"Ideas are easy. Execution is everything."

OKRs is short for Objectives and Key Results. It is a collaborative goal-setting protocol for companies, teams, and individuals.In the author's words: "A management methodology that helps to ensure that the company focuses efforts on the same important issues throughout the organization."Objective is simply WHAT is to be achieved. These are significant, concrete, action oriented and (ideally) inspirational.Key Results benchmark and monitor HOW we get to the objective. These are specific and time-bound, aggressive yet realistic, but most of all, measurable and verifiable.

What are OKRs?

"It is our choices... that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities."

The father of OKRs is Andy Grove, who implemented them in Intel, taking the company to the top of their sector.OKRs consists of four superpowers, which will be discussed in more detail in the following sections:<ol><li>Focus and Commit to Priorities</li><li>Align and Connect for Teamwork</li><li>Track for Accountability</li><li>Stretch for Amazing</li></ol>

OKRs Superpowers

"If we try to focus on everything, we focus on nothing."

What is most important for the next three (or six, or twelve) months? That's what focus is all about.The best OKR cadence is the one that fits the context and culture of your business.Objectives are the stuff of inspiration and far horizons. Key results are more earth-bound and metric-driven.Pair Key Results to Quantity & Quality to measure both effect and counter-effect.Each Objective requires 3 to 5 Key Results to perform correctly.As S. Sandberg says: "Done is better than perfect."Summing up, priorization is key for management.

Focus and Commit to Priorites

"We don't hire smart people to tell them what to do. We hire smart people so they can tell us what to do."

OKRs give transparency and transparency seeds collaboration. They are the vehicle of choice for vertical alignment.Fulfilling KRs = Achieving Objective.Adverse effects of top-down OKRs:<ol><li>Loss of agility</li><li>Lack of flexibility</li><li>Marginalized contributors</li><li>One-dimensional linkages</li></ol>Solution: bottom-up OKRs!"People who choose their destination will own a deeper awareness of what it takes to get there."When leaders are attuned to the fluctuating needs of both the company and its employees, a mix of top-down and bottom-up OKRs is often optimal: "Connected companies are quicker companies."

Align and Connect for Teamwork

"Transparency creates very clear signals for everyone."

"In God we trust; all others must bring data."

OKRs can be tracked and then be revised and adapted.Its life cycle consists of three phases: <ol><li>Setup: process of OKRs creation.</li><li>Tracking: "The single greatest motivator is making progress in one's work." While tracking OKRs you can either continue, update, start or stop.</li><li>Wrap-up: consists of objective scoring, subjective self-assessment and reflection.</li></ol>Our goals are servants to our purpose, not the other way around.

Track for Accountability

"Without an action plan, the executive becomes a prisoner of events. And without check-ins to reexamine the plan as events unfold, the executive has no way of knowing which events really matter and which are only noise."

"The biggest risk of all is not taking one."

OKRs push us far beyond our comfort zones. They lead us to achievements on the border between abilities and dreams.Distinguish between:<ul><li>Committed OKRs: goals that must be attained 100 percent.</li><li>Aspirational OKRs: and those that are stretching for a Big Hairy Audacious Goal.</li></ul>Create an environment where individuals are free to fail without judgment. Replace incremental OKRs with exponential ones to reach 10x growth.Design stretch OKRs to fit the organization's culture. A company's optimal "stretch" may vary over time, depending on the operating needs of the coming cycle.

Stretch for Amazing

CFRs stands for Conversation, Feedback & Recognition. They give OKRs their human voice.By having regular conversations with your employees, you gain context for goal-analysis. Conversation consists of:<ul><li>Goal setting and reflection</li><li>Two-way coaching</li><li>Career growth</li><li>Lightweight performance reviews</li></ul>Feedback is key nowadays, by giving positive feedback you directly fulfill the need of empowerment of your employees and help them aim higher.

Continuous Performance Management: OKRs and CFRs

Closely related to Feedback, we find Recognition, which can be implemented through:<ul><li>Peer-to-peer recognition, by this culture of gratitude is born.</li><li>Establishing clear criteria, recognize people for actions and results.</li><li>Sharing recognition stories, like newsletters or company blogs.</li><li>Frequent and attainable recognition, hailing smaller accomplishments too.</li><li>Tying recognition to company goals and strategies, any organizational priority can be supported by a timely shout-out.</li></ul>

"You need a culture that high-fives small and innovative ideas."

"Culture eats strategy for breakfast [...], it's what makes meaning of work." Any organization peak performance is the product of collaboration and accountability."Culture is a set of value and beliefs, as well as familiarity with the way things are done and should be done in a company. The point is that a strong and positive corporate culture is absolutely essential."High-motivation cultures rely on a mix of two elements:<ul><li>Catalysts, actions that support work.</li><li>Nourishers, acts of interpersonal support.</li></ul>Companies that "out-behave" their competition will also outperform them.

Culture

"What keeps me going is goals."

Explore John Doerr's brilliant work on OKRs, defined by himself as: "A management methodology that helps to ensure that the company focuses efforts on the same important issues throughout the organization”. 

