I tend to agree. Not a spiritual religion, of course, but faith.
Faith in the fact that "we do things the way we do here" for a reason – even when it's uncomfortable in the short term, because it's worth it in the long-term.
2/ Example: we value ethics so much that we punish everyone who breaks ethical rules,
*even if he's a star performer*, because we know that even though risking of upsetting him would be a setback, it's worth it in the long run. The alternative is degeneration.
3/ To clarify: what I mean here is not that any country that does as Sweden did would end up badly.
I’m saying that both the Swedish outcome and the Italian one are possible, and one should consider both possibilities and act accordingly, rather than choosing to ignore either.
4/ For example, when considering whether to copy/paste any COVID response, considerations such as “how much virus there’s in the country” should be explicit.
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As for many employees this is year-end evaluation period, a reminder:
This is the moment to make a motivated ask for whatever you might need (money, time, training, trust, better projects, a career move, etc.)
FAQs below
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2/ Q: Even if my boss doesn’t ask?
Yes. Some are jerks, some are parsimonious, but many want to allocate limited resources such as promotions to those who are motivated enough to ask (tip: they often use willingness to ask as a proxy to “ability to get results”).
Ask.
3/ Q: How should I ask?
Make sure you cover:
– What you will do with it (yes, even if it’s personal)
– Why should your boss believe you (i.e., past examples of good things you did for the company)
1/ Good managers understand the subtle difference between “it can be understood” and “it cannot be misunderstood”. The former assumes skill and motivation in the listener. The latter doesn’t assume anything; it simply works. Good managers strive for the latter.
2/ Instead, bad managers are content with simply mentioning or implying accountability. When, inevitably, one of their subordinates misunderstands or forgets, they blame him for not having understood.
However, by doing so, they imply that not understanding is an option.
3/ This will have consequences, as it is not that difficult to argue that an instruction was unclear. Earlier or later, someone will argue that, because instructions were unclear, he should be left out the hook. This is the beginning of a vicious circle that ends in mediocrity.
In many countries, the 2nd wave is causing more deaths than the 1st. Why?
Short answer: there were more active cases in October 2020 than in October 2019.
This fact was ignored by so many that it's worth a thread.
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2/ For example, take two parallel words. In the first, at October 2020, Italy has 100 cases of COVID. In the second, it has 100,000.
If in both worlds it enacts the same measures, by December there will be many more deaths in the second scenario.
Obviously.
3/ Now, let's imagine that in October 2019 Italy has 100 cases, and in October 2020 it has 100,000. Of course, the second wave has a good shot at being deadlier, barring a miraculous vaccine or treatment. Even if everyone wears face masks and is locked down.
1/ First principle: we do not seek survival, but what feels like survival.
This principle explains self-harm, addictions, toxic relationships, and so on.
2/ Of course, often, the actions that feel like survival (such as eating) do help us survive.
But sometimes they don't. For example, eating 3 sugary donuts in a go lowers our survival, and yet it feels like survival, so we do it anyway.
3/ This principle goes against most of what we are taught (really? we do not seek survival?).
And yet, our actions are enacted by a part of the brain that doesn't have the capacity to think about the long-term implications of our actions; it just feels. That's the real process.
This chart is looking more and more like the one of the 1918-1920 flu. Second wave deadlier than the first.
After all, everyone who this summer was saying that the pandemic was over had zero arguments to answer "why would COVID be any different than the flu of 1918-1920"?
The lesson: don't look at lagging indicators (e.g., numbers); look at properties (e.g., viruses spread).
Less models, more common sense.
(Note: the 420k figure in the quoted tweet is an estimate by the researcher, not an actual number; I quoted the tweet for the chart, not for the text below – which is still interesting and worth reading, but an estimate nevertheless)