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Take back the night: Are we retreating away from tech to smaller social circles?
Bethany Crystal – Mar 11, 2019
There seems to be a push back toward “living room” culture and salon environments, rather than a continuation of the “all-tech, all the time” movement If 2019 is shaping up to be anything so far, it’s the year in which [...] Read more
The value of looking up
Bethany Crystal – Mar 7, 2019
Photographer Eric Pickersgill photoshopped phones out of people’s hands in photos to show how addicted we have become (via https://www.boredpanda.com/portraits-holding-devices-removed-eric-pickersgill/) On mornings when I feel like I’m slipping too much into “the big-city grind,” I like to take a completely [...] Read more
The life and death of great plumeria trees
Bethany Crystal – Mar 4, 2019
For me, springtime doesn’t begin with the equinox on March 20. It starts much sooner, on the very first weekend in March, with a somewhat unlikely event: The Philadelphia Flower Show. Every year since 1829, florists and horticulturalists alike descend [...] Read more
Improv for business and giving up control
Bethany Crystal – Mar 2, 2019
The exercise was simple enough: In a group of four, tell a story one word at a time with the title, “Colin gets a promotion.” Our group went a little like this: “Once” “Upon” “A” “Time” Off to a good [...] Read more
Once is an accident, twice is inexcusable
Bethany Crystal – Feb 28, 2019
At an office yesterday, I accidentally walked into the corner of a low seated area and was punished with a 2-inch gash on my leg. Initially I continued with my meeting as planned. But after wincing in pain for the [...] Read more
Ten-thousand better decisions: Building a network around “network effects”
Bethany Crystal – Feb 26, 2019
There are a million decisions that go into the process of building a company. By surfacing perspectives from 75 companies in our portfolio network, we hope to create tools that help people within each company answer even a fraction of these. Read more
Honoring the work of departing employees
Bethany Crystal – Feb 26, 2019
Let’s imagine you start working at a fast growing organization called Dragon, Co, just before the peak of its heyday. The whole company, at this point, is around 50 people. Everybody knows each other’s names. Together, you built and iterated [...] Read more
Why I love making plans (as a couple)
Bethany Crystal – Feb 24, 2019
My husband and I just spent the better part of our afternoon researching an upcoming trip we’re planning for Norway later this year. I currently have about 42 different tabs open on two different Google Chrome browser windows, full of [...] Read more
Unlocking “talent fluidity” in the tech ecosystem
Bethany Crystal – Feb 21, 2019
Former colleagues in high places There’s a nice feeling of “greatness by association” you get when you hear about a prior colleague doing something amazing in their new job. You get to tell people, with a smile: “I used to [...] Read more