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gchoate17 · 4 months

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I read 25 books this year, nine of which were fiction. I went down a Malcolm Gladwell hole (that I thought I'd already been down) for a bit, and I read a few good books written by friends, but it's worth noting that I would gladly lose friends before I put a book on this list that didn't deserve to be there. Here were my top 11, ranked in the order that I enjoyed them:

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood (1985)

A perfect futuristic dystopian novel in that it feels like a such a real-world possibility and doesn't overlook the finest of details -- the obvious ones, as well as the subtle ones. I'm eager to pick up the next one.

2. The Bomber Mafia by Malcolm Galdwell (2021)

A fascinating perspective on the advancement of air power and bombing in the years leading up to (and during) World War II. As with most honest war stories, there is no clear good and evil after digging beneath the surface, and Gladwell does a phenomenal job of digging. I highly recommend the audiobook because of the use of recorded interviews.

3. The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell (2000)

Somehow I accidentally deleted my review of this one and now I'm going to lose sleep over it. What I remember, seven months after reading it, is that I'm a connector and I need to collaborate with mavens if I really want to get an idea off the ground. And also that I should be pushing Blues Clues onto my children, even though I'm a die-hard Sesame Streeter.

4. The Lost Son by Stephanie Vanderslice (2022)

I struggled with the back and forth in time and place at first — as I normally do — but settled into it after the first 50 pages, when the narrative takes off. A good gut-punch will tether you to a story no matter where it goes in space and time. In this book, Vanderslice gives us a solid World War II family drama that pulls especially hard on the ties that bind siblings to each other, and parents to their children. I finished this one with a quiet, snotty cry next to a stranger on an airplane.

5. Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell (2008)

Gladwell tells a good story and I'm a big fan of debunking the myth that "genius" alone leads to success -- one also needs resources and the luck of generational timing. As a dad, though, my major takeaway is that my kids should be going to school year-round.

6. The Testaments by Margaret Atwood (2019)

I appreciated the distance in perspective from what Atwood gave us in The Handmaid's Tale. I especially enjoyed Aunt Lydia's perspective and the story of her indoctrination. As the three narratives drifted closer together, I found myself eager for further development of the tale instead of hearing the same tale from different points of view. Still, this should be required reading for the contemporary age.

7. Bettyville by George Hodgman (2015)

Hodgman pieces together vignettes that seem at times unrelated to the next or the last, but he somehow manages to weave together a narrative that is as complete as one can hope. The relationships he gives us are at once sad and humorous, and painfully true when it comes to hiding our fears from the ones we love. This book is ultimately a declaration of the love and forgiveness he has for his mother. And ultimately, oddly, it's also a demonstration of the love she has for him.

8. Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner (2021)

This memoir written about a time of sorrow and unknowing follows the writer's exploration of her memories and she applies them to her present day in that common humanistic attempt to make sense of it all. The journey of this book feels authentic, especially because Zauner provides a fantastic soundtrack through Japanese Breakfast that corroborates and reiterates the feelings in the book. She has so much love for her mother and it comes through. (Also, I want to go to Korea and eat all the things now.)

9. Homegrown by Jeffrey Toobin (2023)

It's amazing that we (and Toobin) have access to so many pieces of evidence of McVeigh's life. This book feels exhaustive, but I was glued to everything right up until McVeigh goes into custody. The early sections of the court case got a little dry, but keeping those sections were the right editorial choice because it showed the excessive expenses associated with his defense. Toobin lured me back in. My wife was glad when I finished this one because I finally stopped coming home and saying, "Back to Tim McVeigh -- GET THIS!" and launching into what I learned about him/the case. The whole thing is fascinating.

10. On Animals by Susan Orlean (2021)

An interesting look at how humans interact with various animals in a specific time and place, but also throughout history. Well researched, but full of warm language. A plethora of interesting tidbits to share with the wife (that she doesn't really care about probably, but she humors me and listens).

11. We Hold Our Breath by Micah Fields (2023)

Though I've visited a half-dozen or so times, Houston has never had a definable personality for me. I appreciated the personality of the city Fields gives us here, but his real accomplishment is the portrait he provides of his imperfect mother. It's in how he writes honestly about her flaws that we see the love he has for her. That's not easy to do.

Previous Book Lists: 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011.

#book lists #books #reading #best of 2023 #2023 books #malcolm gladwell #a handmaid's tale #margaret atwood #stephanie vanderslice #micah fields #michelle zauner #jeffrey toobin #george hodgman #susan orlean

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theambitiouswoman · 5 months

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Book Recommendations 📚📒

Business and Leadership:

"Good to Great" by Jim Collins

"The Lean Startup" by Eric Ries

"Zero to One" by Peter Thiel

"Leaders Eat Last" by Simon Sinek

"Outliers: The Story of Success" by Malcolm Gladwell

Success and Personal Development:

"The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" by Stephen R. Covey

"Mindset: The New Psychology of Success" by Carol S. Dweck

"Atomic Habits" by James Clear

"Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance" by Angela Duckworth

"The Power of Habit" by Charles Duhigg

Mental Health and Well-being:

"The Power of Now" by Eckhart Tolle

"Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy" by David D. Burns

"The Gifts of Imperfection" by Brené Brown

"The Anxiety and Phobia Workbook" by Edmund J. Bourne

"The Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Workbook" by Matthew McKay, Jeffrey C. Wood, and Jeffrey Brantley

Goal Setting and Achievement:

"Goals!: How to Get Everything You Want—Faster Than You Ever Thought Possible" by Brian Tracy

"The 12 Week Year" by Brian P. Moran and Michael Lennington

"Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us" by Daniel H. Pink

"The One Thing" by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan

"Smarter Faster Better" by Charles Duhigg

Relationships and Communication:

"How to Win Friends and Influence People" by Dale Carnegie

"The 5 Love Languages" by Gary Chapman

"Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High" by Al Switzler, Joseph Grenny, and Ron McMillan

"Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life" by Marshall B. Rosenberg

"Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus" by John Gray

Self-Help and Personal Growth:

"The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck" by Mark Manson

"Daring Greatly" by Brené Brown

"Awaken the Giant Within" by Tony Robbins

"The Miracle Morning" by Hal Elrod

"You Are a Badass" by Jen Sincero

Science and Popular Science:

"Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari

"The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot

"Cosmos" by Carl Sagan

"A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson

"The Selfish Gene" by Richard Dawkins

Health and Nutrition:

"The China Study" by T. Colin Campbell and Thomas M. Campbell II

"In Defense of Food" by Michael Pollan

"Why We Sleep" by Matthew Walker

"Born to Run" by Christopher McDougall

"The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan

Fiction and Literature:

"To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee

"1984" by George Orwell

"The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald

"The Catcher in the Rye" by J.D. Salinger

"Pride and Prejudice" by Jane Austen

#books #books and reading #reading #goodreads #bookshelf #bookish #readersofinstagram #reading list #personal improvement #personal development #life advice #advice

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wrence · 2 years

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One of the earliest told stories of the signing of The Beatles to EMI’s Parlophone Records division in May of 1962 goes like this: While Brian Epstein was having the Decca audition tapes transferred to acetate for easier distribution to labels, the songs were heard by Sid Colman, who ran EMI’s Ardmore and Beechwood Publishing division. He was interested in obtaining the publishing rights to The Beatles’ original songs. And that’s where the story seems to split into different tellings.

Brian Epstein would relate that Colman took the recordings to George Martin, who liked them very much and would be willing to give them an audition. Martin remembered it differently. He said he “wasn’t knocked out at all.” So how did The Beatles eventually get signed? In this episode we talk about the fairy tale version and the version that is closer to what really happened.

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the-joy-of-knowledge · 1 year

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Hi, you seem educated on the finance field.. what resources (websites, articles, good quality books, Youtube channels) you suggest for someone who willingly wants to be financially independent? i dont know from where to start exactly. Plus, Im glad i found your blog since Im in the same journey, you are very inspiring, I hope you continue to carry yourself like this, you got all my support ♥

Hi!

Thank you so much for your kind words and support. I will try my best to give you as many resources as I can.

Books

I can’t stress reading enough. I have listed books on personal finance, corporate finance, career development, and self development.

The Almanac of Naval Ramakant

The 80/20 Principle by Richard Koch

The Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell

Obvious Adams by Robert Updegraff

I will Teach you to be Rich by Ramit Sethi

How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie

The Richest Man in Babylon by George Samuel Clason

What They Teach You At Harvard Business School by Philip Delves Broughton

Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson.

Warren Buffett and the Interpretation of Financial Statement by Mary Buffet.

Websites & Articles

Bloomberg

CNBC

Business Insider

Kiplinger

Investopedia

Wall Street Journal

Forbes

Google Finance

New York Times: Your money

Consumer Reports

Youtube Channels

Finaius

David Rubenstein

Business Casual

CNBC Make It

Nate O'Brien

The Swedish Investor

Garry Tan

Business Insider

Business Stories

Ali Abdaal

I hope you found this helpful,

Love!!!

