Latest on twitter:
These bits of excerpts were very inspiring: But instead of telling him what to think, I taught him how to think—and then he reached what I felt was the correct decision on his own. If you study the root causes of business disasters, over and over you’ll find this predisposition toward endeavors that offer immediate gratification. If you look at personal lives through that lens, you’ll see the same stunning and sobering pattern: people allocating fewer and fewer resources to the things they would have once said mattered most. One of the theories that gives great insight on the first question—how to be sure we find happiness in our careers—is from Frederick Herzberg, who asserts that the powerful motivator in our lives isn’t money; it’s the opportunity to learn, grow in responsibilities, contribute to others, and be recognized for achievements. I asked all the students to describe the most humble person they knew. One characteristic of these humble people stood out: They had a high level of self-esteem. They knew who they were, and they felt good about who they were. We also decided that humility was defined not by self-deprecating behavior or attitudes but by the esteem with which you regard others. Good behavior flows naturally from that kind of humility. For example, you would never steal from someone, because you respect that person too much. You’d never lie to someone, either.
http://hbr.org/2010/07/how-will-you-measure-your-life/ar/1
"Formerly, the fewest men wrote books that were most valuable. Now anybody writes and prints anything he likes and poison people’s minds… Formerly, when people wanted to fight with one another, they measured between them their bodily strength; now it is possible to take away thousands of lives… Formerly, men worked in the open air only so much as they liked. Now thousands of workmen meet together and work in factories or mines. Their condition is worst that that of beasts. They are obliged to work, at the risk of their lives, at most dangerous occupations, for the sake of millionaires. Formerly, men were made slaves under physical compulsion, now they are enslaved by the temptation of money and of the luxuries that money can buy… What more need I say? All this you can ascertain… This civilization takes note neither of morality nor of religion… Civilization seeks to increase bodily comforts and it fails miserably even in doing so."
The Essential Gandhi
"No man knows himself or can describe himself with fidelity. But he can reveal himself. This is especially true of Gandhi. He believed in revealing himself. He regarded secrecy as the enemy of freedom — not only the freedom of India but the freedom of man. He exposed even the innermost personal thoughts which individuals usually regard as private. In nearly a half-century of prolific writing, speaking, and subjecting his ideas to the test of actions, he painted a detailed self-portrait of his mind, heart, and soul."
Louis Fischer (taken from The Essential Gandhi)
"Civilization is revving itself into a pathologically short attention span. The trend might be coming from the acceleration of technology, the short-horizon perspective of market-driven economics, the next election perspective of democracies, or the distractions of personal multitasking. All are on the increase. Some sort of balancing corrective to the short-sightedness is needed — some mechanism or myth that encourages the long view and the taking of long-term responsibility, where “the long term” is measured at least in centuries."
The Clock of the Long Now
"
Our job, as designers, is to ask, listen, and suggest solutions. The clients’ job is to articulate needs, preferences, and desires. Together we test schemes and hypothesis to see whether they work for both parties. Conversations range widely, because design combines styles, personal expression, technology, cognition, aesthetics, functionality, and the satisfaction of human needs.
Each of us is a designer. Each of us makes countless design decisions every day — what to wear, how to do our hair, which ear to pierce and where to put the tattoo, how to arrange the dishes in the dishwasher, where to hang the picture on the wall, how to load the trunk of the car. Each design decision affects us. The ultimate result of a good design process is a well-mixed blend, a combined expression of clients and designers. To be good at being a client requires being good at communicating how you feel in a house or a landscape. To be good at being a designer requires good listening and asking skills and having the good luck to see our way to good solutions. When the process works well, it’s hard to look back and say what parts and which ideas came from whom. At the heart of the design process is trust — trust that a good solution will emerge from the collaboration, if given sufficient time and space.
"John Abrams in Companies We Keep
