Rebel Ideas
Matthew Syed
Summary
This book is a must read in my opinion. Matthew does a masterful job explaining why diversity is not just a nice-to-have but a massive competitive advantage in business. Diversity of thought is the only way to progress.
Rating: 5/5
Notes
The idea between diversity and excellence being a trade off is wrong
To solve the biggest problems, you need people who think differently
Diversity is essential in driving collective intelligence, where team is more important than the individual
Harnessing the power of cognitive diversity is a key competitive advantage and surest route to reinvention and growth
Looking at problems through different lenses brings new insights and solutions
Perspective blindness: we’re blind to our own blind spots
Homogeneity of thought and people undermines your team
It’s comforting to be surrounded by people who are similar and think like you but it becomes dangerous because there’s a lot you miss
Lack of social diversity in the political elites
When people from the same background are placed into a decision making group they are likely to be collectively blind
Single person vs. team of clones (all in same circle) vs. team of rebels (everyone in a different circle)
People have different frames of reference depending on their experiences and culture. Combining perspective creates a more comprehensive picture
For complex problems, you need cognitive diversity. For simple tasks, you need the best
‘Clone fallacy’ choosing to work with with those similar to you
Collective intelligence requires ability and diversity
Hiring someone who is racially different doesn’t generate cognitive diversity
- Find people with perspectives that are unique and synergistic
For diversity to work it’s magic, different perspectives and judgements must be expressed
It’s important to have a leader in charge that you need to hear everyone’s perspective in order to come to an accurate decision
Meetings predict terrible outcomes even more powerfully than smoking predicts cancer
Uneven communication problem: when few people in a meeting do all the talking
Interaction cascade: when everyone has pieces of info but not the whole story and they fail to communicate to each other
Dominant individuals are mimicked out of fear. Prestigious individuals are followed out of respect
Dominance hierarchy is zero sum (some moves up/down) but prestige is positive sum because generosity towards the group is likely to be copied
Prestige is associated with higher empathy and info sharing. This boosts collective intelligence
Amazon has meetings w/ full silence so everyone's opinion is not dismissed
Recombinant innovation: taking 2 ideas from different fields and merging them
Scientific papers with the most impact came from those across multiple disciplines
57% of top 55 companies in US were started by immigrants
Immigrants = outsider mindset, the most powerful asset
Whenever there’s a status quo, always think of the inverse
Information spillover: when sharing ideas multiples the output
If you want to have a cool technology, it is better to be social that smart
Innovation is not just about creativity, it’s about connections
Social media is increasing echo chambers of information and you have to break it with outside exposure
When people are denied access to diverse views and evidence, they are more likely to believe in extremist views and ideologies
Standardization doesn’t work because you need to adapt to the individual
Nutrition has to be personalized because every individual has different glucose spikes depending on which foods they eat
The ability to question defaults makes a huge difference in a changing world
Autonomy and personalization are important to make workers happy
The success of societies and organizations depends on harnessing our differences in pursuit of our vital interests
Diversity is the hidden engine of humanity
Innovation is about the interplay b/w individuals and the networks the inhabit
Great ideas lead to bigger brains
Cultural differences are biological differences but not genetic differences
Humans are smart because we leaned towards connection with other brains
3 things impact our lives:
- Unconscious bias: dismantling it creates a fairer system and more intelligent society
- Shadow boards: young people have regular input in high level decision making
- A giving attitude: willingness to share insights with others
People with a giving approach are flourishing
People who give can construct more diverse networks
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How the World Works
Noam Chomsky
Summary
A combination of books Chomsky wrote in the 80s and 90s about America and it's role in the world. Fascinating read and insight into one of the great thinkers of the 21st century
Rating: 5/5
Notes
The US invaded Greece in 1947 and supported a horrendous war which led to 160k Greek deaths. This was the model for Vietnam and allowed American business to gain and thrive
US policies in the 3rd world consistently opposed democracies if they couldn’t be controlled as real democracies believe government should respond to the needs of their own population rather than those of US investors
US-run contra forces in the 3rd world isn’t ordering killing - it’s brutal sadistic torture (Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala)
From the Bolshevik revolution in 1917 till the collapse of the communist governments in eastern europe in the 80s, it was possible to justify every US attack as defense against the Soviets
If you want a global system that’s subordinated to the needs of US investors, you can’t let pieces of it wander off. It’s clearly stated in the documents of record
The US wants ‘stability’ meaning security for the upper classes and large foreign businesses
Solid case for impeaching every American president since World War 2 either outright as war criminals or involved in serious war crimes
El Salvador and Nicaragua were not covered by the US media in the 70s when US-supported brutal torture and murder were taking place
In the early 80s, America’s friends slaughtered 10s of thousands of Guatemalans with countless others tortured and raped