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gwendolynlerman · 4 months

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Books I want to read in 2024

I was inspired by @fluencylevelfrench to write this post, so here are the 50 books I want to read in 2024, which is my provisional Goodreads goal. (I always set a lowish number and adjust it throughout the year depending on how my goal progresses.) Last year, I read 121 books, so I'm hoping to be able to read at least 100, but I have no idea what my year is going to look like.

1Q84 Book 1 by Haruki Murakami (currently reading)

1Q84 Book 2 by Haruki Murakami

1Q84 Book 3 by Haruki Murakami

Hamburg – hin und zurück by Felix & Theo

Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli

Die Verwandlung by Franz Kafka

Words and Rules: The Ingredients of Language by Steven Pinker

Love, Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli

International Relations Theory by Stephen McGlinchey

You Are What You Speak: Grammar Grouches, Language Laws and the Power of Words by Robert Lane Greene

Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Steven D. Levitt

Meditations on Diplomacy: Comparative Cases in Diplomatic Practice and Foreign Policy by Stephen Chan

Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich

Reflections on the Posthuman in International Relations: The Anthropocene, Security and Ecology by Clara Eroukhmanoff

In Cold Blood: A True Account of Multiple Murder and Its Consequences by Truman Capote

Haus ohne Hoffnung by Felix & Theo

Effi Briest by Theodor Fontane

Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster by Jon Krakauer

Migration and the Ukraine Crisis: A Two-Country Perspective by Agnieszka Pikulicka-Wilczewska and Greta Uehling (eds.)

Writing Systems: An Introduction to Their Linguistic Analysis by Florian Coulmas

Nations under God: The Geopolitics of Faith in the Twenty-First Century by Luke M. Herrington

The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell

Herr der Diebe by Cornelia Funke

Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal by Eric Schlosser

Park Statue Politics: World War II Comfort Women Memorials in the United States by Thomas J. Ward

The Sun Is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon

Restoring Indigenous Self-Determination: Theoretical and Practical Approaches by Marc Woons

Veronikas Geheimnis by Friedhelm Strack

The Sacred and the Sovereign by Özgür Taşkaya

1984 by George Orwell

Sounds of War: Aesthetics, Emotions and Chechnya by Susanna Hast

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

Feminists Don't Wear Pink (And Other Lies): Amazing Women on What the F-Word Means to Them by Scarlett Curtis

Into the Eleventh Hour: R2P, Syria and Humanitarianism in Crisis by Robert W. Murray

The Restaurant at the End of the Universe by Douglas Adams

Men Explain Things to Me by Rebecca Solnit

Life, the Universe and Everything by Douglas Adams

Women & Power: A Manifesto by Mary Beard

So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish by Douglas Adams

The Sources of Russia's Great Power Politics: Ukraine and the Challenge to the European Order by Taras Kuzio

Mostly Harmless by Douglas Adams

Women, Race & Class by Angela Y. Davis

Feminism without Borders: Decolonizing Theory, Practicing Solidarity by Chandra Talpade Mohanty

I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson

The “Clash of Civilizations” 25 Years On: A Multidisciplinary Appraisal by Davide Orsi

Making Space for Indigenous Feminism by Joyce Green

It's Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

Hood Feminism: Notes from the Women That a Movement Forgot by Mikki Kendall

Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli

#bookblr

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religion-is-a-mental-illness · 1 year

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By: Joseph (Jake) Klein

Published: Mar 14, 2023

On March 1st, Berrett-Koehler Publishers, an independent publisher that markets Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion literature to businesses, hosted a webinar entitled “Racial Justice: The Next Frontier.” The event featured DEI consultants Mareisha N. Reese and Mary-Frances Winters in conversation with Robin DiAngelo, the famous (or perhaps infamous) author of White Fragility.

The discussion revealed some good news for those of us concerned by the particular vision of so-called “racial justice” advocated by DiAngelo and her colleagues, in which all white people are racist by definition and all individuals are judged based on their immutable characteristics. All three of the panelists were noticeably less optimistic than they’ve appeared to be in the past about their ability to succeed in bringing their vision of society to fruition.

Each of the panelists expressed substantial frustration at the difficulties they’ve experienced in bringing our society the “systems change” they allege it needs. Mary-Frances Winters noted that she felt their ideas had finally become the basis for a real movement in the “racial reckoning” following the murder of George Floyd. But she lamented how her hopes during that time have not been realized.

Many corporations, Winters said, have added “justice” as a goal (turning DEI into DEIJ) without understanding “what that really means.” She explained that she now hears “a lot” that business leaders are uncomfortable with the DEIJ programs being proposed to them, and that her company, The Winters Group, has lost contracts with businesses who didn’t know what they were getting into—“oh, this is what you mean by anti-racism work? That’s not what we signed up for.” She attributes the failure of these companies to accept her DEIJ program to their “fragility” and choosing to “center white comfort.” DiAngelo added that corporations exhibit a lot of “proclaimed investment with absolutely no true investment,” and that in order to get to a place where they are capable of true investment, “white people have to build their stamina.” She complained that “so many companies have the diversity question…and no one on the hiring committee even knows how to assess a good answer.”

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That ideologues like DiAngelo have had an imperfect relationship with corporations is not entirely surprising. Many DEI advocates have long complained that corporations mostly adopt DEI practices for appearance’s sake. But nonetheless, it is noteworthy that some companies are backing away from DEIJ programs once they learn what they truly do. Obscuring the true nature of these programs by using broadly agreeable words such as “inclusion,” “justice,” and “anti-racism”—a strategy often called a “motte-and-bailey”—has been essential to DEI advocates’ ability to market to mainstream America. The panelist’s account of their failures gives reason for opponents of race-essentialist DEI to be optimistic that our ongoing efforts to shed light on its divisive and impractical underpinnings is working.

Unfortunately, the bad news is that despite failing to meet their ambitious expectations, DiAngelo and her colleagues are moving ahead undeterred. To address opposition to her divisive brand of anti-racism training, DiAngelo proposed that companies must be pushed to view any employees who reject it as “simply not qualified in today’s workplace.” If employers fail to find candidates who are sympathetic to her views on racial justice, then recruiters should consider it a “failed search” and try again. “What I want to do is create a culture that actually spits out those who are resistant,” DiAngelo said. DiAngelo invoked Malcolm Gladwell’s “tipping-point theory,” noting that “you don’t need everyone, you don’t even need 50%, tipping points happen at 30%, roughly.” Once a company goes past the tipping point, the 30% can set out to rid the undesirable influences.

Perhaps DiAngelo’s most troubling suggestion was that “people of color need to get away from white people.” One concrete manifestation of this reasoning that was mentioned favorably by all three of the panelists is “racial affinity groups.” These groups have already achieved widespread implementation in both schools and businesses and are explicitly segregated by racial identity. Affinity groups also are often geared towards advancing DiAngelo-style racialist politics and social change. The panelists all expressed hope that affinity groups can be used to organize workers and students in racial solidarity.

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Ultimately, however, it appears that the uncontrolled spread of race-essentialist DEI has been mitigated—for now at least. The pushback is working. The necessary work of rehabilitating the pro-human vision—treating people equally regardless of the color of their skin or other immutable characteristics, of breaking down what divides us to recognize the truth of our common humanity—will make for a long road ahead. But a road grounded in positivity and harmony offers far more fertile ground to reach a “tipping-point” than DiAngelo’s ever can.

#Joseph Klein #Jake Klein #Robin DiAngelo #diversity equity and inclusion #diversity #equity #inclusion #affinity groups #segregation #neoracism #antiracism #antiracism as religion #woke authoritarianism #racial justice #Motte and Bailey #Motte and Bailey fallacy #trojan horse #religion is a mental illness

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mariacallous · 1 year

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Jack Welch, the former C.E.O. of General Electric, was “a plainspoken, homespun dynamo—a pugnacious gnome with a large bald head and piercing eyes that made him as instantly recognizable as Elon Musk is today,” Malcolm Gladwell writes, in an entertaining and probing piece in this week’s issue. “He was called the greatest C.E.O. of the modern age,” Gladwell notes, but he was, by modern standards, a difficult leader: one who “seemed to enjoy firing people,” who “was most comfortable reducing anything of value to a transaction,” and who spent years exploiting a loophole in corporate finance to amass riches for the company—only to have his scheme come crashing down during the 2008 financial crisis. How have his words and actions endured as corporate legend? What wisdom—or folly—has he imparted? Consider this: in 1995, at the peak of his career, Welch suffered a devastating heart attack. He would end up living for nearly twenty-five more years, but at the time, death seemed imminent. A priest wanted to give him last rites; his doctor operated a second time. What, then, constituted the dying man’s thoughts? “Damn it, I didn’t spend enough money.”

In late April of 1995, Jack Welch suffered a crippling heart attack. He was then in full stride in his spectacular run as the C.E.O. of General Electric. He had turned the company from a sleepy conglomerate into a lean and disciplined profit machine. Wall Street loved him. The public adored him. He was called the greatest C.E.O. of the modern age. He was a plainspoken, homespun dynamo—a pugnacious gnome with a large bald head and piercing eyes that made him as instantly recognizable as Elon Musk is today.

