Category: Reading

• Illusion of Asymmetric Insight
  • “The conviction that we know others better than they know us and that we might have insights about them that they lack, but not vice-versa, leads us to talk when we would do well to listen…”
  • We are nuanced and complex, but the stranger is simple and easy
• We default to truth, assuming others are telling the truth
  • We only stop believing when we can no longer explain the discrepancies
  • We need to have enough oddities before we doubt
• We tend to assume “transparency” in which the face and behavior communicates internal processes
  • We struggle to detect lies when demeanor and truthiness are mismatched
• Alcohol has myopic effects, not inhibitive effects; it pushes out everything but the immediate
  • “How can you negotiate consent when both parties are so far from their true selves?”
• “Coupling” is when things only happen when coupled together
  • Suicide from a particular bridge
  • Reading a story and crying only when with loved ones
• “Displacement” is when blocking one path simply pushes the volume to another path

Note: The audiobook version is a fantastic blend of real interview recordings and audio interludes. More like a long running podcast than simply a book, read.

A broad reaching, humor filled book with lots of random life advice.

• Truth Detection Methods:
  1. Personal experience: Human perceptions are iffy
  2. Experience of people you know: More unreliable
  3. Experts: They work for money, not truth
  4. Scientific studies: Correlation is not causation; and often for money (either directly for pay or for funding)
  5. Common sense: A good way to be mistaken with complete confidence
  6. Pattern recognition: Patterns, coincidences, and personal bias look alike
• Consistency: The best way to determine truth
  • Look for at least two of the Truth Detection Methods agree
  • The more, the better
• “Failure always brings something valuable. I never let it go until I have extracted that value.”
• Passion
  • Passionate people tend to make big bets. When they fail, we rarely hear about them which skews our perception of passion.
  • Passion is highly correlated with what we are good at
  • Focus on energy not passion
•  Lessons
  • The world values execution, not good ideas
  • Seek opportunities where you have an advantage
• Systems are better than jobs because they are transferable and reproducible
  • Losing weight is a goal; Eating right is a system
• Giving to others
  • There are three kinds of people
    • Selfish people who are always looking to their futures
      • Selfish people tend to give more then they receive (and they tend to have more to give)
      • Enlightened selfish means you are taking long term plans into account
  • Stupid people who do not plan for the future at all
  • Burden on others people who waste their time and energy on unproductive things
• Some people are simplifiers, other optimizers; these are good at building processes
• “…sometimes you just need a friend who knows different things from you…”
• Few successes start out as failures; More often they start with some demand despite the product flaws
• When you feel inadequate just start acting
• Humor
  • Over complaining is not cool
  • Do not mock people
  • Self-deprecation is okay
  • All humor in moderation

• People want to work for organizations with a “Just Cause”
• A Just Cause must be:
  • For something—affirmative and optimistic
  • Inclusive—open to all those who would like to contribute
  • Service oriented—for the primary benefit of others
  • Resilient—able to endure political, technological, and cultural change
  • Idealistic—big, bold, and possibly unachievable
• Milton Friedman: “There is one and only one social responsibility of business, to use its resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profits so long as it stays within the rules of the game.”
• The pillars of an infinite company:
  • Advance a purpose: Offer people a sense of belonging and a feeling that their lives and their work have value beyond the physical work.
  • Protect people: Operate in a way that protects the people who work for us, the people who buy from us, and the environments in which we live and work.
  • Generate profit: Money is fuel for a business to remain viable so that it may continue to advance the first two priorities.
• “Part of safety,” said Professor Robin Ely, coauthor of the Harvard Business Review article about the URSA, “is being able to admit mistakes and being open to learning—to say, ‘I need help, I can’t lift this thing by myself, I’m not sure how to read this meter.’”
• Leaders are not responsible for the results; leaders are responsible for the people who are responsible for the results.
• Use disruption to clarify your cause, not cloud your vision

These are from my second reading

• “Communication is a sign of dysfunction. It means people aren’t working together in a close, organic way. We should be trying to figure out a way for teams to communicate less with each other, not more.” Jeff Bezos
  • When people are synchronized, they do not need as much communication

Failure is often seen as a bad thing. When we fail in school, we cannot progress. When we fail a driving test, we are not permitted to drive. When we fail to deliver as work, we are often dismissed. Signs of the fear of failure pervade our culture. From crafting intricate lies hiding our failures to