Incite Your Month: April 2021
At CTQ, we kick each month off with a 5 min collection of ideas & recos from the team’s recent curiosity diet. It helps us ‘incite’ the rest of the month. Here’s this month’s edition.
(You can watch instead of reading this.)
One insightful book
Algorithms to Live By: The Computer Science of Human Decisions by Brian Christian & Tom Griffiths
Recommended by our colleague, Omkar Yarguddi, this is the coming together of acclaimed author Brian Christian and cognitive scientist Tom Griffiths. This book talks about how insights from algorithms in computer science can be applied to daily life to deal with very human questions. It is full of practical takeaways to help solve everyday problems.
Top takeaway: The same algorithm can be used to solve multiple seemingly different problems. For example, the optimal stopping algorithm can help you pick a life partner, as well as decide on which parking spot to pick.
Check it out if: ...you like reading about algorithms, decision-making and the workings of the human mind.
One article
The Next Great Disruption is Hybrid Work - are we ready?
What: The shift to hybrid work, where some people work from offices and others are remote is going to be as disruptive as the shift to remote work that happened in 2020. Are organizations up for the challenge? Are leaders in sync with their teams?
Check it out if: ......you want to learn about how the future of work is unfolding around us and how can we make the most of it!
One Trend
Smart Mirrors
No, it's not an April fool's prank we're trying to pull. Just like everything else in the house, mirrors have also become smart. Smart mirrors can show everything from your Twitter timeline to the news headlines of the day to weather updates. It can be an interesting DIY project for the summer.
One book summary
Calling Bullshit by Jevin D. West
Based on a popular course at the University of Washington, this book gives you a toolkit that you can use to see through the bullshit around you, peddled by your friends, colleagues, politicians, advertisers, and researchers!
One takeaway: For any piece of information, ask who is behind the information, how did they get it, and what are they trying to sell.
Check it out if: ...you like to learn about how data is being manipulated to obfuscate or deceive.
One podcast
A16z: Companies & Culture: What You Do Is Who You Are
It's a re-published episode on the A16Z podcast with Ben Horowitz, author of What You Do Is Who You Are. This podcast is all about how companies create a culture beyond its values and mission statements.
One takeaway: ...virtues are what you do. Values are what you believe. Actions are more important than just beliefs.
One smartcast
How Mid-Career Professionals Can Keep Themselves Relevant, with Navin Kabra
What: Navin Kabra is CTO and Co-Founder at ReliScore, helping companies filter job candidates based on evaluation of actual job-related skills. Navin is also an advisor to startups and a teacher. A computer scientist, Navin has worked in the software industry in diverse roles and has been an active voice on social media even before it was fashionable to do so. We covered a lot of ground- some highlights were how Navin, the Engineer taught himself to network and why you should too, his system of learning and what not to do on Twitter.
Check it out if: ....you are curious about how to design your life and what Navin learned while teaching youngsters.
Closing with our favourite reflective ‘FutureRing’ question from last month
“Which figure from the ancient past is very much future relevant in your view?"
[We also have a video version of these recommendations here.]