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Artist Edel Rodriguez published his new print, Minneapolis, just hours after a federal agent shot and killed ICU nurse Alex Pretti on January 24. The print features a pop art image of President Donald Trump, mouth agape and gun in hand, kneeling on the neck of Lady Liberty, whos slowly bleeding out on the street from multiple gunshot wounds. The killing occurred during the weeks-long, federally ordered presence of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Customs and Border Protection, and other federal agencies in the Twin Cities, where those agents have raided residential neighborhoods, detained employees from local businesses, and taken multiple schoolchildren into custody in broad daylight. Pretti’s death came just weeks after Minneapolis resident Renee Good was shot and killed in her car during an encounter with an ICE agent. Members of the Trump administrationincluding the president himselfhave spent the days following these two tragedies suggesting that both Pretti and Good posed a threat to federal agents, despite available video evidence that appears to refute those claims. As Minnesotans continue to witness ICE agents disrupting their local communities and targeting their neighbors, protest art has served a critical role in their collective movement against the surge of federal forces. Across Minneapolis, graffiti, yard signs, stickers, and even sleds with anti-ICE messages have exploded in popularity. Local screen-printing studios like Burlesque of North America and Art Price Studio have produced their own designs while also offering free printing services to protesters. Now, in the wake of Prettis shooting, artists across the nation are using protest art to offer their support to the cityand to express their outrage at the federal governments actions. These events are complex and can be easily manipulated, Rodriguez says. An image or a poster can cut through all of that and get to the heart of the matter. Many people feel they are alone in how they are feeling. Art helps people understand that they are not alone, that they are not imagining things. Minneapolis by Edel Rodriguez Minneapolis Rodriguezs concept for Minneapolis traces back to 2020, when Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin killed resident George Floyd by kneeling on his neck for over nine minutes. At the time, Rodriguez created an initial sketch of the scene, followed by another version several weeks later, he says, of Trump doing the same to Lady Liberty. After witnessing the killings of Good and Pretti, Rodriguez created a new version of the illustration in which Trump is holding a gun over Lady Liberty’s prone form. All of these murders happened in the same city, and share one thing in commondisturbing violence and a disregard for human life by those in a position of authority, Rodriguez says. We talk about ICE or Border Patrol violating Americans civil rights, but the person responsible for the killings is Donald Trump. Thats where the idea for this image came from. Since 2016, Rodriguez has used his signature pop-art style to chronicle Trumps time in office, drawing inspiration from political artists like John Heartfield, George Grosz, Otto Dix, and Max Beckmann to use satirical work as a means of documenting history for future generations. Rodriguez, who grew up under Fidel Castros authoritarian regime in Cuba, says many of the Trump administrations recent actions feel strikingly familiar. We are in a very dangerous time in this country, he says. Americans seem to have accepted the idea that being asked for their papers by masked men is acceptable. I grew up in a dictatorship in Cuba where this was commonplace, where people had no rights against search and seizure and no free speech. All Americans should be outraged that people are being targeted based on the color of their skin or their accent. James Herriott, What Kind of American Are You What Kind of American Are You Undoubtedly the most widely circulated and impactful imagery from the killings of Good and Pretti are the videos and stills of the events themselveswhich citizens captured from several angles on the scene in both cases. These videos have served as crucial touchpoints to fight back against the administrations claims that Good and Pretti acted violently toward federal agentswhen, indeed, all visual evidence points to the contrary. They also inspired James Herriot, an artist from Montana, to create his first pieces of protest art, which have since picked up considerable traction on Reddit. When I got up and saw the news of Alex Pretti’s killing I was shaking, Herriot says. I felt like I had just watched a malicious, completely avoidable, and yet entirely predictable train wreck. Watching that federal agent unload round after round into a civilian on the ground was absolutely sickening. As someone living in a deep red area of the U.S., he adds, there are only a few people in his circle that he can speak openly with, so drawing sometimes feels like the only way I can process it. Herriots illustration, titled What Kind of American Are You, merges imagery from Prettis killing with a scene from the 2024 film Civil War. In the film, which