Newsletter 73. A nuanced look at simplification, the Author’s Guild’s AI rights position; a mega-agency that might forget creativity, plus three people to follow, three books to read, two podcast interviews, and a partridge in a . . . no, enough of that already! It’s complicated We crave simplicity. Boiling things down to their essence…
Newsletter 73. Change you can believe in is change you can understand, merry Christmas to booksellers, how to stump ChatGPT, plus three people to follow and three books to read. How change feels There are two kinds of change: change in what you do, and change in who you are. Both create uncertainty. But the…
Two things are true. One: that many of our most important decisions depend on data generated by the government. And two: regarding the people who produce the government data, president-elect Trump has promised that “As many as 100,000 government positions can be moved out — and I mean immediately — of Washington.” Here’s why that…
I’ve lived in Portland, Maine since 2021. I moved here from Massachusetts, where I’d lived for 42 years. In Massachusetts, it seemed like nearly everybody I knew came from somewhere else originally. Lots of people come to Massachusetts for college and then never leave (which was my story, too). If you’re from California, it’s probably…
Newsletter 69. Some post-election reflections on blame, plus three people to follow and three books to read. The people we hate Socialists Educated people Bleeding-hearts Undocumented immigrants Homeless people Poor people People on public assistance Puerto Ricans Jews Muslims Hindus Palestinians Arabs Blacks Native Americans Indians Asians Gay people Trans people Old people Young people…
I just voted in Portland, Maine. The line was long, the process took more than an hour. Everyone in line was polite and friendly, as were the poll workers. The weather, as is typical in Maine in the fall, was cool and humid. Just looking at people waiting in line, it appears there will be…
Early in my career, in my first management position, I was faced with a number of deadline-busting crises. The first few times, I panicked and freaked out. Having gotten that out of the way, I reverted to analytical thinking: what went wrong, why, what solution could best fix the problem, and how could we implement…
It’s no secret that the tensions between Democrats and Republicans in Congress have only gotten more intense. So I’m going to explore a topic that could very well come up after the November 5 election: could a president Kamala Harris be unable to get her cabinet confirmed, what constitutional options might she have in that…
Newsletter 66: Why polls captivate us; AI fails at reasoning; the valued discipline of writing, plus three people to follow, three books to read, and a free report on how business books generate revenue and profit. About that presidential horse race Why are we so fascinated with polls? Well, put that aside for a minute….