The Best One Yet - ⚡ “Goodbye, Lightning” — iPhone 15’s dongle surprise. Bey’s Etsy surge. The Promotion Paradox.

Episode Date: September 13, 2023

Apple unveiled the new iPhone 15 — But the real story isn’t the phone, it’s the beginning of the end of dongles.Beyonce asked all her fans to wear silver to her concerts — And that surprisingly boosted one business: Etsy.And there’s a strange phenomenon in the workplace when you get promoted: You proceed to quit — We call it “The Promotion Paradox.”$ETSY $AAPL $GOOGSubscribe to our newsletter: tboypod.com/newsletterWant merch, a shoutout, or got TheBestFactYet? Go to: www.tboypod.comFollow The Best One Yet on Instagram, Twitter, and Tiktok: @tboypodAnd now watch us on Youtube Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is Nick. This is Jack. It's Wednesday, Saviche Wednesday, September 13th. And today's pod, it is the best one yet. It is a T-boy, Jack. It really is, Nick. It really is a T-boy. By the way, remember when we asked for all those tattoo photos from the Yetis last week?

We got a lot of tattoo photos from a lot of Yetis into our inboxes last week. Thank you for everyone who flashed your skin at us online. We'll never be the same, Jack. First story, what do we got for today's show? The first story is the iPhone 15. Apple just unveiled their 15th iPhone. But the real story here isn't the iPhone. It's the charger.

It's the dongle. For our second story, we're looking at Beyonce. Beyonce asked everyone coming to her concert to wear one color, silver. And that command from Queen B boosted one stock at C. And our third and final story. There's a workplace phenomenon that we're calling the promotion paradox. And Jack, can you describe that one for us? Getting promoted at work makes you more likely to live.

Leave the company, not stay. Awkward. That's a paradox for a promotion. But Yeties, before we hit that fantastic mix of stories today. I mean, that is just a wild mix of stories today, Jack. No one else is doing this mix today. I love this mix, Jack. Happy birthday to you.

Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, dear most of you. Because the odds are, it's true. Yeties, this week isn't just any week. No, it is not. And why is that, Jack? This week is the most popular week. for birthdays of the year.

We repeat, there are more birthdays this week than any other of the 52 weeks. Nine out of the 10 most common birthdays in America are in mid-September. Call your buddy Timmy. Because it's probably his birthday. It means that more babies

are born this week than any other time of the year. It means more cakes are carved this week than any other time of the year. Nick, September 13th, September 12th, 15th, 9th, and 17th. Those are the five more. most common birthdays in America.

Yetis, it is the second week of September. Odds are, there's a plurality of parties right now. So if you're triple booked for a bot mitzvah this weekend. If you're over-invited to quince, if you can't get a table at Chuckie Cheeses. What do you mean it's a two-hour wait? It's because mid-September is birthday season. But the way Jack and I see it, don't blame September.

Blame December. Yeah, chestnuts are roasting on an open fire. That and that, King Cole? He was right on. All along, Jack. Let's hit our three stories. Fifteen years before this song, two boys from the Northeast met in the dorm.

They had an idea that caused a 40%. That's a fat tip. Tea Boy City on your at list. If you know, you know, because we're ready to go. We can't wait no more. So just start the show. Start the show. For our first story, Apple just unveiled the iPhone 15.

But its biggest and proven? It isn't the phone. It's the cable. The charging cable. Because this is the beginning of the end. of dongles. Jack, you know, you and I, we call this show the best one yet, because every episode is the best one yet, right?

Like, that's what we do. That's what we do. At this point, Apple should just call every iPhone the best one yet. Apple's marketing head calls the iPhone 15, which they unveiled yesterday, our most pro iPhone ever. Yeah, because if you're a pro photographer, filmmaker, or creator, the iPhone 15 does have a better camera. You can apparently use the iPhone 15 to film a Hollywood movie, which no one will ever do.

But if you're anyone else, This is actually the same as the old iPhone. It is marginally 1% better in everything. Aesthetically, it looks exactly the same as the iPhone 14 does. Except it comes in a few new pretty colors. And financially, it's the same as the iPhone 14 too. It's going to cost you $800 for the iPhone 15, $1,000 for the iPhone 15 Pro. The only like headline, you know, tweetable highlight about this new phone.