imagines a fractured future America, an armed antagonist played by Jesse Plemons questions a group of journalists on their race and country of origin, executing any who dont answer to his liking. The subtext of the scene is that Plemonss character views whiteness as a proxy for Americaness. In this moment in the movie [Plemonss character] is asking What kind of American are you? to a group of strangers he intends to harm, Herriot says. I think that question hits on so many levels. . . . Are you one of ‘us’ or one of ‘them’ . . . Are you the right color . . . Were you born in the right place? Or even deeper, are you the kind of American who will stand for the values upon which our nation was supposedly founded, or one who will succumb to tribalism, hate, and party politics? In What Kind of American Are You, Plemonss character is pictured with his recognizable red sunglasses and assault rifle hovering over Prettis prone form, while federal agents point a gun and a can of pepper spray at Prettis head. Since posting the work, Herriot says hes received some reactions labeling the art as propaganda (which he believes sort of proves the point of it”), though the overwhelming response has been supportive. I think protest art plays the same role that physical protests do, Herriot says. While it may not functionally, directly change anything, it shows people that they’re not alone. It shows others that not everyone in the world thinks the same way they do. It shows those in power that their actions or policies are not accepted by everyone. Topsy, Dont worry, Ive got you Dont worry, Ive got you Topsy is a graffiti artist in Seattle, who asked to remain anonymous for this story due to possible retaliation. Topsy has been creating public protest art since Trump’s second inauguration, including designs in support of the No Kings protests, that depict ICE agents as pigs, and that satirize Trumps friendship with Jeffrey Epstein. News of Pretti’s death “bore a hole through my heart, the artist says. Topsy’s initial draft highlighted violent acts perpetrated by ICE. Ultimately, though, the artist decided to shift focus. “From all accounts of his loved ones, Alex was the embodiment of someone who cared deeply about justicelending himself to help others,” Topsy says. “This shows in all parts of his life, from his work as an ICU nurse at the VA, up to his last moments, protecting a woman before ICE executed him in retaliation. I realized that the strength of Alex’s light was far more powerful than the darkness of ICE. I wanted to make something beautiful that his parents could look at and be proud of him for that.” The final work is titled Don’t worry, I’ve got you. It shows Pretti, who worked at the Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Hospital, wearing blue scrubs and a stethoscope. Hes leaning over to assist Lady Justice, whos crumpled on the ground, wearing her symbolic blindfold. The image mirrors a moment seconds before Prettis death, when he attempted to help a fellow protester who had been pushed down by a federal agent. Topsy selected a wall in First Hill, a Seattle neighborhood known for its high concentration of medical centers, as the site for the work. Its now been viewed thousands of times in real life and across social media. “In a time of many injustices, where even our own Department of Justice refuses to investigate the murders of citizens by ICE, Topsy says, I wanted to highlight that regular citizens like Alex are the true people who will pull Justice up from the trenches and make sure she sees another day.
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E-Commerce
Kim (not her real name) is a scientist and tenured faculty member at a high-profile university. For years, she steadily moved up the hierarchy, yet no one could point to what she accomplished. She kept transferring from role to role, not because she succeeded. In fact, it was the opposite. Kim wasnt delivering measurable results, and no one liked working with her. She occupied an uncomfortable middle ground: not unsuccessful enough for the university to dismiss her, but no longer effective enough to stay. They transferred her to a newly created role. It came with bigger, but opaque responsibilities. The result looked like a promotion, but functioned as avoidance. I study and speak about high achievers in the workplace, including in my recent book, The Success Factor, and have observed this problem resurface, leading to the departure of top performers. What happened to Kim is what I call promotion by failure. Its the practice of moving an underperforming or difficult employee into a higher status role, often with increased influence and reduced accountability, to avoid directly addressing the poor performance. Ultimately, this isnt just a performance issueits a leadership and systems failure. Achieving promotion by failure When companies reassign, elevate, or create new positions for under-performing employees, this misaligned intervention sends an alarming signal with reverberating negative ripple effects on teams and the entire organization. The displacement strategy removes the bad employee from immediate friction but ignores the root cause. Sadly, the underperforming employee