But, that spring, his fabled energy seemed to flag. He found himself taking naps in his office. He went out to dinner one night with some friends at Spazzi, in Fairfield, Connecticut, for wine and pizza. Then, when he got home and was brushing his teeth, it happened. Boom. His wife rushed him to the hospital at 1 a.m., running a red light along the way. When they arrived, Welch jumped out of his car and onto a gurney, shouting, “I’m dying, I’m dying!” An artery was reopened, but then it closed again. A priest wanted to give him last rites. His doctor operated a second time. “Don’t give up!” Welch shouted. “Keep trying!”

The great C.E.O.s have an instinct for where to turn in a crisis, and Welch knew whom to call. There was Henry Kissinger, who had survived a triple bypass in the nineteen-eighties, and was always willing to lend counsel to the powerful. And, crucially, the head of Disney, Michael Eisner, one of the few C.E.O.s on Welch’s level. Just a year earlier, Eisner had survived an iconic C.E.O. cardiac event: a bout of upper-arm pain and shortness of breath that began at Herb Allen’s business conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, and ended with Eisner staring God in the face from his bed at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, in Los Angeles. The first chapter of Eisner’s marvellous autobiography, “Work in Progress” (1998), is devoted to the story of his ordeal, complete with references to Clint Eastwood, Michael Ovitz, Jeffrey Katzenberg, the former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell, Sid Bass, Barry Diller, John Malone, Michael Jordan, Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, David Geffen, “my friend” Dustin Hoffman, Tom Brokaw, Robert Redford, Annie Leibovitz, Steven Spielberg, and at least three prominent cardiologists. In one moment of raw vulnerability, he called his wife over to ask about the doctor who was slated to do his surgery: “Where was this guy trained?” he asked. He explains, “She knew I was hoping to hear Harvard or Yale.” No such luck. “ ‘Tijuana,’ she replied, with a straight face.”

The point is that when a corporate legend has a blocked artery, expectations are high. So after Welch published his own memoirs, the enormous best-seller “Jack: Straight from the Gut” (2001), one of the first questions that interviewers on his book tour wanted to ask was what he had learned from his brush with death.

In an interview Welch gave in 2001 for the PBS show “CEO Exchange,” hosted by Stuart Varney, Varney brought up his quintuple bypass.

Varney: Was that a real change in life for you? A change in perhaps your spiritual approach?

Welch: No.

In the Eisnerian tradition, a heart attack is an opportunity to take stock, to reassess—to perform a kind of psychic stock repurchase. Eisner was certain he’d glimpsed that kind of emotional recalibration when Welch phoned him that day from his sickbed and peppered him with questions about what he was facing. Eisner recalled years later, “As I was talking to him, I was thinking, Oh. This tough man’s human.”

So it’s understandable that Varney tried again, asking him whether he was moved by a sense of his own mortality.

Welch: You know what I thought, Stuart? Larry Bossidy, my friend at AlliedSignal, asked me, he said, “Jack, what were you thinking of just before they cut you?” I said, “Damn it, I didn’t spend enough money.”

Varney: No. Now wait a minute. Wait a minute. Hold on. Hold on.

Welch: I did.

Varney: No, no.

Welch: I did.

Most C.E.O.s, in their public appearances, are circumspect, even guarded. Welch was the opposite, which explains why he has been the subject of so much attention and scholarly interest. There were boxcars full of books written about him during his time at the helm of G.E., still more during his long retirement (some of them written by Welch himself), and even today, in the wake of his death, in 2020, the financial writer William D. Cohan has delivered the absorbing seven-hundred-page opus “Power Failure” (Portfolio), a book so comprehensive it gives the impression that all that can be said about Jack has finally been said.

Then again, maybe not. He was kind of irresistible:

Varney: It never crossed your mind that this is a major event? Your life is threatened.

Welch: It happened so fast that I honestly didn’t think that. We all are products of our background. And I didn’t have two nickels to rub together, so I’m relatively cheap. And I always bought relatively cheap wine. And I always looked at the wine price in the restaurant. And I could never, I swore to God I’d never buy a bottle of wine for less than a hundred dollars. That was absolutely one of the takeaways from that experience.

Varney: After the operation, you would not buy a bottle of wine for under a hundred dollars. And before the operation you wouldn’t be seen dead drinking a bottle of wine over a hundred dollars.

Welch: Right.

Varney: Is that it?

Welch: That’s about it.

By midsummer, Welch was in the office, doing deals. In mid-August—a scant three months after his bypass—he made the finals of a tournament at the illustrious Sankaty Head Golf Club, on Nantucket.

General Electric was formed in 1892, out of the various electricity-related business interests of Thomas Edison, the most storied of all American inventors. J. P. Morgan was the banker who put the deal together; the Vanderbilt family was involved, too. From the beginning, G.E. was resolutely blue-chip. In the course of the twentieth century, it was G.E., more than, say, A.T. & T. or General Motors, that was the preëminent American corporation. It was the stock that grandmothers from Greenwich owned.

During the nineteen-seventies, the company was run by the English-born Reginald Jones, a tall, austere man who was once named the most influential businessman in the country by his peers in corporate America. “Reg Jones, who is decisive, elegant, and dignified, is also described by GE people as sensitive and human; and the affection the GE family has for him is obvious,” Robert L. Shook wrote in his book “The Chief Executive Officers: Men Who Run Big Business in America,” from 1981. “He’s quick to praise and hand out credit,” one executive told Shook. “He’ll always say, ‘I don’t do it all by myself.’ ”

Jones made two hundred thousand dollars a year and lived in a modest Colonial in Greenwich. Jimmy Carter twice tried to get him to join his Cabinet. Several times a year, Jones would travel to Harvard Business School and then to Wharton, at the University of Pennsylvania, to take the pulse of the schools where the next generation of G.E.’s leadership was almost certainly incubating. The bookshelf in his office held volumes devoted to sociology, philosophy, business, and history.

“The General Electric culture is best exemplified by the concern we have for each other,” Jones told Shook. “Let’s say one of our fellows has a problem—perhaps a serious illness or a death in the family. I will usually do what I can for the family. And here we think that is quite natural.”

Within two years of securing the top job, in 1972, Jones was already planning for his succession. And, from the beginning, he could not take his eyes off a young manager at G.E.’s operations in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, who ran the company’s metallurgical and chemical divisions. As Jones confided to a labor historian years later:

I went to the vice president in charge of the executive manpower development and I said give me a list of the contenders for my job! And he gave me a list with 17, 18 people on it. And I looked at the list and I said, well, you don’t have Jack Welch there? Well, he said, well he’s so young. He’s kind of a, you know, not a typical G.E. guy. He’s a bit of a wild man and so on and so forth. I said, put his name on the list.

Why was Jones so drawn to Welch? The conventional criticism of hiring at the upper echelons of corporate America is that like tends to promote like. The Dartmouth grad who summers in Kennebunkport meets the young Williams grad who summers in Bar Harbor and declares, By golly, that young man has the right stuff! But in deciding to turn G.E. over to Welch, Jones was replacing himself with his opposite. Cohan writes:

“He was regal,” explained one former GE executive. “Jones just had an aura about him. I remember being in a room and when he walked in, it was like the king walked in.” Where Jones was reserved, Jack was gregarious. Jones was tall—six foot four—while Jack was short—five foot eight on a good day. . . . Around GE going to see Reg Jones was like going to see the president in the Oval office. Going to see Jack was like going to see a fraternity brother at a tailgate party.

Welch did not view General Electric as one big, warm family. He thought it was bloated and senescent. Jones was known for calling people when they lost a loved one. Welch seemed to enjoy firing people. It is quite possible, in fact, that no single corporate executive in history has fired as many people as Jack Welch did. He laid off more than a hundred thousand workers in the first half of the nineteen-eighties. There are lots of sentences in Cohan’s “Power Failure” like this: “Ten thousand people, or half the people who once worked there, were let go.” Or: “McNerney got the job after a rather infamous annual managers’ meeting in Boca Raton in January 1991, when Jack fired four division C.E.O.s. ‘You could have heard a pin drop,’ McNerney recalled.” Or, of an air-conditioning business in Louisville that Welch did not like, and subsequently sold off:

“This was a flawed business,” he continued. But the people in Louisville who made the air conditioners took pride in them and were shocked when the business was sold to Trane. “It really shook up Louisville,” he said.

He did not feel their pain. Quite the contrary.

Cohan gives us a lot of alpha-male straight talk, like the time Welch cornered Ken Langone, the billionaire co-founder of Home Depot, at a party at Larry Bossidy’s house in Florida, not far from Welch’s own place in North Palm Beach.

“Jack, get off my fucking ass. No business tonight,” Langone said. But Jack wouldn’t take no for an answer.