Yeah, what was it, Jack? Is the titanium body that comes with the iPhone 15 pro. Yeah, basically, you can get it. get the iPhone in the same material as a spaceship or Lieutenant Dan's legs. Yeties, this iPhone 15, it's fancy, and it's available for pre-order this Friday, delivery, September 22nd. But yeties, here's what Jack and I found fascinating about this story. There is one other change that you actually will notice about this iPhone, and what is it, Jack?

The charging cord. Yeah, it's the charging cord. Because Besties, for the last 15 years, Apple has been messing with the world by changing their cords. Dongle gates after dongle gates Donglegate, we remember it, we'll never forget it. Your 2006 Bose speaker with the iPhone dock, it's still in your attic, you're never going to use it

because that was five dongles ago. Yeah, it's a victim of donglegate. In fact, we all live with like a donglegate graveyard, don't we, Jack? Yeah, we also all live with a dongle drawer filled with eight generations of cords just in case. Yeah, you're like, you know what? I never know when I'll need to recharge this 2006 iPod Nano. Now's the time.

Apple's frequent changing of cords requires that we have a dongle drawer at home and a cord caddy for traps. But there's one group that is sick of it. Well, we're all sick of it, but the EU is actually doing something about it. Yeah, Europe is like particularly not happy about this situation. The European Union requires that Apple and all other foam makers use the world standard USBC charging cable from now on. So Apple just said, you know what, Europe? All right, we'll do what you want us to do. Okay, okay.

Yeah, Apple is discontinuing from here on out that annoying lightning cord charger that only works with iPhones. So starting with the iPhone 15 and every iPhone in the future, the same cord that powers your Android, your Theragon, your toothbrush will also power your iPhone. iPhone is going to just be like everyone else. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Apple? Technology transitions are messy, but the end is clean as can be. Now, Yetis, if you buy this iPhone, you're going to have to have even more cords in your dongle drawer. Right. You're going to hang on to your old lightning cords for a while because your roommate still has an iPhone 14. But now you need these new USBC cords for the iPhone 15.

Oh, and guess what? Apple's selling a $29 adapter in the meantime, not too shabby. Of course they are. But Yeties, eventually the old cords are going to go away as the old phones die out. and the new phones, they're all going to have the same standard charger. And then we will have a USB-C-charged iPhone one cord to rule them all. That will be glorious. The goal here is standardization of phone charging cords. Just like we have with gas pumps and headphone jacks. But the road to that glorious standardization is facing a few speed bumps.

Like this final iPhone dongle. Because the cost of standardization is the messiness of transition. But the end is as clean. as can be. For our second story, Beyonce, just instructed all her fans to wear silver if they want to come to her concerts. That silver wish from Beyonce was gold for one company in the stock market. By the way, Jack, we've got to continue our little birthday theme here for the birthday week.

Yes, yes, we do. Beyonce, happy birthday bay. Happy belated birthday. She turned 42 on September 4th. She's a Virgo, by the way. Lovely, astrological sign. I actually have the reading right here, Jack. Here it is. Virgo's this month are going to be modest perfectionists who spend more time with their family as their moon moves toward Libra and Mercury exits the retrograde.

Beyoncé is a perfectionist, like famously, and she's spending a lot of time with her fan family right now on this concert tour. And that's our story, because Beyonce is celebrating her birthday in the middle of her Renaissance tour. Right, because remember, Beyonce and Taylor Swift, they're like Mark McGuire and Sammy Sosa. They're chasing the record for the top grossing concert tour ever. And in honor of Beyonce's birthday and the Virgo season, Beyonce has asked her concert-going fans to do one thing and one thing only. What is that gift, Jack? Dress up in silver when you come to the concert.

She doesn't want sheet cake. She wants her concerts to look like a house of chrome. So the beehive got in formation in silver. They got enough silver to blind the moon. They understood the assignment. Beyonce gave them, and they showed up to the concert shimmering like a human disco ball. They exhausted an entire month. and chile of silver.

It's probably artificial silver. But I like where your heads are. I'm rounding up on this one, Jack. But yet he's here's what Jack and I found fascinating about this story. It's not just a gift for Beyonce, this silver wish. One company we found is benefiting big time from Beyonce's silver salute. And that company is Etsy. Yeah, like that Etsy.

Little Etsy, the $8 billion e-commerce platform. Yeah, the arts and craft company. go-to-for-home-made candles or like wedding signs. Taco about a wedding. That's right. I bought the sign on Etsy. Hashtag blast. Because get this, Yetis.

