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,
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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.
