The idea of externalizing as much of our memory as possible so that we can free our brain up for thinking is not a new idea to me. This certainly gave it more structure. Especially if that structure will allow you to function better in the white, male world in which we live.
It all seems to depend on the idea that an organized thinker is a hierarchical thinking, striving for speedy solutions, and ability to move forward. And not the messy abstractness that so often seems to be life.
Certainly, this is another book that helped me understand myself, in good and bad ways. I can see why computer geeks love this book — it almost gives rules for interactions with humans. It also is a guide for the rules of a white dominated mental system and culture that may or not be helpful.
Lencioni's books are business books told in a story format, prioritizing the people, their relationships, and decisions and placing them in a real world. It is still though a business book and while enjoyable enough, you wouldn't really read them for the plot.
I read this book at the recommendation of a colleague to think about how we might use similar techniques, particularly the idea of a thematic goal to help drive organizational cohesion and change, which maybe is hard to do all at once.
The part that strikes me is that this is not so much about having a thematic goal. Rather it is the process of getting leadership to define and buy in to the thematic goal that has the real value. But maybe that is always the case.
I listened to Dare to Lead by Brené Brown on audiobook, the way I usually do at 1.5x and while walking the dog.
And maybe that's not the place to start books I know I'm going to want to annotate. I'm a brené Brown fan. Her page on research is part of the welcome packet for all incoming interns. All of which is to say: I'm going to need to by a physical or digital copy so I can start marking it up.
What has stuck with me, from this first listen, is more tools and ways to have hard workplace conversations, including with yourself. I have a hard time imagining using term like “rumble” at work. But maybe that's part of the problem.
Being explicit — including more explicit markers for conversations and expectations of and guidelines for behavior — are a part of creating a more inclusive workplace. It doesn't depend on coded norms and biases to function.
I am four years late to read On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder. I was prompted by his recent interview, focusing on the Events At Our Nation's Capitol, on MSNBC.
And it is a very quick, readable, and sobering book. It pairs well with my (relatively) recent reading of Hitler's American Model and the report published by the Transition Integrity Project. Where “pairing well” means they reflected on each other in ways that helped me get at my own thinking,
And it's tempting to think with Biden's election the moment for tyranny in the U.S. has passed. This is not true. We may have a small pause where we can put in place more resilience — which ultimately is a practice — to help us respond to future outbreaks.
What does this mean in practice? I don't pretend to know but this little book and it's to do list approach did make me begin a list of my own:
Provide more on ramps for civil society. This isn't just the tradition of donations or volunteerism. Nor the kind of professional capacity building I do daily. It is about prioritizing more ability to help a wide variety of actors and to create meaningful collaborations between the traditional NGO world and other groups.
Think about the ethics of civil society. I don't know that this has been written about much. And so often we seem more concerned with the behavior that preserves our status. Anticipatory obedience. Very different from accountability to the concepts of free association and democracy.
Be increasingly generous with our platform and build for that. I have a very direct influence over that at work. And as a user of platforms. The trick will be to create as a value. As an image that we aspire towards.
In the book, Snyder derides — it feels to me that he derides — the internet. But really I think it is what we have optimized the internet for — monetization and consumerism — that is the issue. How we can we start to optimize for resiliency and collaboration? What's required for that? That to me is very connected to the items above because civil society helps provide the space for civic discourse.
The book also left me with a list of Eastern Europeans to read.
I just finished the audiobook of Range by David Epstein.
I listen to audiobooks at 1.5 speed and while I'm walking or cooking dinner. It makes talking notes, looking up references hard. Mostly, that doesn't matter. With this book it does because I want to dive in deeper.
The general idea that a broad array of knowledge feels like, well, of course. Both for and individual and a team — where the benefits of a diverse team have been well documented. This book provides more detail on this benefits and goes well beyond a sort of “and this is why you should take your general education classes seriously” type of advice. It also provides support for how we might make up teams and establish commu ovation channels around projects. How we might hire. And how we might bring people together to look for solutions.
As someone who works with communities to make change, I'm particularly interested in how to build things like analog and lateral thinking in to the mix. How to make games out of the concept of withered technology. But I need to know more first. Which means a copy of the physical book is on its way to me.
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