Category: Uncategorized
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Recruitment and careers
Recently I applied for a research role and have been interviewing at work which forced me to reflect on standard recruitment practices and the nature of work itself… During the process I managed to both indulge my cynicism and respond with some sincerity to how we might gain some more upside as a ‘recruitee’ and…
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How do Black Markets Form?
Fascinating insight from the book Shantaram by David Gregory Roberts who, after escaping from prison, ended up working as a trader in the black market for money in Bombay in the 80s. How do black markets form? Wherever there is high control (regulation) plus high greed (acquisitiveness) then a black market will form. Sewage is…
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Adam Curtis on Risk, Change and Conservatism
I listened to the first half of Adam Curtis being interviewed by Russell Brand. Some interesting insights that caught my ear related to antifragility: Through this interpretation, I understand that change and volatility has been suppressed whilst, throughout this time, the systems we live in have become more and more fragile (because there was never…
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Calculated Risk Taking
There’s a nice chapter in the ‘Art of Action’ about the approach towards taking risks in the Prussian army: “There should be no fear of punishment if a calculated risk fails to pay off. Sins of omission should be regarded far more serious than sins of commission.” This links back to the notion of ‘risk…
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Antifragile Metrics
For some time I’ve been thinking about metrics for antifragility. I first came across Troy Magennis’s framework: the ‘Six Dimensions of Team Performance” (perhaps worth reading first) and remember thinking at the time that his framework was fairly close to describing an antifragile system already. I thought I’d have a go at modifying it and…
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Antifragility for Agilists
Yesterday we hosted a talk at the Global Scrum Master Summit about antifragility for Scrum Masters (or any agilists, really!), and what Scrum Masters can learn and gain from antifragilty. We first guided participants through the concept of antifragility, starting with a story about chaikhanas (Afghan tea houses and how they’re antifragile), then we looked at an example from…
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Ernest Hemmingway: Antifragilista
I watched a documentary about Ernest Hemmingway. He traveled and lived in many places around the world seeking out the wild and novel. Hunting, bull running, drinking, street fighting, poetry, womanizing, marlin fishing, etc – basically living life to the max – the volume turned up to full. A real character. What I found interesting was…
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Concave vs Convex
If your situation has a floor but no ceiling, it’s probably convex. (e.g. upside / start up) If it has a ceiling but no floor, it’s probably concave.(e.g. glass ceiling at a company). An entrepreneur can gain from an error but an employee its the opposite.
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Adaption & Group Dynamics
Just a few notes from a session last week about how group dynamics affect adaptive systems (in other words, how a group can stay antifragile). So far, we only looked at antifragile bodies and antifragile brains / behaviour. What about a group? You can only look at a group or system is behaving or adapting…
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Interest Rates and Fragility
Compelling evidence about the state of fragility in the UK.Because of increased cost of housing and cost of living, any increase in interest rates will have a bigger impact than in 70s even when interest rates were 14%! A glance at the BOI UK Interest rates today feels shocking. Some of the financial decisions I…