“Call me Trim Tab” — An index of my writing
20 min readSep 5, 2020
“I have gathered a posy of other men’s flowers, and nothing but the thread that binds them is mine own.” — Michel de Montaigne
Since I started using Twitter, I have created a library of over 25,000 articles, talks, thoughts and ideas on subjects ranging from cognitive science, developmental psychology and social anthropology to architecture, art and (classical) philosophy. It is, in the words of the French philosopher Michel de Montaigne, “a posy of other men’s flowers” with my curiosity as “the thread that binds them.”
The myriad connections and combinations become explicit in my curations below but above all through my work as an executive coach and leadership facilitator. This is where and how my thinking as a ‘comprehensivist’ flourishes.
2022
- Post scriptum (2022, week 38) — Taking a break from writing
- Post scriptum (2022, week 36–37) — Rethinking intelligence, Jena and our sense of self, and philanthrocapitalism
- Post scriptum (2022, week 35) — Rules for standing out, how disruptions happen, and the problem of today’s technologists
- Post scriptum (2022, week 34) — The case for/against ‘longtermism,’ preparing for tomorrow’s moral norms, and what Big History misses
- Post scriptum (2022, week 32–33) — Summer edition #3
- Post scriptum (2022, week 30–31) — Summer edition #2
- Post scriptum (2022, week 28–29) — Summer edition #1
- Post scriptum (2022, week 27) — Ideology has poisoned the West, the comeback of Leibnizian optimism, and why do we obey rules?
- Post scriptum (2022, week 26) — The attack of the civilization-state, Amazon’s distribution fetishism, and ‘who am I?’ in the context of my work
- Post scriptum (2022, week 25) — Reading ourselves to death, fashion has abandoned human taste, and the perils of smashing the past
- Post scriptum (2022, week 24) — A remedy for FOMO, thinking like a scientist, and the moral responsibility to be an informed citizen
- Post scriptum (2022, week 23) — Set yourself free with ritual, the digital is political, and how the world became rich
- Post scriptum (2022, week 22) — Mysteries and the awe of understanding, our brain begs us to slow down, and reflections on ‘passenger time’
- Post scriptum (2022, week 21) — Imaginology, memory, meaning, and the self, and Aristotle’s framework for transformation
- Post scriptum (2022, week 20) — How to revive your sense of wonder, harvesting the fruits of wonder, and Stoic cosmopolitism
- Post scriptum (2022, week 19) — When history is weaponised for war, how to think about free will, and rethinking the definition of reality
- Post scriptum (2022, week 18) — Why collapse won’t reset society, reclaiming relationship in a technological world, and in praise of habits
- Post scriptum (2022, week 17) — Hopeful pessimism, why your ‘true self’ is an illusion, and Elon Musk’s Twitter saga
- Post scriptum (2022, week 16) — The carbon footprints of the rich, has neoliberalism come to an end?, and objective judgements of taste
- Post scriptum (2022, week 15) — The power of narrative, who decides what becomes history, and finding heroes in a messy digital world
- Post scriptum (2022, week 14) — Going forward by going back, how the billionaires devoured the world, and the myth of tech exceptionalism
- Post scriptum (2022, week 13) — Purpose defined, from conversation to revolution, and how tech despair can set you free
- Post scriptum (2022, week 12) — Being between worlds, a hinge of history, and why we should read Hannah Arendt
2021
In May 2021, just over a year into the Covid pandemic, I stopped writing my weekly Reading notes, only to revive them in March 2022 as Post scriptum.
