April 2010
13 posts
Build a rockstar environment.
Rework:
Instead of thinking about how you can land a roomful of rock stars, think about the room instead. … Rockstar environments develop out of trust, autonomy, and responsibility. They’re a result of giving people the privacy, workspace, and tools they deserve. Great environments show respect for the people who do the work and how they do it.
(Emphasis mine.)
It’s a quick...
March 2010
20 posts
3 tags
Hire the better writer.
Rework:
If you are trying to decide among a few people to fill a position, hire the best writer. It doesn’t matter if that person is a marketer, salesperson, designer, programmer, or whatever; their writing skills will pay off. That’s because being a good writer is about more than writing. Clear writing is a sign of clear thinking. Great writers know how to communicate. They make...
2 tags
Sady Doyle, from “13 Ways of Looking at Liz Lemon:”
Oh, sure, we can say that Liz is written as a caricature of female insecurities, and of an insecure female. That would be completely true! That is why I like her! But we also need to address that the fact of her imaginary ugliness, the fact that we are constantly told she is all brain and no body, fits into some very specific...
3 tags
“[This kind of woman is] fond of cupcakes and feminist theory but unsure how to...”
– Sady Doyle, “13 Ways of Looking at Liz Lemon”
Start it for the spectacular turns of phrase, finish it for the genuinely stunning thoughtfulness.
“Books say: She did this because. Life says: She did this. Books are where things...”
– Julian Barnes, Flaubert’s Parrot (via sometimesagreatnotion)
this. So much. This is why I love books; this is why I hate books. This is why, of course, I love the books that feel like they’re starting to figure out my life, too.
1 tag
sometimesagreatnotion:
Snow is Gone - Josh...
“The nearest kind of association is not mere perceptual cognition, but, rather, a...”
– Martin Heidegger (via bobulate)
“For until this moment he had lived in a state of pure possibility, not knowing...”
– Walker Percy, The Last Gentleman
When Books Could Change Your Life: Why What We... →
ipomoea:
sleepswithbooks:
nerdgasms:
(via theeviltwin)
At age 12 I was working my way through Stephen King’s oeuvre with some (extensive) side reading on the Northern Irish Troubles. This explains a lot about me as a person.
The Enchanted Forest Chronicles, Madeleine L’Engle and Hillary Carlip. Yeah, that’d do it.
Mercedes Lackey, Anne McCaffrey, Piers Anthony, Francesca Lia Block, and...
An active silence
bobulate:
“White space is to be regarded as an active element, not a passive background,” wrote Jan Tschichold in 1930. And just as you cannot ignore white space, you cannot ignore silence, as it’s the white space of conversations.
We get anxious about silence. It connotes issues. Stress. Awkwardness. Yet, like Tschichold’s white space, silence is often an active element in our day-to-day...
2 tags
Kanye on Creativity
viafrank:
Am I really putting up something Kanye West said? Yes I am. Because it’s about better. And, I’m inclined to believe this thought, regardless of what I think of the man’s music or behavior.
There’s no such thing as fact anymore, only opinion. The closest thing we have to fact is “common opinion”. Everything is an opinion. The way you dress is an expression of your opinion. Your...
2 tags
1 tag
Living Alone (III)
Levertov:
I said, the summer garden I planted bears only leaves–leaves in abundance– but no flowers. And then the flowers, many colors and forms, come forth.
I said, the tree has no buds. And then the leaves, shyly, sparse, as if reluctant, in less than two days appeared, and the tree, now, is flying on green wings.
What magic denial shall my life utter to bring itself forth?
...
2 tags
“A chief virtue of digital books is said to be their economical size—they take up...”
– The Millions: In Our Parents’ Bookshelves (via everythinginthesky : morrowplanet : clapifyoulikeme)
Books out of identity, identity out of books.