will eventually repeat their behavior in a new role. But promotion by failure doesnt help anyone. Its not a developmental rotation, and it doesnt provide a stretch assignment to the troubled employee. What it does do is reward poor behavior without consequence and leaves a trail of damage and mistrust in its wake. Reasons for this lack of accountability can be structural, psychological, or legal in nature. We typically see this to be more prevalent in large bureaucratic systems, organizations with weak performance management, and cultures that avoid conflict. Letting someone go may open a company up to litigation, especially if theres a lack of clear performance metrics. As a result, they end up shuffling the employee around so they can make sure that they dont do too much damage. Organizations then repeat the cycle until the employee leaves on their own, or the issues escalate to the point where companies cannot ignore the issue. Weak leaders share blame in fueling promotion by failure. They are often conflict-avoidant and worry that any potential grievances will damage their reputation. Theyve also convinced themselves that the role wasnt the right fit for the individual or have overestimated the power of a new role for the individual, instead of addressing their capability gaps. Why high performers leave when this happens Ultimately, while they might have avoided conflict by promoting a weak performer, there are unintended negative consequences. Top performers, in particular, can become disillusioned, which leads to employee disengagement, lack of innovation, and retention issues. High performers value competence, clarity, and fairness. Promotion by failure violates all three. It signals that results dont matter, negative behavior has no consequence, and excellence is optional. This causes your top performers to be disenfranchised, cynical, and disengaged. And when they feel all those things, eventually they leave the organization. As a result, organizations dont only end up losing their best talent, but also their trust. And when these people leave, who remains? Those who operate by smoke and mirrors rather than achieve results. The organizational cost that leaders underestimate Its not just poor leadership. Theres a tangible organizational cost and messaging when you reward poor performance. Erosion of performance culture: High performers have the image that optics trump output, and that they dont reward consistent results as much as visibility or tenure. It also sends a signal that performance standards vary depending on who the company is evaluating. Loss of institutional credibility: When communication about merit conflicts with reality, employees no longer trust promotion or role assignment decisions. Employees respond to leaders explanations with silence, rather than buy-in. Increased attrition among top talent: High performers leave due to neglect. The strongest contributors leave quietly, without waiting for counteroffers. The exit interviews raise red flags of poor leadership rather than workload or salary. Normalization of mediocrity: Instead of rewarding high performance and productivity, average becomes the acceptable norm, which stunts innovation. Feedback and brainstorming sessions shift from improvement to reassurance, while the company treats excellence as optional rather than expected. Succession pipelines filled with the wrong people: If you ever wondered why certain people are in leadership roles, its because in some institutions, promotion is about loyalty rather than capability. Companies fill those roles with people who create the least resistance. What senior leaders need to do If youre a leader who is committed to excellence, its time to address this overlooked (yet undeniable) reality. Address performance early and directly: Make feedback specific and behavior-based, not tied to outcomes or personality. Give ideas on how to improve performance and communication. Separate compassion from avoidance: There is no way around it. Difficult conversations need to happen despite discomfort, not when your top performers leave en masse. Its necessary for leaders to pair, not substitute, their support with accountability. Create consequences that dont rely on relocation: You should not reward poor performance. If someone is unfit for the role, think about reducing or redesigning their leadership role. Their compensation, scope, or authority changes should reflect performance realities, not wish lists. Invest in real development or make hard exit decisions: Measure progress based on pre-agreed milestones. If improvement doesnt happen, act decisively rather than extending the process indefinitely. Audit roles that exist without outcomes: Do an inventory of the leadership roles and flag those positions without clear deliverables. If necessary, redesign or eliminate them, and align titles and influence with measurable contributions. The mistake you accept becomes the new standard. Promotion by failure is rarely about one person. It mirrors what leaders tolerate, reward, and avoid. Ending promotion by failure is not about being harsher. Its about being honest, accountable, and fair. Its time to stop using title inflation as conflict management.
