What is this?
Why does this exist?
I have had some experience in life, some strong emotions from time to time, and have developed some points of view in the process. This is my attempt to refine my own perspectives, while sharing it with anyone who might be interested.
This started out as a satire on the work produced by armies of consultants in our offices. My plan was to use the fictitious “Conjoined Triangles of Success” diagram created by Jack Barker in HBO’s Silicon Valley as a foundation.
“Compromise is the shared hypotenuse of the conjoined triangles of success”
But as I was going through the process, I realized, there really are legitimate qualms with our teams work together today, and what we are working toward as a company. I went down a Twitter rabbit hole (among other things) and have been realizing how many different contexts there are, some that I agree with, and others less so.
I’ll try to present different perspectives that might be new or unfamiliar, in an attempt to open new doors to productive conversation, maybe even come up with my own philosophy of sorts.
I’m kinda aiming for the former, not the latter 😃
I hope there’s some potential for positive impact or change. At the very least, this exercise is self serving. It helps me sharpen my own thoughts, improve my writing and storytelling skills, while providing a catharsis from self-expression.
Some more context:
I reserve the right to hold two contradicting ideals at once. I may present and hold emotions and generalizations at opposing ends of an argument. Sometimes, value systems change when looking through different perspectives. https://everythingstudies.com/2017/12/19/the-signal-and-the-corrective/ <—This is a great article and a great blog.
I know it’s easier to criticize than comprehend, and easier to comprehend than to create. I’m not putting a whole lot of anything new into the world. And not taking a hard line stance means I can’t be wrong. I recognize that it’s kind of a cop out. It’s kind of like Shiv’s character in HBO’s Succession.
“Shiv has always been able to see how expectations and pressure on her siblings have bent them out of shape. It’s easy to see that happening to other people but when under the microscope you can find yourself acting in irrational ways. There’s lots of times in life when you’re watching it’s easy to say ‘you’re foolish,’ but when you’re suddenly under the spotlight you might find yourself making unwise decisions.”
I'm dipping my toes into many disciplines and domains where I’m no expert. I’m putting my views out there as an opportunity for me to be educated, corrected, and for productive discussion. At the end of the day, this is just like, my opinion, man.
Inspiration Credit:
There was an engineer named Kyle who left our company a while back. He wrote really long memos about complex subjects that he felt strongly about. I didn’t always agree with the method, or the direction, but at the very least, they were clearly expressed and thought out points of view. Understanding the perspective, and the language used to represent those thoughts, enabled more productive conversations between us.
Having a point of view can be divisive, but it also creates trust. - Hamilton The Musical
Writing as Thinking - https://medium.learningbyshipping.com/writing-is-thinking-an-annotated-twitter-thread-2a75fe07fade
In some way, this blog is starting off in the same vein as Jerry McGuire’s "The Things We Think and Do Not Say” manifesto. That document got him fired at the start of that movie. I'm hoping life doesn’t imitate art.