What type of 'happy' are you? 🥰- Sourire à la vie 🙂- Dare to engage by Emmanuel Faber 🏔-Netflix x Sports ⚽️- Why Saudi Arabia is investing so much in sport?
L’essentiel n’est pas la réussite mais de se rendre digne du succès.
Episode #82. Hey Sunday reader 👋🏼
This Sunday, The Timestamp is here again to help you! Get your weekly dose of summaries from the articles, books, or podcasts you may have missed in tech & culture. This week’s episode is focusing on the intersection of happiness philosophy and sports.
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#1. Choose your type of happiness 🥰
Patrick Kervern is sharing here his summary of the following article called ‘Choosing Happiness’ by Jonathan Clements and published on Sept3, 2022 in Humble Dollar HERE.
1- There are two types of happiness. Learn to choose wisely.
2- First up: hedonic happiness. Think of a wonderful party with delicious food, sparkling conversation, and all your favorite people in attendance.
3- Next comes eudaimonic happiness. It comes from leading a life filled with meaning and purpose. Forget the amusement park, the martini, or the shopping spree. Instead, think about things like volunteering, writing a novel, training for a marathon, or launching your own business.
4- Hedonic happiness tends to be fleeting, and we soon return to our personal set point—our base level of happiness. This is the idea behind the so-called hedonic treadmill.
5- Increases in eudaimonic happiness have the potential to be longer lasting, but such increases also take far more effort. Eudaimonic happiness can appeal to our puritanical streak. There’s work involved and challenges to overcome, so it feels more virtuous. We’re striving to be better versions of ourselves and, while we’re at it, perhaps also improving the world around us.
6- Hedonic happiness usually comes with a higher price tag, while eudaimonic happiness involves a greater investment of time.
7- But the distinction between hedonic and eudaimonic happiness is a great addition, one that could help us lead a better life. And we should not favor one to the exclusion of the other. Instead, we should try to design a life for ourselves where we enjoy both.
#2. Sourire à la vie 🙂
Forgive me for the French 🇫🇷. Je ne vais pas tenter de traduire maladroitement les points clés de ce podcast en anglais. Assurément un bon complément à l’article précédent sur les types de bonheur. Encore une reflexion philosophique très pertinente de Charles Pépin sur ce thème essentiel à la vie qu’est le bonheur 👇.
Pour sourire à la vie, il faut s’ouvrir pleinement à la vie dans le positif et aussi tout ce qu’elle contient de négatif. En effet, la vie n’est pas toute rose… et tant mieux.
Une posture propice au sourire, c’est de favoriser les rencontres, être une chance pour les autres pour avoir de la chance pour soi. On ne peut pas sourire à la vie si on ne cultive pas les bons liens > il faut donc avoir le courage de se couper des relations toxiques.
Difficile de sourire à la vie quandd on est égaré, quand on ne sait pas ce qui est bien pour soi > il faut aussi apprendre à se respecter.
“L’essentiel n’est pas de sourire à la vie mais de se rendre digne de ce sourire” (Interprétation par Charles Pépin de la phrase de Kant. “L’essentiel n’est pas d’être heureux mais de se rendre digne du bonheur”.)
Voici également une autre version plus personnelle: “L’essentiel n’est pas la réussite mais de se rentre digne du succès”.
Il faut se rendre compte que “La vie est plus mystérieuse que censée”. Ne pas être effrayé par ce mystère. La spiritualité c’est accueillir ce qu’on ne comprend pas, accepter ce mystère. Excitation du curieux. Pas besoin de tout comprendre pour sourire à la vie.
‘Comment’ n’est finalement pas la bonne question. Ne pas trouver le sens à tout prix. Souvenons nous des mots d’Epicure: “notre plus grande chance est que la vie soit”.
#3. Dare to Engage 🏔
I took the time to explore the red book from Emmanuel Faber, former CEO of Danone, “Ouvrir une voie” (Ed. Guerin / Paulsen). It put some light on the intrinsic software that runs inside Emmanuel Faber… but this man is not a machine, he probably incarnates the very essence of humanity.
Emmanuel Faber describes his passion for mountaineering, and social justice; the book helps us grasp what is so unique about his leadership style.
Switching to some French, the part of the book I enjoyed the most is ‘Chapitre 8 sur l’engagement’. Emmanuel Faber is going on a tough time leading Danone while Léa Salame, a famous interviewer on FranceInter asks “Emmanuel Faber, are you scared of losing your job? - No, I am not. I am scared of not doing it well.”
Some inspiring quotes from this book.
About large corporations: “L’entreprise ne doit plus agir en tant qu’entreprise mais en tant qu’acteur d’une révolution”.
About working together post COVID: “Repenser au Covid, qu’il est dur de travailler en équipe alors que les consignes sanitaires nous obligent à travailler chez nous”.
“Le leadership, c’est un chemin que l’on montre en disant que ça passe, mais en laissant chacun faire le chemin intérieur qui le met en marche, sans avoir besoin d’imposer le mouvement”.
#4. Netflix heading towards (more) sports 🏎⛳️⚽️
Huddle Up is a newsletter by Joe Pompliano that covers very well the intimacy between business and sports. On Sept27, 2022, in “Netflix continues to infiltrate professional sports”, the author gives his view on where Netflix will go next. Here are some key takeaways:
Netflix is having a very tough 2022 year! The company just announced another quarter of subscriber losses... Disney (adding up Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN) has now more subs than Netflix. The Netflix stock is down 70% over the last 12 months.
Netflix's high-impact success has been unprecedented with what became "the world's most popular racing series -F1: Drive to survive" (teaming up with Box to Box Films). Interestingly, ESPN (Disney owned) recently "signed a deal with F1 worth 75 to $90 million annually... more than x15 times the $5 million they are paying today.
How can Netflix replicate success? Signing new deals with Box to Box Films to produce new docuseries with the PGA Tour or getting involved with the English Premier League... worth noting that the Premier League is now virtually the 4th major sport in America looking at the size of the broadcasting deal they signed with NBC Sports ($2.76 billion for 6 years).
#5. Why Saudi Arabia is investing so much money in sports?
Sports can also connect with geopolitics. This video from Huddle Up (yes again) is factually explaining what Saudi Arabia is doing in global sports. My takeaways from this video below if you do not have time to watch it 👇
Do you know that Newcastle is now the richest soccer club on the planet since its acquisition in Oct21? The worldwide PGA Tour drama was triggered by the creation of the LIV Golf Tour. Most of the money behind those 2 deals comes from Saudi PIF (Public Investment Fund) which is managing $620Bn assets.
Owning world sports is part of a 2030 Saudi Arabia vision to diversify its economy which is still very dependent on oil as it represents today 42% of Saudi's GDP.
Formula1 10year deals to host a Grand Prix in Saudi, investments in WWE and Boxing high-profile events, or even the acquisition of leading e-sports assets (like ESL Gaming) are progressively transforming Saudi Arabia into a major nation for sports.
“Sportswashing”? The controversy behind this move is 'Does Saudi Arabia have other motives?' Improving the country's image and soft power status could be the untold objective?
Just be aware that sports are not unique in receiving large funding from the Gulf state. Amazon, Microsoft, Twitter, Uber, Alphabet and JP Morgan (just to cite a few) have also received funding from Saudi Arabia.
Still loving sports and tech? Personally, this is a clear yes. Let’s however be mindful of what’s happening behind the show.
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