Sam Thomas Davies's Blog, page 11

Words Into Works #060 | Cosmic Insignificance Therapy

Clara, a successful thirty-eight-year-old executive at a medical instruments company, was flying somewhere over Nebraska when seemingly, out of nowhere, a disturbing thought occurred to her mid-sentence while reading a book: “I hate my life.” [1] According to James Hollis, the Jungian psychotherapist who later treated her, Clara had identified her life with achieving her […]

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Words Into Works #059 | The Four Burners Theory

David Sedaris, a journalist, working for The New Yorker, was sitting in the back of a car, watching the seemingly endless suburbs of Melbourne, Australia, pass by, when Pat, his friend, and guide while in Australia, proposed to him a thought experiment. [1] “Imagine a four-burner stove,” she started, recounting an idea she learned having […]

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Words Into Works #058 | Less, But Better

Before the Covid-19 Pandemic, Southwest Airlines was profitable for forty-seven consecutive years. A rare and astonishing feat, given the volatility of the aviation industry. According to the late Herb Kelleher, the company’s former CEO, one of the many reasons for Southwest’s success was its deliberateness in making strategic trade-offs.  Greg Mckeown summarizes Kelleher’s approach in […]

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Works Into Works #058 | Less, But Better

Before the Covid-19 Pandemic, Southwest Airlines was profitable for forty-seven consecutive years. A rare and astonishing feat, given the volatility of the aviation industry. According to the late Herb Kelleher, the company’s former CEO, one of the many reasons for Southwest’s success was its deliberateness in making strategic trade-offs.  Greg Mckeown summarizes Kelleher’s approach in […]

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Words Into Works #057 | The Hedgehog Concept

In 1953, Isaiah Berlin wrote an essay, “The Hedgehog and The Fox,” based on the ancient Greek parable: “The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing.” The parable is about the myriad of ways a wily fox tries to catch a hedgehog. Yet, despite its cunning, it fails with each attempt […]

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Works Into Works #057 | The Hedgehog Concept

In 1953, Isaiah Berlin wrote an essay, “The Hedgehog and The Fox,” based on the ancient Greek parable: “The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing.” The parable is about the myriad of ways a wily fox tries to catch a hedgehog. Yet, despite its cunning, it fails with each attempt […]

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Words Into Works #056 | The Fresh Start Effect

Google had a problem. It was 2012, and the then 50 billion dollar company had implemented several workplace initiatives to improve its employees’ lives, including feeling more productive and saving for retirement. But for reasons beyond Prasad Setty, Google’s then-vice president, the programs were largely ignored.   His hypothesis, which he explained to Katy Milkman, the […]

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Words Into Works #055 | The Passion Hypothesis

It was 1671, and Christopher Wren, the architect commissioned to rebuild St Paul’s Cathedral after the Great Fire of London in 1666, was observing three bricklayers working on completing one of the many cathedrals destroyed during the conflagration. To each bricklayer, Wren asked, “What are you doing?” The first bricklayer replied, “I’m a bricklayer. I’m […]

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Words Into Works #054 | Life Task

Robert Greene knew from a young age he wanted to be a writer. He loved books and words and aspired to be a novelist. But he was also a realist and had to make a living, so he moved to New York and landed a job as a journalist.  One day, while dining at lunch, […]

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Words Into Works #053 | Rethinking

In 2009, Blackberry owned 50 percent of the smartphone market. By 2014, however, with the iPhone’s rise in popularity, that number tumbled to 1 percent. Part of Blackberry’s decline was founder Mike Lazaridis’s belief that the world would never want more from a mobile phone than to make calls and send and receive emails. Put […]

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