Multipliers
Book Notes Yeah, kitt finished writing this at 14:22 on 30 April 2021
This book was a women-in-tech book club book that I read, and missed the discussion about. I am disappointed I missed the discussion, as I really did not like this book. The basic premise of the book being that people in power positions (not going to say leader, because a lot of managers manage, they don't lead, and a lot of leaders don't lead, they manage, so let's call a duck a duck, and say people in power) are either diminishers or multipliers, either you cut down and reduce the productivity and usefulness of your subordinates, or you multiple the productivity and networks of your people.
And the two broad categories just don't work. I came to the book wanting to believe in this simplistic view, and just can't.
The first inclination of "eh.... your facts are incorrect" came with a tale of Apple:
For example, when Apple Inc. needed to achieve rapid growth with flat resources in one division, they didn’t expand their sales force. Instead, they gathered the key players across the various job functions, took a week to study the problem, and collaboratively developed a solution. They changed the sales model to utilize competency centers and better leverage their best salespeople and deep industry experts in the sales cycle. They achieved year-over-year growth in the double digits with virtually flat resources.
This is, quite frankly, complete and utter bullshit. A basic tenet of Apple culture is Harvard's definition of stress: accountability without authority. You are literally taught this in the new employee training classes. You are responsible for getting things done above and beyond any sort of reasonable expectations, and you are not given the resources or authority to get these tasks done, and you do it anyway. The whole "took a week to study the problem, and collaboratively developed a solution" is so far away from Apple culture that the Gell-Man Amnesia Effect punches you in the face. Twice.
So, keep reading. Soon, we come across the Shackleton tale of the newspaper ad:
In 1914, Ernest Shackleton, the venerated British explorer, embarked on an expedition to traverse Antarctica. His recruitment advertisement in The Times (London) read: Men wanted: For hazardous journey. Small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant danger, safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in case of success. Surprisingly, hundreds of men applied. Shackleton, with the wisdom of an experienced captain, staffed his crew with men of a certain orientation—men who were attracted to adventure and recognition but who were also realistically prepared for the hardship they would face. No doubt Shackleton’s ability to attract the right team was one key factor in the survival of every member of the expedition.
The ad was never actually placed. It is a great element of the legend of Shackleton, widely told, and false.
So, if Wiseman is going to use this tall tale as an example of being a multiplier, and we refuse, again, to succumb to the Gell-Man Amnesia Effect, well, all of Wiseman's anecdotal evidence for the hypothesis of multipliers and diminishers becomes suspect.
Worse than either of these two tales, many of the examples of "diminishing" are actually full-on asshole behaviour. One doesn't need to think "diminisher" when experiencing assholes, one should think, "fuck off" and leave. In this case, The No Asshole Rule becomes a better book to recommend.
So, yeah, did not like this book, do not recommend this book. It is soft, it is impractical, and it is frustrating to read. A better read would be: "Be kind. Trust your people. Expect greatness. Have accountability. Don't borrow unhappiness."
Neko 004
Blog Instead of being asleep at 20:31 on 28 April 2021, kitt created this:My fourth of n watercolors of Neko Harbor, poorly lit. The image below was taken with the paint still wet, so the colors are different here than with the painting dry.
I started this one while on a call with Dad. He was talking. He's a Hodsden: when he manages a head of steam, he'll be talking for a more than a bit. Lord knows, I inherited that quality from him. Since he'd be talking for a while, I settled down at the table where I had my paints set up, and started painting. About half way through, he called me out on it. "You're distracted," he said. So, I explained to him what I was doing, and sent over the picture of Neko Harbour and my first two attempts. I sent over a picture of my in-progress picture, then received a lecture on how to learn to paint well. Dad said I should pick one technique and become very very good at it before moving on to the next technique. I countered, or try many, many, many variations of the same image and learn something new on every painting, because, let's be real: I don't need a mansplaining on how to paint from someone who has never tried to paint anything smaller than a house. I did laugh with Dad about it, when he admitted that no, he doesn't know how to paint, and that my suggestion was likely as good ( :\ ) as his.
Watercolor on paper, 3" x 2"
Previous versions: Reference 1 2 3
The Hidden Habits of Genius
Book Notes Written with a loving hand by kitt some time around 15:59 on 28 April 2021
Near the beginning of this book, Wright asks his students, "Would you like to be a genius?" Given the school he was teaching at, many of the students raised their hands indicating yes. After the class on genius, most people realize that to be a genius, defined as a world changer not merely smart or have some arbitrarily high IQ, you kinda need to suffer: you're an asshole, or socially incompetent, or mentally off to the point of dysfunction, or some such. So, while actually being a genius might not be a goal worth attempting, some elements and characteristics of genius are worth the effort. Wright tells us those in this book.