“I need five minutes,” Jack insisted. They went to Bossidy’s backyard. “The party’s inside,” Langone said. “He puts me against the fucking wall. He said, ‘I want you to go on the GE board.’ I said, ‘What?!?!’ ”

Reginald Jones, one imagines, never backed anyone up against a wall. And he would never have been caught dead in North Palm Beach.

Did he see something in Welch that he could not find in himself? Was he so critical of his own tenure at America’s flagship corporation that he felt a hundred-and-eighty-degree turn was in order? The most charitable explanation is that the transition from Jones to Welch came at the end of one of the more unsettling decades in the history of American capitalism, and Jones may have felt that the sun had set on his brand of corporate paternalism.

After Welch, at age forty-five, was named the new C.E.O. of General Electric, Jones called him into his office to bestow some final words of wisdom. Another recent book about Welch, David Gelles’s “The Man Who Broke Capitalism” (Simon & Schuster), recounts the exchange:

“Jack, I give you the Queen Mary,” Jones said. “This is designed not to sink.”

Jack didn’t miss a beat.

“I don’t want the Queen Mary,” he snapped back. “I plan to blow up the Queen Mary. I want speedboats.”

Then Jones threw his successor a party at the Helmsley Palace Hotel, in midtown Manhattan, where Welch had a few too many cocktails and slurred his way through his remarks to the group. The next morning, Jones stormed into Welch’s office. “I’ve never been so humiliated in my life,” he told Welch. “You embarrassed me and the company.” Welch worried that he would be fired, losing his chance at glory before it had even begun. Cohan writes, “He was despondent for the next four hours.” By lunch, apparently, he had put his existential crisis behind him. That’s our Jack.

Welch believed that the responsibility of a corporation was to deliver predictable and generous returns to its shareholders. In pursuit of this goal, he exploited a loophole in the regulatory architecture of corporate finance. Companies that made things—companies such as G.E.—had long been permitted to lend money to their customers. They could behave like banks, in other words, but they weren’t really banks. Banks were encumbered by all kinds of regulations that had the effect of limiting their profit margins. The markets considered them risky, so they paid dearly to raise capital. But blue-chip G.E. had none of those burdens, which meant that, when it came to making money, Welch’s non-bank bank could put real banks to shame. He then used the proceeds from G.E. Capital to acquire hundreds of companies. In the warm glow of G.E.’s riches, Welch articulated a series of principles that captivated his peers. Fire nonperformers without regret. Shed any business that isn’t first or second in its market category. Your duty is always to enrich your shareholders.

In his interview with Varney, Welch took a question from the audience about how, in enacting these principles, a C.E.O. could tell the difference between leaders who create an “edge” and those who simply create “fear.” Welch explained that there were four types of manager:

One who has the values and makes the numbers: love them, hug them, take them onward and upward.

Second one doesn’t have the values, doesn’t make the numbers, get them out of there. That’s easy, too.

The third one has the values, doesn’t make the numbers, give them a second and third chance.

The fourth one’s the one you’re talking about. The tough one. The horse’s neck that makes the numbers on the backs of people. The go-to person in an organization. And an organization that doesn’t root them out, can’t talk about values, can’t talk about the human equation.

In a perfect world, the interviewer would have asked a follow-up question: What are these “values” that you’re talking about? Surely the desire to meet Wall Street’s quarterly estimates—as much as it felt like a value in Welch’s universe—does not amount to an actual moral belief system. And then perhaps a second follow-up: Doesn’t the fourth category—the “tough” manager who makes the numbers but does not have the values—sound a lot like you, Mr. Welch?

But few ever asked questions like that of Welch. So the man himself remains opaque, and the best we can do is try to piece together the clues scattered throughout “Power Failure.”

One time in Welch’s senior year of high school, his hockey team lost to a crosstown rival, and Jack, who had scored his team’s only two goals, threw his stick in anger. Cohan writes:

Next thing he knew, his mother was in the locker room. She bounded right up to him, oblivious to the fact that the guys around her were in various states of undress. She grabbed him by the jersey in front of everyone. “You punk,” she yelled at him. “If you don’t know how to lose, you’ll never know how to win. If you don’t know this, you don’t belong anywhere.” He paused for a moment, recalling the memory. “She was a powerhouse,” he said. “I loved her beyond comprehension.”

After college, at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, he earned a Ph.D. in chemical engineering at the University of Illinois. His thesis was on condensation in nuclear power plants. “I thought it was the most important thing in my life,” he tells Cohan. For many people, years of immersion in a complex intellectual endeavor would leave an imprint. Not for Welch. Condensation in nuclear power plants does not come up again.

Golf, by contrast, was “one of the few constants in Jack’s life,” Cohan writes. “One way or another, there was always golf.” But did he like the game for its own sake? Or was it simply, to adapt Clausewitz’s dictum, the continuation of business by other means? After Welch left G.E., the details of his retirement package were made public. It included a pension of $7.4 million a year and a mountain of perks. He got the use of a company Boeing 737, at an estimated cost of $3.5 million a year. He got an apartment in Donald Trump’s 1 Central Park West, plus deals at the restaurant Jean-Georges downstairs, courtside seats at Knicks games, a subsidy for a car and driver, box seats at the Metropolitan Opera, discounts on diamond and jewelry settings, and on and on—all this for someone worth an estimated nine hundred million dollars. And then, finally, G.E. agreed to pay the monthly dues at the four golf clubs where he played. It would be nice to hear from the high-priced attorney who negotiated that last line item. Would it have been a deal breaker? Did Welch believe golf had been so central to his performance as C.E.O. that it made sense for the company’s shareholders to pay those monthly dues?

A few months after he recovered from his bypass surgery, Welch went to see his heart surgeon, Cary Akins. They had become friends. “He was incredibly cordial for somebody who was that powerful,” Akins tells Cohan. Welch had wanted the operation to be done on a Friday, so that he would have three days of recovery under his belt before the news hit the stock market—and Akins obliged. Now Welch wanted to talk.

“You’re doing great,” Akins told him.

“Well, go ahead and ask your question,” Jack said.

“What?” Akins replied.

“Go ahead and ask your question,” he said again.

“What do you mean?” Akins responded, genuinely confused.

“Well, I presume you’re gonna want me to give you some money,” Jack said.

“You didn’t pay your bill?” Akins replied.

“Come on, now,” Jack said. “You must have thought about this. Do you want me to donate something?”

“Jack, it never crossed my mind,” Akins replied.

Akins had performed a feat of skill, born of professional dedication. Welch saw a shakedown in the offing. And maybe that’s the key: Welch was most comfortable reducing anything of value to a transaction. He gave Akins a generous donation—though it came from G.E.’s charitable foundation, not from his own pocket.

It has become fashionable to deride today’s tech C.E.O.s for their grandiose ambitions: colonizing Mars, curing all human disease, digging a world-class tunnel. But shouldn’t we prefer these outsized delusions to the moral impoverishment of Welch’s era?

“In all of our many discussions, the only time he spoke about his children was when he told me that he ‘loved them to pieces’ but that he had made ‘a mistake’ when he gave each of them a bunch of G.E. stock when he first became C.E.O.,” Cohan writes. Because the stock had performed well, they each had something like fifty million dollars in company shares. Although two of his four kids went to Harvard Business School and one went to Harvard’s Graduate School of Design, they all quit their jobs, disappointing their father. “They turned out differently than I’d hoped,” Welch tells Cohan. “We’re close. But they got too much money. . . . If I had to do it all over again, I wouldn’t have given it to them.” A father reflects, after a lifetime, on his troubled relationship with his children, and concludes that he should have adjusted their compensation.

As Welch prepared for retirement from G.E., in 2001, the search for his successor became a public spectacle. He identified three plausible internal candidates. Their faults and their strengths were openly debated. The financial press was riveted. The choice was up in the air until the last minute, when Welch settled on Jeff Immelt, who was then running G.E.’s health-care unit. Welch had had his eye on Immelt for a long time. Years before, Welch had sent him to Louisville, to run G.E.’s sprawling appliance-manufacturing hub there. The job was stressful, and Immelt’s weight hit two hundred and eighty pounds. “You’re never going to be C.E.O. if you don’t lose weight,” Cohan reports Welch telling him. “You’ve got to get your fucking weight down. Can’t have everybody fucking fat.”

When Immelt took over from Welch, he addressed a gathering of top G.E. managers in Boca Raton. “Only time will tell if Jack is the best business leader ever, but I know he is one of the greatest human beings I have ever met,” Immelt said. But by that point the Welch legend was so huge that such blandishments seemed obligatory.

What Immelt quickly discovered was that Welch had handed him a mess: a company built out of pieces that had no logical connection. Once the global financial crisis arrived, the elaborate game that Welch had been playing with G.E. Capital collapsed. Wall Street woke up to the fact that a non-bank was every bit as risky as a real bank, and the company never quite recovered. Immelt was eventually forced out, in disgrace. Almost two decades after Welch handed the reins to Immelt, Cohan met Welch for lunch at the Nantucket Golf Club. All Welch wanted to talk about was how terrible a job he thought his successor had done. The share price had collapsed, and Welch was disconsolate.

