…is that the smell of hope this morning? or is it joy?... or maybe, just maybe, it is the quiet seedling of relief and change.
i went to bed super early last night. because once i saw that more than 60M people got out and voted during the Midterms, the most ever, it was about to be a generational shifting night. and what a blue wedding it was. what a historic night for literally everyone, everywhere. Georgia, Texas, Michigan…the first latina this…the first black that…the first muslim this… the first woman that… the first native american this....
all over the country, America’s leadership finally began to mirror the true diversity, complexity, and beauty of its people.
a deep, deep thank you to everyone who’s been working behind the scenes and on the ground to lay the foundation for something like this to happen for years. to Stacey Abrams. to Beto. to Mamdani who gave us a possibility model. and so many more.
at bestworks, we often share with the people we serve how our pain and frustration are the prerequisite for our purpose and our best work. because unless you’ve intimately experienced a particular struggle, you really can’t empathize and guide someone through it. and the last decade has felt so, so incredibly painful and cruel. some of the worst times we’ve ever experienced in our country. so many people, so many of you, have had to endure more than we could’ve ever thought or imagined. but the pain produced something really, really beautiful for the country. it activated us in ways only pain can. driving us to dig deep and discover our best work.
i woke up wondering what this will mean for the culture of work and the future of work. and to be honest, i’m not sure yet. i’ve seen so many posts from people saying to reinstate all the black women who lost their jobs or predicting DEI is going to be in vogue again. and it’s certainly going to be true that leaders and ceo’s are going to be singing a different song as a result of this momentous shift.
but this is just the beginning. it’s very early. and a massive amount of systemic damage has been done over the years, and healing that division will take a lot of time. my hope is this ushers in a completely new reality and a new normal. one thing is for sure, the people who got elected this cycle are fundamentally “people-first” kind-of-leaders. service, contribution and solving problems for the least of these must become the baseline strategy moving forward.
but, we cannot rest on our laurels and put all of our faith and hope in our elected leaders to solve every societal issue for us. we must remember that each of us is an active answer to a problem. i pray that we never forget this moment, and that we carry ourselves forward with more collective power, unity and authority than we’ve ever had before.
ftl convo club — November pick
last month, we shared the story of why we launched the ftl convo club—a space where we use culturally relevant, true stories about work to breathe real life into our online community, bring the comment section to life and talk about the culture of work. It has been incredibly fulfilling to watch this club grow so quickly.
in October, we dove deep into Colin Kaepernick’s powerful memoir, The Perilous Fight. we wrapped up the month with a beautiful live discussion about how none of us ever truly know when our calling is going to expand far beyond what we originally thought our day-to-day work was, or how our individual lives get used for a much greater, collective purpose.
now, as we head into the holidays and peak corporate burnout season, we wanted our next selection to feel a little bit lighter. something that brings more laughter, a bit more “lean back,” and a chance to exhale.
something Kevin and i talk about constantly is how vital it is to design your own individual practices, systems, and creative infrastructure to support your best work. for those of us who have stepped outside traditional corporate lines or left the system entirely, finding and building an organic rhythm is one of the hardest things to do. we know our audience is made up of people trying to completely reimagine their relationship with work, and rebuilding a self-sustaining scaffolding for your next chapter is no easy feat.
last year, Kevin and i watched a wonderful documentary tracking the inner workings of one of the world’s most enduring comedic and cultural institutions. we were completely blown away by the rigorous weekly rhythms they run—a deeply intentional operational strategy that serves as the invisible scaffolding for a brand that has sat at the very forefront of culture for the last 50 years.
and another new documentary about the founder just premiered on Netflix last month that pulls back the curtain even further, showing how its visionary founder built this powerhouse from the ground up and masterfully manages a massive, chaotic production that has sat at the very forefront of culture for the last 50 years. it is the ultimate masterclass in creative structural pacing and operational stamina.
so, our official next pick for the FTL Convo Club is: Saturday Night Live…the making of an iconic institution.
get ready to break down the mechanics of creative endurance, collaboration, and how to build structural rhythms that support your biggest ideas. we’re going to watch an episode from SNL 50th anniversary docuseries on Peacock, the LORNE documentary on Netflix and one live episode of SNL this month.
if you’re new or a first timer that wants to join the convo club this month, drop ‘add me to club’ in the comments and we’ll get you in.
weekly conversational rhythm
we love keeping the conversation warm all month long. and we’ll be chatting in the private substack group chat, ftl convo club. the ftl team and our guest curator will be dropping casual prompts into the chat to spark sharing and keep us connected.
every Sunday at 9:00a est, the group chat officially opens up for everyone to chat freely about that week’s recommended reading segments.
here’s the recommended weekly viewing guide, but remember—it’s entirely a recommendation. life happens, so please go at your own pace, read whenever fits your schedule, and just jump into the conversation whenever you’re ready.
the live conversation will take place on Tuesday, December 1 at 7:30p est over Zoom.
November’s guest curator
our guest curators are chosen for their deep passion for the month’s theme and commitment to our space. partnering with the FTL team, they will drop weekly prompts, share real-time reflections to help us all get vulnerable, and co-host our live meetup at the end of the month.
meet Fatima Hassan Ali, a lawyer and founder who spent more than a decade inside some of the most traditional and tightly structured institutions there are: global law firms, a federal courthouse, and a $100B+ private equity firm. now she is building on her own terms. she is a co-founder of Shaer Science, a women’s telehealth company launching February 1, 2027. she is also starting a Substack about building a health and beauty brand in public, with notes on culture and society along the way. a graduate of Stanford and Harvard Law School, she began her career in human rights and humanitarian work. she loves how SNL, at its best, captures the cultural zeitgeist in real time, and she is curious about the discipline it takes to do that live, every week, for more than fifty years.
do you need a login?
we got you. if you don’t have a login to stream the 50th-anniversary special, we can help you out with Peacock—but damn that Netflix password-sharing lockdown, our hands are tied on that one! fill out this form and we’ll let you borrow our login for the month so you don’t miss a thing.
again, if you want to join this month, just say ‘add me to the club’ in the comments.
sending u so much love…and laughter,
m & k
What a time to be alive!