The opportunity to satisfy one’s pride by catching the big fish at the price of not being able to share it with anyone who cared… except the sharks. I think about people in my life who consumed by pride sought to secure more and more social capital, only to come back into port with a dead fish. I love this 20-minute adaptation of Hemingway’s, The Old Man and the Sea.

I docked in Venice many times when I worked on cruise ships. I never appreciated how special the area was from an engineering perspective. Escaping the Huns, Roman citizens colonized a bunch of tiny swamp-like islands and convert it into a center of trade and culture. I’m still trying to understand how someone thought to use the logs. Watch the 9-mintue video below for the story.

From Hannah Arendt.“This constant lying is not aimed at making the people live a lie, but at ensuring that no one believes anything anymore. A people that no longer distinguish between truth and lies cannot distinguish between right and wrong.And such a people, deprived of the power to think and judge, is without knowing and willing it, completely subjected to the rule of lies. With such a people, you can do whatever you want.” I’m not being political. The seeking of truth in things is worth every effort.

“Owald Avery was a medical research for the Rockefeller Institute. He was also a key player in the attempt to identify the pathogen of the 1918 influenza pandemic.Avery believed that ‘results… are not random products of chance observation. They are the fruit of years of wise reflection, objective thinking, and thoughtful experimentation.’” - Me, 8 steps to achieving your goal inspired by an epidemiologistWe’re approaching the end of the year fast. You might be thinking: “Why are you bringing this up so soon?”Because I’m thinking about plans I set in motion and what I’ve learned from them over the course of this year now. Why wait until December? Continuous improvement is continuous.

Recently another customer success leader challenged my ideas on recruitment and interviews on another blog I maintain about talent. I am happy that I got challenged because it gives me the opportunity to clarify my thoughts. I reached out to my interlocutor and expressed a desire to engage with them more directly. I am even more driven to engage with them because we both want similar outcomes. I wish more people desired to engage in the challenge and exploration of ideas different from their own. How else will we learn if we don’t expose ourselves to criticism? My highly speculative theory is that criticism may mean we’re wrong, or that criticism may not be worth the argument or compromising relationships. Perhaps… I don’t know enough to have high certainty in that theory. Whatever the reason is, we don’t get better at being told our ideas are amazing.

Rick Rubin, famous music executive, curates the Tetragrammaton - an online blog that curates and transmits culture. I visited the site today to listen to a playlist curated by Quest Love , curated music streaming on the radio, and a visual of Perseus and Andromeda riding off (perhaps into the sunset?)?Curation is interesting. Someone with taste, however you want to define it, collects interesting things and presents them to you. By experiencing the world through that person’s senses, you get new models of experiencing the world. In a sense, your “empathy” (loosest sense of the word) expands.Experiencing more different things with an open mind is a key factor in generating new ideas and being open to new and different people. Economists might call this form of personal development a gain from trade. Why deny ourselves gains?

I hung out with a former team mate last night. She would tell you that she’s not skilled at improvisation, but she is. What makes her skilled? She’s good at mirroring the energy of her conversation counterpart. It’s almost as if she becomes that energy. How does that help develop generativeness?If you say you’re not a writer, then you’re not. But if you effectively mimic the habits and practices of writers, you’ll be a writer. Writers read - if you want to write, read. If you say you’re not a musician, then you’re not. But if you effectively mimic the habits and practices of musicians, you’ll be one. Pianists practice scales - you’ll need to practice scales to play piano.You can copy and paste that template for any profession. Once you begin mirroring the habits and practices of a thing, you’ll start thinking like that thing. Once you start thinking like that thing, you’ll start generating ideas as that thing.

I play background music for a resort in the area often. My purpose is not to be the entertainment; I’m providing a soundtrack upon which people get enjoy their lives. Because my purpose is not to show, I must play quietly.Playing quietly does not mean I play less intensely. In fact, playing quietly requires more intensity and focus to not allow myself to become so relaxed that I become sloppy. I often leave gigs where I play quietly more tired than the ones where I’m rocking out. Just because something is quiet does not mean it lacks energy.Potential energy is still energy.

Lawyers practice law. Doctors practice medicine. Musicians practice music. You and I have a practice. We do something each day to help us get better at the thing we’re supposed to do — our work, our art. As my college piano professors would tell you: it’s not what you practice, it’s how. Remembering a post from 2022.

I wonder if managing expectations is a hard skill. Thoughts on why it might be:You are committing yourself to create an output that aligns with an expectation.Commitments create risks — people might not like our outputs.Not everyone likes risks.Here’s the the opposite end thought. By not managing expectations:You are not committing yourself to create an output, therefore no expectation.Because no expectation, people may or may not like what you produce when you produce it. You end up having to deal with the disappointment at the end versus the beginning.Wouldn’t it be easier to get the hard part over with first? Perhaps that’s why it’s hard.