“He’s full of shit,” Jack said. “He’s a bullshitter.”

“But Jack,” I asked, “didn’t you choose Jeff?”

Yes, he conceded, he had. “That’s my burden that I have to live with,” he continued. “But people have been hurt. Employees. People’s pensions. Shareholders. It’s bad.” There were tears in his eyes. “I fucked up,” he said again. “I fucked up.”

As Cohan and Welch ate lunch, the golfer Phil Mickelson and the C.E.O. of Barclays came over to pay homage. Welch may have been long gone from the C-suite, but, in a certain kind of country-club dining room, he remained a rock star. Then Welch offered to drive Cohan back to his house, a few miles away. They got into Welch’s Jeep Cherokee, and Welch refused to put on his seat belt, so the warning bell chimed the whole ride back.

Off he drove. When he got to the left turn out of the Nantucket Golf Club, onto Milestone Road, he did something odd. Instead of keeping to the right side of Milestone Road, as other American drivers do, he decided to drive in the middle of the road, with the Cherokee straddling the yellow line. Needless to say, the drivers coming toward us on Milestone were freaking out. One after another, they all pulled off to the right onto the grassy edge of the street, giving Jack full clearance to continue driving down the middle of the road. He didn’t seem to notice. ♦

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dertaglichedan · 18 days

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Soros fund is building an audio empire

The Scoop

George Soros thinks it’s good business, and perhaps good politics, to be in your ears.

Over the last two years, Soros Fund Management, the firm founded by the billionaire investor and now controlled by the Open Society Foundations, has become an increasingly key player in the oldest electronic mass media: radio.

In February, the company became the largest shareholder in Audacy, the bankrupt second-largest radio company in the U.S., with more than 230 U.S. stations and a podcast arm that includes Cadence13 and Pineapple Street Studios. In 2022, Soros invested an undisclosed amount in Crooked Media, the liberal podcast network behind the ultra-popular Pod Save America. And a Soros-backed firm played a crucial role in Univision’s $60 million sale in 2022 of 18 Hispanic radio stations to a new firm run by veterans of Democratic politics. The deal, which included conservative Cuban powerhouse broadcasters in Miami, drew opposition from Republican members of Congress.

The move into the troubled radio business could be the beginning of a bigger audio buying spree, three people who have been involved in discussions with Soros executives said.

The fund has also privately discussed acquiring other major radio companies, such as the limping, publicly traded Cumulus Media. (Regulations limiting ownership of radio stations put limits on such mergers.)

The fund’s lead media investor, Michael Del Nin, met with a number of major figures in digital media and audio over the last year, including the podcast company Project Brazen. It has also eyed several potential companies for acquisition, including Pushkin Industries, the podcast company from Malcolm Gladwell and Jacob Weisberg, and Lemonada, the network best known for its interview show hosted by Julia Louis-Dreyfus, people familiar with the conversations said. Another podcast industry insider told Semafor that Lemonada is in the midst of a formal process to find a buyer, but that some potential suitors have balked at its high asking price.

Know More

The Soros fund’s unusual structure — a legendary private firm owned by a vast and politically powerful nonprofit — creates a kind of investment Venn diagram: Soros typically invests in media both to profit and to further what he sees as the democratic values of an open society, one that has put him deeply at odds with a generation of figures on the right, from Hungary’s Viktor Orban to Tucker Carlson.

Still, in private and public conversations, Soros Fund Management has cast its strategy as purely financial: It bought Audacy out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy, with an eye to an investment win through careful management of the struggling company’s debt. The investment in Crooked backs Soros’ liberal agenda, but it’s also a bet on the future of audio through the growing podcast industry.

A spokesperson for Soros Fund Management declined to comment. A spokesperson for Crooked Media directed Semafor to a 2022 piece in Variety about the investment, which noted that Soros Fund Management could fund the company’s acquisition of complementary businesses. Pushkin also declined to comment.

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ngoclnm · 3 months

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[WEEK 5] From Likes to Action: Can Clicking Change the World?

We've all seen them: the powerful hashtags, the heart-wrenching stories, the calls to action flooding our social media feeds. But how much impact do these online campaigns truly have? Are we just "slacktivists," clicking buttons from the comfort of our couches, or can online activism translate into real-world change? Let's dive into the debate between clicktivism vs. real-world action, exploring the effectiveness of each and how we can bridge the gap for maximum impact.

The Power of Hashtag Activism

Social networking services (SNSs) have been acknowledged as the key channel for protests and social movements (Markham 2016), mainly due to the social media functions that make it possible for users to communicate with others in an easier, faster, and more diverse way. Hashtag is one of those functions. Hashtag movement, or hashtag activism, refers to actively utilizing the hashtag function of SNSs for social change (Dadas 2018). Since it can facilitate in spreading of awareness and information on a social issue, hashtags can be a useful tool for activists who struggle for social changes (Crandall & Cunningham 2016).

Remember the #BlackLivesMatter movement? It started online, igniting protests worldwide and putting racial injustice on the global agenda. About 44 million tweets were using the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag over the last decade (Atske 2023). Experts even say #BlackLivesMatter generated a national discussion about race that arguably would not have happened, at least not with the same force, had it not been for the power of social media (Chuck 2015).

But is it just Slacktivism?

At the same time, social media is criticized as a means of activism. A common critique is that online activism is really ‘slacktivism’ wherein digital technology users are only involved in a movement insofar as participation is easy and convenient compared to traditional or offline activism which requires a much greater time and physical investment (Gladwell 2010). Sharing a post might make us feel good, but does it translate into lasting change? They point out the fleeting nature of online trends, the echo chambers we create, and the potential for performative activism, where actions are more about self-promotion than genuine impact.

Is it… tho?

The real power of a movement lies in the action that follows. Take Black Lives Matter as an example. After George Floyd’s killing, pressure from BLM Los Angeles and massive protests, the council unanimously approved a measure to develop an unarmed model of crisis response that would replace police officers with community-based responders for nonviolent calls. Companies like Peloton, Disney, Facebook and others have spoken up against racial injustice, while the CEO of Netflix donated $120 million to historically Black colleges and universities. Meanwhile, Seth Rogen, Steve Carrell and others have donated to bail funds for protesters (Asmelash 2020). With protests erupting across the country, people donating to bail funds and mutual aid organizations, and a renewed push for police reform and accountability, the activism that was sparked on social media definitely translated into real-world change.

Bridging the Click-Action Gap

So, how do we harness the power of online movements while ensuring they lead to tangible results? Here are some key strategies:

Go beyond the click: Sharing is great, but don't stop there! Research the cause, donate to relevant organizations, volunteer your time, and attend local events.

Connect online and offline: Use online platforms to organize real-world actions like protests, petition signings, or voter registration drives.

Challenge your echo chamber: Seek out diverse perspectives, engage in respectful dialogue, and be open to learning from others.

Focus on long-term impact: Don't get swayed by fleeting trends. Choose movements you're truly passionate about and commit to sustained action.

Online activism is a powerful tool, but it's just one piece of the puzzle. By combining online awareness with real-world action, we can amplify our voices, mobilize communities, and create lasting change 🌐✊🏽

References

Asmelash, L 2020, ‘How Black Lives Matter went from a hashtag to a global rallying cry’, CNN, viewed <https://edition.cnn.com/2020/07/26/us/black-lives-matter-explainer-trnd/index.html>.

Atske, S 2023, ‘1. Ten years of #BlackLivesMatter on Twitter’, Pew Research Center: Internet, Science & Tech, viewed <https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2023/06/29/ten-years-of-blacklivesmatter-on-twitter/>.

Chuck, E 2015, ‘#BlackLivesMatter: How a Hashtag Became a Digital Civil Rights Anthem’, NBC News, NBC News, viewed <https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/blacklivesmatter-how-hashtag-became-digital-civil-rights-anthem-n405316>.

Crandall, H & Cunningham, CM 2016, ‘Media ecology and hashtag activism: #Kaleidoscope’, Explorations in Media Ecology, vol. 15, no. 1, pp. 21–32.

Dadas , C 2018, ‘Social writing/social media : publics, presentations, and pedagogies’, Social writing/social media: Publics, presentations, pedagogies, The Wac Clearinghouse, Fort Collins, Colorado, pp. 17–36.

Gladwell, M 2010, ‘ Small change: Why the revolution will not be tweeted.’, The New Yorker.

Markham, T 2016, ‘Review essay: Social media, politics and protest’, Media, Culture & Society, vol. 38, no. 6, pp. 946–957.

