Welcome to the new normal

Home working, home schooling, huge business disruption, a re-thinking of priorities and some difficult pragmatic decisions.

Our concern above all is the health and wellbeing of our staff, clients, suppliers and friends.

The silver lining to these extraordinary circumstances is the insight we have gained into each others families, home lives and inspirations.

Over the last few weeks in the studio we’ve been sharing our favourite books, films, playlists and podcasts to keep each other sane.

We thought you might enjoy them too, or better still share yours with us…

Take care and we look forward to seeing you soon.

Construct X

—

Podcasts

99% invisible

Curious about the origin of the fortune cookie? Invisible tells fascinating stories behind the parts of our world that we don't always pay enough attention to; listen in for the finer details on the everyday. Bonus, host Roman Mars has one of the smoothest voices in podcasting.

The Secret History of the Future

Does the past hold the key to the present? The Economist’s Tom Standage and Slate’s Seth Stevenson examine the historical precedents that can transform our understanding of modern technology. Every week journalists delve into history in order to predict the present, worth a listen to find new ways of looking at the modern world.

Eat Sleep Work Repeat

Hosted by Twitter’s European vice president, Bruce Daisley, Sleep Work Repeat focuses on how individuals and businesses can improve workplace culture. In each episode, Daisley interviews different guests, including Sue Unerman on gender inequality in the workplace, Rob Briner on evidence-based management and Cal Newport on digital minimalism.

Tim Ferriss

If you like long form interviews Tim Ferriss is one of the best, he has a huge range of guests (everything from creative, science and business, to tech, sports and sex workers) and the conversation is always massively indepth, thoughtful and insightful.

We specifically liked:
279: the Most Curious Man in Hollywood, Brian Grazer
366: The Interview I've Waited 20 Years to Do, Neil Gaiman
125: Derek Sivers on Developing Confidence, Finding Happiness, and Saying "No" to Millions
138: How Seth Godin Manages His Life – Rules, Principles, and Obsessions
214: How to Design a Life – Debbie Millman

How to fail with Elizabeth Day – Mo Gawdat on how to cope with anxiety in a time of Coronavirus

Need we say more? Elizabeth Day is a champion of turning failure into success, a painfully honest insight into when things go wrong... and why failure really isn't the end of the world.

Radio

In Our Time

This is Melvyn Bragg's weekly radio program. One subject each week discussed by experts in that field. History, science, philosophy, society, economics, you name it. If you look at the website they have an archive of every episode so you can pick what you’re interested in. Perfect late night listen if you can’t sleep….

TV / Film

Sky Arts
If you don’t already have Sky Arts, think about getting it, they have some really interesting documentary series. This link is to a series about some of the best film directors and how they work.

Captain Fantastic

What’s the perfect balance, how should we live now?

The Devil and Daniel Johnston

We recently watched this really beautiful documentary about Daniel Johnston; knowing a little about his music and his art but discovered such a genius mind with this documentary. Warning: sad and weird, and sad.

Construct + Luxury Briefing

How optimistic are you feeling right now? Are you feeling positive about the economy, about society, about the environment and about business?

I’m taking a wild guess here, but I expect many of you are feeling pretty overwhelmed by the challenges we are all facing. Even those of us old enough to know better seem a little shaken by the events of recent years, we are lurching from one threat of disaster to the next. The media, society, our conversations and private thoughts have become consumed with fearfulness. From terrorism to climate change, the global economy to pandemics, from the fear of change to the fear of fear itself.

How fascinating that a society with comparatively little first-hand experience of fear is so preoccupied with it as a concept. According to Stefanie Grupp, in her paper The Political Implications of a Discourse of Fear, individual fears are cultivated through the media and are less and less the outcome of direct experience. ‘Fear is decreasingly experienced first-hand and increasingly experienced on a discursive and abstract level.’ She also notes ‘there has been a general shift from a fearsome life towards a life with fearsome media.’

In fact, many would argue that fear is the defining cultural mood in contemporary society. Fear has become institutionalised through health warnings, risk management, media stories, social media and a rise in reporting of individual anxiety. It has become almost impossible to define these fears, have the risks we are faced with really increased? Are we more aware of them? Are we more susceptible to feeling fearful or has fear become the framework through which we experience everyday life? Elections, news events, health emergencies, parenthood, business performance, investment, relationships – I could go on.

This stands in sharp contrast to the approach taken by US President Franklin D. Roosevelt in his inaugural address in 1933 when he stated ‘the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.’ In his speech, Roosevelt was suggesting to his audience that it is both possible and necessary to minimise the impact of fear. He held up a positive vision of a future in which fear would be put in its place by a society that believed in itself. Today, our politicians are less likely to take this stance and more likely to use the concept of fear as another weapon with which to manipulate the outcome of an election!

I don’t want to be dismissive, there are things I am really, really worried about; principally climate change as it seems we are still doing too little and too late. I am also worried about the impact of fear on the economy, on social cohesion and our collective ability to design a better future for everyone.

Fear, you see, is destructive. It is the opposite of confidence, it renders us individually and collectively impotent, helpless in the face of the changes happening around us. And fear distorts reality, despite geopolitical insecurities and recession fears, 2019 turned out to be a year of decent growth for the luxury industry, which reached an estimated $1.4 trillion globally. (Bain & Company, November 2019). That’s four per cent growth, globally.

