A win for my community is a win for me (Ricky Weekly #66)
This is where I share 3 things every week with my friends and anyone else interested.
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A picture from my life:
Cafes are back in SF just in time to get infected by the Delta variant!
A thing on my mind:
I like Mondays because I’m usually eager to execute after pausing for perspective and recovery over the weekend. This past Monday though I was derailed by some family stuff that came up first thing in the morning. Small, but enough to sap my Monday energy because I’m no Marcus Aurelius. I decided to go for a walk to shake it off and discovered that my neighborhood cafe reopened for indoor service! Perfect for a pick-me-up. While enjoying my coffee, I replied to two friends who mentioned they wanted to chat on the phone. These two friends are also founders, so that usually means we’re going to talk through some kind of problem with their startup. Instead, I got on the phone and there were no problems, just good news. They called to tell me good news because they wanted to close the loop from previous calls when we talked about problems. That felt amazing and I was bouncing around the rest of my Monday executing with gusto.
On one of the calls, we were talking about the good news and called it a win for the community. I believe that I win when my community wins, but it’s so difficult to give to others when I always feel mired in my own problems. Haley Bryant once told me that she tries to do something helpful for someone else everyday. Probably good practice. Maybe the way to think about it is that taking time to help others helps replenish my energy and spirits. At the same time, I’m reminded of the many sociopaths I’ve encountered in the startup world, and podcasts like this one definitely caught my attention because it’s a question I’ve thought about over the years ever since college.
I don’t have a strong point this week. Just wanted to share a good day I had this week. It’s very rare for loops to close. 9 out of 10 meetings I take or intros I make I have no idea what came of it. I don’t really need to know, but I remember the instances when loops do close, and they make me really happy.
A piece of content I recommend:
Lord of the Rankings and Project Dillard - Malcolm Gladwell’s Revisionist History
Revisionist History’s new season is back! This time Malcolm Gladwell takes on the US News & World Report college rankings and exposes the stupidity of the methodology and its impact on schools. Lots of people, myself including, are very bought into the rankings because it’s in our interest to do so, and Gladwell just tears that apart.
One thing Gladwell postulates is that elite colleges make their campuses like fancy resorts because they are appealing to their donor base of rich white people. Never thought about it like that but makes sense if you just follow the money.
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As always, you can find out what I’m thinking in more real-time on Twitter and my essays are on my website. My primary focus (and where I focus) is on Flow Club.