After Vietnam, the major US policy goal has been to maximize repression and suffering of countries demonstrated by their violence - blocked other countries from seeking aid
The US regularly carries out or supports aggression
For most of the 20th century, the US was the dominant economic power and used economic warfare as a weapon ranging from illegal embargoes to enforcement of weak IMF rules with their military becoming pre-eminent
The US tries to avoid negotiations with countries as the US fears it will lose and other countries will be better off
When a state has huge debts, it must divert the population from what’s happening and they do this by inspiring fear of our enemies (Russia in Europe)
The real enemy of the US has always been ‘the poor who seek to plunder the rich’. In America, it’s the opposite and has been for generations
‘The war on drugs’ was a manufactured media blitz by the US leadership to distract the population, increase repression in inner cities and build support for attack on civil liberties
The US government blocks international effort to seek peace (Russia and Ukraine)
Major media are large companies owned and interlinked with even larger conglomerates. The market is the advertisers and the product is audiences
The power in the US lies in the hands of people who determine investment decisions as they determine production, distribution and staff the government. They want a passive, quiescent population
The struggle of freedom is never over and requires active and sustained efforts
One important consequence of globalization is it extends the third world model to industrial nations where the average person has their jobs shipped away while the rich and elite continue to amass massive amounts of wealth
We’ve moved to an international state with the IMF, World Bank, G7 & EU, WEF where the general population doesn’t know what’s happening and it doesn’t know it doesn’t know
If the borrowing the US has done was used for constructive purposes like investment or infrastructure, the US would be better off, but it was used to enrich the rich - for consumption, financial manipulation and speculation which are all harmful
The class warfare of the last few decades has successfully weakened popular organizations leaving people to feel isolated
The US is so deeply in debt to the international financial community because of debt that they have a lock on US policy
Many of the large number of security council resolutions vetoed by the US have to do with Israeli aggression or atrocities
Invaders typically use local collaborators to run things for them by playing upon existing rivalries to get onne group to work for them against another
European wars were wars of extermination. If we were to be honest about history, we would simply describe it as barbarian invasion
There has always been racism but it developed as a leading principle of thought in the context of colonialism.
A standard technique of belief formation goes along with oppression
In the US, you’re not allowed to talk about the class differences, which is the real issue
When the US establishment talks about jobs, it means profits for its corporations
The elite are masters and they follow what Adam Smith said about ‘the vile maxim’ - all for ourselves and nothing for anyone else
People who aren’t owners and investors have nothing much to say in the US
Jefferson warned against banking institutions and corporations and said if they grow, aristocrats would’ve won and the revolution would’ve been lost
The ‘Free market’ is for the poor. We have a dual system - protection for the rich and market discipline for everyone else
There’s been a considerable increase in inequality and has the American society moving towards a third world model, thereby seeing increased crime and signs of social disintegration
A huge area of the media is dedicated to diverting people and making them more stupid and passive
There’s nothing individualistic about corporations who are totalitarian in nature
Free trade agreements result in reduced wages for local employees while predominantly benefiting the rich consumer while also destroying unions
Operation Paper Clip imported large number of known Nazi criminals
The American army’s counter-insurgency literature begins with an analysis of the German experience in Europe written with the co-operation of Naxi officials (instruments of statecraft - book)
US involvement in Chile with the coup in 1973 to reduce social democracy
The threat of a good empire is what the US worried about with reforms on uncontrolled capitalism
The US killed a few million people and destoryed 3 countries during the Vietnam war
A huge amount of business propaganda is to create wants
The answers to solve all these issues is to organize. Being alone you can’t do anything but if you join with other people, you can make changes
Under capitalism, investment is supposed to be as risk free as possible. No competition wants free markets - what they want is power
The government subsidizes corporations’ costs, protects them from market risks and lets them keep the profits
There’s never been much difference between the 2 business parties and the differences are disappearing
The CIA has been involved in drug running for generations (the politics of heroin book)
You need something to frighten people with, to prevent them from paying attention to what’s really happening to them. You have to engender fear and hatred
The first world lives in a highly indoctrinated society
Neoliberalism is nothing more than the imperial formula: free markets for you and plenty of protection for me. The rich would never accept it but they’re happy to impose it on the poor
The UN does mostly what US business wants
‘Politics is the shadow cast on society by big business’ - John Devery
If people dedicate themselves to organizing and activism, we’ll gain access to broader audiences
If you extrapolate to the future, it’s very ugly but the point is it’s not inevitable. It can be changed but we can’t change things till we understand them.
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