Spencer Claiborne

“Having no choices, no agency, was a killer, but having too many was equally crippling.”
― Jillian Medoff, This Could Hurt

“The most effective way of dealing with policy resistance is to find a way of aligning the various goals of the subsystems, usually by providing an overarching goal that allows all actors to break out of their bounded rationality.”
― Donella H. Meadows, Thinking in Systems: A Primer

“Kenny’s career trajectory had been a frenetic scramble, with personality conflicts, professional counseling, and extended periods of unemployment along the way. At Wharton, his devotion to studying was legendary. If a subject intrigued him, he’d work seventy-two hours at a clip, with a laser focus that could bend the world’s edges. School was a sanctuary where he chased ideas like rabbits down into whatever random, circuitous holes they traveled. In retrospect, he should’ve stayed for his PhD and become an academic, worn open-collared shirts, comfortable shoes. Instead, he listened to Janine and went high-ticket corporate, only to discover that he wasn’t cut out for the real world. Out here, smart people were made to repeat the same simple tasks over and over until all their intelligence drained out. Out here, Kenny couldn’t get traction. His attention wandered, his already poor listening skills deteriorated. He lost track of time. Missed deadlines.”
― Jillian Medoff, This Could Hurt

“She could envision the opposite of the UpPaying trend making its way toward all of them: a movement in which people paid a premium for more contact, not less.”
― Courtney Maum, Touch