#1 New York Times Bestseller Legendary venture capitalist John Doerr reveals how the goal-setting system of Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) has helped tech giants from Intel to Google achieve explosive growth—and how it can help any organization thrive. In the fall of 1999, John Doerr met with the founders of a start-up whom he'd just given $12.5 million, the biggest investment of his career. Larry Page and Sergey Brin had amazing technology, entrepreneurial energy, and sky-high ambitions, but no real business plan. For Google to change the world (or even to survive), Page and Brin had to learn how to make tough choices on priorities while keeping their team on track. They'd have to know when to pull the plug on losing propositions, to fail fast. And they needed timely, relevant data to track their progress—to measure what mattered. Doerr taught them about a proven approach to operating excellence: Objectives and Key Results. He had first discovered OKRs in the 1970s as an engineer at Intel, where the legendary Andy Grove ("the greatest manager of his or any era") drove the best-run company Doerr had ever seen. Later, as a venture capitalist, Doerr shared Grove's brainchild with more than fifty companies. Wherever the process was faithfully practiced, it worked. In this goal-setting system, objectives define what we seek to achieve; key results are how those top-priority goals will be attained with specific, measurable actions within a set time frame. Everyone's goals, from entry level to CEO, are transparent to the entire organization. The benefits are profound. OKRs surface an organization's most important work. They focus effort and foster coordination. They keep employees on track. They link objectives across silos to unify and strengthen the entire company. Along the way, OKRs enhance workplace satisfaction and boost retention. In Measure What Matters, Doerr shares a broad range of first-person, behind-the-scenes case studies, with narrators including Bono and Bill Gates, to demonstrate the focus, agility, and explosive growth that OKRs have spurred at so many great organizations. This book will help a new generation of leaders capture the same magic.

productivity

Productivity

timemanagement

Time Management

business

Business

leadershipandmanagement

Leadership & Management

#1 New York Times Bestseller Legendary venture capitalist John Doerr reveals how the goal-setting system of Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) has helped tech giants from Intel to Google achieve explosive growth—and how it can help any organization thrive. In the fall of 1999, John Doerr met with the founders of a start-up whom he'd just given $12.5 million, the biggest investment of his career. Larry Page and Sergey Brin had amazing technology, entrepreneurial energy, and sky-high ambitions, but no real business plan. For Google to change the world (or even to survive), Page and Brin had to learn how to make tough choices on priorities while keeping their team on track. They'd have to know when to pull the plug on losing propositions, to fail fast. And they needed timely, relevant data to track their progress—to measure what mattered. Doerr taught them about a proven approach to operating excellence: Objectives and Key Results. He had first discovered OKRs in the 1970s as an engineer at Intel, where the legendary Andy Grove ("the greatest manager of his or any era") drove the best-run company Doerr had ever seen. Later, as a venture capitalist, Doerr shared Grove's brainchild with more than fifty companies. Wherever the process was faithfully practiced, it worked. In this goal-setting system, objectives define what we seek to achieve; key results are how those top-priority goals will be attained with specific, measurable actions within a set time frame. Everyone's goals, from entry level to CEO, are transparent to the entire organization. The benefits are profound. OKRs surface an organization's most important work. They focus effort and foster coordination. They keep employees on track. They link objectives across silos to unify and strengthen the entire company. Along the way, OKRs enhance workplace satisfaction and boost retention. In Measure What Matters, Doerr shares a broad range of first-person, behind-the-scenes case studies, with narrators including Bono and Bill Gates, to demonstrate the focus, agility, and explosive growth that OKRs have spurred at so many great organizations. This book will help a new generation of leaders capture the same magic.

John Doerr

Measure What Matters

"How are we supposed to react when those who wish to deprive us of our rights sincerely believe they are doing it for our own good?"

"The ancient Greeks had only one word, logos, to designate both speech and reason; not that they thought there was no speech without reason, they thought there was no reasoning without speech."

As we have seen in recent years, free speech is endangered by a society that is more sensitive and unable to tolerate opinions contrary to its own merely because they are perceived as offensive.The universal right to free speech is a cornerstone of any liberal democracy. When instead of giving space to refute ideas with arguments, we censor them, we displace them to a position where they cannot be proven wrong and their thinkers become martyrs.

Free Speech

When the focus is placed on "protecting" people from potentially offensive or uncomfortable ideas, we run the risk of giving the status quo authority to censor ideas on this basis, a precedent that can be costly.Who decides which ideas are valid and which are not? We must be very careful, because once we give someone this power to judge the validity and correctness of any speech, we are unlikely to be able to reverse this authority once it is established.

Protection or Censorship?

"The elimination of minority rights is more pronounced in countries where the protection of free speech is weaker."

"He who wishes to secure his own freedom must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he fails in that duty, he sets a precedent which will be turned against him."

"There is no contradiction in despising an individual for his repugnant ideas and at the same time defending his right to express them."

The range of opinions that are considered acceptable by society at a given time. Their tendency to vary with time and place should tell us something about the cultural specificity of ethical norms.There are those who aspire for the Overton window to shrink to the size of a picture window, and for the opening that remains to fit comfortably within their prejudices.

Overton Window

"If freedom really means anything, it means the right to tell people what they don't want to hear."

Unfortunately, in recent years there has been an increasing number of cases of censorship on university campuses because students claimed they felt "offended". A place that was once the place where world-changing ideas emerged is becoming less open to free speech.Those who are unwilling to listen to ideas that might shake their most established principles run the risk of remaining on a lateral learning curve.

Censorship in the Academic System

"Just as the best art flourishes when eccentricity is tolerated, academic innovation depends on those who do not abide by received wisdom or, at the very least, who are willing to put it to the test."

"Generally, the amount of eccentricity in a society has been proportional to the amount of genius, mental vigour and moral courage it contained."

"I have always defended to the hilt the Right of any Man to have his own opinion, however different that opinion may be from mine. He who denies this right to another becomes a slave to his present opinion, because he excludes himself from the right to modify it."

