of the professional goals that I have set for myself is to always strive to create things that are remarkable. I want people to look at whatever the thing might be and think to themselves, "yeah, this is extraordinary."
But here's the thing about remarkability. It lives on the edges. It's by definition not ordinary. It is extra-ordinary. And so there's risk. Maybe it won't work. But you know, that's okay. It also thrives on novelty. You have to be the first and you have to be the best. Because when it does work, it'll very quickly become the ordinary. But this too is okay because it's how the world moves forward. Remarkability is not a one time event, it is something that is continuous.
That we have organizations with cultures and processes that systematically eschew the remarkable makes me sad.
Brandon DonnellyCanada must become a global superpower
The silver lining to the US starting a trade war with Canada and regularly threatening annexation is that it has forced this country out of complacency. Indeed, I'm hard pressed to remember a time, at least in my lifetime, when patriotism and nationalism has united so much of Canada. According to a recent survey by Angus Reid, the percentage of Canadians expressing a "deep emotional attachment" to the country jumped from 49% in December 2024 to 59% in February 2025. And as further evidence of...
Brandon DonnellyThe bank robbery capital of the world
Between 1985 and 1995, Los Angeles' retail bank branches were robbed some 17,106 times. In 1992, which was the the city's worst year for robberies, the number was 2,641. This roughly translated into about one bank robbery every 45 minutes of each banking day. All of this, according to this CrimeReads piece by Peter Houlahan, gave Los Angeles the dubious title of "The Bank Robbery Capital of the World" during this time period. So what caused this? Well according to Peter it was facil...
Brandon DonnellyThe story behind those pixelated video game mosaics in Paris
If you've ever been to Paris, you've probably noticed the small pixelated art pieces that are scattered all around the city on buildings and various other hard surfaces. Or maybe you haven't seen or noticed them in Paris, but you've seen similarly pixelated mosaics in one of the other 79 cities around the world where they can be found. Or maybe you have no idea what I'm talking about right now. Huh? Here's an example from Bolivia (click here if you can't see...
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