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The yawning, glitchy black hole
Black holes have a gravitational acceleration so strong, that they destroy everything that falls into them. Whether it’s the remnants of giant stars, electromagnetic radiation, or the clouds of interstellar dust and gas, nothing makes it out of a black hole alive. Hawking proved that even if someone did jump into a black hole, and their mass energy was returned to our universe, it would be in a mangled…
What would be the most evolutionarily advantageous?
Heliotropism is a biological term that describes the motion of flowers or leaves in response to the direction of the sun. If you’ve ever noticed plants turning and growing toward the light, that’s called the heliotrope effect. What’s fascinating is, human beings apparently took a page from the plant bible. Cameron writes in his book about positive leadership that the tendency in all living systems is to move toward positive energy…
What relational energy can you add to the system?
My friend sits on the board of a nonprofit in the community solar industry. Recently he hosted an informal industry event at his home so people could learn more about the organization and emerging challenges and opportunities within the clean energy space. After he welcomed everyone to the event, he took a few minutes to allow people to introduce themselves by stating their name and what role they play…
Force yourself to find a weapon to battle your antisocial tendencies
Being the only person the room wearing a nametag makes me feel special, rebellious, creative and powerful. These feeling are the principal motivation for have continued my experiment for half of my life. But if suddenly it was no longer just me, if one day everyone starting wearing nametags, that would be probably fine with me. If it meant sacrificing a certain amount of my positive feelings to elevate…
How could you create less opportunity for input?
My friend once asked me to attend services at her church. She said the culture was super progressive, casual and didn’t tell members they were going to hell. Sounds like my kind of congregation. Sure enough, everything about the experience was enjoyable. Friendly members wearing nametags, powerful music performances, even a minister whose words challenged and inspired us. At the end of the sermon, they announced that they would…
How can you get to a place of safety on a moment’s notice?
Is the world really upsetting us, or are we upsetting ourselves by what we tell ourselves about it? Most likely, the latter. Other people are not the sole source of our negative feelings. The onus is on us. The call is coming from inside the house. We need to take responsibility for improving our situation, not wait for other people to change so we feel better. There’s an interesting study from…
How dare you not be stressed out all the time at your job?
Dilbert’s boss once sat him down for his annual performance review and said the following: We can’t give you a raise because you didn’t do anything noteworthy this year. To which the engineer responds: It only seems that way because I’m so good at my job that I make it look easy and never complain. Meanwhile, his frazzled coworker storms in and yells: My job is a nightmare! And…
The yeast to flour ratio has to be right
Running lean, being scrappy, working agile, growth hacking. All of these buzzwords have broad cultural appeal and adoption, but unfortunately that doesn’t make them any less dangerous. Consider the following hypothetical scenario at a modern organization. Ask yourself if you have ever worked at a place where this happened. The company constantly forces employees to do more with less, so people get burned out. When people get burned out,…
Keeping an eye out for dangerous water conditions
We work in a corporate system where everyone is suffering together, and is conditioned to expect it as the norm, and that makes it hard for us to gauge the true level of burnout. Digiday, in their annual agency culture and employment report, included a chapter about firms trying to do more with less. One survey respondent made a comment that broke my heart: You feel like you’re drowning,…
How could you become the first
Speed is a powerful source of leverage. If you’re fortunate enough to be the first one through the door, then it puts you in a position where you can achieve a goal that would otherwise be insurmountable. Hell, even if your work isn’t the best in the world, it doesn’t matter. You’ve got the first mover advantage. Everyone else is forgotten. Here’s one of my favorite case studies of…