Discover Andrew Doyle's reflections in his book Free Speech and Why It Matters. Now more than ever it is necessary to reflect on the importance of free speech in our society, for without it, we run the risk of marginalised ideas undermining democracy in a reactionary way and remaining in a static non-evolution as a society.

'A fantastically timely book written by one of the smartest thinkers in Britain' Piers Morgan 'Impassioned, scholarly and succinct' The Times Free speech is the bedrock of all our liberties, and yet in recent years it has come to be mistrusted. A new form of social justice activism, which perceives language as potentially violent, has prompted a national debate on where the limitations of acceptable speech should be drawn. Governments throughout Europe have enacted 'hate speech' legislation to curb the dissemination of objectionable ideas, Silicon Valley tech giants are collaborating to ensure that they control the limitations of public discourse, and campaigners in the US are calling for revisions to the First Amendment. However well-intentioned, these trends represent a threat to the freedoms that our ancestors fought and died to secure. In this incisive and fascinating book, Andrew Doyle addresses head-on the most common concerns of free speech sceptics, and offers a timely and robust defence of this most foundational of principles.

philosophy

Philosophy

personaldevelopment

Personal Development

books

Books

politics

Politics

'Impassioned, scholarly and succinct' The Times FREE SPEECH AND WHY IT MATTERS Free speech is the bedrock of all our liberties, and yet in recent years it has come to be mistrusted. A new form of social justice activism, which perceives language as potentially violent, has prompted a national debate on where the limitations of acceptable speech should be drawn. Governments throughout Europe have enacted 'hate speech' legislation to curb the dissemination of objectionable ideas, Silicon Valley tech giants are collaborating to ensure that they control the limitations of public discourse, and campaigners in the US are calling for revisions to the First Amendment. However well-intentioned, these trends represent a threat to the freedoms that our ancestors fought and died to secure. In this incisive and fascinating book, Andrew Doyle addresses head-on the most common concerns of free speech sceptics, and offers a timely and robust defence of this most foundational of principles.

Andrew Doyle

Free Speech And Why It Matters

This book is an initiative of <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/alekssvetski/?originalSubdomain=au">Aleks Svetski</a> and <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/markmoss/">Mark Moss</a> and as they state "is an answer, or perhaps antidote to the nihilism, despair, and chaos individuals are facing in the modern world." As you might imagine, this work is counter-inspired by the worldwide famous "Communist Manifesto" by Marx & Engels.Aleks and Mark conceive humans as individuals and as such should be treated and comprehended.

The UnCommunist Manifesto

"Inequality is not a problem when you have social mobility."

Social classes have been conceived as static and settled up by decree, which causes confrontation and systemic inequality. Examples of this are Feudal Hierarchy, Modern Cronyism and Communism.What they propose is a transformation and reorganization of society, not by decree, but by the natural, emergent force of competence and liberty.One of dynamic inequality, where classes continue to exist, but are permeable. Where the opportunity to rise up is available to all, and so too is everyone subject to the risk of failure and falling down the hierarchy.

Static vs Dynamic Classes

"In an organic, capitalist society where the political-ruling class is unable to arbitrarily conjure money out of thin air for themselves, if you add more value, do more work, provide a better service, build a better product or make better choices in life, you will climb. If you consume more than you produce, if you are wasteful, if you make bad investment decisions, if you blow all your money on parties and alcohol, then guess what, you can't print anymore or tax others to pay for your losses. You will fall down the social ladder."

"If an economy is a complex system made up of human interactions, capitalism is the word we give to its evolutionary process."

The class or collectivist model values individuals as clones in a group, ignoring all nuance. Individuals identity should be defined from within, not from without.Self-identification goes hand by hand with the right of private property. In contrast to Marxist doctrine, they concieve preservation of private property as an essential piece for a Dynamic Classes system to work. We must understand private property as:<ul><li>Oneself, their thoughts and their mind.</li><li>The result of their production or accquisition via voluntary trade.</li></ul>

The Competent Individual

"Distribution can and will happen organically, and when competence is central and hard work accurately remunerated (fix the money, fix the world), wealth will follow to whoever deserves it.

In order to return Sovereignty to the Individuals, the following measures may be applied:<ul><li>The absolute preservation of private property rights. For everyone, all the time.</li><li>The abolition of all taxation and its replacement with voluntary fee-for-service.</li><li>The right and responsibility to defend oneself in the preservation of life, liberty and private property.</li><li>The abolition of any and all Central Banks which use fiat money and credit expansion to enrich themselves at the expense of the population who uses it.</li></ul>

Return the Power to the Individual

<ul><li>A movement onto a common, organic, emergent monetary standard which cannot be managed, controlled, ruled or issued by any group, organization institution or nation.</li><li>The replacement of large scale nation states with a patchwork of city-states that are economically accountable and governed by local property owners with skin in the game.</li><li>The abolition of all public schooling and state indoctrination programs, and their replacement with private, diverse forms of education delivered by family and passionate, competent teachers, mentors and masters.</li></ul>

<ul><li>The reintroduction, assertion and primacy of the family unit.</li><li>The abolition of government intervention into business and industry, and the establishment of competitive meritocracies in which competence, skill, talent and hard work are rewarded, and not group identities.</li><li>The abolition of the welfare state, its replacement with voluntary, private charity, and the responsibility of each able person to provide for their own needs, as well as ownership for their own outcomes.</li></ul>

Capitalism is neither right nor left. It has nothing to do with politics.It is inherent in the evolutionary flow of any living species, which through the use of resources, time and energy, transform these into a good of higher order and value.Capitalism is decentralized and occurs based on the voluntary participation by the individual in a free market.Control is distributed, dominance revolves and quality spirals upward by virtue of competition.On the other hand, political hierarchy and authority are merely a function of decree, and therefore they always decay.

