Dialectic 23: Tamara Winter - Tacit Trust & Caring Curiosity
Tamara Winter, the Commissioning Editor at Stripe Press, shares her passion for uncovering impactful ideas for a better internet. She delves into the importance of tacit knowledge and small talk in building trustful relationships. Tamara discusses her unique career path, the significance of aesthetics in publishing, and how personal charisma can shape connections. She emphasizes the value of genuine curiosity, reflective writing, and the cultural nuances of agency in our lives, all while celebrating the beauty of human interactions.
02:10:51
Taste as Tacit Knowledge
- Taste begins with absorbing influences from childhood and environment.
- It's mostly tacit knowledge and evolves by apprenticing to curious, interesting people.
Deploying Taste Is Key
- Deploying taste means making decisions based on accumulated judgment instantly.
- This tacit knowledge is more valuable than just having good taste in theory.
Ideas and Individual Agency
- Ideas spread quickly among curious, capable people who act on them.
- "You can just do things" mentality empowers individual agency and breaks excuses.
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Intro
00:00 • 2min
Understanding Taste: Influences and Intuition in Creativity
01:31 • 20min
The Importance of Self-Respect and Beautiful Aesthetics in Publishing
21:43 • 2min
The Value of Tacit Knowledge
24:02 • 4min
The Charisma Connection: Building Meaningful Relationships
28:15 • 17min
The Power of Small Talk
45:45 • 17min
Exploring Cultural Norms and Perceptions of Agency
01:02:18 • 2min
The Ripple Effects of Minor Dishonesty
01:04:22 • 3min
Urban Safety and Social Dynamics
01:07:04 • 5min
Mercy, Agency, and Influence
01:12:18 • 16min
Navigating Success in a Media-Driven World
01:28:39 • 8min
Intentional Connections and Reflective Writing
01:37:05 • 20min
The Power of Reading and Life Lessons
01:57:19 • 14min
#26574
Anna, the biography
Amy O'Dell
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The Art of Doing Science and Engineering
Richard Hemming
#1028
• Mentioned in 21 episodes
Walt Disney
The Triumph of the American Imagination
Neal Gabler
This biography, meticulously researched over seven years with complete access to the Disney archives, provides a detailed and nuanced portrait of Walt Disney.
It covers his early life, his transformation of animation into an art form with iconic characters like Mickey Mouse and films such as Snow White, Fantasia, and Bambi, and his expansion into television, theme parks, music, book publishing, and merchandise.
The book also delves into Disney's personal life, revealing a complex figure with both remarkable achievements and hidden struggles, including financial problems, a nervous breakdown, and personal controversies.
Gabler's work is a masterful exploration of both the work and the man, highlighting Disney's impact on American culture and the power of his imagination.
#7424
• Mentioned in 4 episodes
The Making of Prince of Persia
Journals 1985-1993
Jordan Mechner
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An Elegant Puzzle
Systems of Engineering Management
Will Larson
An Elegant Puzzle is a comprehensive guide to engineering management, particularly in high-growth environments.
The book, written by Will Larson, draws on his extensive experience at companies like Digg, Uber, and Stripe.
It addresses specific challenges such as managing technical debt, handling migrations, and developing succession planning.
Larson's approach emphasizes systems thinking, providing actionable templates and strategies for building healthy and productive engineering teams.
The book is valuable not only for engineering managers but also for product managers and engineers working in similar environments.
#1928
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The rise of Theodore Roosevelt
Edmund Morris
This book is the first in a trilogy by Edmund Morris and details the life of Theodore Roosevelt from his birth in 1858 through to 1901.
It includes his family history, his turbulent childhood illnesses, his education at Harvard, and his early involvement in politics.
The biography explores Roosevelt's passion for learning, his various roles such as New York State Assemblyman, Civil Service Commissioner, New York City Police Commissioner, and Assistant Secretary of the Navy.
It also covers his leadership of the Rough Riders in Cuba and his eventual rise to the Vice Presidency, setting the stage for his future as President of the United States.
#43066
Frank Sinatra has a cold
Gay Talese
#16390
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In Five Years
Rebecca Serle
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After returning to her present, she tries to ignore the vision but is haunted by it.
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#56311
On Self-Respect
Joan Didion
In 'On Self-Respect,' Joan Didion delves into the nature of self-respect, positing that it is not derived from external validation but from an internal reckoning.
She argues that true self-respect involves taking responsibility for one's actions, acknowledging mistakes, and living authentically.
Didion emphasizes that self-respect is a discipline of the mind, requiring the courage to face one's flaws and the ability to discriminate between what is truly valuable and what is not.
The essay underscores that self-respect liberates individuals from the expectations of others and empowers them to live according to their own values and goals.