- Reading notes (2021, week 18) — On authenticity, what data can’t do, and the keys to Van Gogh’s paintings
- Reading notes (2021, week 17) — On why we are drawn to art, our need to move, and the power of hope
- Reading notes (2021, week 16) — On virtuous leaderships, the weak case for grit, and the misinformation virus
- Reading notes (2021, week 15) — On the illusion of a ‘true self,’ self-talk, and reforming our stewardship of the earth
- Reading notes (2021, week 14) — On learning from Asian philosophies of rebirth, uncanny valets, and why computers won’t make themselves smarter
- Reading notes (2021, week 13) — On the (un)freedom to work flexibly, phantasia, and four ways to learn and practice virtue ethics
- Reading notes (2021, week 12) — On self-actualization, saving the climate in a triple crisis, and Lacaton & Vassal’s “never demolish” principle
- Reading notes (2021, week 11) — On virtue ethics, the meanings of life, and the benefits of being ambivalent
- Reading notes (2021, week 10) — On metaphors, how wonder works, and exposing our deepest, rawest self
- Reading notes (2021, week 9) — On teaching literature like science, ‘believe science,’ and a ‘new’ interdisciplinary approach to education
- Reading notes (2021, week 8) — On nurturing architecture, worlds beyond ours, and Earthshots
- Reading notes (2021, week 7) — On the critique of technology, rethinking the fundamentals of the physical workplace, and life’s stories
- Reading notes (2021, week 6) — On consumer culture, pop futurism and the library of possible futures, and Amazon and the problem of desire
- Reading notes (2021, week 5) — On the problem with prediction, manufactured authenticity, and nourishing epistemic wellbeing
- Reading notes (2021, week 4) — On nothingness, counterculture, and the ecology of work
- Reading notes (2021, week 3) — On how Big Tech’s attention economy can be reformed, a bet on ‘tech’ destroying society, and an antidote to the ideology of flatness
- Reading notes (2021, week 1–2) — On the joys of being an absolute beginner, learning without thinking, and how self-interest influences our predictions
2020
At the end of August 2020, after a year-long break from writing, I revived my weekly curation as Reading notes.
- Reading notes (2020, week 52) — On the uncanny allure of our unlived lives, images of the future, and how to avoid living in the past
- Reading notes (2020, week 51) — On our bizarre need to feel busy, why it pays to play around, and healing our wounded planet
- Reading notes (2020, week 50) — On the Zoom gaze, work ethic, and the shift from moral to market sentiments
- Reading notes (2020, week 49) — On why technosolutionism isn’t the fix, being human with technology, and the problem with (personal) productivity
- Reading notes (2020, week 48) — On philosophy as ‘medicine for the soul’, what we can learn from Africa’s great thinkers, and how venture capitalists are deforming capitalism
- Reading notes (2020, week 47) — On the common structure of conspiracy theories, reining in the ‘digital media’ Fury, and the paradox mindset
- Reading notes (2020, week 46) — On the collapse of complex societies, how we make moral decisions, and Aristotle and knowing one’s character
- Reading notes (2020, week 45) — On how to know who’s trustworthy, a new metaphor for skills-development, and corporate philotimy
- Reading notes (2020, week 44) — On escaping short-term thinking, what it really means to know anything, and the neurology of flow states
- Reading notes (2020, week 43) — On forging global Fordism, sensemaking as a critical capability for leaders, and ancient democracy for an online world
- Reading notes (2020, week 42) — On the rise and rise of creativity, why we can’t have billionaires and stop climate change, and why AI is an ideology
- Reading notes (2020, week 41) — On how the Coronavirus will reshape architecture, how to wait well, and why we should nourish imagination
- Reading notes (2020, week 40) — On the value of uncertainty, the disruption con, and Montaigne’s ‘verbal jousting’
- Reading notes (2020, week 39) — On a new European Bauhaus, ‘surprise’ in contemporary Japanese architecture, and Socrates in love
- Reading notes (2020, week 38) — On Yo-Yo Ma and life’s edges, intellectual humility, and learning to unthink
- Reading notes (2020, week 37) — On minimalism’s less is always more, how philanthropy benefits the super-rich, and seeing human society as a complex system
- Reading notes (2020, week 36) — On boredom (“a desire for desires”), how to cope with radical uncertainty, and AI and Chinese philosophy
- Reading notes (2020, week 35) — On temperance, the knowledge economy’s dominant view, and placelessness
2019
Mid-April 2019, I took a break from writing that would last well into 2020.