Etsy just reported a 25% jump in searches for silver blouses, silver corsets, and silver tops. Why? Because Target, H&M, Abercrombie, and everybody else, they weren't briefed on Beyonce's sudden announcement that everyone should wear silver. The head of supply chain wasn't ready for the sudden onslaught of silver shoppers hitting up Forever 21. Yet these big apparel companies, they're big operations with big wheels that take time to pivot on new demand. On the other hand, Etsy is as nimble as a thimble. It is powered by an army of small merchants who are working from home with some leftover sequins. So when Walmart ran out of

silver disco hats, Etsy merchants started making them instead. Silver boots, silver bodysuit, silver earrings, Jack, they're going to look fantastic on you. Etsy has them all for sale right now. Yes, they do. Yeties Forbes estimates that this Renaissance tour of Beyonce's is going to sell $200 million worth of merchandise. That's $200 million of merch from Beyonce's website. But Beyonce's call for Silver on her birthday, that just redirected fan dollars over to Etsy. Because silver is sold out everywhere else. And that tells us something interesting about Etsy.

So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Etsy? There are two types of shopping, intent and browsing. Yeties, the way Jack and I see it, there is a spectrum of shopping habits on the way. One hand, you have browsing. Brow shopping is a treasure hunt. You don't know what you want. You walk in and look for inspiration. On the other end of the shopping spectrum is intent.

Shopping with a product in mind. Intent shopping is the reason you go to Amazon. And it's also the reason you go to Etsy. Case in point back in 2020, Etsy was the top stock on Wall Street because a shortage of masks meant everyone went to Etsy. And today, most stores aren't carrying silver dresses because they're sold out. everyone is going to Etsy with that one intent. Eddie's this arts and crafts platform,

it is now an on-demand retail army. It is nimble like that thimble. Because some shopping is the brows, but Etsy shopping is intent. For our third and final story, a new study reveals a shocking workplace phenomenon that Jack and I are calling the promotion paradox.

When you get promoted, you don't stay at the company. You actually leave the company. You're out of there. Promotion. make you leave, they don't make you stay. It's wild. Jack, if we're going to talk about this story, we're going to talk about three letters, ADP. ADP, it's automated data processing. That company, ADP, they actually process paychecks for 25 million U.S. workers. Check your pay stub. ADP may be on that

stub. And ADP also runs surveys on those 25 million employees so they know how much you're getting paid, they see your title, and they know when you switch companies. And their newest survey was focused on everyone's favorite thing at work, and what is that, Jack? Getting promoted. The promotion. Everyone loves it. Everyone likes to talk about it. The title of the story, which Nick and I jumped into, T-Boy style, was the hidden truth about

promotions. Now, yet he's logically, intuitively, you would think that when a manager promotes an outstanding worker, they do that in order to retain them. But in reality, ADP found the opposite is true. ADP discovered that promoting great workers doesn't retain those workers. Promoting great workers actually increases the chance that they leave the company. Get this. ADP data found a shocking 29% of workers leave within the first month of getting a promotion. If those workers hadn't been promoted, only 18% would have left.

An 11 percentage point difference. Sit down, stand up, cash that check and get the heck out of here, Jack. Well, first, get a new box of business cards with your new title. Now, yeties, we know what you're thinking here. What is the reason for this promotion paradox? It's that promotions make the worker more marketable. I'm sorry, Jack. Do you have a new face cream or did you just get promoted, my friend?

Yeah, it is if Carol from accounting crunches numbers better than everybody else. Then Carol's manager wants Carol from accounting to stick around. Maybe she gives Carol that Carol promotion. Carol is thrilled about her new promotion, but she immediately updates her resume. Carol, senior VP of accounting. That's executive senior VP of accounting. Maybe Carol tosses that new resume with the fancy title up on the old LinkedIn, Nick. Dear LinkedIn, I am humbled and honored to announce that I have now reached the stage of...

Executive Senior Vice President. Maybe some of their competitors are scrolling LinkedIn and they notice Carol's new title, Jack. That's right, Nick. The rival accounting company says, thank you for training this executive vice president of accounting. We're going to poacher. Boom, that promotion, Carol got. boosts her chances of leaving her company within the month by 11 points. The promotion paradox.

It's real and it's fantastic. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies? Oh, I'm sorry. Our senior executive buddies over in the economy. Promotions are for new work. Bonuses are for good work. Now, Yeties, the economists in this study, they found that promotions are actually the wrong reward for doing good work.

