Newsletter 37: Ignorance amid abundant knowledge, traumatic writer’s block, burgeoning book bans, plus three people to follow and three books to read. The problem with ignorance Ignorance bugs the hell out of me. The urge to eliminate ignorance is the driving force in my career and much of my life. This is a good thing….
Will your future employer treat you like a slave with no personal time? If William Vanderbloemen is recruiting you, that might be a clue. According to Business Insider, Vanderbloemen has devised a few little tests before and after job interviews to see how candidates behave: Vanderbloemen’s company uses the text-message test [sending candidates a text…
A recent piece by Maris Kreizman in LitHub bemoans the rise of “gig work” in publishing — and in particular the freelancer-driven model being pursued by the new publishing venture Author’s Equity. What naive and misguided claptrap. What’s Kreizman’s objection? In an essay titled “Publishing Models That Rely on Gig Workers Are Bad For Everybody,”…
I never write anything without the thread in mind. What is the thread? It is the throughline of any blog post, essay, or book chapter. Start with the end in mind. What is the point? Write the title and the lede based on that. Then, the setup. What is the problem? What is have I…
The design elegance of Tesla cars exceeds that of any other vehicle. Tesla’s iPhone-like design aesthetic starts with the sleek exterior design (putting aside the horrifying CyberTruck, of course) and continues with the touchscreen-based center display, which elegantly integrates every function from navigation to climate control. That design aesthetic may have contributed to the death…
A new politics arises from the ashes of the American disaster, AI proponents and doomsayers wrestle, books as chatbots, plus three people to follow, three books to read, and a chance to see me debate at Berkeley. The inspirational rise of the muscular middle I’ve freakin’ had it with the American political system. It’s time…
Here’s what I learned as an analyst: research broadly and do not stop at one idea. The job of an analyst is write about what is not known. This requires primary research — that is, talking to people in the market you’re involved in, or collecting data about it. It also requires analysis, which is…
Looking back over 16 years and 57 book projects, one big favorite is a book I edited: Outside In: The Power of Putting Customers at the Center of Your Business by Harley Manning and Kerry Bodine. If you’re a writer or editor, this reflection about that book may get you thinking differently about your own…
In the wake of continuing safety issues with Boeing aircraft, the company announced it was changing the incentives for how people are paid in its commercial aircraft division. Now, 60% of the bonuses will be based on quality and safety metrics. Previously, 75% of the bonuses were based on financial metrics. I’ve watched incentives and…