Hey there đ
Letâs get to the best links I found on the internet this week. If youâre enjoying the newsletter, share it with a friend. If this was forwarded to you, check out some previous issues and subscribe for future updates.
đ What I Wrote
Replika and Virtual Friends
I was on my phone the other day and came across Replika, an app that describes itself as your personal AI friend. This post digs into some of the ideas in the app and where âvirtual friendsâ might go in the future.
đ What I Read
Learning, and Doing, Strategy
I enjoyed reading this post from my former colleague, Andrew Bartholomew on how to instill and reinforce strategic thinking in organizations. The top-down vs. bottoms-up paradigm is a useful way to think about things.
Fuck Nuance
Sometimes I get a little exhausted by of all the ânuanceâ floating around online. I stumbled on this fun paper from Kieran Healy that argues against the efficacy of nuance in many circumstances.
Step Functions and One-percent Improvements
I bookmarked this blog post for a simple explanation of compound growth. Iâm not totally sold on the conclusion that great companies need to experience a step change, but thereâs a lot of good stuff here nonetheless.
đ„ What I Found Interesting
A Beginnerâs Guide to First Principle Thinking
If youâre interested in the world of first principles thinking, check out this Notion doc with tons of resources.
Insist on Focus
Peter Thiel used to require employees to focus on one project, to the extent that he would only talk to them about that one thing. Without this focus, Rabois argues that we subconsciously substitute easier, yet less important problems and work on those instead.
đ€ Quote I'm Pondering
âMake sure you have something every day youâre looking forward to. Maybe itâs your job, maybe itâs a basketball game after work or a voice lesson or your writing group, maybe itâs a date. But have something every day that lights you up. Itâll keep your soul hungry to create more of these moments.â â Soman Chainani
Thanks for reading Oversimplified this week! Did anything stand out? Iâd love to hear about it. Reply to this email or tweet at me and letâs chat đ
Until next time,
Conor