Reading Time: < 1 min As we head into this election season in the U.S., political nuance is likely to continue to be absent. As I shared a few years ago, moderate viewpoints tend to squashed, as it’s much easier to pick an “us” and a “them” and just fight. That also leads to very few people that are willing […]
Empathy
4: If you could have a gigantic billboard anywhere with anything on it, what would you say?
Reading Time: 2 min Today I’m on to the fourth question (see all of the question here) that Tim Ferriss asked people in “Tribe of Mentors”, which was: If you could have a gigantic billboard anywhere with anything on it—metaphorically speaking, getting a message out to millions or billions—what would it say and why? It could be a few […]
Those other people believe in superstitions
Reading Time: < 1 min So many of the issues in the world today come from people isolating themselves into groups and then always assuming the worst of the other side. I’ve shared this idea quite a lot over the years, talking about how “those other people will do lasting harm to our country“, “the other guy isn’t pure evil“, […]
Fundamental attribution
Reading Time: 2 min The “fundamental attribution error” is one of those phrases that I’ve heard a few times, but I never really knew what it meant. It came up on a recent episode of The Long and The Short Of It podcast and they shared some great examples. Harvard Business School defines it like this: “The fundamental attribution […]
You can’t hope for consumer reality
Reading Time: < 1 min A few times on Gary Vaynerchuk’s podcast I’ve heard Gary repeat a very simple phrase: “you can’t hope for consumer reality.“ His push is related to marketing, and particularly to social media. You may be comfortable using Facebook, but if your audience is teens, then Facebook promotions would almost certainly fall flat. You might love […]
Tell them off tomorrow instead
Reading Time: < 1 min Controlling your temper is something that many people struggle with, and it’s a main thread in much of the stoic writings that you might come across. For example, in Ryan Holiday’s book “The Obstacle is the Way” he shares this quote from Epictetus: “In life our first job is this, to divide and distinguish things […]
Be a better ancestor
Reading Time: < 1 min In reading Adam Grant’s latest book “Hidden Potential“, he brought up some interesting thoughts related to our role in life as a descendant versus an ancestor. He said: It’s more important to be good ancestors than dutiful descendants. Too many people spend their lives being custodians of the past instead of stewards of the future. […]
I don’t know what I’m wrong about
Reading Time: 2 min With all of the reading and learning that I do, there is a clear path for much of it. I find areas that are new to me, dig in, and try to learn more. In many cases, though, my gaps aren’t readily apparent and I simply don’t know what I’m wrong about. In her book […]
Ruinous Empathy
Reading Time: < 1 min I talk on here a lot about empathy and kindness, which are both great virtues to embrace but both of which can be troublesome if overused. The idea I’ve shared a few times comes from Gary Vee’s concept of “Kind Candor”. If you’re simply kind to everyone and never speak the truth, it can be […]
Arriving early shows respect
Reading Time: < 1 min I’ve always believed in arriving early to meetings. Not too early, as that be problematic on its own, but being ready 5-10 minutes early is often a good thing. In Kevin Kelly’s book “Excellent Advice for Living“, he shares two thoughts around this idea: Promptness is a sign of respect. There is no such thing […]