#mda20009 #digital communities #blacklivesmatter #activism #slacktivism

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offbookkeeping · 6 months

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14. Straight to Bradway with Rory O'Malley

Plot summary:

A group of kids are outside a theater advertising a musical called Moses Schmoses: the Story of Steve. They're approached by a big Broadway man named Malcom Lightwell. Brad the stage manager thinks that all the actors are terrible and what's to fire them all and take the show to Broadway so he challenges an actor to perform the opening number and prove her worth. She gets fed up and all the cast and crew quit so Brad has to go find an entirely new cast. He hires James Bumoffthestreet and his wife Karen after he finds them under the underpass. He also recruits Sally Struthers. The cast is rehearsing and everyone's unhappy. Brad is begs them to stay in the theater. Malcom Gladwell shows up and everyone's intimidated. Sally Struthers reveals herself and speaks with him about his rivalry with Malcom Lightwell and their relationship problems. Brad is thrilled and says that they should perform a 10,000 hour 10 act play of just audience participation, but that they need Malcom Gladwell. The centuries long story of the Gladwell/Lightwell feud is revealed. Brad brings the play to Bradway

Best quotes:

Best songs:

• Underpass Lovers

• 3 True Facts About Sally Struthers

Thoughts Overall:

This episode starts the way every episode should, with a discussion about if you can hear Jesus (Zach doesn't know because he's Jewish). Also Rory O'Malley was playing King George in Hamilton when this video was filmed and King George is the best character in that musical. This blog doesn't exist for my hot Hamilton takes but it's just the truth I'm sorry I really love queercoded royalty. This episode is kind of confusing... I couldn't be bothered to look up who Malcom Gladwell is and I think that severely impacted my enjoyment of this episode. Okay I looked him up, it doesn't help. He's a public speaker. This is the second episode where Zach brings up the Angeles National Forest and the wolf reserve.

#i didn't have the energy to pay that much attention to this one #off book podcast #off book #jess mckenna #jessica mckenna #zach and jess #zach reino #zachary reino #hamilton #rory o'malley #off book ep 14 #off book ep 14 straight to bradway

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jessicajac0b · 8 months

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09.07.2023

Aujourd'hui, j'aimerais parler des Beatles. Au début des années 60, la popularité des Beatles avait explosé. Après avoir quitté leur ville natale de Liverpool, les Beatles ont commencé à se produire tous les soirs dans une série de clubs populaires à Hambourg, en Allemagne. Ils ont dû jouer pendant des heures et des heures. « Chaque chanson durait vingt minutes et contenait vingt solos. C’est ce qui a amélioré le jeu. Il n’y avait personne sur qui copier. Nous jouions ce que nous aimions le plus et les Allemands aimaient ça à condition que ce soit fort », a fait remarquer John Lennon à propos des années hambourgeoises. Le journaliste Malcom Gladwell a écrit sur ces années de Beatledom dans son livre de 2008 « Outliers ». Le livre aborde les différents facteurs qui contribuent au succès. Qu’est-ce qui fait de quelqu’un le plus brillant, le meilleur, le plus célèbre ou le plus talentueux ? L’un des points principaux de Gladwell est que la véritable expertise dans une compétence nécessite 10 000 heures de pratique. Et en jouant huit heures par jour à Hambourg, c'est exactement ce que les Beatles ont obtenu : des milliers d'heures de pratique. Toute cette pratique ainsi que les années d’expérience en écriture de chansons que John Lennon et Paul McCartney avaient déjà acquises en écrivant ensemble depuis leur enfance. Une telle pratique est l’une des raisons pour lesquelles les Beatles étaient si créatifs et inventifs dans leur écriture de chansons. Ils avaient passé des heures et des heures à jouer ensemble et à trouver des idées sur place. Les quatre fabuleux avaient un dynamisme dans leur performance et expérimentaient constamment leur musique. Les premiers travaux des Beatles étaient plutôt simples au niveau des paroles, presque toutes les premières chansons des Beatles étaient un air superficiel sur l'amour et les filles, mais la façon dont ils jouaient avec les accords les faisait se démarquer de la foule. Bob Dylan conduisait quand il a entendu pour la première fois « I Want To Hold Your Hand » à la radio et il a failli écraser sa voiture, stupéfait. En fait, les Beatles étaient tellement expérimentaux avec les accords qu’ils en ont utilisé un dans « A Hard Day’s Night » que personne n’a pu identifier. Les Beatles eux-mêmes ne se souviennent pas de l’accord qu’ils ont utilisé et les experts en musique ne l’ont pas encore trouvé.

Mais en 1964, les choses changent. Avec la popularité croissante de Bob Dylan, les Beatles voulaient explorer une écriture de chansons plus sérieuse et plus poétique. Le groupe a rencontré Dylan en 1964 après avoir joué à New York. Les musiciens traînaient dans la chambre d’hôtel des Beatles, où Dylan présentait à John, Paul, George et Ringo les idées folk et la marijuana. La musique de Dylan et ses drogues ont toutes deux fortement influencé le prochain album des Beatles, « Rubber Soul ». En fait, ils se sont tellement inspirés que Lennon a qualifié l’album d’« album de weed » et Bob Dylan y a interprété une chanson, « Norwegian Wood », comme une copie de son style ! Il a été tellement insulté par leur chanson folk à la Dylan qu'il a écrit une parodie de « Norwegian Wood », « Positively 4th Street » sur son album de 1966 « Blonde on Blonde ». Le titre « Rubber Soul » a été choisi par Paul McCartney après avoir entendu un vieux bluesman parler de Mick Jagger des Rolling Stones. Il a qualifié la musique de Jagger de « plastic soul », mais McCartney voulait jouer sur cette idée. La même attitude d’artifice qui a poussé ce bluesman à désapprouver le rock and roll a fait que McCartney l’a adoré. Ce n’était pas une âme en plastique, mais une âme en caoutchouc, pensa-t-il – malléable et débridée. Il pourrait utiliser des métaphores ridicules et une esthétique absurde pour communiquer les mêmes idées que celles évoquées par les premiers artistes de blues dans leur musique. Et cela a ouvert la voie aux images absurdes des Beatles qui ont suivi dans leur discographie. Les chansons sur un raton laveur meurtrier cherchant à se venger, des cochons avec leurs femmes, des morses et des œufs, et un jardinier de poulpes sont devenues des incontournables des Beatles dans les années à venir. Mais cette absurdité n’a fait que renforcer la beauté et le sens de leur musique, plutôt que d’invalider son authenticité en tant qu’art.

Ci-dessous, une photo de Bob Dylan et George Harrison jouant de la musique ensemble. Les deux hommes furent des amis proches pendant des années et formèrent un groupe avec une poignée d'autres musiciens en 1988 : les Travelling Wilburys.

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remenar · 1 year

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[TILT] Dunbar's Number kao orijentir veličine timova

Koji broj ljudi je idealan za jedan tim? Kada kažemo da je tim prevelik i da je potrebno razdvojiti ga na manje entitete? Ako vjerujemo brojnim studijama i preporukama - idealan tim ima između 5 i 9 članova. Idealno 7. Od kuda te brojke? Temeljen je na dva često vezana pojma: Dunbar's Number i Miller's Law. Ta dva pojma često su nit vodilja prilikom organizacije tima tj. prilikom donošenja odluke o dodavanju članova u tim ili odluci o razdvajanju tima u dva manja. Dodavanje novog člana u tim vodi k smanjenju efikasnosti tima. U kraćem roku uvijek. Ako je i ovako velik broj članova tima - onda i trajno. Uzrok tome je nekoliko razloga: - novi član tima zahtijeva vrijeme za učenje i privikavanje na tim. Na tu aktivnost potrebno je potrošiti vrijeme najmanje jednog člana tima, često i više članova. To oduzima vrijeme od rada na produktu tog tima - svaki član tima unosi određenu entropiju u postojeću organizaciju. Ne postoji savršen sustav niti savršena osoba. Priroda ne predvidivosti tih elemenata povećava entropiju cijelog sustava - svaki član tima kreira neki oblik "komunikacijske veze" prema ostalim članovima tima. Dodavanje novog člana u tim eksponencijalno povećava broj komunikacijskih veza između članova tima

Dunbar's Number

Maksimalan broj prijatelja s kojima smo sposobni održavati stabilnu društvenu vezu je 150. To je broj do kojeg je došao u svojim istraživanjima britanski antropolog Robin Dunbar. Istraživanje je objavljeno u časopisu Journal of Human Evolution, 1992 godine . Teorija kaže da je broj društvenih veza koje možemo održavati direktna korelacija s veličinom našeg mozga - konkretno neocortexa. To je kognitivna granica ljudskog mozga kod većine osoba. Istraživanja su pokušala opovrgnuti tu teoriju . Međutim, bezuspješno. Teorija je i dalje validna obzirom na greške u istraživanjima . Taj broj, Dunbar je pronašao u mnogim organizacijama kao gornju granicu. U selima i naseljima, veličinama vojnih jedinica, itd. Isti efekt primijetile su i brojne u trenu kada su prešle 150 zaposlenih (Quartz, Gore, Facebook, itd) . Malcom Gladwell u kultnoj knjizi The Tipping Point opisuje društvene probleme koji se pojavljuju kada organizacija pređe 150 zaposlenih . Uz 150 što je naziva Dunbar's Number, Robin Dunbar je definirao još nekoliko veličina : - 1500 - broj osoba koje možemo prepoznati - 500 - broj osoba koje poznajemo - poznanici - 150 - broj prijatelja s kojima možemo održavati stabilnu društvenu vezu - 50 (nekada se navodi i 35) - bliski prijatelji - 15 - najuži krug prijatelja s kojima redovno komuniciramo - 5 - uža obitelj - 1 - ego (ja)

Dunbar's number nije broj iz uvoda - broj 7. Miller's Law preciznije definira tu vrijednost.

