Knowledge Is Not Understanding
...The pursuit of knowledge is heralded as a virtue, but the attainment of understanding is far more important...
Loonshots - Recommended Book
...The researchers found a middle ground by creating a model that was simple, but not simplistic. Throw away too much detail, and you explain nothing. Retain all the detail—same thing...We want a model that is just simple enough so that we can extract macro insights with confidence in their micro origins...
Ten Lessons from Great Businesses
...This piece is designed to answer these questions, pulling together the ten most impactful lessons I’ve learned from studying leading companies...
Lazy Chicken-and-Sausage Cassoulet
...broadly described as a hearty casserole of beans, various meats, sausages, and poultry...
Smart, Ambitious, Hard-Working People Are No Longer Rewarded for Memorization and Access to Information
...Memorization and access to information no longer mean anything. If you value these things then it’s time to change...
When we look in the mirror
...It turns out that when you’re surrounded by people who care about you, when you have freedom and a chance to lead, you can become a different, more generous, happier, more powerful, more friended version of yourself...
Poise: The Key Personality Trait for Worldly Success
..."I believe this is true. If there’s one trait you can attribute a person’s success to, whether that’s trading stocks or any other profession, it’s poise"...
Our Fight With Stress
...Stress never is truly defeated. You may conquer what was causing your stress today, but the hard truth is something else is going to pop up that will cause stress and wage war again...
Measure What Matters - Recommended Book
...Ideas are easy. Execution is everything...
The case for fewer friends
...Instead of stretching yourself thin trying to keep in contact with everyone you’ve ever met or feeling pressured to make new friends, it’s worth considering the value of a few close confidants...
Raclette-Gruyère Mac and Cheese with Pickled Shallots
...this Swiss twist on a Thanksgiving classic gets rich flavor from Gruyère and a lush creaminess from Raclette...
Accounting (and small business)
...Accounting is a way to turn organized books into insight...
How to think clearly
...All of this emphasises a fundamental point about clarifying your thinking. It asks you to admit your thoughts are unclear to begin with – and thus, that certain elements within them need to be rethought, or placed upon more secure foundations. It’s as if you’re shedding layers of preconception, misconception and false consciousness. And the ultimate prize isn’t being right, gratifying though this might be. It’s being understood...
11 Important Things I’m Thinking About In 2023
...One of the things I am doing at the beginning of this year is meditating on a handful of ideas—most from the Stoics—that will hopefully make me better. Things that will hopefully dye my life a good color...
Collaboration Overload Is Sinking Productivity
...These invisible demands are hurting organizations’ efforts to become more agile and innovative. And they can lead to individual career derailment, burnout, and declines in physical and mental well-being...
The Paradox of Choice - Recommended Book
...As options increase, the effort involved in making decisions increases, so mistakes hurt even more. Thus the growth of options and opportunities for choice has three, related, unfortunate effects. It means that decisions require more effort. It makes mistakes more likely. It makes the psychological consequences of mistakes more severe...
Code-first vs. Product-first
...there is no such thing as good code in the abstract; good code can only exist if it’s producing a working product...
Potato and Cheddar Cheese Soup
...Be sure to use a high-quality cheddar; it's crucial to the dish's flavor. Choose a yellow cheese for the richest color. For a chunkier soup, skip the pureeing and just break up some of the potato with a spoon...
Hundreds of Ways to Get S#!+ Done—and We Still Don’t
...The mere act of making a to-do list relieves so much itchy stress that it can, paradoxically, reduce the pressure to actually get stuff done...
Early-career setback and future career impact
...By focusing on proposals fell just below and just above the funding threshold, we compare near-miss with narrow-win applicants, and find that an early-career setback has powerful, opposing effects. On the one hand, it significantly increases attrition, predicting more than a 10% chance of disappearing permanently from the NIH system. Yet, despite an early setback, individuals with near misses systematically outperform those with narrow wins in the longer run. Moreover, this performance advantage seems to go beyond a screening mechanism, suggesting early-career setback appears to cause a performance improvement among those who persevere...