- Random finds (2019, week 15) — On what’s safe to forget, how ‘good design’ failed us, and wabi-sabi’s aesthetic components
- Random finds (2019, week 14) — On getting tired of heroes, designing a more humane world, and the Asian century
- Random finds (2019, week 13) — On lessons in leadership, moral dilemmas in art, and the hidden injuries of the age of exposure
- Random finds (2019, week 12) — On reimagining our cities, ‘trustworthy’ artificial intelligence, and changing morals
- Random finds (2019, week 11) — On the digital wellness movement, the creative and emotional windfalls of walking, and Isaac Asimov’s essay on creativity
- Random finds (2019, week 10) — On creativity and the purpose of humanity, where smart cities proponents go astray, and the ethical consequences of immortality
- Random finds (2019, week 9) — On the robots-are-stealing-our-jobs theory, what a corporation might look like in 2050, and seeing things as they are
- Random finds (2019, week 8) — On technology in deep time, changing the narrative of humanity, and the good-enough life
- Random finds (2019, week 7) — On the short life of enlightened leadership, the last resort of the wilfully ignorant, and The Machine Stops
- Random finds (2019, week 6) — On choosing a focused life in a noisy world, becoming a boulevardier, and the crisis of intimacy
- Random finds (2019, week 5) — On Davos’s broken business system, the cult of ‘performative workaholism,’ and the beauty of everyday things
- Random finds (2019, week 4) — On the elite charade of changing the world, the moment when we become slaves to the machine, and ‘surveillance capitalism’
- Random finds (2019, week 3) — On extravagant splendor, reviving professionalism, and how popular culture fades from memory
- Random finds (2019, week 2) — On Apple’s loss, the ‘Purpose Paradigm,’ and intellectual humility
- Random finds (2019, week 1) — On why we should be worried about our souls, technology and ethics, and why the past is the new future
2018
In 2018, Random finds experienced two lengthy breaks: from week 13 to 21 and 35 to 43.
- Random finds (2018, week 52) — On the world as Everything Store, Google and the price of being connected, and busyness
- Random finds (2018, week 51) — On McKinsey and the pursuit of unsavory business, Patagonia and the business to save our home planet, and cold discovery
- Random finds (2018, week 50) — On the ‘extended self,’ being alive to the world, and the obsession for frictionless tech
- Random finds (2018, week 49) — On the Facebook Saga, why human beings are the solution, and the great paradox of Japan’s paper culture
- Random finds (2018, week 48) — On the secrets of the creative brain, the crisis of intimacy, and Isaiah Berlin’s pluralist thesis
- Random finds (2018, week 47) — On Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook’s trade-offs, the complicated legacy of Stewart Brand, and curiosity and the liability it has become
- Random finds (2018, week 46) — On the cult of busyness, history as a “guide to life,” and “War Is Done!”
