RadReads 130
[Subscribe]: What retirement from Goldman feels like, the Inversion Mental Model, 10k hours with Claude Shannon
Good Morning, RadReaders!
👋 Working my way back into the mix — I love how this issue came out. A huge thank you to @jjenn_abel who held it down in my absence for this month’s Happy Hour.
Thank you, to our new patrons (Ky 🆙, Alan 🆒, Andrew 📈) — click here to join the squad or the button below. (And I’m aware how Patreon’s poor UX has prevented many contributions, I’m working on a switch — thx for your patience)
🎧 Lisa Shalett: You Are Where You’re Supposed to Be
75 mins | Apple Podcasts | Google Play | Soundcloud
This week’s episode is a story of career agility, embracing change, and living with intention. Lisa Shalett is a former Goldman Sachs partner, now board director and startup investor/advisor. At Goldman, Lisa held numerous leadership roles, including Japanese Equities, Global Compliance and Brand Marketing/Digital Strategy. She shares with us her approach to these transitions or “reinventions:” the danger of viewing your skills in narrow contexts (such as your current job); controlling your narrative as you change roles; or simply, asking your boss “What’s keeping you up at night?”
We then discuss post-retirement life, driven in part by family considerations. Yet retirement isn’t as worry free as we perceive it to be, especially when identity and career are so intertwined. One must navigate FOMO, the (perceived) loss of relevance, maintaining one’s “edge,” and yes — even for retired Goldman partners — the emotional irrationality of negative cash flow burn of entrepreneurship. And her advice to those currently in the grind, make sure you carve out the space to call “time out” — so that a minimum you can reflect on the trifecta of life, family, and career.
The Power of Anti-Goals
4 Minutes | Andrew Wilkinson (Medium)
I love the mental model of “inversion” but unfortunately it’s not etched into my brain so I forget to apply it. The TL;DR of this model is that instead seeking the good you look to avoid the bad. In this blog post, you see it applied to what the “worst possible workday could look like” (including jam-packed meetingsand dealing with untrustworthy people) from which arise the anti-goals.
Sapiens by Yuval Harari (Book Review)
3 Minutes | Continuations
Let’s apply inversion to a RadReader favorite, Sapiens. I too loved this book (esp the first half) but parts of it didn’t sit well with me. So I stumbled upon this well reasoned piece challenging Harari’s claim on humanism “that all human narratives, including all religions and ideologies, are entirely inter-subjective.”TBH, I’m still working through it, but you gotta love the comparison of humans as Turing machines.
S.M.A.R.T Goals
3 Minutes | University of Virginia
I’ve got a pretty bulletproof GTD (i.e. productivity) system in Omnifocus. But taking Tiago Forte’s 💯 class (Building a Second Brain… w/many other RadReaders) I learned that my goals were poorly defined. For example, one was “create a podcast.” Yes, it’s a noble goal but it’s not SMART. “S”pecific, “M”easurable, “A”chievable, “R”esults-focused, and “T”ime-bound. Take a look at your goals — how do they look?
Claude Shannon: How A Genius Thinks Works and Lives
26 Minutes | The Mission | HT: @RishiGanti
One of my favorite books is Fortune’s Formula, which profiles Claude Shannon (and John Kelly) — “the most important genius you’ve never heard of.” While this piece is in listicle form, it covers some fun concepts including cultivating friendships, embracing chaos, and working with focus by “culling your inputs.” (More below on this last point)
Below the Fold
🏀 A FEW SPORTS READS:
Done in the Dark (12 mins): A candid (first-person) look at Lamar Odom’s battle with addiction and loss.
Finland Has a Sports Screw Loose (10 mins): This is the funnest thing you’ll read all week on Swamp soccer!
Athletes from the NFL NBA MLB share their body secrets (3 mins): One question: Have you ever played a game hungover?
🤘 FROM THE COMMUNITY:
Want a job in tech? Dont get an MBA (11 mins): I get asked this question once a week; more 🔥 from @canthardywait
Weekly Notes on Cryptocurrency and Blockchain (2 mins): Awesome newsletter from RadReader @superfem (Erin Pettigrew).
💚 ON RADREADS.CO:
Fred Ehrsam (Ep. 4): Fred was our first podcast guest to leave Goldman Sachs (but in this case, with no plan). He went on to build Coinbase, one of the most important cos in the crypto world.
RadJobs (3 min): A really unique 4 month opportunity on a Universal Basic Income (UBI) project).
👓 LAST WEEK’S MOST READ:
How to Disagree (5 Mins): From Paul Graham
A Tweet
I just really enjoyed this tweet and wanted to share it — jives with a lot of the thinking and struggles in our community. Andrew is the Chief Data Scientist at Baidu and one of the leading thinkers in AI. (HT: @kunaltandon)
PS: Teddy Roosevelt loved him some Deep Work
And finally, my favorite band Arcade Fire has a new album. One of the songs is Infinite Content which makes us “infinitely content.”
