Betterment

The first step in building a successful and elegant strategy is to see the systems that are part of our lives. October is a fine month to take a moment to look closely at one: the system that bring…

When the person you could have been meets the person you are becoming, is it going to be a cause for celebration or heartbreak? This is something we must work on right now, and tomorrow, and every …

Fifteenth in the News Commons series. This semester’s Beyond the Web salon series for the Ostrom Workshop and Hamilton Lugar School at Indiana University is themed Think Globally, Eat Here—Sm…

This is the story of every new software innovation, and in fact, just about everything engineers have ever created. The first Wright Bros. plane just barely flew. The first version of VisiCalc was …

Deciding to fix a big dent in a car isn’t perplexing. It’s an easy choice. There’s a huge dent, get it fixed. It’s the little dents that are a dilemma. But not fixing little…

The Tofflers explained that Future Shock kicks in when the world changes faster than we’re ready for. We react instead of respond, and often shut down in the face of too much of the new. When…

Back when I lived in Mexico in my early 20s, I came across a document (its author unknown) entitled “ANTROPOMÁXIMOLOGIA.” It roughly translates to “the study of maximum human development.” It’s all about how to develop yourself to the utmost. It contains 20 attributes of individuals who make a difference in the world and do […]

Find the others. Around the world on October 22, 2024, there will be a free local meetup for folks interested in connecting around and discussing the work they do and the strategy they bring to the…

Optimizing a device or system means squeezing every drop of productivity out of it. In the short-run, optimization works as long as the world stays the same. We can optimize a device to work at cap…

After seven years, I have uncovered the philosophy behind why I write this blog.

In JRR Tolkien’s “Lord Of The Rings”, the Elves seemed to have it made.  Tolkien’s Elves weren’t like the old Celtic Faeries- little mischievous creatures

Every founder, leader, sales rep and person on a dating app has heard this. “Bring me the broomstick!” Why did the Wizard ask Dorothy to bring him the broomstick of the Wicked Witch? It…

Habitats of the Mind: Actively shape the thinking environments of your life. Your mind will thank you.

Have you ever been assigned to a project where neither you nor your team knew where to begin? Well, I did.

Your next project might feel like a calling, but it’s a choice. A choice that will have an impact on each day you spend on it. There are no right answers here, but before you fall in love wit…

Emotional enrollment is at the heart of performance, learning and connection. A coach can quickly tell when someone is committed to changing their approach in order to change the outcome–it&#…

I was asked recently what things I’d look at to determine if a team or group is improving and there are three main areas. In all three cases, none of these prove that improvement is happening. What they do provide is a place to me to start asking questions so that I can discover more.

In 1973, an author named Alan Lakein published a book titled How to Get Control of Your Time and Your Life. It wasn’t the first ... Read more

What do New York Mayor, Eric Adams, and Sean Combs aka Puff Diddy have in common? They’ve allegedly fallen into what we call “The Croesus Trap.” Whatever

Once an organization figures out a successful model, it begins to grow. And when it grows, it needs more staff. And they often hire for specific tasks and the skills that go with them. They need a …

Posted on Friday 27 Sep 2024. 748 words, 2 links. By Matt Webb.

Where I explore the concept of “generalist syndrome,” in which individuals with a wide range of skills may unknowingly limit themselves by relying on their own capabilities instead of considering alternative, potentially more effective solutions.

Earlier today I saw a post from someone who has had their iPhone stop charging at 80% for the past year and they didn’t see much, if any difference in battery health than their coworkers who didn’t do anything, and let the iPhone do its “optimized charging” over

One of the hardest questions in business is how to scale.  The great startup VC, Paul Graham, talks about this in one of his essays, “Founder Mode”. As

…are still consequences. We’re all participants in the systems around us, and complicit in their consequences even if we didn’t intend them. First, we need to see the systems, and…

A simple technique offers the best of both worlds: total control over your own work, while still maintaining a presence on third-party platforms.

The big news in remote working this month was the memo Amazon CEO, Andy Jassy, sent out last week mandating that all employees return to the office five

There is always room for someone who really knows their way around an industry, a technology or a problem. That’s what agents, agencies and organizers do. The hard part isn’t in finding…

F. Scott Fitzgerald famously said, “Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall.” We believe it. Fall is our favorite time of the year. It’s a season where things are dying and transitioning into dormancy. But there’s also a last gasp of physical and psychic energy in the air. It’s like […]

Talk up how much you’re balancing at any given time, and how seamlessly that translates to being successful in a career.