Reading Time: < 1 minOver the past few months, partially via the altMBA and partially on my own, I’ve been studying the idea of empathy. Books like Overcoming Bias and Caste have been excellent as I’ve dug into this. Much of it comes back to the idea of sonder, or appreciating that you’re not the main character in the […]
Empathy
Sonder, Ponder, Wonder
Reading Time: < 1 minI mentioned the concept of sonder recently, in my post about how there are only protagonists. As I mentioned in that post: Sonder is defined as that moment when you realize that everyone around you has an internal life as rich and as conflicted as yours. Here is a great (short) video that explains it […]
There are only protagonists
Reading Time: < 1 minIn the book Overcoming Bias, authors Tiffany Jana and Matthew Freeman make an interesting observation that I tend to agree with: The world certainly has bad guys who come along now and then, but most of the time there are only protagonists – and everyone is fighting for what they think is right. Particularly in […]
Argue like the Wright brothers
Reading Time: < 1 minWilbur and Orville Wright were famous for their arguments, but they did it in a great way. Rather than ever attacking each other personally, they attacked the viewpoints of one another, freeing them to dig in deep. As much as they respected one another, they were open to new ideas which sometimes led to comical […]
Accept me as I am?
Reading Time: < 1 minIn the book, Thanks for the Feedback, author Douglas Stone poses the following question: When we say “accept me as I am”, are we really just asking for immunity from critique? More often than not, I think the answer is a clear “yes”. We certainly should try to view others through that lens, and accept […]
Masks are shopping carts
Reading Time: 2 minA popular meme has been going around called “the shopping cart theory”, related to what it means to put the shopping cart back in a corral versus leaving in the middle of the parking lot. It looks like this: Putting away a shopping cart is an easy, convenient task. Most people recognize it as the […]
To grow your empathy, think past being the sympathetic hero
Reading Time: 2 minMuch of today’s political chaos, at least as it related to one-on-one relationships, seems to be suffering from a lack of empathy. It starts by just treating each other as humans, but even then people have a hard time understanding how someone else may have a contradictory viewpoint. As an example, I recently saw a […]
An hour without a mouse
Reading Time: 2 minI’ve seen people try to use the web with just a keyboard for a full day, or even a week, but I thought a good place to start would just be a single hour. It doesn’t sound too tough at first, but you quickly realize — how do I switch tabs with my keyboard? Or […]
Reading for the altMBA
Reading Time: < 1 minI’m taking part in Seth Godin’s latest class of the altMBA next month, and the books for the session just arrived at my house. These aren’t textbooks or anything — just normal books you can get on Amazon. Some have been on my “to read” list, and some weren’t, but they’ll all be getting read […]
Proper expectations make life better
Reading Time: < 1 minThis past Christmas I got my wife a Cricut machine and a variety of accessories, so she can create various craft projects around the house. So far she’s done great! However, there are a lot of things she’s still unable to do and it can be frustrating, but she recognizes that it’s just part of […]