At university, I was taught to see by drawing more: live drawing, automatic drawing, redrawing. The simple act of doing that, daily, for years taught me to see things 95% of people miss. It’s a bit of a blessing and a curse. You see beauty where others see ugliness. You see ugliness where others don’t see anything at all. It always reminds me of the famous line from The Matrix: ignorance is bliss. And yet, I would never want to trade seeing for not seeing. Or knowing for not knowing.
Now’s The Best Time
Sleepy? Take a nap.
Have an idea? Write it down.
Want to text someone? Send the text.
Play around with new technology? Start to play.
Some things in life are simply better, when you do them now.
The Five Whys Without Asking Why
In the West, it probably traces back to Socrates; in the East, to Toyota: asking why five times will supposedly reveal the root cause of almost any problem.
Fresh out of design school, I enthusiastically tried this at a client meeting. Big mistake. By the third why, the room was so uncomfortable my account manager had to step in and save the day. My relationship with that client never recovered.
That meeting stuck with me. For years I puzzled over what went wrong, until it finally clicked: first, a 21-year-old repeatedly asking why is probably just weird; second, most people in business genuinely don’t know why they do what they do.
Since then, I’ve learned you should almost never directly ask anyone why. Definitely not five times in a row. It’s more effective to ask questions like “What do you do when X happens?” or “How do you feel when Y occurs?”. The real why usually emerges if you read between the lines.
There’s an asymmetry between the answers you seek and the questions you should ask.
The Blockchain, Smart Contracts & Crypto
Blockchain and Smart Contracts, also known as Crypto, were always going to be a 25-year infrastructure shift. People continue to mock it. And that’s absolutely fine. Chances are incredibly slim there will be real noticeable billion user direct to consumer applications that are pure crypto. This will most likely remain a big, but niche finance/early adopters thing for a very long time.
Banks, multinationals and AI Agents, however, will need new payments and negotiation infrastructure. It’s finally happening for banks and for multinationals. And AI agents will be next. How else are they going to pay for all of this? Some things are inevitable, even in the face of the biggest critics.
Management vs Leadership
Management is reactive
Leadership is proactive
Management is getting out of a bad position
Leadership is getting into a good position
Management relies on control
Leadership relies on trust
Management is short-term
Leadership is long-term
Management seeks to maintain
Leadership seeks to transform
Management solves problems
Leadership creates opportunities
Management sticks to the known
Leadership embraces the unknown
Management is a job
Leadership is a mindset