Short answer: Because they do, and that’s enough. Long answer: The power in a group lies with the majority. Consider a group of 100 people – 60 is a majority. Within that 60, 35 can dominate the 25. Of 35, 20 could cooperate … and so on. The maths is dull, so I’ll skip some steps – but as the total numbers get smaller, so does the number needed for a majority. Eventually we get
PART 1 :: Changing my mind I first stumbled across Elon Musk in early 2015, when both Tesla and SpaceX were exciting companies, seemingly committed to solving big challenges. Musk’s ‘real life Tony Stark’ persona was a key part of the story. He truly did seem to be ‘The World’s Raddest Man‘. Turns out, he isn’t. Being in the public eye will always bring criticism, but evidence is growing that Musk is more than just
Simon Sinek’s ‘Golden Circle’ is a useful way to think about the order in which we do things. First, we need to understand Why we want to do this [purpose], then we figure out How [strategy], and finally comes the What [action]. But perhaps there’s a fourth circle – the When? Timing matters. Imagine doing the work to understand the Why, How, and What of attending a crucial client meeting, but then arriving late …
We all make mistakes. It’s inevitable that we will sometimes make decisions and take actions that end up having negative outcomes. When we assign blame – whether that’s to ourselves or others – we are dwelling on the problem. We risk staying in the past, and reliving the mistake over and over. [And getting progressively more bitter and resentful]. Responsibility is about looking forwards. We acknowledge the mistake, apologise for it, and work hard to
My early career was as a drummer. In music – in all art – the essential element is an audience. Certainly there are people who play or paint to relax, with no intention of ever publicly sharing their work – but the majority of art is created to be heard, seen – felt – by someone else. At some point, the artist has to stop practising and start showing their work to other people. When
Does this drawing feel familiar to anyone else?! I’ve seen variations of it a few times recently, and believe it says something important. It’s nice to sit in a room, thinking we can make neat and tidy decisions about things. “If we do A, we’ll get to B.” But as we’ve all experienced – particularly in the last few years – the world around us has other ideas. The old style of ‘heroic’ leadership –
The original mantra at Facebook was famously “move fast and break things”. [That turned out well.] We see the same thing [mistake?] happen again and again – right now, it’s with AI … A race to be first, with seemingly little concern for what the long term consequences might be. [And what are the reasons for wanting to be first?] It’s time for a different approach. Move slowly and mend things.
Where does your clearest thinking get done? Is it ‘at work’ or somewhere else? Does your answer tell you anything about your current situation? And if you’re reading this and thinking “oh, these are interesting questions, and I can see how they might be important – but I don’t have time to answer them” … then perhaps that tells you something too? Taking the time to think might be the most important work you can
If there are shortcuts available to us, that is because someone else has done the work. Consider a literal shortcut, perhaps through a forest. The first person to travel that way has a lot of work to do clearing the path. For that trailblazer, the route isn’t a shortcut – it takes more time and effort than following the existing trail would do. But that first mover isn’t looking for the easy path. They want
“Strong opinions, loosely held” is a concept I agree with – but it needs an addition … Strong opinions, loosely held – and moderately stated. The danger with having strong opinions is that we are inclined to also state them strongly, which closes the door to conversation and debate. At their most extreme, ‘strong opinions’ feel threatening and intimidating to the people around us. While we might believe our opinions are ‘loosely held’, it doesn’t
Weekly [digital] email to help navigate the [analogue] world …
Weekly [digital] email to help navigate the [analogue] world …