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A pattern language
Towns, Buildings, Construction
Nax Jacobsohn
Murray Silverstein
Ingrid Fiksdahl-King
Shlomo Angel
Max Jacobson
Sara Ishikawa
Christopher Alexander
This book, written by Christopher Alexander and his colleagues, introduces the concept of a 'pattern language' consisting of 253 patterns that address various design problems in architecture, urban planning, and community design.
Each pattern describes a recurring problem and its solution, allowing readers to adapt these solutions to their specific needs and local conditions.
The book is structured to help ordinary people, as well as professionals, design and improve their homes, streets, and communities.
It has had significant influence on fields beyond architecture, including software engineering and urban planning.
#1440
• Mentioned in 16 episodes
High Growth Handbook
Scaling Startups from 10 to 10,000 People
Elad Gil
High Growth Handbook is a comprehensive playbook for growing startups into global brands.
Written by Elad Gil, who has extensive experience working with high-growth tech companies, the book provides crystal-clear guidance on navigating the complex challenges faced by leaders and operators in high-growth startups.
It covers essential topics including the role of the CEO, managing a board, recruiting and overseeing an executive team, mergers and acquisitions, initial public offerings, and late-stage funding.
The book is informed by interviews with dynamic leaders in Silicon Valley, such as Reid Hoffman, Marc Andreessen, and Aaron Levie.
#914
• Mentioned in 23 episodes
Scaling People
Tactics for Management and Company Building
Claire Hughes-Johnson
Scaling People is a detailed roadmap for company builders to put the right operating systems and structures in place to scale their companies sustainably.
The book provides tactical guidance on crafting foundational documents, strategic and financial planning, hiring and team development, and feedback and performance mechanisms.
It includes dozens of pages of worksheets, templates, exercises, and example documents to help create scalable operating systems and lightweight processes.
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#3206
• Mentioned in 8 episodes
Up from Slavery
Booker T. Washington
In this autobiography, Booker T. Washington chronicles his life from his childhood as a slave to his rise as a prominent educator and civil rights leader.
The book describes his struggles to obtain an education, his experiences at the Hampton Institute, and his work in establishing vocational schools, particularly the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama.
Washington emphasizes the importance of education, hard work, and practical skills for the advancement of African Americans.
He also reflects on his public speaking career and his role in shaping race relations in the post-Reconstruction South.
Tamara Winter (X) is the Commissioning Editor of Stripe Press, where she exercises her taste to identify the knowledge and "ideas for progress" that matter most in alignment with Stripe's mission: to increase the GDP of the internet.
"Tammy" worked at the Charter Cities Institute and the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, which is chaired by Tyler Cowen.
Tammy is obsessed with tacit knowledge and the illegible parts of the world that actually support so much of our lives, work, and societies. This includes taste, charisma, relationships, and a wide-range of load-bearing infrastructure that supports healthy and trustful societies, from small-talk and manners to hidden forces that prevent anti-social behavior and maintain safe places to live and work.
We discuss this and more, including how she selects the ideas worthy of Stripe's audience, her unique career path, her refreshing take on agency, her standards for herself, reading and writing, and how she chooses how to spend her time. Above all, Tammy's incredible love of other people shines throughout the conversation.
Full episode transcript with all linked references: https://dialectic.fm/tamara-winter
Timestamps
- 2:09: Taste, absorbtion, and influences
- 10:54: Deploying your taste
- 15:49: Ideas that matter and taking yourself seriously
- 22:13: Aesthetics
- 24:16: Choosing Teachers and Authors
- 28:15: Charisma & delightfullness privilege
- 34:59: Living a relational life
- 44:07: Trust, social scaffolding, and small talk
- 51:01: Erosion of social norms, low-trust environments, and load-bearing infrastructure
- 1:02:17: Cultural arson and the dark sides of "you can just do things"
- 1:15:44: The healthy kind of agency
- 1:20:45: Tammy's N-of-1 path and who she aspires to rhyme with
- 1:28:38: Red herrings of success and focusing on outcomes
- 1:32:22: Assortive everything
- 1:37:52: Personal and professional standards
- 1:43:06: Journaling, great writing, and audience
- 1:57:29: Reading & Biographies
Key Links:
- Virginia Woolf on Montaigne
- Ava on Tammy
- Old Enough!
- Sort By Controversial - Scott Alexander (Scissor Statements)
- Scarf tweet
- Interact
- The Making of Prince of Persia - Jordan Mechner
- Frank Sinatra Has a Cold - Gay Talese
- Why not inquire together more? - Tyler Cowen
- The Common Reader - Henry Oliver
- In Five Years - Rebecca Serle
- Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination - Neal Gabler
- Up from Slavery - Booker T. Washington
- Anna: The Biography - Amy Odell
- The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt - Edmund Morris
- Brian Jacques
- A Pattern Language - Christopher W. Alexander
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