Capitalism: A New Axis

Bitcoin is the most powerful, organic incarnation of capitalism that has emerged in the modern world. It is an apolitical money whose rules are equally applied to everyone.For the first time in human history, we have perfect, fixed, immutable money that bridges the gap between the physical and digital, tying bits to atoms and giving us the best of both worlds.Being a borderless, permissionless network that is open and free, any individual can own and control property developed, built on, or connected to the network.

Bitcoin

No other technological-social-economic-physics phenomenon exists or has existed with the potential to truly break the monopoly power of the collectivist state and move the locus of control of each individual back into their own hands.It is the ultimate tool of The Sovereign Individual, and with it there is finally a way to transcend politics and swing back to the natural, Capitalist end of the spectrum.<ul><li>Austrian Economics help us understand.</li><li>Free markets are how we operate.</li><li>Bitcoin is what makes it all possible.</li></ul>

"A free market is a corollary of a free mind."

"The collectivists openly declare that their ends may only be attained at your expense and the forcible confiscation of your property and independence. Competent individuals declare that their ends may only be attained at the expense of their own capital, effort and energy, in combination and voluntary cooperation with other competent, independent individuals."

"In accordance with natural order, whilst we may have something to lose (risk), we also have a better future to gain (reward)."

In the UnCommunist Manifesto, Aleks Svetski and Mark Moss set out the problems of today and the solutions for tomorrow, with organic capitalism and individual sovereignty at the core of this new paradigm.

"We wrote The UnCommunist Manifesto hoping to see it used as an inspirational text in the struggle between Individual Sovereignty and Collective Coercion, so evident around us today. We emulated the format and length of the Communist Manifesto, but re-wrote it remind people to reach upward and become better versions of themselves, as opposed to classifying themselves into static groups and validating their desire to bring others down to their level."--Back cover.

crypto

Cryptocurrency

technologyandthefuture

Technology & The Future

Aleksandar Svetski

Mark Moss (Speaker)

The Uncommunist Manifesto

Tea started as a medicine and ended up being a drink.In China in VIII, tea emerged as one of the most educated entertainments.Teaism originated in Japan and is the cult for the adoration of beauty in cotidianity, inculcating purity and harmony. It is a cult to the imperfect, it's an aim of achieving an impossible along the vast inmensity of impossibles thorughout life.Philosophy surrounding tea is not just aesthetic, it also expresses oriental values on:<ul><li>Ethic and Religion</li><li>Point of view of human being and nature</li><li>Hygiene</li><li>Economy</li><li>Moral geometry</li><li>Spirit of democracy</li></ul>

The cup of humanity

Teaism originated in Japan and is the cult for the adoration of beauty in cotidianity, inculcating purity and harmony.It is a cult to the imperfect, it's an aim of achieving an impossible along the vast inmensity of impossibles thorughout life.

Teaism

Discover the idea of Teaism, captured in the classical work The Book of Tea.

Written in English by a Japanese scholar in 1906, ""The Book of Tea"" is an elegant attempt to explain the philosophy of the Japanese Tea Ceremony, with its Taoist and Zen Buddhist roots, to a Western audience in clear and simple terms. One of the most widely-read English works about Japan, it had a profound influence on western undertsanding of East Asian tradition.

travel

Travel

Kakuzo Okakura

The Book of Tea

David Epstein is the author of the New York Times bestsellers Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World and The Sports Gene.He holds a Master's degree in Environmental Science and Journalism, and has worked as an investigative reporter for ProPublica and a senior writer for Sports Illustrated.

About David Epstein

One of the reasons that David points out on why prodigy stories are so attractive is because we're used to thinking of everything as being a trajectory. Hence why it's intuitive to want to give a kid a head start.The problem with that is we don't follow linear progressions.

What Makes Prodigy Stories Attractive?

"We are not wired correctly to interpret our own development, necessarily, 'cause we just want what comes the fastest when in many cases, slower development is actually the best in the long run."

We can think of the world as a learning environment, and the milieu in which you have to develop some kind of skill. We can distinguish between two different learning environments:<ul><li>Kind learning environments</li><li>Wicked learning environments </li></ul>

World as a Learning Environment

In this type of learning environments, we find clear rules and patterns tend to repeat. The performed task doesn't change.F.e. Think of chess, the grandmaster's advantage is essentially based on recognizing recurring patterns.

Kind Learning Environments

In wicked learning environments, we find these characteristics:<ul><li>Information might be obscured</li><li>There are no discernible rules</li><li>The task can change</li><li>Even the feedback you get can be delayed and inaccurate</li></ul>Most of the work we do nowadays is more toward the wicked end of the spectrum, where we can't just count on things being the same over and over or giving us perfectly accurate feedback.

Wicked Learning Environments

For the wicked world, you want a really broad training base, what scientists call a sampling period, where you're forming conceptual frameworks and abstract ideas that you can bend to the activity as the activity itself changes.In the 20th Century the biggest contributions came from Specialists. In the Information Age the biggest contributions started coming from Generalists.Generalists are people who spread their work across various tech domains often taking something from one and bringing it to another area where it was seen as extraordinary.