- Random finds (2018, week 45) — On negative capability, the art of attention, and why boredom is good
- Random finds (2018, week 44) — On the (lost) art of concentration, the power of desert silence, and an inquiry into the art of living
- Random finds (2018, week 34) — On the hidden injuries of the age of exposure, the quest for immortality, and why nature of work is a social choice
- Random finds (2018, week 33) — On 21st- century education, why the Japanese don’t fear robots, and fame and the ethics of true craftsmanship
- Random finds (2018, week 32) — On fewer, better things, Yuval Noah Harari’s lessons for the 21st century, and the geography of jobs
- Random finds (2018, week 31) — On why everything is timing, the willingness to be disturbed, and the language of art
- Random finds (2018, week 30) — On Silicon Valley’s ‘blitzscaling’ illusion, the wonders of sleep, and the tyranny of convenience
- Random finds (2018, week 29) — On the ‘Two Cultures’ fallacy, liminal leadership and rites of passage, and curiosity and the liability it has become
- Random finds (2018, week 28) — On algorithmic conformity, rebelliousness in the kitchen, and why we need to think smaller, not bigger
- Random finds (2018, week 27) — On the fallacy of obviousness, shuhari and the choice for ‘Betterness’, and being one’s true self
- Random finds (2018, week 26) — On ageism and the myth of the ‘wunderkind,’ curiosity and the (un)examined organization, and the case for beauty
- Random finds (2018, week 25) — On the Utopian Vision of William Morris, the fragility of beauty, and opportune wisdom from Voltaire
- Random finds (2018, week 24) — On Silicon Valley’s tech humanism, Anthony Bourdain’s genuine humanism, and our need for ‘ren’
- Random finds (2018, week 23) — On globalization’s new paths forward, why we should bulldoze the business school, and ‘Zucktown’ and failed utopias
- Random finds (2018, week 22) — On philanthrocapitalism and the CEO society, our culture of ‘metric fixation,‘ and making technology more human
- Random finds (2018, week 12) — On Cambridge Analytica’s persuasion machine, our obsession with peak productivity, and beauty in art
- Random finds (2018, week 11) — On the limits of conventional thinking, ‘fuzhipin’ and the difference between original and copy, and ‘porphureos’ and our perception of colour
- Random finds (2018, week 10) — On WeWork’s brash ambition to transform how we work, live and play, what Airbnb did to New York City, and architecture at the service of human society
- Random finds (2018, week 9) — On cities that remember everything, the way we experience art, and Slow Thought as an antidote to our techno-consumerist age
- Random finds (2018, week 8) — On the tyranny of convenience, maintaining the freedom of our cities, and leading people down hateful rabbit holes
- Random finds (2018, week 7) — On serendipity beyond ‘dumb luck,’ 21st-century skills without knowledge, and the consumer/citizen contrast
- Random finds (2018, week 6) — On Silicon Valley’s moral compass, launching a car into space, and shallow philosophy
- Random finds (2018, week 5) — On Snow’s The Two Cultures, the fallacy of meritocracy, and why we forget most of what we read
- Random finds (2018, week 4) — On a world without jobs, Amazon Go and our own loss of agency, and too much music
- Random finds (2018, week 3) — On reclaiming our ‘humanness,’ investigating the irresistible, and a philosophy of digital minimalism
- Random finds (2018, week 2) — On beautiful businesses, the revival of artisanship, and Montaigne and how to remember what you read
- Random finds (2018, week 1) — On Edison’s legacy, the humanities (once more), and the new predatory capitalism
2017
- Random finds (2017, week 52) — On the rise of global cities and those left behind, the case for the humanities, and boredom
- Random finds (2017, week 51) — On the danger of elite projection, Facebook’s algorithms, and leadership and purpose beyond ‘feel-good lines’
- Random finds (2017, week 50) — On powerful habits, ceremonies of innocence, and what’s missing from machines
- Random finds (2017, week 49) — On Hippy Taylorism, the quitting economy, and why time management is ruining our lives
- Random finds (2017, week 48) — On the case against civilization, how our buildings deeply affect us, and business bullshit
- Random finds (2017, week 47) — On our cult of “genius,” the long history of the gig economy, and the remorseless logic of specialisation
