The Game of Few

The Game of Few

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Latest — May 13, 2024

How Nietzsche Changed My Life

The low point It was in the late summer of 2020 when I finally burst into tears. The COVID pandemic was in full swing and I was confined to a flat in London just trying to cope with it all. I had been working for a tiny startup before the

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How to ask better questions

Tell me if this has ever happened to you. You walk into a large room full of mostly strangers (it’s a party of a friend of a friend, or a networking event, or the wedding of a distant cousin), and after you’ve put your coat down and grabbed

Sisyphus Rocks. So Should You.

I always used to fall into the trap of thinking that if I solved enough problems, then I’d finally be able to enjoy my work. That’s not to say that I didn’t enjoy parts of my job. Working at a fast paced startup gave me the chance

Avoiding ruinous empathy

For any manager looking to improve, probably the strongest book recommendation I would give is Radical Candor, by Kim Scott. The core idea is that as a manager you should care personally about your direct reports, but that you should also challenge them directly. When you have both of these

Specialisation is for insects

“A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch

Great Teams Have Psychological Safety

I’ve always wanted to be great at building and leading great teams. I’ve had the pleasure of working with all sorts of different people, with different combinations of personalities, skills and strengths. What’s the point of coming to work if you’re not trying to build something

The Pressure to Appear Consistent: American POWs in Korea

Why did so many American Prisoners of War (POWs) collaborate with the Chinese during the Korean War? In 1950, with the Cold War in full swing, Korea's northern communist faction invaded their Southern compatriots with the support of China and the USSR. In response, the United Nations, led

Are you living in a computer simulation?

The philosophical case for believing that you're living in a simulation.

Thinking About Risk: The Mind Your Portfolio Principle

“To take control of one’s own life or financial affairs may seem to create uncertainty, but taking control is a prerequisite of security in a world that is inescapably uncertain.” — The Long and The Short of it, John Kay So much of our choices are determined by our attitudes

Pursuing Impossible Goals: Lessons From Nike

“The cowards never started,” he’d tell me, “and the weak died along the way - that leaves us.” Shoe Dog is the autobiographical account of how Phil Knight founded and grew Nike from nothing to become the biggest sportswear and shoe brand in the world. Since it’s release