Blog categorized as Learning
From CrossFit to CoolCoach: Rethinking Fitness for Real Life
Balancing Adolescence
The Hidden Cost of Owning Your Time
From Roark to Real: Learning to Show My Work
Austin Kleon's book, Show Your Work! is a small and short book, but it has had an outsized impact on me. Discovering Austin's book seemed like the literal manifestation of the quote — when the student is ready, the teacher appears — often attributed to Buddhism.
I have always leaned towards th...
The Joys of Building
Success as a Pilot but Failure at Scale
The Problem: Pilotitis
The social sector is rife with pilots.
The phenomenon of organizations in the sector launching pilot projects but then failing to scale them is so common that there is a term for it — Pilotitis.
If you are trying something new, it does make sense to start with ...
You might be right!
Surprisingly, those four words are my magic escape from non-essential intellectual arguments.
As someone who is curious, I've grown comfortable with my ignorance on a variety of topics. Even in areas that interest me, I'm most excited by what I don't know.
A couple of years ago, I came across a&...
On Bias, Belief, and Building a Social Venture
Social Change is Hard. Personal Change is Harder
I never expected social change to be easy. But in the early days of my career in the sector, I was confident that I could easily pick up the skills needed to create social change. And with my middle-class dreams of seeing the world, I imagined moving from place to place, creating meaningful cha...
Two Quotes, One Realization
Maker's Schedule
Paul Graham's essay Maker's Schedule, Manager's Schedule is one of my all time favourites. It put into words something I had always felt but never fully articulated - to myself or my colleagues. I am a Maker....
Mistaking Confidence for Competence: A Personal Wake-Up Call
I almost dismissed one of the best teachers I've ever met - before she even said a word.
My wife and I are on the lookout for schools for our boys. Our oldest, who is four...
I didn't want to be part of "The Development Set"
I left my job as a software engineer in late 2005 to join the development sector. Almost a decade later, I made another big change in my life, I decided to start my own (social) entrepreneurial journey. One of the reasons to make this change was I felt that I was increasingly becoming part of The De...