Miller's Law

Da li ste se ikada zapitali zašto su telefonski brojevi, većinom, ograničeni na 7 znamenki? Te ih vrlo često pišemo u "grupama" od 3 do 4 znamenke? Primjerice 091-2345-678 ili 091-234-5678. To je Miller's Law u primjeni. George Miller je u svojim istraživanjima došao do spoznaje da je broj objekata koje prosječna osoba može pohraniti u kratkoročnom pamćenju 7 (plus minus 2, od 5 do 9). Taj rad je jedan od najcitiranijih znanstvenih radova u području psihologije. Neću vas gnjaviti detaljima istraživanja. Za one koji žele saznati više, mogu pronaći rad na .

I što sad s tim brojevima

Amazon ima pravilo "dvije pizze". Jeff Bezos je rekao da tim može imati maksimalno članova koji se mogu nahraniti s dvije pizze . Jeff Sutherland, ko-kreator Scrum metodologije, kaže da broj članova u Scrum timu ne prelazi 7 . Quartz i Gore ograničavaju sektor organizacije na 150 djelatnika . Gore ide toliko daleko da u jednoj zgradi može biti maksimalno 150 djelatnika. U hijerarhijskim organizacijama ovo bi mogli smatrati smjernicama definiranja veličine timova: - sektor - 150 djelatnika - direkcija - 50 djelatnika - odjel - 15 djelatnika - tim - 7 djelatnika Također, tim se odnosi i na podređene i linijske suradnike. Vođeni tim brojem 7, broj podređenih ne bi trebao prelaziti 6 (ja i 6 podređenih u "stablu" - ukupno 7). Idealno bi bilo 5 podređenih ako se u kalkulaciju uzme i 1 nadređeni (ja, 5 podređenih, 1 nadređeni). Isto tako, broj linijskih suradnika ne bi trebao prelaziti 6 (ja i 6 suradnika u "liniji" - ukupno 7). Jednako idealno bi bilo da je 5 suradnika ako se uzme i nadređeni (ja, 5 suradnika, 1 nadređeni). U agilnoj organizaciji je vrlo jednostavno: produktni tim ne prelazi 7 djelatnika u timu. Naoružani ovim znanjem, razmislite kada poželite dodati novog člana u tim. Pogotovo kad prelazi granice Dunbar's Number i Miller's Law teorija.

Za one koji žele znati više

Neocortex size as a constraint on group size in primates, R.I.M. Dunbar, Journal of Human Evolution, 1992, Elsevier, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/004724849290081J?viaihub ‘Dunbar's number’ deconstructed, Patrik Lindenfors, Andreas Wartel and Johan Lind, Biology Letters, 2021, The Royal Society Publishing, https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsbl.2021.0158 Dunbar’s number: why my theory that humans can only maintain 150 friendships has withstood 30 years of scrutiny, Robin Dunbar, 2021, The Conversation, https://theconversation.com/dunbars-number-why-my-theory-that-humans-can-only-maintain-150-friendships-has-withstood-30-years-of-scrutiny-160676 Something weird happens to companies when they hit 150 people, https://qz.com/846530/something-weird-happens-to-companies-when-they-hit-150-people Connecting the Next Billion, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpCGNiKKGd4&t=329s The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference, Malcolm Gladwell, 2000, https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2612.The_Tipping_Point Gossip in Evolutionary Perspective, Dunbar, R. I. M, Review of General Psychology, 2004, https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1037/1089-2680.8.2.100 The magical number seven, plus or minus two: Some limits on our capacity for processing information, Miller, G. A., Psychological Review, 1956, https://doi.org/10.1037/h0043158 Two-Pizza Teams, Amazon, https://docs.aws.amazon.com/whitepapers/latest/introduction-devops-aws/two-pizza-teams.html Read the full article

#agile #dunbar'snumber #teammanagement

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brookston · 1 year

Text

Holidays 4.8

Holidays

Aerosol Day

Baghdad Liberation Day (Kurdistan)

Colorism Awareness Day

Counter Stool Memorial Day

Cushing’s Disease Awareness Day

DAB Day (Draw A Bird Day)

Day of Silence

Day of Valor (Araw ng Kagtingan; Philippines)

Dog Farting Awareness Day

Draw a Picture of a Bird Day

Geranium Day (England)

Grand Ivy Day

Grand National Ladies Day (UK)

Hammerin’ Hank Day

International Bird Day

International Day of Pink

International Feng Shui Awareness Day

International Pageant Day

International Romani Day (a.k.a. International Day of the Roma)

Martyrs’ Day (Tunisia)

Milk

More Cowbell Day

Mule Day

National All is Ours Day

National Arcade Day

National Best in the World Day

National Catch and Release Day

National Dog Fighting Awareness Day

National Pygmy Hippo Day

Peanuts-Kids-Baseball Day

Polling Day Eve (Samoa)

Pygmy Hippo Day

Rex Manning Day

Rumenians’ Independence Day (Sweden)

Sealing the Frost (Cuchumatan Indians; Guatemala)

Shiba Inu Day (Japan)

Step into the Spotlight! Day

Trading Cards for Grown-Ups Day

Tutor Appreciation Day

Twin Peaks Day

World Mixed Martial Arts Day

World Neurosurgeon’s Day

Zoo Lovers' Day

Food & Drink Celebrations

Milk in Glass Bottles Day

National Bass Day (UK)

National Empañada Day

2nd Saturday in April

Baby Massage Day [2nd Saturday]

Global Day to End Child Sexual Abuse [2nd Saturday]

Slow Art Day [2nd Saturday]

World Circus Day [2nd Saturday]

Independence Days

Australis (a.k.a. Grand Duchy of Australis; Declared; 2020) [unrecognized]

Feast Days

Ædesius (Christian; Martyr)

Anne Ayres (Episcopal Church (USA))

Apollonius (Positivist; Saint)

B. Albert, Patriarch of Jerusalem (Christian; Saint)

Buddha's Birthday (Mahāyāna Buddhists)

Constantina (Christian; Saint)

Cornelius de Heem (Artology)

Day of Amon-Ra (Pagan)

Dionysius of Corinth (Christian; Saint)

Feast of the Hummingbird (Aztec)

Feast of the Three Days of the Writing of the Book of the Law begins (Thelema)

Geronimo Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)

Hana Matsuri (Flower Festival on Buddha’s Birthday; Japan)

Julie Billiart of Namur (Christian; Saint)

Kanbutsu-e (Buddha’s Birthday; Japan)

Kiki the Rattlesnake (Muppetism)

Nuzzle Quran (Malaysia)

Perpetuus (Christian; Saint)

Red Wine Day (Pastafarian)

Saturday before Easter (a.k.a. ...

Black Saturday (Philippines)

Easter Saturday (Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Seychelles)

Holy Saturday

Walter of Pontoise (Christian; Saint)

William Augustus Muhlenberg (Episcopal Church (USA))

Zoo Day (Pastafarian)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Nēmontēmi, Day 4 (of 5) [Aztec unlucky or fasting days, taking place between 4.5-4.18]

Sensho (先勝 Japan) [Good luck in the morning, bad luck in the afternoon.]

Unlucky Day (Grafton’s Manual of 1565) [19 of 60]

Premieres

All the Old Knives (Film; 2022)

American: The Bill Hicks Story (Documentary Film; 2011)

The Boss (Film; 2016)

The Century, by Peter Jennings and Todd Brewster (Book; 1999)

The Clash, by The Clash (Album; 1977)

David and Goliath, by Malcolm Gladwell (Book; 2014)

Destitively Bonnaroo, by Dr. John (Album; 1974)

Father Noah’s Ark (Disney Cartoon; 1933)

Fever Pitch (Film; 2005)

From Russia, with Love, by Ian Fleming (Novel; 1957) [James Bond #5]

The Gambler (TV movie; 1980)

Hanna (Film; 2011)

Inspector George Gently (UK TV Series; 2007)

Just Dance, by Lady Gaga (Song; 2008)

Killing Eve (TV Series; 2018)

La Gioconda, by Amiliare Ponchielli (Opera; 1876)

Mr. Right (Film; 2016)

Sea Salts (Disney Cartoon; 1949)

The $64,000 Question (Radio Quiz Show; 1955)

Smash by The Offspring (Album; 1994)

Soul Surfer (Film; 2011)

Toys in the Attic, by Aerosmith (Album; 1975)

Twin Peaks (TV Series; 1990)

The Unusuals (TV Series; 2009)

