If You See a Fraud
If you see fraud and do not say fraud, you are a fraud. Nicholas Nassim Taleb.
Author: Bud Caddell
What Technologists Want
On the same day that scientists announced successfully cloning monkeys, this horrific gem about deepfakes was reported by Motherboard: Since we first wrote about deepfakes, the practice of producing AI-assisted fake porn has exploded. More people are creating fake celebrity porn using machine learning, and the results have become increasingly convincing. Another redditor even created an app specifically designed to allow users without a computer science background to create AI-assisted fake porn. All the tools […]
New Year, New Site, New-ish NOBL
We just launched a new website (!) and I thought it the occasion to look back for a second. We’ve been doing this crazy experiment called NOBL for just about three years and three months now. Year one was a crash course in the basics of running a service business (and I steered us into more than a few fender benders). Years two and three were when we settled into a process and forged our […]
The Internet of Yore
In contrast to the Internet of now, the Internet of a decade back was better, smarter, more interesting and also it didn’t make you want to die all the time. Alex Balk.
The Questionable Era of Social Purpose
Society is demanding that companies, both public and private, serve a social purpose. To prosper over time, every company must not only deliver financial performance, but also show how it makes a positive contribution to society. Companies must benefit all of their stakeholders, including shareholders, employees, customers, and the communities in which they operate. Laurence D. Fink. P.S. Eric Posner disagrees: There is no reason to believe that CEOs are capable of determining the best […]
Why Did Human Innovation Take So Long?
I’m really loving this growing discussion and hypotheses laid out by Katja Grace and her readers. The basic question is this: why did humanity take so long to advance at the start? Rope, the wheel, written word all took tens of thousands of years to develop even though we modern humans would find the lack of these things a daily headache. Go read it.
OverTime Leadership Interview
Gillian Davis and I chatted about change, with numerous rabbit holes along the way. Check out her entire podcast series.
A Proud Sad-Sack
Embracing negativity may also have social benefits. Compared with cheery moods, bad moods have been linked to a more effective communication style, and sadness has been linked to less reliance on negative stereotypes. Feeling down can make us behave more fairly, too. People who saw sad video clips before playing an allocation game were more generous with their partners than those who saw happy clips. Source.
Loved Into Being
All of us have special ones who have loved us into being. Would you just take, along with me, ten seconds to think of the people who have helped you become who you are. Those who have cared about you and wanted what was best for you in life. Ten seconds of silence. I’ll watch the time. Fred Rogers.
Sales Email Copy
We try a ton of things to spread the word about NOBL. Last year, we tried a cold email campaign. We emailed complete strangers that we thought might be trying to make radical change in their organizations. Email No. 1 – We can help, Megan Megan! I found you via LinkedIn and I promise I can make this email worth your time and attention. Work as we know it isn’t working. 67% of employees are […]
Self-Observation and Loneliness
I hate that by sharing this video it seems like I’m intelligence-signaling. I’m not. I honestly feel less intelligent by the day (this is partly the side effect of working alongside brilliant people). But there’s truth here. I am a person who spends most of his life in self-observation, wrapped up with self-honesty. It’s a lonely place at times. I’m sharing this to communicate a simple message. A simple message best said by, of course, […]
The Nationalist’s Delusion
Trumpism emerged from a haze of delusion, denial, pride, and cruelty—not as a historical anomaly, but as a profoundly American phenomenon. This explains both how tens of millions of white Americans could pull the lever for a candidate running on a racist platform and justify doing so, and why a predominantly white political class would search so desperately for an alternative explanation for what it had just seen. To acknowledge the centrality of racial inequality to […]
Amazon or Scientology?
Back at Amazon headquarters or the trailer inside Gold Base, they really care about you. My auditor asked me a lot of questions about my work habits, my life, and family. As it turns out, I need more bias for action. Compromising for social cohesion only stymies progress. Oh, also, I have to disconnect from you. It’s okay, Jeff Bezos says you have to “maintain the culture,” and my auditor said that you are “antagonistic […]
America’s Unchecked Id
Trump’s appetite seems to know no bounds when it comes to McDonald’s, with a dinner order consisting of two Big Macs, two Fillet-O-Fish, and a chocolate malted. Source. Insatiable hunger, lust, greed, and dominance. Freud described the Id as primitive, illogical, irrational, and fantasy oriented. Remind you of anyone? Of course, we as a species need our Id. We need our primitive drive to survive and reproduce. But the Id needs the Ego and Superego. Ceaseless […]
A Thirty-Foot Trebuchet
Step One: Buy a plot of land right where Trump wants his wall. Step Two: Build a 30-foot trebuchet. Step Three?
Blockchain Explained 5 Ways
I love this series and this episode is extremely topical as everyone’s Uncle suddenly wants to get into Bitcoin. The conversation with the expert also reminded me of the Clay Shirky quote: “Communications tools don’t get socially interesting until they get technologically boring.” Maybe you can simplify it: “Tools don’t get interesting until they get boring.”
The Art of Monstrous Men
Hemingway’s girlfriend, the writer Martha Gellhorn, didn’t think the artist needed to be a monster; she thought the monster needed to make himself into an artist. “A man must be a very great genius to make up for being such a loathsome human being.” (Well, I guess she would know.) She’s saying if you’re a really awful person, you are driven to greatness in order to compensate the world for all the awful shit you […]
Your Manager as an Algorithm
If nearly any task can be governed by an algorithm, that means nearly any management role can be performed by software. The white-collar jobs that were assumed to be safe from automation may in fact be even more vulnerable—and your boss’s job might be automated before yours is. Before rushing into this brave new world, managers, employees, and AI engineers should consider the benefits and failings of AI management. We looked into algorithms as managers […]
Capacity for Change
We love to study the capacity for change inside organizations. We also got the chance to survey more than 500 credit unions and this is a talk about our findings.
Designing Meaningful Work
I gave an interview to the women at HumanCurrent. if you dig it, do listen to their back catalog.