Shaped By History?
”I thought back to the day I decided to go to law school. It was a warm spring day. May 4, 1970. I was a freshman at Oberlin College. A few days earlier, President Richard Nixon had expanded the Vietnam War by invading Cambodia. Antiwar college protests erupted throughout the country.
About 1 p.m. in the afternoon, the news hit us in the gut as we huddled around TVs and radios on our sheltered college campus. In just 12 seconds, the Ohio National Guard fired over 60 shots at student protesters at nearby Kent State University. Nine students were wounded, one of them paralyzed for life; and four students — Allison Krause, Jeff Miller, Sandra Scheuer, and Bill Schroeder — were killed.
Bill Schroeder was an ROTC student watching the protest; he was shot in the back. Sandy Scheuer was walking to class. I didn’t know them, but I’ve never forgotten their names.”
Lee Fisher
That quote comes from an article that my friend, colleague and 'he that keeps me on the straight and narrow' … Stuart Robbins just shared with me.
Stuart, thank-you.
My father fought for the British Army in the second world war. If you are 75 or under, you were not on planet earth during that war and as a result, the impact it had on that generation is being lost - if not forgotten.
The Vietnam war is much more recent, but still, is - like WWII being lost into history, so when I read first hand experiences, especially something as personal as the words Lee wrote, I like to stop and reflect for a moment.
And who is Lee Fisher?
”Lee Fisher is dean of Cleveland-Marshall College of Law at Cleveland State University. He is the former Ohio attorney general, lieutenant governor, director of the Ohio Department of Development, chair of the Ohio Third Frontier Commission, president and CEO of the Center for Families and Children, president and CEO of CEOs for Cities, state representative and state senator.
But there's more. He recently came on to the People First Podcast and talked with Stuart about Law - and, IMHO, more importantly Leadership in Law. If you don’t want to jump off to another site, you can listen to it right here ...
Or follow the link to a great interview, weighing in at under 30 minutes of 'gold'.
I often find that knowing a little more about people, their history and what shaped them, helps me understand the context of who they are today and what they are saying. Lee is no exception. In fact I think it is possible to draw a straight line from the experience he described in that quote above to his life's work. I hope you agree.
Slack Solves The Wrong Problem Really Well
Or as Cal puts it …
"Slack is the Right Tool for the Wrong Way to Work."
”The future of office work won’t be found in continuing to reduce the friction involved in messaging but, instead, in figuring out how to avoid the need to send so many messages in the first place.”
Cal Newport
Cal nails the problem I have with Slack that I have never managed to nail down.
Read the article in The New Yorker
Thinking Allowed
This is a People First post that was originally on the People First domain. It has been moved here as part of my domain consolidation program. It’s a steady and slow WIP as I check each entry, so do please bear with me.- More about People First
- Other People First Posts
(not just from the ‘other domain’ … all of them.)
”A long time ago my friend Doc Searls and I agreed that you don’t make money from a blog or podcast, but you can make money because of a blog or podcast. It’s a subtle but important difference.”
Dave Winer
”Joe Biden Makes Shocking Announcement: None of His Children or Grandchildren Will Be Named Senior Advisers to the President.”
Vanity Fair
I THINK I have shared this before - but better to see it twice than not at all - right?
”Zuckerberg is a pretty shallow thinker on anything outside of Facebook.”
Steve Schmidt
I agree, just happy to finally hear - and hear I did - someone say it.
Just lost a bet - I was convinced between the mmmms it went ba ba ba
It actually goes do do do
🎼 came across this guy last night
Hawaii based dude breaks down progressive music
watched his one on porcupine trees anesthetize. Unclear to me if he really doesn’t know that steven wilson is the leader or that Gavin Harrison is on drums - still fun for all of that.
Shifting the People First Newsletter Format.
Every Tuesday - ask a question.
Every Friday (10 days later), provide a summary of the aggregated feedback with ‘personal opinion and annotation’ for AN answer.
This Week …
Why not weigh in?
Excellence In UI Design
Notice How you can’t press ‘Next’ until you have accepted the ‘terms and condition’s’.
Notice how you can’t accept the ‘terms and conditions’ because the ‘Next’ frame is covering the ‘accept terms and conditions’ check box.
Nice work @citi / @citibank
”The billionaires are the system itself. They cannot act with autonomy; they can only do whatever it is they think will make them money. The introduction of lulz into their world means that there are now conscious, autonomously acting humans. Our moves make no sense to the algorithms or the market makers because they are not motivated by the rational, short-term self-interest of individual market players. No, it only makes sense in terms of a human collective, looking to overturn a financial system that has been devised to extract the value from our world, and deliver it to an increasingly small group of billionaires at the expense of our livelihoods, our futures, and our climate. Game on.”
”The guys at Reddit aren’t using time, and some of them are going to be burned as a result. But they know that. They’re not going to be asking for a bailout if they lose. Wall Street will be, and it’s been bailed out too many times. In 2008, and in 2017, Washington threw trillions at Wall Street and Wall Street ran to the dog track with it. Wall Street promised to create jobs with it. They didn’t. They just built a casino that was “heads I win” and “tails you lose” with it.”
Dana Blenkenhorn
Why fascism in Post-Trump America isn’t going away … is well worth a listen/
Vox’s Sean Illing talks to Yale professor and author Jason Stanley about why American democracy provides such fertile soil for fascism.
It is going to get much worse, because there is no penalty.
“Right now, large investors are scared of what small investors can do, and conversely.
Arnold Kling
It’s been clear to anybody watching that if small investors weren’t scared of what the large investors could do, they clearly didn’t understand the rules.
The difference is that for the first time large investors are ‘taking it’.
Ch ch ch changes ..
Matt Krantz, Investors Business Daily, 14 October, “Apple’s New iPhone 12 Gets The Worst Reception Ever:
”I did not hear the thud.”
John Gruber
Inside Jeffrey Epstein and Donald Trump’s Epic Bromance
… “be it Epstein’s Coney Island, Trump’s Queens, or Robert Maxwell’s Eastern European origins — they had all come from the wrong side of the tracks. And at some point in their lives, Robert Maxwell, Trump, and Epstein all had ties to foreign intelligence agencies, arms dealers, and the sex trade.”
”We’re applying $4.99 in credit to your Apple ID each month you’re subscribed from February through June to keep enjoying Apple Original shows and movies. That’s it — no further action is required."
Wow - that’s great … but why?
🎼 At 84, Kristofferson has decided to retire.
”I don’t think hedge fund books need any help, let them taste their own medicine.”
Brian Barrish