Newsletter

Jul 5, 2021

An Ugly Reflection

What your enemies reveal about you

Mirrors are a paradox. They show you an exact opposite of yourself, while at the same time presenting something that is your perfect similitude. You in every way, but the inverse of you.

In a similar way, I’m coming to see enemies as mirrors. The people I choose as my enemies—and I do believe that I’m the one choosing them—reveal my own contours and features just like a reflection does. I think of them as opposite to me, but they reflect back so much about who I am and what I value.

Thinking of our enemies as our opposites, we might take pride in the comparison. If they’re godless, that makes us God-loving. If they’re cruel, that makes us kind. If they’re foolish, that makes us wise. But does this description match the reflection?

If our enemies are judgmental, are we then fair-minded? If they’re quick to offense, are we magnanimous? Hardly. And what’s worse, we might reflect opposition to whatever is good in them. If I set myself against people who love their families, who help their neighbors, and who trust their friends, what does that say about me?

The prickly truth is that you can know a person almost intimately if you discover their enemies. Consider just how reliable that measure is. “Who are your enemies?” would be the ultimate get-to-know-you question for parties and dating apps if it weren’t so miserable to ask.

Last, the enemies we choose don’t make us good any more than a mirror makes us beautiful. It takes more for me to become a good person than just deciding whom I oppose. If our enmity holds our attention, like Narcissus staring at his reflection, then we’re trapped by our own self-regard. It’s sad that we all know someone imprisoned in enmity.

Has anyone ever found real happiness in a mirror? I might have done a few times after a good haircut (back when I had much hair). But there’s nothing there in the mirror that’s real enough to obsess over. If I look away from enemies/myself, I discover whole world of joyful people that I might be lucky enough to call friends.

Things to Read

Joy Generator

NPR's delightful Joy Generator is a great way to spend a few minutes on the Internet. Guaranteed to flight the blahs and cultivate some joy.

Americans, Can You Answer These Questions?

US citizenship tests used to be written and administered by individual judges. They weren't easy. How would you have done?

What Deadlines Do to Lifetimes

"We might be asking too much of individuals by heralding time constraints—one of the most potent currencies capitalism has for perpetuating itself—as moral guides."

Impact Highlight

US veterans who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan wrestle with huge personal costs for their service. Around half of them struggle with one or more of the following: traumatic brain injury, PTSD, anxiety, depression, substance abuse, or anger management. Considering the 2.7 million that have served, the consequences have been massive.

Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America works to provide the veterans of this generation with critical services. Currently serving over 450,000 members, the IAVA has a range of programs including advocacy, VA reform, and education. Their new Quick Reaction Force responds to the most urgent needs of veterans, like eviction or mental health crises, helping to avert disasters for thousands of service members and their families.

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We are surrounded by the fruits of human creativity and innovation. This capacity to improve our world has done immeasurable good. But where does innovation come from and how do we get more of it?

Looking back to one of the most potent periods of world history, my guest this week—Dr. Anton Howes—guides us through the lessons we can learn from the British Industrial Revolution and how those lessons reveal the nature of innovation today. His concept of an "improving mentality" cuts across all of our everyday experiences, and shows us how we can improve our lives and the lives of those around us.

How to Help Podcast • History of Innovation • Dr. Anton Howes

Jun 22, 2021

The Improving Mentality

We find what we’re looking for. This is a consistently under-appreciated truth, one that applies to so many of life’s circumstances. I admit that some searches take longer than others, but our minds are like unrelenting bloodhounds. They have a powerful ability to find evidence, insights, or ideas once they’re trained on a goal. Whatever we’re intent on seeing—the good or the bad in anything or anyone—we’ll be sure that, in the end, it’s all we see.

Hence the need to train our minds to look for the right kinds of things. Here’s one approach that’s worth your while. Historian Anton Howes (upcoming guest of the How to Help Podcast) shares a fascinating discovery about the British Industrial Revolution. It turns out that all the inventors during that time, thousands of them, had a high likelihood of having been connected to other inventors. These innovators were not toiling away in isolation towards their Eureka! moment. Instead, they were rubbing shoulders and sharing ideas.

In the process they shared something more, something Dr. Howes calls “the improving mentality.” I love this concept. It’s the perspective that something can always be made better, even if in some small way. An improving mentality is a universal perspective for innovators. And its illumination spills into every dusty corner of life, revealing small tweaks or momentous inventions that are sometimes hiding in plain sight.

