What Works

The tech industry has a central role in shaping our work, our communication, and even our identities. Its mythology is woven into the products and services we use on a daily basis. So understanding how the people leading the tech industry think—how they perceive their own stories and generate their own hype—is a solid step toward making sense of what can seem so nonsensical.And there is one book I go back to over and over again when I need to make sense of our mythologies of disruption and failure, value and genius—and that's What Tech Calls Thinking by Adrian Daub.In this episode, I share 3 ideas from that book that help me make sense of the headlines shaping politics, business, and work.Footnotes:What Tech Calls Thinking by Adrian Daub"Mark Zuckerberg" on In Bed With The RightFind a text version of this episode at whatworks.fyi! (00:00) - Introduction (02:00) - What Tech Calls Thinking by Adrian Daub (04:34) - Idea 1: Silicon Valley is a mythology. (08:37) - Idea 2: Gender becomes encoded in all judgments of value. (13:01) - Idea 3: Money does not follow merit, nor vice versa. (16:39) - The Last Word (18:07) - Credits ★ Support this podcast ★

What does my new website, the TikTok "ban," and the ongoing purge of "woke" from government websites have in common?The power to decide what content counts and what doesn't—and use that power to shape the knowledge and experiences of others.In this episode, I continue to examine the state of The Website today. Amidst a backdrop of diffuse epistemic violence, the website is both an archive and a communication tool we can use to preserve the knowledge and ways of knowing we care about. In the second half of the episode, I share a piece I wrote last year on how artificial intelligence disrupts and deskills our critical thinking.Footnotes:"Broken Links" by Tara McMullin on What Works"Knowledge Is Power: A Brief History" on Mental FlossFull text of the House bill "banning" TikTok"Multiple Ways of Knowing: Expanding How We Know" by Elissa Sloane Perry and Aja Couchois Duncan on Nonprofit Quarterly"Black Box Thinking" by Tara McMullin on What Works"Scientists Increasingly Cannot Explain How AI Works" by Chloe Xiang on Vice"Google is redesigning its search engine: it's AI all the way down" on The Verge"Hostile Epistemology" by C. Thi Nguyen"Microsoft Finds Relying on AI Kills Your Critical Thinking Skills" by AJ Dellinger on GizmodoFind a written version of this audio essay, subscribe free to the What Works newsletter, and learn more about working with me to turn your meaningful ideas into remarkable content at whatworks.fyi. (00:00) - EP 486: How Knowledge Really Does Become Power (03:21) - 1. Knowledge is Power (06:41) - The Purge (14:05) - 2. Black Box Thinking (18:07) - Technological Conditioning (26:12) - Credits ★ Support this podcast ★

This discussion dives into the challenges of maintaining a meaningful online presence amidst a cluttered digital landscape. It explores the metaphor of 'broken links' and how fragmented identities can feel like digital homelessness. The emotional toll of digital clutter and the struggle to curate our online archives is examined. There’s a nostalgic look at the past creativity of the web, along with a call to rethink how we manage our digital identities. Get inspired to navigate this chaotic environment with fresh perspectives!

So, health insurance is in the news. And so is Americans' feelings about it. I got to wondering how we ended up with this terrible health insurance system in the United States. I uncovered a fascinating story about the marketing campaign that sunk Truman's national health insurance program in the 1940s. I also discovered some interesting parallels to popular marketing messages among today's influencers, gurus, and marketers.Today's episode is a little trip through history that will hopefully put some of our current issues in perspective.Footnotes:Gallup's survey data on healthcare"The Lie Factory" by Jill Lepore, in The New YorkerInterview with Leone Baxter in the American Archive of Public Broadcasting"Campaigns, Inc." via the California State Archives"The deprofessionalization of medicine. Causes, effects, and responses." by RR Reed and D Evans"Professional Identity Misformation and Burnout: A Call for Graduate Medical Education to Reject “Provider” by Deborah Ehrlich and Joseph Gravel"White Privilege and Professionalization: A Decolonial and Critical Feminist Perspective on Professional Nursing" by Natalie Stake-Doucet"Why Doesn’t the United States Have National Health Insurance? The Role of the American Medical Association" by Marcella Alsan and Yousra Neberai"Oli London & the Right Wing Grift" by Matt BernsteinFind an essay version of this episode at whatworks.fyi! ★ Support this podcast ★

