Agency & Resiliency (#86)
Reporting shallow statistics about the number of under represented employees tells us nothing. Diversity initiatives fail if they do not fundamentally alter the institutions power relationships.
Adversarial Collaboration (#85)
Break the endless cycle of critique → reply → rejoinder by embracing adversarial collaboration, a method to solve problems more quickly and transparently.
Principles & Analogies (#84)
Following an established recipe does not make us a chef, it makes us the cook. First principle thinking is the path to expertise — to becoming a chef.
Goals & Kill Criteria (Paradox #83)
Completing a goal that is no longer useful is a failure. Use kill criteria to trigger reevaluation of a goal because, once set, goals ignore changes in the landscape and don't always age well.
Sun & Clouds (Paradox Pair #82)
If everyday was a perfect day we'd start to become desensitized, eventually once glorious days would no longer inspire us at all.
Snowflakes & Scope (Paradox #81)
We should build more custom, one-off solutions when our product development lifecycle is in either exploration or growth stages.
Tribes & Identity (Paradox Pair #80)
Our identity is not a commodity to be traded or negotiated. Seeking tribes where open-mindedness is valued, who seek constructive feedback, and where we can bring our authentic selves are the only tribes who deserve our membership.
The re-emergence of Contextual Ad Targeting
Ad platforms continue to push the false narrative that behavioral targeting, a mechanism that relies on creepy consumer data collection, is the pinnacle of marketing. Contextual ad targeting offers better results and better protection to publishers, advertisers, and consumers.
Discipline & Freedom (Paradox Pair #79)
Discipline is freedom's collaborator, focusing our attention on administrative tasks at deliberate times, granting us freedom to use the remaining time for our creative pursuits.
Option & Obligation (Paradox Pair #78)
Our work has many Right Turn on Red (RTOR) moments, where our actions are options not obligations.
Grit & Quit (Paradox Pair #77)
All obstacles are not equal, and sometimes those obstacles are signposts that we are pursuing the wrong destination altogether.
Kindness & Directness (Paradox Pair #76)
Respecting someone so much that you give them candid, constructive feedback, even when delivering that message is hard, is kindness.