Newsletter 94. Never trust a coach who wants credit for your hard work. Plus training on copyrighted content is not fair use, standing out from 2.6 million books, three people to follow and three books to read. Coaches don’t take credit About a week ago my lower back went out. What that meant was that…
If you’re a fan of Malcolm Gladwell, Daniel Pink, Michael Pollan, Isaac Asimov, or David Sedaris, should you copy them? Should you try to write like them? No. You are you. But you should copy their best practices. How to learn from successful authors If you like what you’re reading, take a moment to examine…
How do people find answers to questions? For decades, the standard paradigm for decision-making revolved around web sites, links, search (and SEO), content marketing, and social sharing. Whether the question was “How can prepare for a job interview” or “What’s the right organizational strategy for a transnational company?” the answer started with a web search….
Today, a little sports math. The current reigning NBA champion Boston Celtics, owner of a dominant 61-21 record in the regular season, are in a second-round playoff series against the 51-31 New York Knicks. The Celtics were heavily favored to win this series, in part because they won four decisive games against the Knicks during…
I can still make useful contributions to the world, and I’m not giving up. If it’s worth doing, do it anyway I was used to being able to do almost anything (at least, anything mental) as smartly as possible, more quickly, and more creatively than most people. I am not as good as I used…
Newsletter 93. How to think before you write and lead. Plus, three questions for all writers, writing advice from a dead mystery writer, a university press in crisis, plus three people to follow and three books to read. Thought leadership from a standing start With the churn now taking place in corporate boardrooms, countless smart…
I don’t tell Black people how to be Black people. I don’t tell gay people how to be gay. I don’t tell Muslims what they should care about, or Catholics, or Orthodox Jews. I don’t tell Canadians how to be Canadian. I don’t tell working class people how they should live their lives. I don’t…
A LinkedIn connection of mine recently reposted a story about Sonya Curry, the mother of the extremely talented NBA player Steph Curry. I clicked through to the original post, which had been posted by a lawyer who runs a foundation and is a visiting fellow at a major university — let’s call her “Mary” (not…
I’m a writer who uses AI to help. I’d never let AI write for me (I’m too proud, it writes boring prose, and it makes mistakes). But there are still times when a tool like ChatGPT can do things that would be much harder any other way — especially on rote, tedious research tasks. Turning…