Hearing happens when we’re able to recognize a sound.
Listening happens when we put in the effort to understand what it means
—Seth Godin, Listening is difficult
Category: Articles
Why FB really loves the first amendment
If it wants to stay this big and unregulated, Facebook cannot afford to upset the rulers of countries where it operates, no matter how abhorrent their actions. We saw that in Myanmar, where military personnel used Facebook to help incite the Rohingya massacres. Now we see it in the US, where Facebook refuses to run afoul of a president who just called in troops to tear gas citizens.
—From The Financial Times, in ‘Facebook and the creation of a US oligarch‘
The copy them all strategy
Teams is particularly effective as a way to prevent a Microsoft customer from even trying Slack. And, in that case, it doesn’t matter how much “love” Slack put into its product: said love was not simply unrequited, but unexperienced.
—The Slack Social Network by Ben Thompson
What’s the German word for…
sitzfleisch (ZITS–flysh), or “chair glue,” is a German word for the ability to sit through a boring or complex task for a considerable amount of time, however long it takes
—From The Quartz, in ‘This lifehack will change your life—if you can stand it’
There are no critics.
“There are an awful lot of Hindus, I’d guess 40%, who basically dislike Muslims and have no problem at all with this government’s approach,” says an American political scientist of Indian origin, who prefers anonymity (a subclause of the CAA allows the government to strip émigrés of their Overseas Citizen of India status).
—From The Economist, in ‘Narendra Modi’s sectarianism is eroding India’s secular democracy’
Every move is designed to cow opponents and critics into silence—within and without.
Efficiency vs innovation
Total efficiency constrains us. We become super invested in maintaining the status quo because that is where we excel. Innovation is a threat. Change is terrifying. Being perfect at something is dangerous if it’s the only thing you can do.
—The Farnham Street Blog, in ‘Getting Ahead By Being Inefficient’
Writing or doing… move fast first
Even if you write something of poor quality but do it quickly, you’re already getting somewhere. Reflecting on writing is fine sometimes, but it doesn’t actually bring you any closer to completing a work, whereas having a draft, even if it’s bad, gives you material to hone.
—Karl Ove Knausgaard’s surprising secret for curing writer’s block
The fifth risk
Jacques Delors, a former head of the European Commission who championed closer integration, rightly pointed out that “nobody can fall in love with the single market”. There is nothing flashy about reworking bankruptcy rules or tax regimes.
—The Economist in ‘A singular opportunity’
This is very relevant in the times of Trump, BoJo and social media memes. Michael Lewis’ book, The Fifth Risk, touches on this in the US context. But like Jacques points out, it’s unglamorous work and his writing can only make it so much more interesting.
The small big difference
“The bad will be there no matter what, while the good requires major efforts,” says Vladimir Kattsov, director of Russia’s Voeikov Geophysical Observatory.
—The Economist in ‘Why Russia is ambivalent about climate change’
He’s talking about the potential benefits of climate change to Russia—opening of Arctic route and availability of Tundra lands for farming—versus the threats—more frequent droughts, floods and crop failures in current farmed areas.
Define: Mercantilism
When the British empire was expanding, a saying went, “trade followed the flag”.
—The Economist in ‘Masters of Business in Asia’
Use my marker 