The Wicked World

Gunpei Yokoi didn't score well on his electronic university exams, resulting in him having to apply for a low tier job as a machine maintenance worker at a playing card company: Nintendo.One day, Nintendo's president saw him playing around with an extendable arm called the Ultra Hand, and told him "Turn that into a toy, we're going to market." And it's sort of a success.This resulted in Nintendo's president telling Gunpei: "All right, you're going to start a game and toy operation."

Gunpei Yokoi

Gunpei wasn't equipped to work on the cutting edge, but there was so much information available that he could take it from different domains and merge it.As a result, he developed this philosophy which he named Lateral Thinking with Withered Technology.<ul><li>Withered Technology: technology that's already well understood, easily available and, often cheap.</li><li>Lateral Thinking: taking it from an area where everyone is used to it and merging it with something else.</li></ul>This is what he used for Gameboy. Nintendo still uses this philosophy nowadays.

Lateral Thinkg with Withered Technology

"The more we work in a rapidly changing world, where we're not exactly sure what we should do next, or what work will look like next year or in five years or years, the more we want those people who have had a broad view and can kind of draw different stories of knowledge.And one of the ways I think about operationalizing that is essentially having a short term mindset.[...]We're essentially telling someone to choose for a person they don't yet know who is gonna be working in a world they can't yet conceive.Compare yourself to yourself yesterday and proceed that way"

Through this video, the best-seller author, David Epstein, demonstrates why divergent thinkers (or generalists) beat prodigies in the actual changing world.

Don’t take the prodigy pathway. David Epstein says become a broad thinker instead. Subscribe to Big Think on YouTube ► https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvQECJukTDE2i6aCoMnS-Vg?sub_confirmation=1 Get smarter, faster with our playlist ► https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5uULy4b0kV6dcSRjedcy3IymBytRT34Q The idea for Nintendo’s Game Boy system was born from a philosophy that had a much less catchy name: lateral thinking with withered technology. The term was coined by Gunpei Yokoi, a Nintendo employee who started at the company with a similarly dry job: machine maintenance worker. One day, a Nintendo executive noticed that Yokoi had built a simple extendable-arm-grabber toy in his free time. Let’s sell it, the executive said. It became a small hit. Yokoi was eventually promoted to help build out the company’s video game business. But he recognized that he didn’t have the expertise to advance the cutting edge of the video game world. So he decided on a very specific strategy: take already well-understood knowledge and technology from different domains and combine them in unique ways to create new products. The result was the Game Boy. In this interview with Big Think, David Epstein, author of the 2019 book "Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World," explains how lateral thinking — a type of thinking where you approach problems from non-obvious angles — is a problem-solving strategy that’s surprisingly well-suited for our fast-changing world. Read the video transcript ► https://bigthink.com/personal-growth/generalists/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About David Epstein: David Epstein is the author of the New York Times bestsellers Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World and The Sports Gene. He has master's degrees in environmental science and journalism and has worked as an investigative reporter for ProPublica and a senior writer for Sports Illustrated. He lives in Washington, DC. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Read more of our stories on personality types: How does your personality type affect your income? ► https://bigthink.com/thinking/personality-type-income/ Which stress personality are you? ► https://bigthink.com/neuropsych/seven-stress-personalities/ There are six types of worker, this study says. Which one are you? ► https://bigthink.com/smart-skills/6-types-of-worker/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About Big Think | Smarter Faster™ ► Big Think The leading source of expert-driven, educational content. With thousands of videos, featuring experts ranging from Bill Clinton to Bill Nye, Big Think helps you get smarter, faster by exploring the big ideas and core skills that define knowledge in the 21st century. ► Big Think+ Make your business smarter, faster: https://bigthink.com/plus/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Want more Big Think? ► Daily editorial features: https://bigthink.com/popular/ ► Get the best of Big Think right to your inbox: https://bigthink.com/st/newsletter ► Facebook: https://bigth.ink/facebook ► Instagram: https://bigth.ink/Instagram ► Twitter: https://bigth.ink/twitter

problemsolving

Problem Solving

Don’t take the prodigy pathway. David Epstein says become a broad thinker instead.

Subscribe to Big Think on YouTube ► https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvQECJukTDE2i6aCoMnS-Vg?sub_confirmation=1
Get smarter, faster with our playlist ► https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5uULy4b0kV6dcSRjedcy3IymBytRT34Q

The idea for Nintendo’s Game Boy system was born from a philosophy that had a much less catchy name: lateral thinking with withered technology.

The term was coined by Gunpei Yokoi, a Nintendo employee who started at the company with a similarly dry job: machine maintenance worker. One day, a Nintendo executive noticed that Yokoi had built a simple extendable-arm-grabber toy in his free time. Let’s sell it, the executive said. It became a small hit.

Yokoi was eventually promoted to help build out the company’s video game business. But he recognized that he didn’t have the expertise to advance the cutting edge of the video game world. So he decided on a very specific strategy: take already well-understood knowledge and technology from different domains and combine them in unique ways to create new products. The result was the Game Boy.

In this interview with Big Think, David Epstein, author of the 2019 book "Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World," explains how lateral thinking — a type of thinking where you approach problems from non-obvious angles — is a problem-solving strategy that’s surprisingly well-suited for our fast-changing world.

Read the video transcript ► https://bigthink.com/personal-growth/generalists/

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About David Epstein:
David Epstein is the author of the New York Times bestsellers Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World and The Sports Gene. He has master's degrees in environmental science and journalism and has worked as an investigative reporter for ProPublica and a senior writer for Sports Illustrated. He lives in Washington, DC.

