A friend recently recommended reading the book “This Idea Must Die: Scientific theories that are blocking progress” which brings together 175 of the world’s most brilliant minds to tackle the question: What scientific idea has become a relic blocking human progress? I am yet to read the book instituted by Edge.org, but am captivated by the bold intent of the compilation as I’ve always believed that one of the most important signs of a living society, or for that matter, a group or a company or business is its ability to fairly-and-squarely question/asses even its most sacred “truths”.

Here are some ideas from this compilation that the maestros voted out:

• Steven Pinker dismantled the working theory of human behavior
• Richard Dawkins renounced essentialism
• Sherry Turkle reevaluated our expectations of artificial intelligence
• Geoffrey West challenged the concept of a “Theory of Everything”
• Andrei Linde suggested that our universe and its laws may not be as unique as we think
• Martin Rees explained why scientific understanding is a limitless goal
• Nina Jablonski argued to rid ourselves of the concept of race
• Alan Guth rethought the origins of the universe
• Hans Ulrich Obrist warned against glorifying unlimited economic growth

This year for its 20^th anniversary special the question Edge.org is asking is “WHAT SCIENTIFIC TERM OR CONCEPT OUGHT TO BE MORE WIDELY KNOWN?” – can’t wait to read the compilation!

Related food for thought – which popular “idea” do you think must die in 2017?

P.S. Trump is not an idea. He is a human unfortunately! 😉

Warren Buffett has a sixth sense for a person’s character (he’s closed deals in just five minutes with a handshake), so when he talks about his non-negotiables in potential hires, its wise to listen & heed:

“In looking for people to hire, I look for three qualities: integrity, intelligence, and energy. And if the candidate doesn’t have the first, the other two will kill you.”

I was at an FT125 conference earlier this week where I had a fascinating discussion with the CEO of a medium-sized cosmetics brand company. I told him about my background in Communications and was surprised to hear that he too started his career in a somewhat similar role. “So how has the meaning of the word changed for you now?”, I asked him. “A lot”, he said, “what I value most in communication today is brevity. Today – whether it’s an email, a call, or a meeting – I insist that the writer/presenter tell me in the first sentence what he/she would have told me in the last sentence. That simple rule helps remind everyone what is the most important point of the conversation!”. Brilliant; reminded me of Donald Coduto’s famous MPT rule, “The most important thing (MPT) is to keep the most important thing the most important thing” … Would you agree?

I had a very interesting experience while exchanging cards with a fascinating Silicon Valley entrepreneur at the Singularity University’s Global Conference in SFO last year. Let’s call him Mr. M for the sake of preserving his privacy. Instead of the traditional visiting card, he had a blank sheet, the same size as a visiting card, but blank. After we had finished our chat. I gave him my card and he flashed out this blank sheet, wrote his name and on it and scribbled a small note beneath it that said “the guy who runs a mobile platform startup in San Jose that you could explore for building your Marketing Department’s data dashboard”…

I was mind-blown by his ingenuity! By replacing the cold visiting card with that creative piece of paper, he had done three excellent things in one stroke – personalized our connection, gave our meeting an intimate touch and put an action-item for me to think about!

In the distracted economy where every moment is a fight to gain people’s attention, it’s but natural that we should all be thinking like Mr. M and get out of the comfort zone of conventional templates!

 

A few days back I was reading a compilation on what some super successful CEO’s consider the best advice they had received. One of them cited a children’s book called ‘The Little Engine that could’ as his golden gospel. Turns out the story is very short and very powerful; a must read for everyone:

A little railroad engine was employed about a station yard for such work as it was built for, pulling a few cars on and off the switches. One morning it was waiting for the next call when a long train of freight-cars asked a large engine in the roundhouse to take it over the hill. “I can’t; that is too much a pull for me”, said the great engine built for hard work. Then the train asked another engine, and another, only to hear excuses and be refused. In desperation, the train asked the little switch engine to draw it up the grade and down on the other side. “I think I can”, puffed the little locomotive, and put itself in front of the great heavy train. As it went on the little engine kept bravely puffing faster and faster, “I think I can, I think I can, I think I can.”

 As it neared the top of the grade, which had so discouraged the larger engines, it went more slowly. However, it still kept saying, “I—think—I—can, I—think—I—can.” It reached the top by drawing on bravery and then went on down the grade, congratulating itself by saying, “I thought I could, I thought I could.”

I am quite a huge fan of author/thinker Seth Godin. Sometimes his 200-character pieces give more wisdom than a book! Like this 2-liner he recently posted: “You can disdain gravity all you want, call out its unfairness, seek to have it banned. But that’s not going to help you build an airplane.”