- Random finds (2017, week 46) — On liminal leadership, the paradox of growth, and the balance of humility and hubris
- Random finds (2017, week 45) — On the need for humanity-centered design, a philosophy of digital minimalism, and the silence in between
- Random finds (2017, week 44) — On curing affluenza, our sickly-sweet obsession with comfort, and the science of the wandering mind
- Random finds (2017, week 43) — On how AI might take over the world, Big Data meets Big Brother, and the new urban crisis
- Random finds (2017, week 42) — On Silicon Valley (“as the wrecking ball that it is”), ‘urbanism as a service,’ and why the future looks like the past
- Random finds (2017, week 41) — On AI (and mistaken predictions), curiosity, and the lost art of invention
- Random finds (2017, week 35–36) — A visual “posy of other men’s flowers”
- Random finds (2017, week 34) — On the ‘robots are taking over’ rhetoric, the new urban crisis, and Silicon Valley’s new oil
- Random finds (2017, week 33) — On Secrets of Silicon Valley (part 2), Eliminating the Human, and cognitive diversity
- Random finds (2017, week 32) — On Secrets of Silicon Valley (part 1), Google and diversity, and a case for scientism
- Random finds (2017, week 31) — On the New Optimists’ ideological argument, our desire to know, and the death of reading
- Random finds (2017, week 30) — On the quitting economy, the virtues of boredom, and solitude
- Random finds (2017, week 29) — On the rise and fall of globalisation, Ayn Rand’s extreme libertarianism, and ‘guff-talkers’
- Random finds (2017, week 27–28) — On what we get wrong about technology, a pluralist, and the pop-up employer
- Random finds (2017, week 26) — On the case against thought leaders, the crisis of expertise, and “a building roughly the shape of a navel”
- Random finds (2017, week 24–25) — On the rise and fall of Uber’s Travis Kalanick, ethical innovation, and why creators are not mere experts
- Random finds (2017, week 23) — On the crisis of expertise, the Internet of Things (who is it good for?), and serendipitous design
- Random finds (2017, week 22) — On science and the importance of ‘fooling around,’ Adorno and the remains of the Frankfurt School, and the Homo Prospectus
- Random finds (2017, week 21) — On excellence, practice, and improvisation (and jazz)
- Random finds (2017, week 20) — On the decline of innovation (or not), accelerationism, and the useless class of the post-work world
- Random finds (2017, week 19) — On the value of our built environment, the virtues of boredom, and the curse of the consultants
- Random finds (2017, week 18) — On the myth of flow, why design thinking needs to think bigger, and the knowledge illusion
- Random finds (2017, week 17) — On alien knowledge, what makes a genius, and a letter to humanity
- Random finds (2017, week 16) — On AI’s mysterious mind, raising good robots, and how Western civilisation could collapse
- Random finds (2017, week 15) — On creativity and true genius, why expertise matters, and the cult of the entrepreneur
- Random finds (2017, week 14) — On the merits of hierarchy, the revival of artisanship, and addictive noise
- Random finds (2017, week 13) — On Silicon Valley’s quest for immortality, true character, and the need for followers
- Random finds (2017, week 12) — On consumerism, long shots and punctuated equilibrium, and why Silicon Valley needs to get schooled
- Random finds (2017, week 11) — On inequality as a feature (not a bug), why facts alone won’t change your mind, and calling bullshit
- Random finds (2017, week 10) — On the cult of the ‘Great White Innovator,’ AI’s PR problem, and the revenge of analog
- Random finds (2017, week 9) — On grassroots algorithms, short-lived Utopian communities, and shared creativity
- Random finds (2017, week 8) — On Zuckerberg’s well-intended manifesto, a technologized world, and Dataism
- Random finds (2017, week 7) — On cyborgs and a world without consciousness, faux futurists, and the age of rudeness
- Random finds (2017, week 6) — On saving humanity’s 0.014035087719298244 percent, the need for new economic thinking, and collage
- Random finds (2017, week 5) — On the new, multipolar global economy, the throughput of learning, and why we should leave Mars alone
- Random finds (2017, week 4) — On the future of AI, Trump’s assault on the Enlightenment, and More ‘vs.’ Malthus
- Random finds (2017, week 3) — On Trump’s manufacturing jobs, Obama’s farewell, and Moontopia