Where Did Our Love Go, recorded by The Supremes (Song; 1964)

Ye Olden Days (Disney Cartoon; 1933)

Today’s Name Days

Beate, Rose-Marie, Walter (Austria)

Lazar, Lazo (Bulgaria)

Diogen, Dionizije, Klement, Timotej (Croatia)

Ema, Emanuel (Czech Republic)

Janus (Denmark)

Julia, Juuli, Juulika, Lia, Liana, Liane (Estonia)

Suoma, Suometar (Finland)

Julie (France)

Beate, Rose-Marie, Walter (Germany)

Lazaros (Greece)

Dénes (Hungary)

Alberto, Dionigi, Walter (Italy)

Dana, Danute, Dziedra, Edgars, Žanete (Latvia)

Dionizas, Girtautas, Julija, Skirgailė (Lithuania)

Asle, Atle (Norway)

Apolinary, Cezary, Cezaryna, Dionizy, Gawryła, January, Radosław, Sieciesława (Poland)

Agav, Irodion, Lazar, Ruf (Romania)

Alla, Anna (Russia)

Albert (Slovakia)

Amancio, Dionisio, Julia (Spain)

Hemming, Nadja, Tanja (Sweden)

Gillian, Jill, Jillian, Jolyon, Julia, Julian, Juliana, Julianna, Julianne, Julie, Julien, Juliet, Juliette, Julio, Julissa, Julius (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 98 of 2024; 267 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 6 of week 14 of 2023

Celtic Tree Calendar: Fearn (Alder) [Day 21 of 28]

Chinese: Second Month 2 (Gui-Mao), Day 18 (Bing-Shen)

Chinese Year of the: Rabbit 4721 (until February 10, 2024)

Hebrew: 17 Nisan 5783

Islamic: 17 Ramadan 1444

J Cal: 7 Aqua; Sevenday [7 of 30]

Julian: 26 March 2023

Moon: 93%: Waning Gibbous

Positivist: 14 Archimedes (4th Month) [Apollonius]

Runic Half Month: Ehwaz (Horse) [Day 14 of 15]

Season: Spring (Day 20 of 90)

Zodiac: Aries (Day 19 of 30)

#calendar #Holidays

0 notes

brookstonalmanac · 1 year

Text

Holidays 4.8

Holidays

Aerosol Day

Baghdad Liberation Day (Kurdistan)

Colorism Awareness Day

Counter Stool Memorial Day

Cushing’s Disease Awareness Day

DAB Day (Draw A Bird Day)

Day of Silence

Day of Valor (Araw ng Kagtingan; Philippines)

Dog Farting Awareness Day

Draw a Picture of a Bird Day

Geranium Day (England)

Grand Ivy Day

Grand National Ladies Day (UK)

Hammerin’ Hank Day

International Bird Day

International Day of Pink

International Feng Shui Awareness Day

International Pageant Day

International Romani Day (a.k.a. International Day of the Roma)

Martyrs’ Day (Tunisia)

Milk

More Cowbell Day

Mule Day

National All is Ours Day

National Arcade Day

National Best in the World Day

National Catch and Release Day

National Dog Fighting Awareness Day

National Pygmy Hippo Day

Peanuts-Kids-Baseball Day

Polling Day Eve (Samoa)

Pygmy Hippo Day

Rex Manning Day

Rumenians’ Independence Day (Sweden)

Sealing the Frost (Cuchumatan Indians; Guatemala)

Shiba Inu Day (Japan)

Step into the Spotlight! Day

Trading Cards for Grown-Ups Day

Tutor Appreciation Day

Twin Peaks Day

World Mixed Martial Arts Day

World Neurosurgeon’s Day

Zoo Lovers' Day

Food & Drink Celebrations

Milk in Glass Bottles Day

National Bass Day (UK)

National Empañada Day

2nd Saturday in April

Baby Massage Day [2nd Saturday]

Global Day to End Child Sexual Abuse [2nd Saturday]

Slow Art Day [2nd Saturday]

World Circus Day [2nd Saturday]

Independence Days

Australis (a.k.a. Grand Duchy of Australis; Declared; 2020) [unrecognized]

Feast Days

Ædesius (Christian; Martyr)

Anne Ayres (Episcopal Church (USA))

Apollonius (Positivist; Saint)

B. Albert, Patriarch of Jerusalem (Christian; Saint)

Buddha's Birthday (Mahāyāna Buddhists)

Constantina (Christian; Saint)

Cornelius de Heem (Artology)

Day of Amon-Ra (Pagan)

Dionysius of Corinth (Christian; Saint)

Feast of the Hummingbird (Aztec)

Feast of the Three Days of the Writing of the Book of the Law begins (Thelema)

Geronimo Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)

Hana Matsuri (Flower Festival on Buddha’s Birthday; Japan)

Julie Billiart of Namur (Christian; Saint)

Kanbutsu-e (Buddha’s Birthday; Japan)

Kiki the Rattlesnake (Muppetism)

Nuzzle Quran (Malaysia)

Perpetuus (Christian; Saint)

Red Wine Day (Pastafarian)

Saturday before Easter (a.k.a. ...

Black Saturday (Philippines)

Easter Saturday (Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Seychelles)

Holy Saturday

Walter of Pontoise (Christian; Saint)

William Augustus Muhlenberg (Episcopal Church (USA))

Zoo Day (Pastafarian)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Nēmontēmi, Day 4 (of 5) [Aztec unlucky or fasting days, taking place between 4.5-4.18]

Sensho (先勝 Japan) [Good luck in the morning, bad luck in the afternoon.]

Unlucky Day (Grafton’s Manual of 1565) [19 of 60]

Premieres

All the Old Knives (Film; 2022)

American: The Bill Hicks Story (Documentary Film; 2011)

The Boss (Film; 2016)

The Century, by Peter Jennings and Todd Brewster (Book; 1999)

The Clash, by The Clash (Album; 1977)

David and Goliath, by Malcolm Gladwell (Book; 2014)

Destitively Bonnaroo, by Dr. John (Album; 1974)

Father Noah’s Ark (Disney Cartoon; 1933)

Fever Pitch (Film; 2005)

From Russia, with Love, by Ian Fleming (Novel; 1957) [James Bond #5]

The Gambler (TV movie; 1980)

Hanna (Film; 2011)

Inspector George Gently (UK TV Series; 2007)

Just Dance, by Lady Gaga (Song; 2008)

Killing Eve (TV Series; 2018)

La Gioconda, by Amiliare Ponchielli (Opera; 1876)

Mr. Right (Film; 2016)

Sea Salts (Disney Cartoon; 1949)

The $64,000 Question (Radio Quiz Show; 1955)

Smash by The Offspring (Album; 1994)

Soul Surfer (Film; 2011)

Toys in the Attic, by Aerosmith (Album; 1975)

Twin Peaks (TV Series; 1990)

The Unusuals (TV Series; 2009)

Where Did Our Love Go, recorded by The Supremes (Song; 1964)

Ye Olden Days (Disney Cartoon; 1933)

Today’s Name Days

Beate, Rose-Marie, Walter (Austria)

Lazar, Lazo (Bulgaria)

Diogen, Dionizije, Klement, Timotej (Croatia)

Ema, Emanuel (Czech Republic)

Janus (Denmark)

Julia, Juuli, Juulika, Lia, Liana, Liane (Estonia)

Suoma, Suometar (Finland)

Julie (France)

Beate, Rose-Marie, Walter (Germany)

Lazaros (Greece)

Dénes (Hungary)

Alberto, Dionigi, Walter (Italy)

Dana, Danute, Dziedra, Edgars, Žanete (Latvia)

Dionizas, Girtautas, Julija, Skirgailė (Lithuania)

Asle, Atle (Norway)

Apolinary, Cezary, Cezaryna, Dionizy, Gawryła, January, Radosław, Sieciesława (Poland)

Agav, Irodion, Lazar, Ruf (Romania)

Alla, Anna (Russia)

Albert (Slovakia)

Amancio, Dionisio, Julia (Spain)

Hemming, Nadja, Tanja (Sweden)

Gillian, Jill, Jillian, Jolyon, Julia, Julian, Juliana, Julianna, Julianne, Julie, Julien, Juliet, Juliette, Julio, Julissa, Julius (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 98 of 2024; 267 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 6 of week 14 of 2023

Celtic Tree Calendar: Fearn (Alder) [Day 21 of 28]

Chinese: Second Month 2 (Gui-Mao), Day 18 (Bing-Shen)

Chinese Year of the: Rabbit 4721 (until February 10, 2024)

Hebrew: 17 Nisan 5783

Islamic: 17 Ramadan 1444

J Cal: 7 Aqua; Sevenday [7 of 30]

Julian: 26 March 2023

Moon: 93%: Waning Gibbous

Positivist: 14 Archimedes (4th Month) [Apollonius]

Runic Half Month: Ehwaz (Horse) [Day 14 of 15]

Season: Spring (Day 20 of 90)

Zodiac: Aries (Day 19 of 30)

#Holidays

0 notes