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Read more of our stories on personality types: 
How does your personality type affect your income?
► https://bigthink.com/thinking/personality-type-income/
Which stress personality are you?
► https://bigthink.com/neuropsych/seven-stress-personalities/
There are six types of worker, this study says. Which one are you?
► https://bigthink.com/smart-skills/6-types-of-worker/

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About Big Think | Smarter Faster™
► Big Think 
The leading source of expert-driven, educational content. With thousands of videos, featuring experts ranging from Bill Clinton to Bill Nye, Big Think helps you get smarter, faster by exploring the big ideas and core skills that define knowledge in the 21st century. 
► Big Think+
Make your business smarter, faster: https://bigthink.com/plus/

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Want more Big Think?
► Daily editorial features: https://bigthink.com/popular/
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Why divergent thinkers beat geniuses in the real world | David Epstein

George Orwell -or Eric Arthur Blair- was an English writer who covered different genres: fiction novels, essays, journalism and criticism.He is world famous for his characteristic social criticism throughout his works, as well as his opposition to totalitarianism and staunch defense of social democracy.These values are reflected in all his writings, the most well known ones are:<ul><li>Animal Farm</li><li>Nineteen Eighty-Four</li><li>Homage to Catalonia</li></ul>Discover throughout this stash the most remarkable quotes found on Orwell On Truth.

George Orwell

"You are free to be drunkard, an idler, a coward, a backbiter, a fornicator; but you are not free to think for yourself."from Burmese Days (1943)

"Intellectual honesty is a crime in any totalitarian country; but even in England it is not exactly profitable to speak and write the truth."from Fascism and DecomcracyThe Left News, (February 1941)

"In England such concepts as justice, liberty and objective truth are still believed in. They may be illusions but they are very powerful illusions."from The Lion and The Unicorn (February 1941)

"Art and propaganda are never quite separable."Literary Criticism II : Tolstoy and Shakespearebroadcast 7 May 1941The Listener, 5 June 1941

"What is peculiar to our own age is the abandonment of the idea that history could be trutfully written."from Looking Back on the Spanish War (1943)

"The imagination, like certain wild animals, will not breed in captivity."from The Prevention of LiteraturePolemic, January 1946The Atlantic Monthly,

"Political language has to consist largely of euphemism, question-begging and sheer cloudly vagueness."from Politics and the English LanguagePayments Book, 11 December 1945Horizon, April 1946

"Who controls the past, controls the future, who controls the present, controls the past."from Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949)

"Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four."from Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949)

In this compilation of essays, reviews and excerpts from his novels, George Orwell examines what truth is for him and the dangers that certain political positions unravel.

'Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two equals four. If that is granted, all else follows.' This selection of George Orwell's writing, from both his novels and non-fiction, gathers together his thoughts on the subject of truth. It ranges from discussion of personal honesty and morality, to freedom of speech and political propaganda. Orwell's unique clarity of thought and illuminating scepticism provide the perfect defence against our post-truth world of fake news and confusion. 'The further a society drifts from the truth, the more it will hate those that speak it.' Includes an introduction by Alan Johnson and passages from Burmese Days, The Road to Wigan Pier, Coming Up for Air, The Lion and the Unicorn, Animal Farm, Nineteen Eighty-Four, Orwell's letters, war-time diary, criticism and essays including 'Fascism and Democracy', 'Culture and Democracy', 'Looking Back on the Spanish War', 'As I Please', 'Notes on Nationalism', 'The Prevention of Literature', 'Politics and the English Language' and 'Why I Write'.

A selection of George Orwell's prescient, clear-eyed and stimulating writing on the subjects of truth and lies. With an introduction by Alan Johnson. 'Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two equals four. If that is granted, all else follows.' This selection of George Orwell’s writing, from both his novels and non-fiction, gathers together his thoughts on the subject of truth. It ranges from discussion of personal honesty and morality, to freedom of speech and political propaganda. Orwell’s unique clarity of thought and illuminating scepticism provide the perfect defence against our post-truth world of fake news and confusion. 'The further a society drifts from the truth, the more it will hate those that speak it.' Includes an introduction by Alan Johnson and passages from Burmese Days, The Road to Wigan Pier, Coming Up for Air, The Lion and the Unicorn, Animal Farm, Nineteen Eighty-Four, Orwell’s letters, war-time diary, criticism and essays including ‘Fascism and Democracy’, ‘Culture and Democracy’, ‘Looking Back on the Spanish War’, ‘As I Please’, ‘Notes on Nationalism’, ‘The Prevention of Literature’, ‘Politics and the English Language’ and ‘Why I Write’.

Eric Arthur Blair, better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English novelist, essayist, journalist, and critic. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to totalitarianism, and support of democratic socialism.

Orwell on Truth

There are various opinions and definitions on what Web3 is, let's have a look to a few mentioned:<ul><li>"A decentralized online ecosystem based on blockchain." - Gavin Woods</li><li>"An internet without Amazon, Google, and Microsoft." - Michael del Castillo, Forbes</li><li>"More a marketing buzzword than reality." - Elon Musk</li><li>"Something new and exciting which somehow involves blockchain."</li></ul>

What is Web3?

Blockchains are extremely painful to use for various reasons:<ul><li>Limited transactions</li><li>Congestion</li><li>Cost</li><li>Limited compute</li><li>Limited storage</li></ul>But despite that it has three features which make it absolutely unique:<ul><li>Trustless event ordering</li><li>Transparency</li><li>Immutability</li></ul>"Blockchain makes sense to use when trustless event ordering, transparency and immutability are absolutely essential."

