Strategy Boffins

Idea Almanac

Daily update on new ideas and books so that you can grow each day

September 24, 2021

Idea Almanac

Zibaldone

“In collecting such a medley of ideas, Leonardo was following a practice that had become popular in Renaissance Italy of keeping a commonplace and sketch book, known as a zibaldone. But in their content, Leonardo’s were like nothing the world had ever, or has ever, seen. His notebooks have been rightly called “the most astonishing testament to the powers of human observation and imagination ever set down on paper.” The more than 7,200 pages now extant probably represent about one-quarter of what Leonardo actually wrote,4 but that is a higher percentage after five hundred years than the percentage of Steve Jobs’s emails and digital documents from the 1990s that he and I were able to retrieve. Leonardo’s notebooks are nothing less than an astonishing windfall that provides the documentary record of applied creativity.”

Excerpt From: Walter Isaacson. “Leonardo da Vinci.”

September 23, 2021

Idea Almanac

Onion Router

“A twenty-nine-year-old kid with shaggy hair lowered himself into the seat behind the desk, placing his backpack by his feet. Good-looking in that California way—though he was originally from Texas—relaxed, though a little bleary eyed, the kid retrieved his Samsung 700Z laptop computer from the backpack, placed it on the desk, and opened the screen. Seconds later, he initiated a Tor connection. An anonymous browser that was originally developed by the U.S. Navy to keep its ships’ communications safe, Tor was now a mostly free service used by people all over the world who wanted to keep their internet activity private. Once the kid’s connection was established, piggybacking over the library’s free Wi-Fi, he opened an encrypted portal to a website that could be found only by those who knew where to look, in the area of the internet known as the dark web, deep beneath the outer layers of the “onion.” Only browsers like Tor, an acronym for the “Onion Router,” could carefully peel it away and find sites like this.”

Excerpt From: Mezrich, Ben. “Bitcoin Billionaires : A True Story of Genius, Betrayal, and Redemption”

September 22, 2021

Idea Almanac

Edit our Species

“Our newfound ability to make edits to our genes raises some fascinating questions. Should we edit our species to make us less susceptible to deadly viruses? What a wonderful boon that would be! Right? Should we use gene editing to eliminate dreaded disorders, such as Huntington’s, sickle-cell anemia, and cystic fibrosis? That sounds good, too. And what about deafness or blindness? Or being short? Or depressed? Hmmm… How should we think about that? A few decades from now, if it becomes possible and safe, should we allow parents to enhance the IQ and muscles of their kids? Should we let them decide eye color? Skin color? Height?”

Excerpt From: Walter Isaacson. “The Code Breaker.”

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September 21, 2021

Idea Almanac

Who would you focus on ?

“In the teachings of Judaism, one finds the following anecdote: “If there are ten people, one will be someone who criticizes you no matter what you do. This person will come to dislike you, and you will not learn to like him either. Then, there will be two others who accept everything about you and whom you accept too, and you will become close friends with them. The remaining seven people will be neither of these types.” Now, do you focus on the one person who dislikes you? Do you pay more attention to the two who love you? Or would you focus on the crowd, the other seven? A person who is lacking in harmony of life will see only the one person he dislikes and will make a judgment of the world from that.”

Excerpt From: Ichiro Kishimi. “The Courage to Be Disliked.”

September 20, 2021

Idea Almanac

I can’t just cheer up!

“Maybe what you are saying is right. Actually, I’m sure it is, and courage really is what I am lacking. I can accept the life-lie as well. I am scared of interacting with people. I don’t want to get hurt in interpersonal relationships, and I want to put off my life tasks. That’s why I have all these excuses ready. Yes, it’s exactly as you say. But isn’t what you are talking about a kind of spiritualism? All you’re really saying is, “You’ve lost your courage, you’ve got to pluck up your courage.” It’s no different from the silly instructor who thinks he’s giving you advice when he comes up and slaps you on the shoulder and says, “Cheer up.” Even though the reason I’m not doing well is because I can’t just cheer up!”

Excerpt From: Ichiro Kishimi. “The Courage to Be Disliked.”

September 19, 2021

Idea Almanac

Give job to every Rupee

“Rule One: Give Every Dollar a Job sounds simple enough, and it is. Just check your bank account balance and assign a job to every dollar you own. You’re officially budgeting the moment you start doing this, and with every “job” you assign you’re answering the question: What do I want my money to do for me? ”

Excerpt From: Jesse Mecham. “You Need a Budget.”

September 18, 2021

Idea Almanac

Immigrant reality

“The pay was terrible, the labor demanding and demeaning, but it was the immigrant reality. Immigrants weren’t doctors or lawyers or mayors, no matter their training and expertise. Immigrants drove taxis. Immigrants did piecework in factories. Immigrants stocked grocery store shelves. I internalized the feeling of unworthiness. Béla fought against it. He became short-tempered and volatile.”

Excerpt From: Edith Eva Eger. “The Choice.”

September 17, 2021

Idea Almanac

Having new eyes.

“Time can also fundamentally alter your outlook on life. Think back to the last time you had an argument with a colleague or a stranger—perhaps with someone in a call center? At the time you were fuming. For hours afterwards you were thinking of all of the clever things you could have said, should have said, to put down your opponent. The aftereffects of the argument probably ruined your whole day. Yet a few weeks later, you didn’t feel irritated by it any more. ”

Excerpt From: Williams, Mark. “Mindfulness: An Eight-Week Plan for Finding Peace in a Frantic World.”

September 16, 2021

Idea Almanac

How to sell Grapes ?

“Canned breakfast juices had first appeared during Prohibition, motivated by grape growers who could no longer sell their products as wine, and by orange growers in California and Florida burdened with surplus oranges during years of glut. In 1920, a cooperative of California growers began taking advantage of what nutritionists of the era called the “new nutrition”—the awareness of the importance of vitamins in preventing deficiency diseases—and took to advertising their products as a healthy way to get necessary vitamins, particularly vitamin C, a proposition that’s still with us today.”

Excerpt From: Gary Taubes. “The Case Against Sugar.”

September 15, 2021

Idea Almanac

S-type Loonshots

“With S-type loonshots, people say, “There’s no way that could ever make money.” And then it does.
Facebook didn’t invent social networks and Google didn’t invent search, just like Walmart didn’t invent selling stuff cheaply. Early investors passed on Facebook because everyone knew there was no money to be made in social networks. They passed on Google because everyone knew there was no money to be made in search. Both succeeded because of small changes in strategy no one thought would amount to much. Both succeeded because of S-type loonshots.”

Excerpt From: Bahcall, Safi. “Loonshots : How to Nurture the Crazy Ideas That Win Wars, Cure Diseases, and Transform Industries

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