Since my interview with Dr. Howes—publishing on July 5—I’ve thought often of the improving mentality. There are so many moments of our daily routine that have room for some new, better way. It’s an eye-opening perspective, one that we ought to spread as much as we can. In the spirit of that, Dr. Howes and a coauthor have recently proposed a new chivalric order, just for innovators. (An idea I would love to copy here in the U.S.)

I’ll have other insights by Dr. Howes to share in future newsletters, but in the meantime I’ll close with this question:

What’s something in your everyday that could be improved with a better way of thinking?

Things to Read

Ethics, AI, and Our Future

Fascinating report on the contours of AI Ethics from Pew Research: "Experts doubt ethical AI design will be broadly adopted as the norm within the next decade"

Building a More Honest Internet

This article made me uncomfortable for two reasons. One, it's scary how much of the Web is so dishonest. Two, the ideas for building a more honest Web can be just as scary.

Circles of Friendship

Here's a useful and interesting way to think about your relationships. We're not good at being everything to everyone, but maybe we don't really need to be. There’s much we can do close by.

Impact Highlight

Blockchain—the digital ledger technology behind cryptocurrencies like BitCoin—has many more uses than making sudden millionaires. One such use is in supply chains of the products we buy every day. From the time a farmer plants a seed to the moment you throw away food packaging for its trip to the dump, there are critical decisions made by thousands of people.

BanQu is using blockchain technology to track supply chains so we can have more equitable outcomes for all involved. By creating more transparency at every step, producers can get more efficiency and will have more accountability to their customers and their environments. BanQu was recently included in the Circulars Accelerator, hosted by the World Economic Forum.

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Does everyone have a right to a job they love?

This is a hard question to answer because if we should all have work that we love, then humanity is falling far short of this responsibility. This week on the How to Help Podcast, my guest is Dr. Andrea Veltman, philosopher and author of Meaningful Work. Her book was one of the most thought-provoking books I read in the last year, and I found our conversation to be uniquely enlightening.

I promise this episode will change the way you think about your work.

How to Help Podcast • Meaningful Work • Prof. Andrea Veltman

Jun 15, 2021

Helping Practice

Helping is a skill that improves over time

Here’s a thought about practice.

Who do you know that is especially good at helping others? I mean the person who seems to always know the right thing to say or do. Their timing is always uncanny and they have a special knack for seeing what’s really going on. Right now I’m thinking of a neighbor who fits this description.

I’ve become convinced that these expert helpers only get there one way: by practice. A desire and intention to help are part of it, for sure, but these experts also learn by experience. They’ve learned the kind of help that makes a difference. Practice enhances any skill, so of course that would be true for helping, too.

How can you become a better helper through practice? Maybe it’s by focusing on a kind of help that fits your gifts, like listening or creative problem-solving. You might practice noticing more to see how others around you could use a helping hand. You could learn more about a particular challenge that people face, like shyness or anxiety.

There’s also a comfort that comes with thinking of becoming a better helper through practice. It means we can all improve, no matter how useless we feel right now. Our failure to effectively help those we love doesn’t mean we’re failures; it just means we need more practice.

It’s become clear to me that help is a skill that improves with practice and time.

Things to Read

The Rise of Shareholder Politics

The idea that shareholders only want profits just isn’t true anymore. A nice explanation of how they expect more from the companies they own.

Against Car Supremacy

While we get enamored with electric cars in the US, much of the rest of the world is reducing their reliance on cars altogether. Micromobility is the future.

Tuskegee and the Health of Black Men

I’ve taught about the tragic Tuskegee syphilis experiment for years in my ethics class. Its impact is still seen today, decades later.

Impact Highlight

Agriculture is the primary occupation for the the world’s poorest, so improving the livelihood of farmers is especially high impact. This is true in Bhutan, as well.

Mountain Hazelnuts provides full-service support to Bhutanese farmers, helping them grow, harvest, process, and sell hazelnuts into international markets. As a for-profit venture, they’ve doubled the income of over 15,000 households and have employed over 1,000 people. They also use environmentally sustainable growing and processing practices.

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Who is your ethical hero?