The changes we are experiencing are not necessarily a reason to be fearful; change is an opportunity, after all. The digital opportunity continues to grow, with online sales accounting for 12 per cent of the figure listed above. Key markets like Mainland China showed growth of 26 per cent in luxury consumption, outpacing the rest of the world – and it is not just geography and channel changes worth noting. A generational shift is now well underway, with Gen Y accounting for 35 per cent of luxury consumption in 2019 and expected to make up 45 per cent of the market by 2025. Gen Z is poised to reshape the sector even more profoundly, making up a predicted 40 per cent of luxury consumption by 2035.

In these uncertain times, the consumer looks to luxury brands to lead. Eighty per cent of luxury consumers prefer brands that are socially responsible and 60 per cent of luxury consumers think luxury brands should lead the way, being more engaged than other industries. We have the trust, permission and support of our consumers to tackle these challenges head-on, to accelerate innovation and lead change. The challenges we are facing might yet be our greatest opportunities, the biggest threat will be our own fearfulness.

‘You’ll never find rainbows if you’re looking down.’ – Charlie Chaplin

Luxury Briefing

construct + luxury briefing

So what do you get the man or woman who has everything?

If you have all the stuff you’ve ever wanted, chances are you’re a pretty high-performing kind of individual. The big challenges might not be hitting the spot any more (or at the very least without their original potency). The art market, high-performance sports, finance and technology might not be really stretching your limits. For these Alpha boys and girls, a parallel experience economy has developed and you need to be 'in the know’ to know.

In recent years we have seen a well documented growth in the experience economy, and it’s an area most luxury brands are promoting. At the apex of this movement, a stealth industry has been developed that is designed to challenge the most capable of spenders’ limits and beyond, whether physical, medical, intellectual, psychological or emotional. If you have everything your heart desires, your focus shifts from accumulating the best stuff to building your best self.

No surprise this explosion in extreme challenges is happening now. Advances in technology and medicine combined with generational attitudes mean we are compelled to ‘speed up’. Rather than feeling overwhelmed by this imperative, empowered individuals are re-defining their own limits. The new mantra of this type of luxury is the concept of living life at the bleeding edge of your personal capabilities.

Think about the conversations you’re having with your most impressive friends, the CEOs, UHNWs and entrepreneurs setting the new-era agenda. I’m sure this subject has come up one way or another. The 'Fat Cats’ are no longer fat!. Self knowledge, self improvement, wellbeing and optimising performance and perspective are the new currency, and as a result of this shift the appeal of experiences challenges and services enabling this process are growing at an extraordinary rate. In the old days (that's how I now describe the 1980s) the boldest would tackle Paris Dakar, or if they had been very naughty a short break with the French Foreign Legion! This was extreme stuff as likely to be life breaking as life making. Fast forward 20 years and elite personal trainers and extreme marathons were the challenger CEOs weekend break of choice. While testing, these activities were one dimensional and their beneficial impact I suspect was offset by a life of dodgy knees and a competitive streak, which would set all the psychopath test alarm bells ringing!

Where things started to get really interesting was the advent of intellectual challenges, the arrival of Singularity University, the Ted Summits and their hedonistic cousin, the Burning Man festival. Demonstrating a desire for more than a physical test, the desire to stretch the grey matter too – and in most cases to bring a new perspective to a high-performing professional life – investing time in creating a competitive advantage.

More recently we have seen further innovation, if you want to test yourself physically you will be practicing cryotherapy between marathons, precision hydrating, anti-gravity and hypoxic training, this is the secret of those 50 years olds you meet who look better than they did when they were 30.

The ultimate innovation however, is the convergence of the physical and the cerebral, extreme experiences designed to challenge physically, emotionally and intellectually. Experiences tailor-made to test you to your limits, disciplines designed to result in better focus, preparation and ability to deliver optimum performance under extreme stress. We have recently spent months exploring this extraordinary world for one of our clients, a business founded by members of the Israeli intelligence communities and elite special forces. Their approach is built on their advanced knowledge and first-hand experience of espionage, survival, anti-terrorism, hostage negotiation, combat and psychological warfare methods. The Founders have over 55 years of joint experience and rumour has it that the Netflix show Fauda was based on them and their unit
(I could not possibly confirm or deny this of course!).

There is a seriously long waiting list for their tailor-made experiences, because nothing else comes close to this in terms of what it can provide in optimisation and challenge. Discussing the experience with one UHNW client I was struck by the 360 impact, he reported exhilaration, fear and a resulting sharpness of focus never experienced before. Perhaps most interesting is the client profile, not all are men, a significant percentage are women and more and more youngsters, the sons and daughters of the UHNW, a group notoriously at risk from a lack of focus and purpose. The personalisation of the experience, the total control, safety and secrecy of the team give clients the opportunity to really test themselves, while in a safe and discrete environment. What happens here, stays here, you are only left with the positive benefits. Their name tells the story of this new era of performance, ‘Parabellum’, from the Latin, meaning ‘if you want peace, prepare for war’. Pray your business competitor hasn’t made it to the top of the waiting list, if he or she has, I’m afraid it’s game over for you!

Luxury Briefing