- Random finds (2017, week 2) — On AI’s prompters, the future of work, and the need for pattern recognition
- Random finds (2017, week 1) — On the first world cyberwar, disappearing jobs, and Ways of Seeing
2016
- Random finds (2016, week 51–52) — On the failing religion of business, the place of anger, and Steven Pinker’s conditional optimism
- Random finds (2016, week 50) — On framing the future, Barry Lopez, and the rhetoric of disruption
- Random finds (2016, week 49) — On anger, optimism, and our contradictions
- Random finds (2016, week 48) — On onlyness, trusting technology, and our fear of being irrelevant
- Random finds (2016, week 47) — On philosophy as antidote, the ethics of AI, and post-truth politics
- Random finds (2016, week 45–46) — On populism and loss of reason, rebels with a cause, and our over-reliance on data
- Random finds (2016, week 43–44) — On dumb ‘smart’ devices, artificial intelligence, and the rise of the urbanpreneur
- Random finds (2016, week 42) — On preparing for the Machinocene, Apple’s iBrain, and philanthrocapitalism
- Random finds (2016, week 41) — On the edge of inside, the paradox of automation, and Maggie’s Farm
- Random finds (2016, week 40) — On design thinking, the job of a milkshake, and our lost faith in reason
- Random finds (2016, week 39) — On the abundance of underused workers, innovation, and our expectations of desirable design
- Random finds (2016, week 38) — On becoming self-organized, the power of constraints, and people who ‘tell it like it is’
- Random finds (2016, week 37) — On making peace with complexity, ethics for AI, and the superiority of print
- Random finds (2016, week 36) — On the hype of Artificial Intelligence, beautiful and happy cities, and flawed ideas
- Random finds (2016, week 35) — On innovation, Big Data and the price of anarchy, and the human touch
- Random finds (2016, week 33 and 34) — On innovation, how to see (and create) the future, and design
- Random finds (2016, week 32) — On sameness in AirSpace, and roofshots
- Random finds (2016, week 31) — On serendipity, why less isn’t always more, and unmet needs (instead of flying cars)
- Random finds (2016, week 30) — On mindsets, moonshots, and Art Thinking
- Random finds (2016, week 29) — On design and creativity, restless minds and good listening, and the importance of slowness
- Random finds (2016, week 28) — On good design, meaningful innovation, and how to make cities work for people
- Random finds (2016, week 27) — On innovation, the power of asking beautiful questions, and solitude
- Random finds (2016, week 26) — On what it takes to innovate, team design, and building lasting trust and cooperation
- Random finds (2016, week 25) — On the secret of taste, debunking business philosophy, and the virtues of the idle mind
- Random finds (2016, week 24) — On quantum leadership, the power of constraints, and happy daydreaming
- Random finds (2016, week 23) — On lean, mean, learning machines, our bias for action, and the shortcommings of artificial intelligence
- Random finds (2016, week 22) — On innovation, life as a video game, and managing without a soul
- Random finds (2016, week 21) — On asking pivotal questions, the predictive power of dreams, and The Brutal World
- Random finds (2016, week 20) — On self-disruption, understanding Swedish design, and the arrogance of Frank Lloyd Wright
- Random finds (2016, week 19) — On wise leadership, why less isn’t always more, and deep work
- Random finds (2016, week 18) — On mind-wandering, deep reading, and why reality is a magnificent illusion
- Random finds (2016, week 17) — On minimal viable behaviors, work as problem-solving, and the Renaissance ‘bottega’
- Random finds (2016, week 16) — On corporate innovation, and raw concrete
- Random finds (2016, week 15) — On ambidexterity, innovation, and straddling different worlds
- Random finds (2016, week 13) — On disruption, interest-driven learning, and formal fluidity
- Random finds (2016, week 12) — On asking more beautiful questions, and wishful innovation thinking
- Random finds (2016, week 11) — On conversational intelligence, collaboration and AI beyond Go
- Random finds (2016, week 10) — On change, innovation and teaching kids philosophy
- Random finds (2016, week 9) — On curiosity and novelty (but not too much)
- Random finds (2016, week 8) — On disruption, leadership and Umberto Eco’s antilibrary
- Random finds (2016, week 7) — On decision-making, certainty and business books
