CMMN WLTH

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⫹⫺ Positive Sum Games
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⫹⫺ Positive Sum Games

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Andy Barr
May 23, 2021
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⫹⫺ Positive Sum Games
www.cmmnwlth.io

Hello my friends,

In game theory, zero-sum is a situation where, if one person wins, another loses.

The net change is zero.

This past week, I listened to a podcast with two company founders who talked about building their Startups. The commonality in their descriptions was that they view their work as non-zero-sum. If they win, it doesn’t mean others lose, rather, everybody wins.

The net change is positive.

Oftentimes in creative industry, there is a misplaced focus on the individual, whether self-manifested or manufactured by your discipline. These short-term status games are always zero-sum.

Perhaps it’s the asymmetry of the upside and downside that encourages non-zero-sum within Startup companies. Nevertheless, the game does not have to be correlated to size or leverage.

Non-zero-sum can be fostered by simple behaviors:

  • Give more than you take.

  • Use the words “we” and “the team”.

  • Celebrate other people’s successes.

Shared adversity will bring a team together. Happiness and health rely on making the work positive-sum.

More on this and other observations from the internet below ↓

Let’s get into it,

— Andy


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Product

  • Our reliance on video chat, in both life and work, comes at the expense of intimacy and attention. Google’s Project Starline is aiming to change that.

  • Figma is a tool that is built on the insight that design doesn’t only involve designers. An explanation of the flywheel that powers it.

  • Great innovation often comes from solving your own problem. How Brynn Putnam created (and sold) Mirror for $500m

People

  • I’m increasingly bullish on alternative education. Elon Musk’s Synthesis School wants to prepare kids for the real world by focusing on problem-solving over memorizing facts. A thread on how it came to be here.

  • Reframing the generalist / specialist debate. Salman Ansari weighs the future of specialization in the Polymath Playbook.

  • “The greatest teacher is called ‘doing’” and another 98 bits of unsolicited advice from Kevin Kelly.

Methods

  • If you’re looking for emerging trends Exploding Topics is an analytics tool that trawls the web for the latest and greatest.

  • Vik Shukla presents a thorough discussion on the causes of bad decision-making and provides a framework on how to get better.

  • Happiness is flow. A mental model that you can apply to work and life.


Out of Office

Neal Agarwal has created a corner of the internet open to everyone. His visualizations are beautiful, educational and fun.

This one on 21st-century capitalism is my particular favorite.

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