No #95 | October 1, 2023

by Matthew Boyd

Good morning, welcome to the weekly Lead It Cool newsletter.

Today marks the first day of October, ushering in that enchanting two week window when zipped vests become a practical and stylish clothing option.

George Constanza also reminds us of this:

In this week's Lead It Cool newsletter:

• 🌰The Acorn Picker-Upper
• 🎤Trump: The Power of Absence
• 🛣️Storytelling
• 👍Dad's Keyboard
• 😎Cool Links

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🌰The Acorn Picker-Upper

In the front yard of my house there lives a giant garry oak tree.

It's a beautiful tree.

However, every year at this time, this beautiful giant garry oak tree sheds hundreds (thousands?) of acorns. This year, it got so intense that I resorted to donning a bike helmet while tackling outdoor chores (another unlocked dad achievement).

The real challenge begins once the acorns have fallen off the tree, as the task of collecting them can be quite back-breaking as traditional tools like leaf rakes and brooms are rendered useless. Faced with this dilemma, I decided to seek inspiration during a family walk, and together, we embarked on a brainstorming session to devise a clever solution.

Here's some of our ideas:

💡Lacrosse sticks

💡Outdoor vacuums

💡A giant funnel that gets placed under the tree

💡Training a team of squirrels

💡Creating value for the acorns so other people come to pick them up

💡Chopping down the tree (just kidding)

Finally, I did what I should of done at the very beginning of the process, I went on Amazon to see what they sell. And it turns out that someone has already invented an acorn picker-upper! I bought ten of them!

Now, why did I share this story?

Well, the answer isn't entirely clear, but perhaps it's a reminder of the joy that comes from brainstorming and dreaming up new ideas. While the acorn picker-upper might have already been created, the process of ideation, fueled by creativity and collaboration, is an adventure in itself.

What problems are you going to try to solve this week?

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🎤Trump: The Power of Absence

In the realm of American politics, the recent Republican debates generated quite a buzz, not so much for what was said, but rather for who was conspicuously absent.

Donald Trump, the undeniable frontrunner for the Republican nomination in the 2024 presidential election, made a strategic decision to skip these debates. He boldly proclaimed on his social media platform, "The public knows who I am and the success of my presidency."

His choice to forgo the debates, irrespective of one's political opinion, is a compelling illustration of a tactic rooted in the art of power, as described by Robert Greene in his renowned work, The 48 Laws of Power.

In the book he says:

In the world of politics, where attention is a precious currency, Trump's decision to skip the debates stands as a shrewd application of this principle.

Whether one supports Trump or not, his calculated absence from the debates has undeniably amplified his influence and mystique on the national stage, reminding us of the timeless wisdom of Greene's book.

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🛣️Storytelling

This meme brilliantly illustrates the clarity of storytelling in fostering effective communication.

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👍Dad's Keyboard

Harsh, but fair.🤣

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😎Cool Links

🧠The Psychology of Human Misjudgment (video).

🏎️From stable leadership to design genius - former Red Bull drivers on the secrets of the team's success. Some of the ideas he’d bring up just in passing, I was like, ‘Where’s he off to with that?’ and sure enough three months later, it’s at the racetrack in a different sort of guise. He wants to understand, be extremely, extremely open and honest with what the issues are and tackle those head on. He continues to understand that yesterday was never good enough, and that’s what I loved about him.

😱17 Ways Company Leaders Can Combat the 'Loneliness Epidemic'. Recently, there have been many media stories about a global “loneliness epidemic.” After months of social distancing and isolation during the Covid-19 pandemic, many people have described feeling a pervasive and unshakeable sense of isolation and disconnectedness. And while many workers appreciate the flexibility of remote work, it further limits the social interactions most of us used to have every day.

🪐Do parallel universes exist? We might live in a multiverse. That mysterious process of inflation and the Big Bang have convinced some researchers that multiple universes are possible, or even very likely. According to theoretical physicist Alexander Vilenkin of Tufts University in Massachusetts, inflation didn't end everywhere at the same time. While it ended for everything that we can detect from Earth 13.8 billion years ago, cosmic inflation in fact continues in other places. This is called the theory of eternal inflation. And as inflation ends in a particular place, a new bubble universe forms.

Finally, this tweet is pretty, pretty good🤣.

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