Blockchain Use

Let's have a look to different situations where Trustlessness and transparency really matter:<ul><li>International borders</li><li>Powerful monopolies</li><li>War, disagreement, instability, mistrust</li><li>Employees and customers scattered around the world</li><li>Absence of courts and police</li><li>Corruptions, theft</li></ul>

Where/when do Trustlessness and Transparency Matter?

"The more of these attributes come together, the more of a compelling blockchain and web3 usecase there probably is."

Let's say you spot a project which offers a 18% guaranteed returns using web3.Now you should ask yourself:<ul><li>What do high guaranteed returns have to do with trustlesness, immutability, and transparency?</li></ul>Nothing... In this case we see a lack of basic connection.

1st Practical Examples on Web3 Use

In this case we have a Unicef project which aims to support internet access accross South America and Africa. And it operates as follows:<ul><li>Smart contract disperses funds only to schools with a working internet connection.</li><li>Donors watch funds flow in real time to connected schools.</li><li>Blokchain allows having a transparent record system.</li></ul>

2nd Practical Examples on Web3 Use

In this last examples let's imagine this scenario: Artist/Programmer/Refugees living in 18 countries want to start a company/collective/organization. The following doubts arise:<ul><li>Which currency is the special one?</li><li>Which country is the special one?</li><li>Open bank accounts is 18 countries?</li><li>How to govern company?</li><li>Audit the books - employees, local tax authorities...</li><li>Blockchain makes all of these transparent.</li></ul>

3rd Practical Examples on Web3 Use

"Smart contract built on a decentralized system which connects real world events to the flow of money begins to make a lot of sense."

Even with overwhelming rationale for blockchain, still need to deal with:<ul><li>Scaling</li><li>Compute</li><li>Storage</li><li>Transaction/s</li><li>Congestion</li><li>Cost (inverse unit economics)</li><li>Carbon Footprint</li></ul>

Blockhain: Painful but Beatiful

"Summarizing, if someone comes to you and promises you a lot of cash quickly and easily that's not really a web3 project.Instead what we're looking for are a combination of attributes that are forcing that project to use decentralized systems despite all their problems."

Web3 isn't inherently a scam, it all depends on the purpose, community and goal of the project.In this TED Talks he gives us guidelines on how to make good project judgements without falling for scams.

Is Web3 a Scam?

In this brief but intense TEDxTalks Jan Liphardt gives us guidelines and tools to detect scams on the now famous Web3.

I provide a framework and tools to assess how #web3 provides value and how to separate fact from fiction in the web3 space. Blockchains can be painful but beautiful - this means that sustainable opportunities where a web3 solution makes sense are nuanced. Jan is an Associate Professor of Bioengineering at Stanford University and a Professor in Residence at StartX. For his Ph.D. work at Cambridge University, he used computers, information theory, and statistics, such as stochastic context free grammars, to find patterns in genomes. He was a physics professor at UC Berkeley until 2013, when he moved to Stanford. In 2016, he worked with Joe Biden’s cancer moonshot initiative and a social network to help patients share sensitive medical data. Jan cofounded Enya in 2018 as a way to reframe how sensitive information flows through the internet and how data analytics can be better balanced with privacy. Jan is a Sloan Research Fellow and a Searle Scholar. At Stanford, Jan focuses on privacy preserving digital health and he teaches a blockchain / distributed systems class. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx

moneyandinvestments

Money & Investments

I provide a framework and tools to assess how #web3 provides value and how to separate fact from fiction in the web3 space.  Blockchains can be painful but beautiful - this means that sustainable opportunities where a web3 solution makes sense are nuanced.   

Jan is an Associate Professor of Bioengineering at Stanford University and a Professor in Residence at StartX. For his Ph.D. work at Cambridge University, he used computers, information theory, and statistics, such as stochastic context free grammars, to find patterns in genomes. He was a physics professor at UC Berkeley until 2013, when he moved to Stanford.

In 2016, he worked with Joe Biden’s cancer moonshot initiative and a social network to help patients share sensitive medical data. Jan cofounded Enya in 2018 as a way to reframe how sensitive information flows through the internet and how data analytics can be better balanced with privacy.

Jan is a Sloan Research Fellow and a Searle Scholar. At Stanford, Jan focuses on privacy preserving digital health and he teaches a blockchain / distributed systems class. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx

TEDx is an international community that organizes TED-style events anywhere and everywhere -- celebrating locally-driven ideas and elevating them to a global stage. TEDx events are produced independently of TED conferences, each event curates speakers on their own, but based on TED's format and rules.

TED's videos may be used for non-commercial purposes under a Creative Commons License, Attribution–Non Commercial–No Derivatives (or the CC BY – NC – ND 4.0 International) and in accordance with our TED Talks Usage Policy (https://www.ted.com/about/our-organization/our-policies-terms/ted-talks-usage-policy). 

For more information on using TED for commercial purposes (e.g. employee learning, in a film or online course), please submit a Media Request here: https://media-requests.ted.com.

TEDx Talks

Is web3 a scam? | Jan Liphardt | TEDxBostonStudio

Part 2 of Indistractable is dedicated to the conscious decision of making time for traction. The author divides this Part as follows:<ul><li>Turn your Values into Time</li><li>Control the Inputs, not the Outcomes</li><li>Schedule Important Relationships</li><li>Sync with Stakeholders at Work</li></ul>

Make Time for Traction

"If I know how you spend your time, then I know what might become of you."

"Values are not end goals; they are guidelines for our actions. [...] If we chronically neglect our values, we become someone we're not proud of - our life feels out of balance and disminished."