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E-Commerce
As researchers approach the front doors of Oxfords new Life and Mind Building (LaMB), theyre greeted with a towering concrete facade, rendered with a rippling surface effect. What first appears to be a mere stylistic choice actually encodes something more special: Each of the concretes waves and dips is derived from the brain scan of an Oxford researcher. Designed by the architecture firm NBBJ, the LaMB is a massive, 269,000-square-foot space that brings together two departments: experimental psychology, which studies the human brain and how it operates; and biology, which encompasses both zoology (animal studies) and plant sciences. When it opened last October after four years of construction, it became the largest facility on the historic universitys campus. [Photo: Ty Cole/NBBJ] The LaMBs facade is visually striking, but it also embodies a few clever ways that NBBJ is reimagining what a university lab building can be. The structure is built to account for the natural path of the sun, capture energy using solar panels, and use advanced cladding technology to lessen its environmental impact. In short, its a vision of a lab thats better for both its staffers and the planet. [Photo: Ty Cole/NBBJ] A brain wave hidden in plain sight When visitors look up at the LaMB, theyre literally observing someones positive thoughteven if they dont know it. Darius Umrigar, a principal architect at NBBJ and the lead project designer of LaMB, says one of his teams main priorities was to design with longevity in mind, given that Oxford itself is nearly 1,000 years old. That meant choosing durable materials (concrete, stone, and metal) to make up the facade. At the same time, they wanted to ensure that the building would have aesthetic interest and fit within the existing campus. [Photo: Richard Chivers/NBBJ] The solution would need to be a design that works with the buildings thick concrete exterior and can withstand the environment for decades. [Photo: Richard Chivers/NBBJ] During that process, we talked to the head of experimental psychology, Umrigar says. They do a lot of brain scanning, both voluntarily and in terms of their approach to research and treatment. When we were considering the design, we were looking at how it would weather well and maintain its beauty without needing to be maintained. They wanted a texture for the buildings cladding that wasnt just flat concrete, he adds. Through this discussion, one student volunteered her own brain scan to serve as the basis of a potential decorative feature. That student was Sage Boettcher, whos now a career development research fellow in the department of experimental psychology. A scan of her brain was taken while she actively envisioned the future of the LaMB lab. From there, the NBBJ team isolated a two-second blip of the recording, resulting in a distinct sinusoidal wave pattern of dips and curves. Those rippling gestures were then carved into various stone slabs, which appear at intervals across the buildings exterior. What we try to do with NBBJ is to not leave a legacy that dates the building, but look at using materials in the truest form and balance that with the budget we’ve got to work with, Umrigar says. I think the harmony of simple, quality materials that will weather well and stand the test of time is certainly the key to success. [Photo: Richard Chivers/NBBJ] Labs are a major energy suckthe LaMB uses clever design to combat that The LaMBs facade is designed to be beautifu, but it also serves a greater purpose for the environment. Traditionally, labs are a major energy suck. According to a 2019 study, the combined emissions of hospitals and labs account for 4.4% of the worlds total greenhouse gas emissions. (For context, the study found that labs at Harvard accounted for nearly 44% of the universitys energy use, yet only 20% of its total space.) According to the engineering consultancy Hoare Lea, which worked with NBBJ on the LaMB, labs are typically expected to consume three to five times as much energy as a traditional office. Some estimates put that figure even higher, at around a factor of 10. [Photo: Richard Chivers/NBBJ] The main reason labs drain so much energy is their intense climate control demands. Maintaining the integrity of the many experiments that take place every day means labs need 24/7 systems keeping their air filtered, moving at the correct volume, and tuned to specific humidity and temperature settings. All of these demands equal major energy inputsand, ultimately, high operational costs. One of the biggest ways that lab buildings can conserve energy, Umrigar says, is by simply preventing air from leaking out. For the NBBJ team, that meant creating an airtight cladding system. The final design includes an outer layer of precast concrete panels, a thick internal layer of thermal insulation, triple-glazed windows, and precision detailing to ensure that every nook and cranny is sealed against the outside world. [Photo: Richard Chivers/NBBJ] The LaMB is also carefully situated to maximize natural sunlight. A central atrium cutout allows in soft daylight without overheating the building, while harsher light is captured via a series of roof-mounted solar panels. Inside, air source heat pumps and adaptive ventilation (which uses special sensors to determine how and when to circulate air) cut down even further on wasted energy. In all, these clever design tactics mean that the LaMB emits about 40% less carbon than it would at baseline. It’s a great achievement for a very large lab building, and certainly probably pushing the boundaries of what the university has been able to do for science buildings of this type in the past, Umrigar says. It sets a new benchmark, I would say, not only for Oxford, but for many other universities looking to develop a research facility.
Category:
E-Commerce
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