What I can appreciate most about this book is the early chapter and direct callout of just how much women have been and are screwed in the areas of publishing, medicine, invention, politics, science, and, well, pretty much anything that isn't birthing babies and catering to the whims of men. Literally, the chapter is "Genius and Gender, the game is rigged." And it is. One can easily see that, "to be sure, the timeless stupidity of ignoring the intellectual potential of half of humanity is deeply embedded in our culture." Wright gives example after example of women screwed over by men. Just how stunningly fucked over Rosalind Franklin was by Watson and Crick and the "discovery" of the DNS helix, a discovery made by and with the research of Franklin, pisses me off stunningly even after reading the book. Like, because Franklin refused to be subservient to a less-gifted man, "Clearly Rosy had to go or be put in her place."
(╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻
Yeah, so, the biggest habit one can adopt to being a genius is clearly "be a guy."
The other habits are a bit easier to do, including the cases when you weren't born with a penis:
- Work hard.
- Avoid being a prodigy (or at least letting that prodigy shit go to your head)
- Maintain a child-like wonder (imagination) of the world
- Stay Curious (develop a lust for learning)
- Find your missing peace (or the journey IS the destination)
- Leverage your difference (if you're weird, go with it)
- Recognize being different (rebel, misfit, troublemakers) is the hard road, take it anyway
- Think the opposite (sorta the diffferent way of approaching problems
- Fail often and frequently, but keep going
- JFC, get lucky
And a couple more habits. I have to say I found the FB references more than a little offputting. Zuck is a horrible person on a number of levels, his criminal acts included. The FB parts of this book did not dissuade that fact. If one can endure those parts, this is a great book. Strongly recommended.
Neko 003
Blog Instead of being asleep at 21:16 on 25 April 2021, kitt created this:My third of n watercolors of Neko Harbor, poorly lit. The image below was taken with the paint still wet, so the colors are different now than with dry paint.
I went slowly on this one. I had spent time planning how I would paint the scene, writing out the steps and reworking the process until I was happy with trying it.
So, each step along the way with this one, I stopped and let the paint dry before moving onto the next step. While I am excited I finally have the glaciers in the foreground, the shape of the mountain in the back, along with the ground fog, just are not good. I suspect I had some good beginner's luck with the first Neko, and I'm overthinking this one with this patient process. The ice is by far the wrong blue. I am, however, delighted I used the Crayola paints on this one.
One Week In
Blog Posted by kitt at 00:15 on 22 April 2021Well, I'm one week in on this 82 week training plan, and I have to say, wow, having a trainer is surprisingly motivating. I hadn't quite understood how much having accountability for training and really, really, really not wanting to waste (lose) the money I'm paying for the trainer would motivate me. Historically, that accountability would come from my teammates, I don't want to let them down, but I seriously lack a team these days. Perhaps that "not letting them down" was too much of a motivating factor, I'm not sure. I'd like not to disappoint myself in particular, which means putting in the work now, for the success later.
One of the biggest surprises I've had so far is just how much I do not have the internal feel of an uphill athlete. I know what having sprint endurance feels like. I know the internal feel of being an ultimate frisbee player. I understand the motions, the aches, the nuances of training too hard vs slacking, but only for ultimate. I do not have these values set for uphill climbing. The advantage of being a fit ultimate player is that most non-skilled activities are "easy," - we were fit enough that we could fake being able to do those other activities. Walking the Cotswold Way? No problem. Building a dam? No problem. Hiking the Grand Canyon? No problem.
But now, with this lack of fitness and a lack internal set point for "uphill athlete," instead of "ultimate athlete," gosh, everything feels so slow.
What, don't raise my heart rate above 120? Um... can I tell you about the time my heart rate monitor recorded my heart rate at 248 and I decided never to wear a heart rate monitor again? 120 isn't even a slow jog heart rate, it is a walking heart rate. On flat ground. Unladen. How do I move this slowly? Argh.
The biggest non-surprise has been just how stunningly not in shape I am. I knew I wasn't in a great place, I just didn't realize how much of not in a great place. Consistency is key to fixing that. And that accountability the trainer brings.
Paired with that non-surprise would be my other actual surprise: that I've finally accepted that this is where I am, fitness-wise. Yes, this used to be easier. Yes, I could hike from the bottom of the Grand Canyon to the top without stopping except once for water, once upon a time. That upon time is not now. I am no longer that person. I'm not competing with anyone else for that spot on the team, for our team to win. I'm training to climb a mountain. One mountain in particular.
Trying to raise or lower my heart rate artificially in order to "win" a workout doesn't help me achieve the goal of summitting that mountain and returning safely. Listening to the trainer does help me. And if he says go slowly, I'll go slowly, and eventually learn how being an uphill athlete feels.