Right. Promotions are about giving a person new responsibilities and giving them more important work on their job description. By all means, promote someone if their job responsibilities grow in importance if you want to give them new work. But if you just want to keep someone from leaving, then a bonus is the right tool, not a promotion. Because a bonus is a reward for the worker, but it doesn't affect their higher ability. You can put a promotion on your resume, and you do that, but you never put a bonus on your resume. So besties, if you want to reward great work, give a bonus, not a promotion. Bonuses are for good work. Promotions are for new work.

Jack, can you whip up the takeaways for us over there? Apple's iPhone 15 is like pretty much the same as the 14, but with a universal standardized charging cord. The cost of standardization is the messiness of transition. For our second story, Beyoncé told her fans to wear silver to her concert, and Etsy's the only one still in stock. Shopping, it's either browsing or intent, and Beyonce fans have an intention for it. have an intention for silver. And our third and final story is an ADP study, showing what we're calling the promotion paradise.

Important distinction here, Yetis. Promotions are for new work. Bonuses are for good work. And inflections are for our takeaways. Oh, you're like that I was going. That was really strong. Yeah, if you were talking about inflections before this show, it's kind of like our main value proposition on the show.

Nobody reflects like us. It's a podcast thing. But yet, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today. First, the Republican Speaker of the House, Mr. McCarthy, has ordered an impeachment inquiry into the President Joe Biden. It's related to the president's suspected involvement with his son's suspected business crime. And second, Instacart began its IPO roadshow to go public soon,

aiming for evaluation of $10 billion with a B dollars. That's down from its peak pandemic valuation of $39 billion. And finally, Lyft just launched a new feature for female riders to choose female drivers. Apparently, not only do the riders feel safer with that choice, but it also gets more women driving lift cars. Now, time for the best fact yet. This one sent in by legendary Yeti Savannah Westwood from lovely Orlando, Florida. How much water is in a watermelon? And is the watermelon really the wateriest of the first?

Well, it turns out most of the fruits are pretty liquefied, actually. Okay, shocker, get this. The banana is 75% water. The blueberry is 85% water. The strawberry is 90% water. The watermelon is 92% water. Which I don't know is more shocking, Jack, that the watermelon is 92% water, or where is all that water in the banana? I agree, man.

I mean, how many times you squished a banana? I don't see any humidity in that thing. When I eat a watermelon, I am soaked afterwards. I need to change my shirt. When I eat a banana, I need water because I'm so thirsty from the banana. I agree. I'm very suspect about this banana sub fact. We're going to have to jump in further, T-Bor stuff.

But the watermelon is literally the most watery of the melons. That is, you look fantastic today. And remember, the best way we can grow the show is first, ask your boss for a promotion. Second, don't leave that job. And then third, say H-Y-H-T-B-O-I. Or post it on your... gram right now. Have you had the best one yet for all your buddies to see? If you know, demand a race. And it's probably their birthday. So they'll love the shout out on the gram.

Jack and I, we'll see you tomorrow. And before we go, congratulations to legendary Yeti, Rachel Hauer of our T-boy team who just ran an Iron Man. Not an ultramarathon, an Iron Man. 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike ride and a marathon. The marathon is the easy part. Miles and she did it in style. Oh, Jack, we got to get to some birthdays, man. And a happy 60th birthday to Adam Adelkoff over in Stanford, Connecticut. Happy birthday to Stephanie Osario, celebrating her birthday two weeks before her due date. And a happy birthday to Lindsay Chen down in Playa Del Rey, California. Happy birthday to Elizabeth Balderick in Riverton, Utah. And a happy birthday to our buddy, Chris Wang, over in San Francisco down the street. Happy birthday to Tara Rook from Providence

Rhode Island. And Lawrence Petit Frere is turning 40 over at MIT Sloan. And happy belated birthday once again to Beyonce Knowles Carter. Oh, and Jack, Dakota Bartels has a new job down in Nashville. Congratulations. And congrats to Ariel Julia Harrison for directing her second feature film, The Comeback. And Addresso Sumano just got engaged to Lindsay. They're celebrating in Olympia, Washington. And congratulations to Raphael and Ingrid, who just had their baby girl down in San Antonio. And the baby and the dad have the same birthday because everybody has a birthday right now. This is Jack. I own stock of Amazon.

Nick and I both own stock of Apple. This is Nick. That was weird. Promotion can't do.