Mighty Minds Club — Newsletter #10: The "Intentional" Edition
Hello! You’re getting the email because you’ve either (1) joined The Mighty Minds Club, (YAY!!) or (2) asked to be notified about The Might Minds Club at launch.
This makes the 10th Mighty Minds Newsletter! A day later than usual, but hey—double birthdays over the weekend. One of my my boys turned 16; I turned a number divisible by 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, and 8. 🎂
A few quick updates & announcements:
📣 ONE: Report #1. Finished.
I’ll be adding an afterword and some appendix stuff. But otherwise, all lessons are uploaded! 🎉 NOTE: Mike Courtney pointed out a weird hiccup with Thinkific; even though I’ve continued to add more chapters and lessons to the course, your ‘dashboard’ card ‘% complete’ may not update or reflect these changes. 🤔 But trust me, a bunch more lessons have been added since Part 1 was shared.
📣 TWO: Salons!
- No Salon this week or next (see below)
- Week of the 28th— anyone interested in discussing no-code software tools, and the constellation of software necessary for a community site? I can share everything I’m using / trying / thinking about. But, I’m more interested in learning from those with more experience!
Beginning in October, I’ve lined up several exciting Mighty Minds Salons:
- Thursday, October 8th — We’ll be chatting with speaker, author, and creativity evangelist Denise Jacobs. The 8th should give me enough time to read her newest book Banish Your Inner Critic. (More details and registration page to follow.)
- The following week, I’ve got a special panel lined up, featuring the Mighty Minds of Jorge Arango, Dan Brown, andDonna Spencer. We’ll be talking about what we can learn from tabletop games. Again, more details and a registration page to follow. But, know that this will be held at a time that’s somewhat APAC friendly. ⏰
And…
- By popular request, we’ll have an AMA with [REDACTED]. D’Oh! You’ll have to tune in next week to learn who we’re chatting with next. Hint: She’s written many books, has worn so many hats, and has so many diverse interests that she defies any one label. How’s that for a teaser?
📣 THREE: EuroIA & the next Report
Indirectly related to the Mighty Minds Club…
As some of you know, I’ll be giving a keynote next week at The EuroIA Conference. First, a plug for this event. I couldn’t imagine a curated lineup of speakers and topics more closely aligned to the things that have been on my mind. Hope. Systems. Complexity. Preferable Futures. And the speakers—what a brilliant lineup. My only regret is that I can’t attend some morning workshops due to timezone differences! (Sorry, not sure I could be a very active participant between 2am-5:30am in the morning!). Anyway, if you’re looking for a great event to attend (online), I highly recommend it.
For my Keynote, I’ve got a special talk in the works that’s going to need all my attention this week. If plans turn out like I hope, there may be a toolkit that comes out of this, which I’ll certainly share with this community. Anyway, I’m pushing off my Polarity Mapping report until next month, to clear my calendar (and headspace).
📣 FOUR: Y’all are Awesome!
So, here’s the funny thing about our brains, something that I’ve known and yet… We have this tendency for negativity bias. In the absence of any data or facts to the contrary, we create all kinds of terrible, fictional narratives. Ahem. Anyway, I mentioned turning on some very basic analytics last week, and… Guess what? Within 5 minutes, 37 opens. 30 minutes, over 100 opens. And, I checked just now, and I see more opens than total subscribers. So, yeah. I’m not “shouting into the wind” as I wondered about 😜 To be clear: Last week’s email wasn’t a plea for validation—I do really get personal satisfaction from organizing these thoughts each week (and it forces me to re-read things, often seeing something I didn’t the first go around!). That said, many of you did reach out to let me know that you do indeed get value from these newsletters. Thank you all for the encouraging words. 😃
Interesting things I’ve been reading / learning about:
On Solving Big Problems
Want to feel like work in tech is all rather small? Then read this article on “Why We Can’t Solve Big Problems”. What begins by looking at the context of the Apollo space program turns into a pointed critique at: (1) faith in technology (alone) to solve our biggest problems, and (2) the role of VCs in discouraging any real innovation. This bit near the end brings these thoughts together:
It’s not true that we can’t solve big problems through technology; we can. We must. But all these elements must be present: political leaders and the public must care to solve a problem, our institutions must support its solution, it must really be a technological problem, and we must understand it.
I’m not sure I agree with everything said, but the points raised have stuck with me throughout the week… So, worth sharing?
On Bucking the System
Author and activist Cory Doctorow (who I mentioned in the last newsletter) is trying to go around the Amazon/ Audible monopoly on audiobooks with a Kickstarter campaign for his newest book. This was an easy—and instant—back for me. Here’s his explanation of ‘why’ this important.
Speaking of books…
On Books as a Learning Medium
Andy Matuschak takes a critical look at faults with books as a learning format. Long read, but worth your time. I love this quote: “How might we design a medium so that its ‘grain’ bends in line with how people think and learn?’ Reminds me of the ‘experiments’ in course creation I shared last week.
Context: I stumbled across Matuschak’s essay by way of this twitter thread mostly about Roam which references this twitter thread about the limits / possibilities of books. Both have lots of really interesting comments and ideas well worth sifting through!
