Here are some things I’ve learned lately:

• Listen a lot more than you talk. People will like you, and tell you useful things.
• Speak briefly and directly. It helps to take a moment or two.
• Read broadly.
  • Read from history. Classic books like “The Effective Executive” or “How to Win Friends and Influence People” are classics because their techniques have benefitted people time and time again.
  • Read from parallel fields. To learn fundraising, talk to people who know sales. Even an entry-level salesman has gotten more training than a top-notch fundraiser.
  • Innovation and progress comes from drawing on disparate pools of knowledge. For now, I feel that a thoughtful human who is well-read and has time to think is better than a large language model.
• Systems thinking applies everywhere. Radical means root. To create radical change, you have to get to the root of the problem.
  • To the world. The systems are humanity, capitalism, geopolitics.
  • To your country. Democracy (or lack thereof), political processes, institutions.
  • To your organization. Executive decisions (or lack thereof). Culture.
  • To your life. Early influences. Early traumas. Passions.
  • To your day. Focused time (or lack thereof). Good conversations. Exercise.
• Systems change doesn’t happen overnight. However, if you change one thing about yourself every week, you’ll make great amounts of progress.
• Progress happens non-linearly. A eureka moment takes less than a second to manifest, and can then fuel your work for years. However, in the run up to it, you may have spent years in the fog.
• Relationships matter. Humans are mammals. For better or worse, we often don’t think rationally, ethically, or independently. In these moments, we think through relationships.
  • Should I go back to that event? -> Do I have a friend there?
  • Should I invest in this company? -> Do I have friends investing? Am I friends with the founder?
  • Is this correct? -> Do I trust the person giving me this information?
• Because we’re mammals, we tend to trust people we’ve met in-person. This is one I wish were not true, because it would make the world a lot more egalitarian. However, because it is true, it is important to act accordingly. To to sell your labor, a product, or an idea, there’s nothing like an in-person conversation.
• A smile is more important than a tie.