No. 12 - Grand Paris, "Older women are hot right now", The ferocity of midlife desire, Hard influence, Good vs great, and more
Gustavo S. Carvalhal Ribas, CFA
Venture Partner and Head of LatAm at K Fund
GRAND PARIS
On July 26th, we’ll watch the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics, but, at the same time, a much vaster project will be kicking-off. “Grand Paris” could bring an even bigger urban transformation than the one conducted by Baron Haussmann in the 1850s as it aims to unite the “city” (here understood as the 2mn people inside the Périphérique ring road) with its suburbs (the nearly 10mn banlieusards), transforming Paris into a truly global metropolis such as London and New York. This is a project originated in 2007 by then President Nicolas Sakozy and which has undergone several shortcomings – and which the Financial Times depicts very well.
“OLDER WOMEN ARE HOT RIGHT NOW”
This is the sentence with which author Mia Levitin starts this very interesting piece in the Financial Times. Two recently released movies (“The idea of you” and “A family affair”) are changing the script on the older women/younger man relationship, with these relationships, typically depicted as predatory seductions or exploitations of toyboys (hence the term “cougar”), now being portrayed as romances reflecting a cultural shift called “generational-blend relationships”. Also, since the #MeToo movement, “attitudes may be more open towards older women with younger men than the inverse”.
The reason these age-gap couples are more and more common may be due to increasing acceptance of non-traditional relationships, the “man deficit” for educated women spurring them to cast a wider net, and/or to dating apps making these matches easier to find.
THE FEROCITY OF MIDLIFE DESIRE
Still revolving around the same topic, this section follows the one above. Miranda July’s book “All fours” has become a recurring topic in book reviews and gathered a very high place in the list of 2024 bestselling fiction books. But saying this (although being a lot) is saying very little about this book that, together with Catherine Breillat’s recently released movie "Last Summer", seems to have hit something very particular inside its audience. In essence, both books are about how “the state of midlife, for women, is a kind of second (or third) adolescence, a coming-into-age identity crisis that roils with hormones and exploration and discontent”. This perimenopause got the characters of the books “fixated on the idea that [her] sexual life and desirability are fast approaching a cliff from which there is no return” and, well, with that they sort of became instant hits.
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HARD INFLUENCE
Apparently, the digital influencer dream is actually tough as hell (bad news to read while writing a monthly newsletter lol). According to Goldman Sachs and NeoReach, out of hundreds of millions of content creators around the globe, about 50 million earn some money from it, with 48% making less than US$15k and only 13% making more than US$100k. If that wasn’t enough, the number of content creators is expected to grow at an annual rate of 10% to 20% through 2028 (further crowding the field) and algorithm modifications and changing tastes are making it harder for people to make a living out of it.
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GOOD VS GREAT
This is a topic I, particularly, like a lot. The difference between good and great is much larger than it seems at first glance and the road from one to the other is tougher than most of us would like to endure. Jim Collins has written a fantastic book on the subject, called “Good to great”, and I recently came across this video of actor Will Smith talking about it. Finally, I also leave the link to an X post on a particular career choice that, in my view, helps with this setting of a very high bar.
领英推荐
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UNDERPLAYING PRIVILEGE
Privilege is always a sensible topic and, most times, the people who have it just prefer to downplay it. The video of Victoria Beckham describing her background as “very working class” in a Netflix documentary, followed by her husband telling her to be honest and having her finally admit that her dad used to drive her to school in a Rolls-Royce was an instant meme and perfectly depicts this.
Well, according to this Financial Times article, this behavior is not only very common but also recommended, reducing the negative confrontation the alternative could entice. The counterargument is that, while making privileged people appear more deserving, this also tends to, according to Professor Sam Friedman, “perpetuate the myth of meritocracy”.
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ENDLESS PARENTING OR BEST FRIENDS FOREVER?
A lot has been written about the overdependence younger generations have on its parents, with people taking longer to become emotionally, financially, and romantically independent from their folks, creating this trend called “endless parenting”, whereby caregivers are just not able to stop giving care to its offspring. This article, nonetheless, brings a different (and more optimistic) view, saying that the whole nature of the parent-child relationship has changed, having gone from raising an independent child and setting them of into the world to, now, fostering a deep and lasting relationship. This, of course, has its pros and cons, but apparently it is mutually beneficial and based on a very beautiful friendship. Interesting take.
FOUNDERS FUND
This section is more focused on my professional activity. An article by Natasha Mascarenhas, from The Information, with very interesting information regarding Founders Fund, including a very respectable US$1bn return threshold for investors to become general partners at the firm.
FASHION UPDATE
Several years ago, I had to buy a club tie to attend a breakfast in a private club in London (you could only get in if wearing that specific tie). I had to go to a specialized store and the salesperson gave me a lecture about the history of neckties and how they served as a visual expression of its wearer’s mood and personality. This was the memory that came to me while reading this great piece from the New Yorker on the history and the so-called death of the necktie, but which actually digresses on the intricacies between men’s fashion and culture. I recommend reading it together with this other piece from the Economist on the also so-called death of the high heeled shoe.
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Hope you liked it! Let me know your thoughts.
Best,
Gustavo