On “Seeing Red / Feeling Blue”
A reminder from comics artist and educator Nick Sousanis about the divisiveness of labeling (US) states as red or blue. Particularly poignant for me, as I live in a BIG state that’s historically “red”—but only by a thin margin.
Speaking of divisiveness…
On The Social Dilemna
Here is an excellent, detailed account of the last 7-8 years of social media advertising that has led us to… well, the mess we’re in now: “The mechanics and psychology behind The Social Dilemma”. I found this article to be a healthy dissection of a complicated issue, written by a tech insider. If you read nothing else this week, do check out this article, as it goes well beyond alarming headlines and rhetoric to unpack why and how social media companies are incentived to “polarize for profit.” Some standout quotes:
“Simply put, these aspects of today’s global chaos are each a direct, rational result of trying to make money from ads.”
And
Even remaining at Twitter in a position of influence would be a fool’s errand — the problem is with the business model itself, not the execution thereof. Great execution towards business goals is what got Facebook here in the first place.
(HT: Per Axbom)
Okay. That was a lot of heavy stuff. How about this week we go out on a some lighter things? How about…
Against ‘How Might We’
Feeling blocked? Locked out? Shut down? You’re not alone! Beth Fox has the game for you: Cards Against How Might We. Essentially, it’s “a card game that practices the art of reframing a problem statement into a question.” Print and play files are available for download. Enjoy!
After the Release
Here’s something for the PMs (and product teams) out there: A great, simple way to follow up on features after they’re released. Add a “PAST” column to measure “things we have shipped previously. How are they performing? Are our experiments achieving what we hoped they would?” I’m not sure about you, but for all the talk of lean and learning, I rarely see tech or product teams follow up on stuff after it’s released, except to fix bugs. Baking a rear-view mirror into the process seems like a solid idea. 🤷♂️
Personal Matters: Musings:
Can we declare 2020 the year of living with intention?
My wife and I have had discussions about how things like Black Lives Matter and the pandemic have forced us to be more intentional… with our time, our money, our energy, but especially with our relationships. While casual gatherings have been a casualty of this pandemic, so too have the casual friendships afforded by larger, group gatherings. Now, making the effort to reach out to a friend or colleague means things are necessarily more intentional. it’s hard not to scratch at the surface when we’re checking in on each other.
I’ve experienced this with so many one-on-one Zoom calls I’ve had. Just this past week, I had a number of great—agenda free—catch up calls with friends. Christina. Denise. Jen. Jason. John. These are the kinds of calls where you both leave energized—the oasis in an otherwise busy schedule.
But this intentionality isn’t limited to personal friendships.
With all that’s going on, we’ve thought a lot more about the kinds of local businesses we can support, and how to contribute—in our own very small way—to the kind of community we want to see on the other side of all this mayhem.
I can’t recall how it started, but for nearly six months we’ve been buying farm fresh eggs, cinnamon rolls, and other treats from “the farmers”—a young married couple trying to get their farm business going. Every Saturday, they deliver their goods. We chat for a few minutes, on the front porch. We ask about their newborn son, who has had some health problems. We know all about their rescue chickens, and how for weeks on end, the chickens were too skittish to walk around, let alone lay eggs; now, eggs-a-plenty! Sometimes they surprise us with extras like banana bread or two different kinds of zucchini they’re trying to grow. There’s something good in this interaction that we’ve lost in transactions.
And then there’s places like my favorite comic book and board game store. For me, this is the year where I’ve started attaching “at what cost?“ to things like ‘it’s free’ or ‘it’s a great deal’. This is the year I’ve begun weaning myself off of Amazon.com. I’ve got a semi-regular email exchange going with Nick at my local games & somics store, who keeps me updated on games I’ve ordered or might be interested in. I’m paying full price for games, and I’ve waited weeks for a game that Amazon could have delivered the next day. But you know what? I like my FLGS*, and I like being able to browse the shelves and turn over a game in my hands. This is something is I’d like to enjoy next year. The year after that. And the year after that. Patience and a few extra dollars is a small price to pay to help a local store I love keep going.
I could share more such stories. Dubs, where we get these really neat stuffed pretzels. Fadia’s, the Lebanese food store we love, where the owners answer the phone “Hey, Stephen!” My favorite local coffee shop.
Yeah, you could reduce this to a line about supporting local businesses. But, it’s more than that. It’s about the relationships. This is the year we’ve begun to know the people behind these businesses. And that feels great. Like something we once had, before everything became so darn transactional.
So, a silver lining to the pandemic? We get a chance to be intentional with our relationships. And intentional with the kinds of worlds we want to create.
* Friendly Local Gaming Store
Random:
- Photo of the year? 😬
- The ‘Panda system of efficiency’
- Hidden messages on clothing tags
- I’ve heard of shearing, sheep, but “rooing” sheep is new to me?!
- Rewards, and chickens! (well, one chicken)
Quote of the Week
“The essence of life takes place in the neutral zone phase of transition. It is in that interim spaciousness that all possibilities, creativity and innovative ideas can come to life and flourish.” —Susan Bridges