A problem, question, or challenge is often more than meets the eye. But we're biased to accept how an issue is initially framed. We acquiesce to the original terms. That's called acquiescence bias. When we don't counteract our acquiescence bias, we miss opportunities to get to the root cause or think creatively about a challenge. Today, I share 3 ways to resist acquiescence bias as you consider your next moves, goals, or plans.Footnotes:"In Your Spare Time" from No Time to Spare by Ursula K. Le Guin (read it or listen on Spotify)"Don't call it a Substack." by Anil DashMore on why podcast metrics were so screwy this yearA skeet thread on the difference in referral traffic from Bluesky and X (00:00) - What is spare time? (05:45) - Acquiescence Bias (07:30) - An Example: Should I start a Substack? (09:59) - Buy why? (12:30) - Who benefits? (15:07) - Remove the guise of objectivity (19:29) - Go forth and reframe! ★ Support this podcast ★

Do you see your software?Do you see how it influences how you run meetings, brainstorm ideas, fulfill your responsibilities, and communicate with others? Do you see how its text boxes, radio buttons, tabs, search results, and menus train you to think? Do you see it, or do you just use it?Footnotes:"The impossible dream of good workplace software" on Decoder "Practico-inertia" by Rob Horning ★ Support this podcast ★

Stop me if you've heard this before: we're overloaded and overwhelmed by information. There's more content than you could ever hope to consume. More scientific theories, philosophical concepts, and art forms than you could ever hope to engage with.Enter personal knowledge management (PKM). It's a modern term for an ancient practice—how one collects, preserves, and utilizes knowledge worth remembering. In this episode, I speak with Sari Azout, the founder of Sublime, an app for personal knowledge management (but that description truly doesn't do it justice). We talk about the philosophy behind the product and how that plays out in the product's design.Plus, I dive into how Sari's PKM philosophy is part of a long lineage of practices people have used to remember what's worth preserving.Footnotes:Check out Sublime or get started right away with an invite!Too Much to Know by Ann BlairMore about Sarah Mackenzie & Read-Aloud Revival"The Glassbox and the Commonplace" by Steven JohnsonMore on John Locke's commonplace book index systemWhat do you want to preserve?More on Corita Kent at the Corita Art CenterEvery new episode is published in essay form at WhatWorks.FYI! (00:00) - How I keep track of ideas and information (02:56) - Meet Sari Azout, founder of Sublime (04:30) - Information age versus post-information age (06:55) - Information overload is an ancient problem (08:05) - Commonplace books (11:20) - Commonplace books contain a central tension (12:12) - We shape our tools and then they shape us (16:24) - Where the cool stuff is really happening (17:40) - John Locke's commonplace system (19:52) - A tool for creativity rather than productivity (23:33) - Single-player mode versus multiplayer mode (27:05) - The promise of preservation ★ Support this podcast ★

In management cybernetics, there are 3 types of systems: simple, complex, and exceedingly complex. The systems we pay the most attention tend to be, you guessed it, exceedingly complex. In this episode, I explore what that means for how we do our work and run our businesses—and what happens when we forget that people are exceedingly complex systems, too.Footnotes:Cyberboss by Craig GentThinking In Systems: A Primer by Donella MeadowsEmergent Strategy by adrienne maree brown"Practicing the Future: 3 Ideas for Rethinking Change" at What Works     Every episode is published in essay form at What Works and delivered in my newsletter—check it out and subscribe! ★ Support this podcast ★

The podcast challenges the conventional notions of scarcity and abundance mindsets. It introduces a compelling idea: resourcefulness as a third approach. Listeners are encouraged to distinguish between needs and wants, urging creative use of available resources. The discussion highlights the power of narrative and storytelling in fostering resourcefulness. Interconnectedness and cognitive creativity are emphasized as essential components in overcoming feelings of inadequacy and unlocking new opportunities. It's a fresh perspective on how we perceive and generate value!

Data isn't just a set of facts; it's a medium that shapes our interactions and perceptions. The podcast explores how the interpretation of data isn't purely objective and is influenced by human context. There's a deep dive into the concepts of predictability, relevance, and actionability, highlighting the importance of meaningful metrics for decision-making. Additionally, it emphasizes the need for enhanced media and systems literacy to navigate the complexities of our data-driven world.