Honest Abe
Entertaining thing to capture your interest
The other day we opened a set of Kamikoto knives my Dad had sent us. During the unpackaging process, one of us said the word “Kamikoto”. 5 Minutes later, my girlfriend had an ad for Kamikoto knives on her instagram. Now we both have iPhones, we have an Alexa, and we have a Google Home. We’re surrounded.
According to this Wired article, Amazon and Google will only store your voice data when you use the summon word, like “Alexa” or “OK Google”.
I personally think it was indeed Apple listening in on us. What bothers me the most is that our conversation was auctioned off by Instagram (aka Facebook) to the highest bidder. I can only find solace in the fact that I can literally cut through anything with my new Kamikoto knives.
Product Wisdom
Have you ever read How to Win Friends and Influence People? It’s really good. Though I read it several years ago, I still remember one key takeaway; never criticize anyone. Now this advice sounds extreme, and I for one certainly do not live by it, but I try to. The thinking here is that deep down, people want to do their best. They might make a decision that seems wrong, or even down right stupid to you, but it’s important to realize that you cannot ever fully understand the thinking process, context, or influences that affected that person when they made their decision.
Instead of harping on the bad, you want to praise the good. If you are trying to get someone to perform at a certain level, criticizing them is only going to bring them down, and possibly cause them to perform worse. Instead, if you praise them for the things they did right, they will do more of those good things. The result is you get more of the behavior you want.
The author, Dale Carnegie, cites a really good example. He talks about how Abraham Lincoln never criticized anyone. During the Civil War, when a particular general failed attack the South at a point in time when the Confederates were particularly weak, Honest Abe drafted an especially harsh letter berating the general for his ineptitude. But he never sent that letter. And he never really had the intention to. He knew that there was no way he could possibly understand the decision making process of a general who had seen so much bloodshed over the course of the war. Abe knew that criticism would only hurt the Union’s progress.
