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Who am I? I’m Shem Opolot, a health professional turned content creator, passionate about helping people be their best selves in life and work.
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Hi! I'm Shem Opolot, and this is The Friday Fix, my weekly newsletter. If you've received it, you’re either subscribed or someone forwarded it to you. If you fit into the latter (yes, I’m the kind of person who uses words like “latter”) camp and want to subscribe, then click on the shiny button below:
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HAPPY FRIDAY 🎉 When I first got to America, I wondered why everyone talked about the weather so much. In Uganda, the weather is either perfect, rainy, or extremely hot. You accept it. You don’t worry too much about it. It doesn’t change your wardrobe much, except for the odd bold decision to wear white-soled shoes.
The other day in D.C., it was 22ºC at 1am, 14°C in the morning (perfect for a light jacket), it snowed from 11am to 3pm, and at 4pm the sun was out, and it was back to light jacket weather.
Aaaaand now, I’ve become someone who talks about the weather.
TOGETHER WITH I HATE IT HERE
The best HR advice comes from people who’ve been in the trenches.
That’s what this newsletter delivers.
I Hate it Here is your insider’s guide to surviving and thriving in HR, from someone who’s been there. It’s not about theory or buzzwords — it’s about practical, real-world advice for navigating everything from tricky managers to messy policies.
Every newsletter is written by Hebba Youssef — a Chief People Officer who’s seen it all and is here to share what actually works (and what doesn’t). We’re talking real talk, real strategies, and real support — all with a side of humor to keep you sane.
Because HR shouldn’t feel like a thankless job. And you shouldn’t feel alone in it.
LIFE
The elastic bond
Hooke’s law in physics explains the behavior of materials (metals, rubber bands, etc.) when external forces are applied to them. The law holds within two related and intuitive limits: the proportional limit, which describes the material’s ability to stretch proportionately to the force applied to it, up to a point, and the elastic limit—the point—beyond which additional external force leads to permanent deformity. Stretched beyond its elastic limit, a rubber band snaps.
How elastic are human emotional bonds?
For many years, despite many speeches, summits and pacts to that end, Africa hasn't united. To self-placate, I’m consoled by America—a 250-year-old country that feels more divided than ever. Most states in Africa are younger than your parents.
I think that alone, most African countries are too troubled and too under-resourced to mobilize enough resources to lift themselves out of poverty. This shouldn’t stop them from trying, though, because this is the sort of thing I’d be happy to be wrong about.
However, by testing the elasticity of the bonds with their neighbors, within their proportional limit, small and not-so-small states can band together to eke out prosperity for their people. This idea isn’t novel, though. That’s why, after all, a slew of regional blocs exist, such as the ever-expanding East African Community, and its Northern, Western, and Southern African equivalents.
But the elasticity of these bonds is threatened by our fickle perceptions of sameness.
You see, sameness, or at least the perception of it, is a popular predictor of state prosperity. Countries with less language, tribal, or religious diversity are more likely to achieve development.
Here, Africa’s wealth can be perceived as a weakness. Our diversity in culture, language, religion, customs, etc., makes us the most colorful continent on the planet but can also make unity elusive. Uganda alone, which is about three times smaller than Texas, has about 50 tribes, meaning that if you picked 5 Ugandans randomly, you’d be lucky to get them to agree on how to screw on a lightbulb, let alone run the country.
This is of course if you ignore the obvious leadership challenges, which, despite what some people will have you believe, are not unique to Africa. The world isn’t starved of poor leadership—even those that preside over apparently prosperous states.
Anyway.
Sustaining the perception of sameness is important, but elusive, even though we (humans) summon it so easily everyday.
You see, if, as an African, you live outside Africa for a while, you meet many Africans from all over the continent and you can always spot each other from a mile away without exchanging words. I’ve been in rooms full of Black people from all over, only for one African to approach me and ask me where I’m from. I love those moments because most times, I’d also noticed them and their Africanness earlier from across the room.
And often, we become good friends thereafter, bonding over our shared worldviews, culture and culture shock. At every international conference in Europe or America, if it isn’t immediately obvious, I can always count on finding the Africans at lunch time, in a huddle, staring at the trays of cold sandwiches on display, wondering where the “real food” is. In those moments, the external forces—professional, academic or economic—force us to test our elasticity and extend ourselves to see the sameness in each other so we can survive the experience together.
When my wife and I were in Budapest for our honeymoon several years ago, we felt like the only Black people there. We even made a game of it. We tallied all the Black people we saw, and by the end of the trip, we had counted only 5. But on each encounter with each of the 5, we shared nods and smiles of acknowledgement, and squints to make out where we were from. It was almost as if they also played the same game. As if they had also counted us.
My college was a predominantly white institution with fewer than 15 Africans. All the Africans knew each other because we stood out, and because we could always count on colliding in the same corridors—for a flavorful home-cooked meal, at the business office looking for more scholarships, or in the student engagement office, dolling up for brochure pictures that portrayed diversity. We may not have all been close friends, but tacitly—with a nod and a smile, or an impromptu queue—we knew that if anything happened, we had each other’s backs.
In-groups aren’t bad. In fact, they are inevitable and elastic. I imagine cavemen fluctuated between wrestling for resources and sharing fire based on perceived sameness. I’m sure certain perceptions of sameness—chest breadth, choice of loincloths, nose size, hatred of the group across the pond—caused clusters to form. And I’m sure floods, famine, or the man-eaters at Tsavo, changed those groups significantly.
This elasticity of human bonds is lower when there’s high—but often subconscious—perception of sameness, and vice versa. That’s why Africans on the continent argue over which jollof is better, while Africans in the diaspora make both and invite everyone to eat their fill. We seem to be hardwired to miss the forest for the trees when we’ve been in the forest for a long time.
We take our sameness for granted because we’re often immersed in it, and we retreat into smaller and smaller in-groups, based on race, class, income level, etc. I wish we’d remember that we’re always in the forest, always part of the larger community. I wish we’d always be ready, open, and willing to test the elasticity of our bonds every day with everyone in every setting.
TOGETHER WITH GO-TO-MILLIONS
Your Boss Will Think You’re an Ecom Genius
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THINGS
A quote
The one who’s in love always wins. It doesn’t matter if you get your heart broken, you’re living. When you’re feeling, you’re alive. The sun doesn’t care whether the grass appreciates its rays, it just keeps on shining...
A picture
How many of you can say you’ve read a book you wrote to an eager audience? My wife can. Last week, I urged you to donate to 4040, and this week, I’m doubling down. Evelyn had the first public reading of her new children’s book this week as she read to some of the kids who will benefit from the library we will build thanks to your generous donation. Lock in, fam.
WORK
Fix your team
Here’s another interesting article if you’re a manager or supervisor.
PRODUCTS
A course
Sheets for People who Hate Sheets
This course is designed to take you from zero to good enough, even if the last time you opened a spreadsheet was by accident. We'll start with the basics—no judgment—and build from there.
A guide
How to learn Excel
If I had to learn Excel again, this is what I’d do.
FUN
The Friday Fix playlist
Your picks
> The best geography testing game I’ve played
> The world’s longest outdoor escalator
> How fast can you scroll?
Have a great weekend,
— SO