- Random finds (2016, week 6) — On diversity, the future of work and asking questions
- Random finds (2016, week 5) — On polymaths and simplicity
Working Notes of a Practising Neo-Generalist
- #29 — Thoughts on purpose-driven leadership (part 1)
- #28 — Frank Gehry and moving between fields
- #27 — On Seneca, maxims and Pico Iyer
- #26 — On my ‘philosophy of ’ing’
- #25 — On innovation and the need for softer, more beautiful words
- #24 — On ‘first loves’ and curiosity
- #23 — Real change can only be ‘human’
- #22 — 2018 and beyond
- #21 — An artful explanation of the complicated and the complex
- #20 — Work on the system, not on ‘things’
- #19 — On the case for beauty
- #18 — On towers, maps and résumés
- #17 — Trying to make sense of the world
- #16 — On Montaigne and how to remember the books you read
- #15 — To be everywhere is to be nowhere
- #14 — On bubbles and the need for cognitive diversity
- #13 — On the loss of ‘humanness’
- #12 — On being a ‘Time Lord’
- #11 — On ‘plonk work’
- #10 — On good places, yet nowhere to be found
- #09 — On aiming higher and higher
- #08 — On foresight and the role of doubt
- #07 — On foresight and king Príamos’ daughter
- #06 — On Confucius and our need for ‘ren’
- #05 — On false façades and smoke screens
- #04 — On Personal Knowledge Mastery (or 2016: A year in writing)
- #03 — On wandering minds (and feet)
- #02 — On return on investment (yours and mine)
- #01 — On being neither in nor out
Miscellaneous writings
Thinking out loud about past, present and future
In 2018, while planning for a transformative learning program to help senior executives make better sense of themselves and the world, Eitan Reich and I shared some of our thoughts and ideas, and talked about our experiences. Our conversations resulted in the following stories. Sadly, the retreat itself never got off the ground.
- #5 — On ‘first loves’ and curiosity
- #4 —A toolbox for ‘new ways of thinking and being‘
- #3 — Thoughts on (space) travel, ethics and self
- #2 — Thoughts on growth, mastery and playfulness beyond the pool table
- #1 — Thoughts on new/old ways of becoming/being
Secrets of Silicon Valley
In August 2017, the BBC broadcasted a two-part series by tech writer Jamie Bartlett, The Secrets of Silicon Valley, in which he tried to uncover the dark reality behind Silicon Valley’s glittering promise to build a better world. Here are the complete transcripts of both episodes.
Field Notes on Innovation and Entrepreneurship
This is a series of columns written for Intrapreneurship World (rebranded in 2017 as Innov8rs) between September 2016 and January 2017.
- Issue #11 — On the failing religion of business
- Issue #10 — On the lack of principles
- Issue #09 — On rebels with a cause
- Issue #08 — On small mice, giants and confusion
- Issue #07 — On innovation snobbery
- Issue #06 — On asking beautiful questions
- Issue #05 — On design thinking as a panacea
- Issue #04 — On the need for deeper innovation
- Issue #03 — On solving non-existing problems
- Issue #02 — On disruption
- Issue #01 — On innovation labs
“Something hit me very hard once, thinking about what one little man could do. Think of the Queen Elizabeth — the whole ship goes by and then comes the rudder. And there’s a tiny thing at the edge of the rudder called a trim tab. It’s a miniature rudder. Just moving the little trim tab builds a low pressure that pulls the rudder around. Takes almost no effort at all. So I said that the little individual can be a trim tab. Society thinks it’s going right by you, that it’s left you altogether. But if you’re doing dynamic things mentally, the fact is that you can just put your foot out like that and the whole big ship of state is going to go. So I said, ‘Call me Trim Tab.’
The truth is that you get the low pressure to do things, rather than getting on the other side and trying to push the bow of the ship around. And you build that low pressure by getting rid of a little nonsense, getting rid of things that don’t work and aren’t true until you start to get that trim-tab motion. It works every time. That’s the grand strategy you’re going for. So I’m positive that what you do with yourself, just the little things you do yourself, these are the things that count. To be a real trim tab, you’ve got to start with yourself, and soon you’ll feel that low pressure, and suddenly things begin to work in a beautiful way. Of course, they happen only when you’re dealing with really great integrity.” — Richard Buckminster Fuller
