The Path

An area that I spend a lot of time researching, learning, modeling are leadership skills that the best leaders exhibit on a day to day basis, different forms of leadership and stoic philosophy. I know it's a weird combination, but there's a ton in stoicism that has helped my mental models.

I really liked this talk Simon Sinek called "There's NO Such Thing as 'Soft Skills'". For him, "Human Skills" are what makes the best leaders, and companies desperately lack good ways to to train leaders.

In this short video, he goes into trust, how it plays into performance and trustworthiness, and how organizations accidentally promote toxic team members which creates toxic leaders. Something I’m sure many have seen time and again.

"Ask anyone on a team, 'who the asshole is' and it'll be easy to spot the toxic person — everyone is going to point the same person. Equally, it's easy to identify who on a team you can trust by simply asking 'who is trustworthy'"

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Forward Thinking

A conversation earlier in the week prompted me to rewatch this classic TED talk from James Veitch.

In it, he recounts he many interactions with email spammers and what happens when you actually start replying to them. You really should watch it.

Latest obsession

I've been feeding an obsession over the last year with various types of loose-leaf teas (many from Steven Smith Teamaker), and of course, had to research the best tea infuser.

Every article I researched pointed to the Finum Reusable Stainless Steel Coffee and Tea Infusing Mesh.

For the last several months at least 3-4 times a day, I use it to brew the most incredible blends. I know, I'm a total dork. But for $10 it's a no-brainer.

This weeks "Deep Links"

Here's a few of the articles and videos that resonated with me over the last week:

• You may not know the name Zoe Roth. But you've have seen her photo on millions of photos across the internet as 'disaster girl' thanks to a picture her dad took of her when she was five. Read all about her story in "‘Disaster Girl’ of meme fame walks among us in North Carolina." - More
• "The Titanic Wreck Is a Landmark Almost No One Can See"; well - apparently you can for $36,000. An interesting article on the implications (biological and ethical) of visiting the doomed ship - More
• Engineering work can look like magic to others; but in "Embrace the Grind", the author explores how the history of magic tricks can teach you the real secret. "Being willing to do something so terrifically tedious" works in tech too - More
• I've been enjoying working my way through the amazing content that Craig Mod has shared. "Walk as Spreadsheet" explores his usage of spreadsheets to "map" his long walks - a row is usually a day of walking, date, town numbers. Columns are for cost of inns, notes, addresses, etc. His philosophy is that "when a walk is a spreadsheet it’s a pulsing thing of potential, extremely abstract though the days are hard-bound by the cells of finance software" - More
• When I had my peak interest in triathlon, Chrissie Wellington had exploded on the Ironman stage. I'll never forget her insane comeback in 2008 from a flat in Kona to win; so I really enjoyed reading "Chrissie Wellington on... Mental strength" - More
• Let's do the time warp again! a fun look at "'Rocky Horror Picture Show' is back after playing to an empty theater for 54 weeks". Yes, they kept it running in a theater when no one could watch it - More
• "I’m Not an Asshole. I’m an Introvert" looks at different ways you can use being an "introvert" as an excuse for being rude - More
• "These are the worst trips in the world" looks at 13 books that document real-life travel stories gone wrong - More
• I've always warned my kids that putting something out on the Internet was like putting it on a bathroom wall - it's there forever. "I Called Off My Wedding. The Internet Will Never Forget" explores this new era where crawlers, ad targeting, AI, won't let you forget anything you post - More
• Seneca said that 'time is invisible so it's easy to spend', and "The Shortness of Time" explores four ways in which we misunderstand and abuse "time" - More

Fin

Wrapping up with a video from Thomas Wilson, best known as Biff from Back to the Future as he celebrates his 62nd birthday with a song regards to the frustrations on being asked the same questions by fans, over and over and over again.