Betterment

Every business and individual has overhead. The bills we have to pay and the costs we incur that aren’t directly related to our income. You pay them whether or not you’re busy. But ther…

What does it mean to be cool?  Philosophers have long pondered this burning question.  There are different types of coolness, with some related to affect, style, or talent. But one type is connected to how we show up in relationships. It’s the type that underlies the feeling expressed when you think to tell someone (or […]

That’s not true, actually. Books sell, but book doesn’t. The odds of a particular book selling a lot of copies are close to zero. The truth of the long tail is that most titles are way …

In 1980, a 46-cent chip almost caused nuclear armageddon. Gapingvoid advisor, Brigadier General John “Dragon” Teichert (USAF (RET) tells the story in his

They’re often related. It’s not unusual for someone to have more experience or knowledge than we do. If they use that knowledge to their benefit, not ours, they might be manipulating us…

Thomas Carlyle famously warned against stuff that is “a good tool to have as a slave, but a bad master to be ruled by." Consider applying this warning to culture. Culture is humanity’s superpower; it is what makes humans so much more capable than other animals. When we know what outcomes we want, but not how to get them, culture helps us find and copy associates better at getting those outcomes, and then collectively improve our abilities.

In an interview in 2011, Bill Gates said “Legacy is a stupid thing! I don’t want a legacy.” That makes him relatively unique. We humans are deeply social

It’s easy to get focused on the public-facing mouth of the funnel. More followers. More impressions. More buzz, hype, promotion. Get the word out. Just about all the time people who call them…

Why pursue goals in wealth, fitness, status and mastery only to find that achieving them doesn’t really change our lives very much? Here are 7 maxims on what to do instead.

After a recent animated-video contest, two shocking things happened. First, it was revealed that the winning animation was animated entirely by AI.

Three vignettes on finding and hiring great people by playing Moneyball

Have you had two different experiences, one where you were dumped by text message, and one where you were broken up with in person? While similar sentiments were probably conveyed in both instances, the context of each likely changed your feelings about the experience and even how you then assessed and now remember the relationship. This example begins to get at what media philosopher Marshall McLuhan […]

Forget brainstorming. I am sharing a guideline for exploring ideas together with your team that promises to deliver some fruitful ideas.

It’s possible to have a useful conversation about what to do about something that’s broken or needs improvement. But first, we must acknowledge that it happened. It’s not controve…

Democratizing educational technology... and more

The Rodeo Clown Theory of Personal Development : ## Prelude A year ago I didn't know what I wanted to do when I grew up. I had been in the workforce since I came back to New York in 2005. I had never, blessedly, been out of a job for more than a few months, having worked as a temp, then an administrative assistant, before putting in seven years as a computer repair technician. But even within those seven years in a stable job that required at least a modicum of skill, I knew it wasn't what I wanted to *do*, and I didn't know what what I wanted to *do* was.

It’s surprisingly easy to be generous and find solutions to our friend’s problems. Much easier than it is to do it for ourselves. Why? There are two useful reasons, I think. FIRST, beca…

That’s not true for a screwdriver. Or a table saw or even a spatula. These are useful tools, but they don’t pretend to be well-informed or wise. They’re dumb, and they look dumb t…

In the present age, the word “cult” is used in a pejorative sense. But it didn’t always carry this negative baggage.  Cult derives from the Latin cultus, which was originally an agri-cult-ural term referring to the cultivation of the land. The Romans, who participated in both state and private cults, used the word to describe […]

By minimizing distractions and ensuring quick access to information, chatbots can help teams focus on delivering high-quality software.

Founders often believe they've found product/market fit when they haven't. This is a huge problem because they start hiring people, increasing burn, and optimizing their product before they've actually discovered what needs to be built. Here's a way to understand when you've really found product/market fit.

An archive of the best articles from Marc Andreessen’s now defunct blog

Sometimes, we’re so afraid of creation that we don’t even leave blank pages around. If your workspace has a hole exactly the size of a creative idea in it, you’re more likely to f…

Dreams are fine. And dreams involve contradictions. We want this AND that, but both can’t happen. That’s what keeps them from being plans. Plans embrace boundaries and reality, they don…

One day, well into Willie Nelson's long and illustrious career, a TV presenter asked the musician why he wasn’t writing all the great classic songs like

Expertise and firmly held beliefs don’t always go together. Here’s a simple XY grid to help us choose where to sit at whatever table we’re invited to: Plenty of well-trained profe…

I’ve been thinking about something I posted last week — in an excerpt from his new book The Work of Art, former New Yo

Six years ago I celebrated my 68th birthday by gifting my children 68 bits of advice I wished I had gotten when I was their age. Every birthday after that I added more bits of advice for them until I … Continue reading →