Engines of Desire

From “Wanting: The Power of Mimetic Desire in Everyday Life” by Luke Burgis Advertising gurus know that we scrunch our noses when we’re being sold something too hard. They know that they can no longer capture us by simply showing us a beautiful and happy-looking person drinking a particular brand of soda. For the past […]

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Listen to Your Life

From “Listening to Your Life: Daily Meditations with Frederick Buechner” by Frederick Buechner Listen to your life. All moments are key moments. I DISCOVERED THAT IF you really keep your eye peeled to it and your ears open, if you really pay attention to it, even such a limited and limiting life as the one

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How can we be heard?

From “Cumulative Advantage: How to Build Momentum for Your Ideas, Business, and Life Against All Odds” by Mark W. Schaefer The Principle of Cumulative Advantage states that once a person gains a small advantage over others in their field, that advantage will compound over time into increasingly larger advantages. But not always. This book explores

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The Problem with Mimesis (Mimicry)

From “Wanting: The Power of Mimetic Desire in Everyday Life” by Luke Burgis Mimetic desire, because it is social, spreads from person to person and through a culture. It results in two different movements – two cycles – of desire. The first cycle leads to tension, conflict, and volatility, breaking down relationships and causing instability

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Where Do Good Ideas Come From?

From “Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation” by Steven Johnson Working out of the legendary Santa Fe Institute, where he served as president until 2009, West assembled an international team of researchers and advisers to collect data on dozens of cities around the world, measuring everything from crime to house-hold electrical

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Takers and Givers

From “Give and Take: Why Helping Others Drives Our Success” by Adam Grant According to conventional wisdom, highly successful people have three things in common: motivation, ability, and opportunity. If we want to succeed, we need a combination of hard work, talent, and luck. The story of Danny Shader and David Hornik highlights a fourth

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