The Age of Unreason
When I was in my twenties, quite a while ago now, I became obsessed with learning a martial art called Ving Tsun, or Wing Chun. And being…
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Innovate or Die
I just finished watching the movie Jobs. It’s a very loose retelling of Steve Jobs and the early days of Apple, and if there’s anyone who has…
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Why Community Builders Should Read “Leading Change” by John Kotter
Most people in the community-building game don’t think of themselves as “change managers.” Most of us are not sitting in corner offices with PowerPoint decks and consultants. …
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Why I’m Obsessed With Optimal Outcomes
If I had a life motto, or a working framework by which I live, it would be this: maximum efficiency and effectiveness. Or, put another way, optimization.…
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Sometimes, I’m Almost as Good as I Think I Am
I’ve been accused, more times than I can count, of being arrogant, condescending, self-righteous. There are probably a few other adjectives in that same vein that would…
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Impact and Value… Bring It Or Else
How do people, organizations, and businesses make money? At the most basic level, they sell something. Or they work for someone who sells something. Products. Services. Ideas.…
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Musing on Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité
The French national motto is: Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité (Liberty, Equality, Fraternity). That seems like a pretty good thing on which to found a society. When we talk…
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Let’s Talk About Plato’s Republic
Plato’s Republic is the kind of thing that you’re supposed to have read, understood, and talked about. That is, if you want to sound smart. It ranks…
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The Leviathan Still Lives
Thomas Hobbes didn’t trust us. And the truth is, he may have had good reason. In Leviathan, Hobbes imagines what humans are like without rules, without authority,…
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Conditional Belonging: From The Diamond Age to the Beast System
Neal Stephenson’s The Diamond Age offers a strange and prophetic look at our world. In his novel, nations have faded and the globe is divided into phyles;…