To call something a distraction you need to know what it is distracting you from, to differentiate between traction and distraction you have to plan ahead.When planning your calendar make sure it reflects your values so you can become the person you aspire to be.A framework which you can use to schedule a balanced life is the three life domains: you, relationships and work. Plan your day to spend time within each domain according to your values.Scheduling isn't easy, hence why you'll need to revise and refine your schedule regularly. Despite that, you must commit to it once it's set.

Turn your Values into Time

"When it comes to our time, we should stop worrying about outcomes we can't control and instead focus on the inputs we can. [...] The one thing we control is the time we put into a task."

You are at the center of the three life domains, in order to fully experience relationships and work you have to schedule time for yourself first.Outcomes are difficult to control, but what you can really control is the time and dedication you put into a task. Once you commit, do it.Unlike outcome, input can be controlled by you. When it comes to living the life you want, making sure you allocate time to living your values is the only thing you should focus on.

Control the Inputs, not the Outcomes

"The people we love most should not be content with getting whatever time is left over. Everyone benefits when we hold time on our schedule to live up to our values and do our share."

If someone is important to you, make regular time for them on your calendar. The people you love deserve more than getting whatever time is left over.
Go beyond scheduling date days with your significant other. Put domestic chores on your calendar to ensure an equitable split.
As a relational being, maintaining important and healthy relationships is crucial for your life. A lack of close friendships may be hazardous to your health. Ensure you mantain important relationships by scheduling time for regular get-togethers.

Schedule Important Relationships

"In fact, studies have found that workers who spend more than fift-five hours per week on the job have reduced productivity; this problem is further compounded by their making more mistakes and inflicting more useless work on their colleagues, resulting in getting even less done in more time."

Synchronizing your schedule with workplace stakeholders is essential to take time for traction in your day. Without visibility of how you spend your time, colleagues and managers are more likely to distract you with superfluous tasks.Synchronize as often as your schedule changes. If your schedule template changes from day to day, have a daily check-in. However, most people find a weekly alignment is sufficient.

Sync with Stakeholders at Work

"Using a detailed, timeboxed schedule helps clarify the central trust pact between employers and employees."

These ideas are a summary of the Part 2 of Indistractable - Make Time for Traction. Soon I will publish more ideas respecting the remaining parts of the book in order to go deeper as it deserves.

'A must-read' Mark Manson We are living through a crisis of distraction. Plans get sidetracked, friends are ignored, work never seems to get done. Why does it feel like we're distracting our lives away? In Indistractable, behavioural designer Nir Eyal reveals the hidden psychology driving you to distraction. Empowering and optimistic, this is the book that will help you design your time, realise your ambitions, and live the life you really want. 'If you value your time, your focus or your relationships, this book is essential reading' Jonathan Haidt, author of The Righteous Mind 'A guide to staying focused in an age of constant distraction' Guardian 'Exactly what most of us need in order to focus on what is important, rather than the dazzling, illuminated, unsatisfying distractions of modern life' Matt Haig 'Does exactly as it promises. Amazing' Chris Evans 'The best guide I've read for reclaiming our attention, our focus and our lives' Arianna Huffington

"Indistractable provides a framework that will deliver the focus you need to get results." —James Clear, author of Atomic Habits "If you value your time, your focus, or your relationships, this book is essential reading. I'm putting these ideas into practice." —Jonathan Haidt, author of The Righteous Mind   National Bestseller Winner of the Outstanding Works of Literature (OWL) Award Included in the Top 5 Best Personal Development Books of the Year by Audible Included in the Top 20 Best Business and Leadership Books of the Year by Amazon Featured in The Amazon Book Review Newsletter, January 2020 Goodreads Best Science & Technology of 2019 Finalist   You sit down at your desk to work on an important project, but a notification on your phone interrupts your morning. Later, as you're about to get back to work, a colleague taps you on the shoulder to chat. At home, screens get in the way of quality time with your family. Another day goes by, and once again, your most important personal and professional goals are put on hold. What would be possible if you followed through on your best intentions? What could you accomplish if you could stay focused? What if you had the power to become "indistractable?" International bestselling author, former Stanford lecturer, and behavioral design expert, Nir Eyal, wrote Silicon Valley's handbook for making technology habit-forming. Five years after publishing Hooked, Eyal reveals distraction's Achilles' heel in his groundbreaking new book. In Indistractable, Eyal reveals the hidden psychology driving us to distraction. He describes why solving the problem is not as simple as swearing off our devices: Abstinence is impractical and often makes us want more. Eyal lays bare the secret of finally doing what you say you will do with a four-step, research-backed model. Indistractable reveals the key to getting the best out of technology, without letting it get the best of us. Inside, Eyal overturns conventional wisdom and reveals:    • Why distraction at work is a symptom of a dysfunctional company culture—and how to fix it    • What really drives human behavior and why "time management is pain management"    • Why your relationships (and your sex life) depend on you becoming indistractable    • How to raise indistractable children in an increasingly distracting world Empowering and optimistic, Indistractable provides practical, novel techniques to control your time and attention—helping you live the life you really want.

Nir Eyal is an accomplished writer whose work has resonated with readers around the world. Nir Eyal has published several books that explore a range of topics, from fiction to nonfiction, and has received critical acclaim for the ability to weave compelling narratives. Nir Eyal's writing style is known for its depth and authenticity, and has earned quite a loyal following of readers.

Measure What Matters

Free Speech And Why It Matters

The Uncommunist Manifesto

The Book of Tea

Why divergent thinkers beat geniuses in the real world | David Epstein

Max Pamies i del Campo