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To the community 🙏
Good morning! ☀️
Okay, you let me get away with a long one yesterday. It's a topic close to my heart. Thank you.
This morning, let's explore how clear thinking trades at a premium on the internet, and let's use the example of something that everyone is suddenly an expert in 'The Supply Chain.' (cue dramatic music!).
Creators and Curators 🔑
The internet needs great curators AND creators. We need people who have great ideas and we need people to package them because that's often not the same person.
An analogy to entrepreneurship is that making things on the internet is simply creativity x engineering. It's Jobs and Woz. It was Kevin Kelly's entire ethos for starting Wired magazine, 'making ideas beautiful.' It's my friend who is ex-Twitter/ex-Google, turned entrepreneur, who came to tech via philosophy (shout out MCA!). It happens all the time.
The gigabrain's like @naval give us paragraphs we unpack for months and @ericjorgenson packages them. Creator x Curator. 👇
Link to the book on Amazon:
Your review helps more readers find this book!
— Navalmanack (@Navalmanack)
8:19 PM • Oct 21, 2020
It's hard to have one without the other because someone has to be a great storyteller.
What storytelling skill is currently trading at a premium as the internet evolves? Clear thinking. 🔥
'The Supply Chain' ⚡️
I recently had a conversation with the formidable (yet humble) Vyara Ndejuru, CMO of Late Checkout (their new website is so good 👀).
A clear purpose, a tight-knit community, and a discord server can help change the world.
What a time to be alive.
— vyara ndejuru (@vyara)
1:14 PM • Dec 17, 2021
I told her I was currently down a 'supply chain' rabbit-hole. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic it's the word of choice for those looking to sound smart at dinner parties or, more likely, zoom calls. They say 'The' supply chain, as if there is one conveyor belt for the world's goods and services (the same people say 'The' blockchain). Red flag.
So, to really understand, I turned to an entrepreneur. Who else?!
Ryan Petersen is the CEO of Flexport and is the supply-chain follow on Twitter.
The decline in ships waiting just offshore of Los Angeles/Long Beach continues to be touted as a sign that port congestion is easing — despite the fact that the true number of waiting ships has not actually declined.
— Ryan Petersen (@typesfast)
3:12 PM • Dec 2, 2021
Vyara challenged me to think clearly. She asked "Okay, let's see what you've learned from your rabbit-hole. What is the problem in 3 words or less?" (You see why I used the word formidable).
I graciously asked for 4 words, to which Vyara obliged. 👇
Stuff isn't moving right. For most of us, that is simply all you need to know.
How stuff moves around 🌍
Although Elon isn't for everyone, I believe he is a famously clear thinker. Almost every sentence is the point. There is no fluff. No fat on his sentences. The point is all that matters.
One of my favourite Elon takes is about how impressive engineers and applied scientists are. He said that most people in the West, in our abundance, have a unique ability to forget that "If you don't make stuff, there is no stuff." He's so right.
Stuff is having a hard time getting around right now. Stuff moves by road, rail, air, or ocean and there are bottlenecks everywhere. Whether it is wait-times in ports, or a shortage of truck drivers, it looks like we're in a supply chain winter.
What's the point? 📲
Take time to look around you this weekend. Imagine that everything you use, see, or purchase is made somewhere. It moves around the world in an attempt to satisfy the needs of billions of consumers. It's not magic. It's effort and process. It's human beings.
Making a stop at Aldi. The cashier informed me that they didn't own the parking lot and that I was liable to be booted if I parked on their parking lot, so construction site it is...
— My World Through A Windshield 🇨🇦 (@myworldtaw)
12:27 AM • Jan 7, 2022
Also consider how you can think more clearly this weekend. Try to get to the point in four words or less (sorry Vyara). It helps you see the world clearly and it helps carry perspective with you through the day (something that is so easy to lose, it's as if there is a perpetual hole in our pockets).
Gratitude 🙏
I feel lucky to have you on the other end of this newsletter. If you haven't yet, join the community. Have a great weekend.👇
See you on the path.
- MG