One of mine is my co-author, Bill O’Rourke. He had a long and fruitful career at one of the largest aluminum manufacturers in the world, filling multiple executive roles like VP of environment, health and safety, head of procurement, CIO, and President of Alcoa Russia. Through all of it, he personally encountered just about every ethical dilemma you could imagine and consistently made the right choice.

In this week’s episode of the How to Help Podcast, Bill is going to coach us through one of the most common dilemmas that people face: you see something wrong and feel like you should intervene, but doing so is risky. Listen and learn from someone who is a fountain of good advice.

How to Help Podcast • Episode 8 • Intervention

Jun 9, 2021

A Letter from a Billionaire

Warren Buffett's halfway there.

Warren Buffett—famous billionaire and cofounder of The Giving Pledge—released a new letter last week announcing that he is halfway to his promise of giving away 99% of his wealth before he dies. As is typically the case for him, Buffett used the moment to share his perspective on broader issues. While the entire letter is worth reading, I’ll highlight a few passages.

He emphasized how easy giving should be for the wealthy, a message he’ll undoubtedly promote for as long as he can.

The easiest deed in the world is to give away money that will never be of any real use to you or your family. The giving is painless and may well lead to a better life for both you and your children.

He also duly praised the stewards of our charitable contributions, along with every else who gives their more meager donations or more substantial time to help those around them. His humility here is apt. As rich as he is, if he gave all his wealth away at once it wouldn’t be more than a quarter of what Americans give altogether in a single year. All of our small donations add up.

Those who give their love and time in order to directly help others – perhaps adding a monetary gift that requires them to give up the purchase of something meaningful for their own use – are the heroes of philanthropy. America has millions of such givers.

These people receive no recognition whether they mentor the young, assist the elderly or devote precious hours to community betterment. They do not have buildings named after them, but they silently make those establishments – schools, hospitals, churches, libraries, whatever – work smoothly to benefit those who have received the short straws in life.

Last, I appreciate his optimism and how he recognizes the multiple institutions we need for a flourishing society.

I’m optimistic. Though naysayers abound – as they have throughout my life – America’s best days most certainly lie ahead. What’s happened here since 1776 has not been a historical fluke.

Philanthropy will continue to pair human talent with financial resources. So, too, will business and government. Each force has its particular strengths and weaknesses. Combined, they will make the world a better place – a much better place – for future generations.

Warren Buffett’s generosity will be rightly remembered as historic. And still, it won’t be enough. For as much good they’re positioned to do—a massive amount of good—the world’s billionaires can’t save us. Only we can do that.

**Things to Read - Our World in Data Edition**

This week I want to feature some articles from Our World in Data. It's an incredible source of information and perspective on the world's most pressing issues.

Why is life expectancy in the US lower than in other rich countries?

Too many reasons, but also opportunities for change.

Technology Change and Exponential Progress

It boggles the mind when you consider how much faster and cheaper it is to do certain things.

Why do we need to know about progress in the world's large problems?

It matters how far we've come. Read the numbers.

Impact Highlight

Many of the barriers to the world's poor are found in the financial system itself. In wealthy nations, we take for granted banking, insurance, and other services that are hard to access or nonexistent for low-income people.

Grameen Foundation USA accelerates innovative approaches for access to financial services. Their programs span a wide range of financial issues for the poor, including targeted solutions for small farmers and women. They've been recognized by, among others, The Gates Foundation as a high-impact innovator in this space.

(Fun fact: While in law school, I spent a summer working as a legal intern at Grameen Foundation. It was a transformative experience for me.)

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Can you imagine what would happen if Warren Buffett was a social impact investor?

Warren Buffett clearly doesn't consider himself much of an expert on solving social problems, and I appreciate his humility. But what if he used his investments themselves, and not just his wealth, to do more good in the world?

My podcast guest this week, Geoff Woolley, is a pioneering impact investor and an expert in marrying capital markets with social good. He'll help you see that we have so many ways of changing old approaches for the better.

What your enemies reveal about you

Things to Read

Impact Highlight

Promotional Stuff

Things to Read

Impact Highlight

Promotional Stuff

Helping is a skill that improves over time

Things to Read

Impact Highlight

Promotional Stuff

Warren Buffett's halfway there.

Things to Read - Our World in Data Edition

Impact Highlight

Promotional Stuff

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**Things to Read - Our World in Data Edition**