Chuck Klosterman is one of my favorite writers, partly because he's funny and fun to read, and partly because he offers unusual and unexpected perspectives on things I think I know. His book But What If We're Wrong? explores the destabilizing (but someone reasonable) premise that we are wrong about...well, maybe everything. One of these … Continue reading On Frank Lloyd Wright being the greatest architect (partly because people think so)
Author: T Coe
On how leaders assume responsibility for problems
"It's not my problem." Not something you'll ever catch a leader saying. "Your problem is my problem" is more like it. This thinking does not come naturally to me. My tendency has long been to shrug and shuffle away from the center of things, even if that leaves a void, no one solving the problem … Continue reading On how leaders assume responsibility for problems
On improving experiences by focusing on endings
When my wife and I purchased a new car a few weeks ago, there wasn't much negotiating we could do: supply was low, demand was high, and our salesman shrugged off our attempts at moving the price down with a final "I'll sell this car by 2 p.m. today if you don't want it now." … Continue reading On improving experiences by focusing on endings
On creating action cues
Yesterday, I wrote about the two-minute rule from David Allen. Today, I reflect on another tool I’ve found immeasurably helpful in the past week. I think of these as “action cues”—but first encountered them as “Gibsonian affordances” in the Daniel Levitin book The Organized Mind. (I would link to the Wikipedia page, but it’s a … Continue reading On creating action cues
On doing the thing that needs to be done when you notice it
The best advice in David Allen’s productivity book (or “bible,” to the many who have a cultlike affinity for it) Getting Things Done has nothing to do with his complex organizational framework. It’s a simple heuristic: If a task will take you less than two minutes, do it now. It’s what has me emptying the … Continue reading On doing the thing that needs to be done when you notice it
On why me taking parental leave is a good thing for my employer
For my firm, it’s a work week like any other. For me, it’s a non-work week—my wife and I are home from the hospital with a new baby and work doesn’t enter the picture. But somewhere in the multiverse, I am logging on in my home office and join that work week, despite having a … Continue reading On why me taking parental leave is a good thing for my employer
On what I liked last week (1/30/23)
Cub — Wunderhorse A Spotify recommendation seconded by an amusing Sputnikmusic review. To paraphrase that review, there’s very little new here—but what impresses is how thoroughly this mid-20s former punk rocker distills the best of ’90s Britrock and lets it rip. Snatches of Blur and Radiohead, among others. The City and the City — China … Continue reading On what I liked last week (1/30/23)
On art in hospitals
When I walk around a medical facility, the art is one of those things I now notice. That noticing has everything to do with a former colleague of mine, an interior designer, whose scope of work on projects sometimes included "the art package." "So...you get to pick the art?" "When they let me. A lot … Continue reading On art in hospitals
On the thoroughness of hospital staff
When our first kid was born, my experience in the hospital was a rush—I was anxious, exhausted, overstimulated. My attention span was short, and my short term memory was shot. Names of nurses and doctors? Forgotten. A play-by-play commentary later requested by family? Impossible. So I was delighted that the experience of accompanying my wife … Continue reading On the thoroughness of hospital staff
On not talking to the police
One of the more illuminating pieces I’ve read of late was from the New York Times opinion columnist Farhad Manjoo, who observed the criminal charges against Alec Baldwin relating to the death of a cinematographer on the set of the film Rust and had a simple takeaway: Don’t talk to the police. I won’t bother … Continue reading On not talking to the police
Taylor Coe 